Jan Joseph Godfried, Baron van Voorst tot Voorst Jr. (29 December 1880 – 11 November 1963) was the second highest officer in command of the Dutch armed forces during World War II and a renowned strategist, who wrote numerous articles and books on modern warfare. Personal life He was the fifth child of Jan Joseph Godfried van Voorst tot Voorst sr.—lieutenant general and president of the Senate of the Netherlands—and Anna Cremers. With his first wife, Jkvr. Octavia Ottine van Nispen tot Pannerden (1885–1947), he had six children. His second wife, Jkvr. Joanna Maria Alfrida Louisa (1910–1992), was a daughter of the Dutch Prime Minister Charles Ruijs de Beerenbrouck. Military career After he completed his secondary education, he was admitted to the Royal Military Academy (KMA) in Breda in 1898. In 1901, he graduated first in his class, and enlisted in an infantry regiment in Haarlem. During the general railway strikes in 1903, he was the only lieutenant in charge of a unit protecting the train station of Haarlem. In 1907, he became a personal adjutant of Queen Wilhelmina, and in this function accompanied her on various state visits. During the First World War and the mobilization of the Dutch Army, he served in various ranks. These experiences and his concerns regarding the Schlieffen Plan led him to write a study highlighting the critical importance of the province of Limburg in German strategic planning. The publication was translated into Spanish, English, French and Norwegian. In 1920, Godfried became a member of the general staff and represented the Netherlands in the disarmament conference in Geneva. In the wake of the Great Depression, he managed to restore order after the 1934 riots in Amsterdam. This was the first time that armored vehicles were deployed by the Dutch army. In 1935, he supervised the Dutch troops monitoring the 1935 plebiscite in the Saar. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, he was highly critical of the "broken rifle" movement and the prevailing pacifist mentality of Dutch society and politics, which he deemed naïve. In later life, he would comment that this era was the low point in the history of Dutch defense. In 1936, he published a widely read book on the German rearmament —an early warning against Nazi militarism. By the late 1930s, Dutch politicians finally realized that their country would not be able to remain neutral in the looming conflict with Nazi Germany.