DUTCH RESISTANCE - ARNHEM

Discussion in 'NW Europe' started by CL1, Sep 22, 2019.

  1. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    It is generally accepted that the Dutch Resistance in WW II was the best organized in Europe. It had a cell structure. Each cell was called 'knokploeg' (KP). Arnhem KP was ready for action and involved in intelligence and operational activities before the landings. The Arnhem KP was known as one of the finest in the country, not only because of the trained combat members but also the particularly well- educated technical personnel. These men and woman had set up a network of secret telephone lines to the already liberated south of the Netherlands and to other KP members throughout the country without using the public telephone exchanges.

    marketgarden.com - linear thread - page10
     
    Roy Martin and Tricky Dicky like this.
  2. Harry Ree

    Harry Ree Very Senior Member

    Unfortunately the Dutch resistance network had to deal with the collapse of a major section of its organisation,the Dutch SOE Section through the Hermann Giskes' Abwehr wireless game,the Nordpole. The result was that some 40 Dutch agents being arrested before they had shed their parachute harness.Further there was a ramp up in RAF losses with the aircraft detailed for the drops which alarmed Bomber Command, the Abwehr being aware of the scheduling of flights in addition to the agents being dropped and their tasks..For many of the captured agents the end came st Mauthausen in September 1944 with a bullet in the neck along with some of the Prosper network captives.The deception was only cracked by the courageous escape of two imprisoned agents from Holland to Switzerland,their account not exactly believed leading to extended British detention.For the Germans with their hue and cry, the news was put out that two dangerous criminals had escaped and should be captured.The episode has been very contentious since with a suggestion that there was an enemy agent at a high level within the SOE Dutch Section.....very interesting to read the case in great detail....also broadcast in a dedicated BBC SOE programme in the early 1980s.

    The other problem that the Dutch resistance movement had to contend with was the Dutchman turncoat,Christian Lindemans ( Abwehr code name King Kong) who it is recorded volunteered to work for Giskes in exchange for the release of his mistress and brother who were members of the resistance movement.Posing as an ardent and knowledgeable member of the underground, Lindemans was able to set in motion widespread arrests of underground members.According to SHAEF Counter Intelligence Report No 4 dated 10 November 1944,Lindemans was an important German agent who was responsible for over 250 arrests.With his fictitious underground resistance CV,Lindemans was able to impress the British intelligence and was sent back to Holland to warn the underground not to send Allied aircrew down an escape line which was reported to have been penetrated. It is thought that he revealed to the Germans all he knew of Allied intentions for advancing into Germany but also the secret of Ultra which is hard to accept since this intelligence was not made public until 1974.(One would have thought if this was fact that Giskes would have revealed this during his postwar interrogation..no charges were made against Giskes postwar regarding his role within the Abwehr )

    Returning to the Allies,Lindemans was arrested by Dutch and British Counter Intelligence but committed suicide in prison....unfortunately his account of the episode has been denied by his early death before it would appear,any report of an interrogation.
     
    Last edited: Sep 22, 2019
    PaulE, Roy Martin and Tricky Dicky like this.
  3. horsapassenger

    horsapassenger Senior Member

    What about the LO, LKP, RVV and OD to name just a few of the other significant resistance organisations, each with different objectives and responsibilities. The resistance did not set up a secret telephone network instead they utilised the existing telephone network that as installed by PGEM, running through their network of power lines, which the Germans were initially unaware of.
     
    Roy Martin and Tricky Dicky like this.
  4. horsapassenger

    horsapassenger Senior Member

    I've just returned from the service at the Mausoleum in Ede where over 50 members of the Dutch Resistance from that area are commemorated. I was pleased to see my old friend, Herman van de Kaa, was able to attend. As far as I'm aware he is the last surviving member of the local resistance that assisted the British evaders on Operation Pegasus. He was aged 18 years at the time, a very brave young man and it was very emotional, when I first met him all those years ago, to walk along looking at the names on the tombs as he described his friends and how they met their deaths.
     
    PaulE, kopite, smdarby and 3 others like this.

Share This Page