Hey, prime members, you can listen to business wars at free on Amazon music. Download the app today.

A note to listeners this episode contains descriptions of racial violence. Please take care while listening.

May 1940 the Dutch port of a murder just after dawn.

The German invasion of the Netherlands is underway.

Often the distance anti-aircraft guns let rip his bombers drone overhead.

A Chevy car through the streets heading for the main road leading to Amsterdam.

As the driver focuses on the road, in the back seat, Jan Smith feels the revolver in his hand.

Smith's a Dutch diamond merchant and he's never held a gun before.

It's heavier than he imagined. He grins and suddenly points it at the British spy sitting next to him.

The spy frowns. For pity's sake, Jan, stop that.

Smith bursts out laughing his round body wobbling beneath his silk shirt.

You're supposed to stick your hands up.

Jan, I gave you the gun for protection. It's not a toy. You must stay focused. We get the diamonds

and we get out. Nothing more. Holland will fall to Germany within the next day or two and our boat

out of here tonight won't wait. Smith turns to look out of the window. As the flat country's side

whizzes past, he sees bombed out buildings, distant explosions, and the dead crumpled bodies of

German parachutists. The seriousness of this top secret mission is starting to dawn on him.

They're headed to the Diamond Boors, the center of Amsterdam's centuries-old diamond trade.

Their mission is to collect its stockpiles of industrial grade diamonds.

Industrial diamonds are now the bedrock of mass production. Diamonds are the only material hard

enough to precisely cut the latest steel alloys. And without those alloys, you can't make tanks,

bombers, or submarines. So keeping Amsterdam's diamonds out of Nazi hands is vital and

...