Lucas Bols In 1892, the company was reorganized into an LLC. Former Dutch colonial possessions proved natural markets for the group's products, and a rapid international expansion followed. By the turn of the century, Bols was aggressively marketing its lines, and nearly all European dynasties had appointed them Royal Warrants. In 1873 Bols won a "Fortschritts-Medaille" at the Weltausstellung 1873 Wien and one year later became purveyor to the imperial court in Vienna. Other courts followed such as several kings and queens of the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Greece, Sweden, Denmark, Monaco, and later in more modern times the courts of Ethiopia and
Eric Bols Bols was finally offered the command of the 6th Airborne Division in 1944, he had not previously commanded a military formation as large as a division. Bols took command shortly before Christmas of 1944, superseding the previous General Officer Commanding (GOC), Major General Richard Gale, who had raised the division and commanded it during Operation Tonga, the British airborne landings in Normandy. He was granted the acting rank of major general from 6 December 1944. When he took command the division, comprising James Hill's 3rd and Nigel Poett's 5th Parachute Brigades and Edwin Flavell's 6th Airlanding Brigades along with supporting