Lew, How's your Dutch. There is information on this page on how to obtain service files from the Dutch Ministry of Defence. Zoektocht naar informatie - Prinses Irene Brigade I'm not sure what kind of files you receive, hopefully something more than basic info? Direct link for the form: Verzoek gegevensverstrekking uit persoonsdossier Regards ...
Hello, Given all the dates in this thread: Princess Irene Brigade Dissolved July 1945 Picture Printed Sept 1945 Princess Irene Regiment Formed April 1946 It looks to me like he must have served in the Princess Irene Brigade Prior to July 1945 otherwise how could a picture of him in uniform be printed in the September before the regiment was formed in 1946, so I think the story of him serving in the war is likely to have some truth to it. Regards. Carl
SMLE I wandered this, however as you may know the brigade served in France and Holland with the exception of a few men going to Ceylon in i think 42 and forming their own unit over there. All i have is stories so they may be wrong and Edzo may have remained with the brigade in France. I am searching for more photos of him from family that may be more telling. For example a picture of him with the invasion lanyard on etc.
There was no Dutch resistance in 1939. The Netherlands were not invaded by the Germans until May 1940 and resistance didn't really commence until after the strikes in February 1941
horsapassenger Edzo must have left in 1940-41 then as i know he was deffinatley part of some sort of resistance as his sisters have confirmed this to be true,and his parents were interrogated while he hid in the barn, but as i have said unfortunately i have only been told stories from my granddad and Nan but my grandad and Edzo didn't get along and Edzo wouldn't speak about what "fighting" he had done and only revealed small amounts of info to my Nan and granddad so all i have are these tiny snippets of info. Regards...
Hi, What happened after the war with the PIB is somewhat confusing to sort out. All the men who decided to return to civilian life went through the demobilization process. At the same time the Brigade, or what was left of it, was recruiting new members. They would have consisted of young men joining up for the first time and also members of the pre-war Dutch Army returning to service. I came across some information in an online history of the 1st Battalion Princess Irene formed in August of 1945. A translation: "There is also the First Battalion Princess Irene born in August 1945 from war volunteers, the majority from Brabant and Zeeland, who had reported for the military service immediately after the liberation of the South of the Lands ( Zuiden des Lands) and were initially assigned to Supplementary troops of the Royal Dutch Brigade "Princess Irene" in Tilburg. 1- "Princess Irene" was stationed in the New Alexander barracks in The Hague. Until the Commander was appointed, Major P. C. van Scherpenberg, who as an Officer of the Brigade had been through the campaign of Normandy. Until the elimination of the battalion Major of Scherpenberg commanded. Officers of the battalion were recruited from the officers and non-commissioned officers of the Brigade "Princess Irene". 1- "Princess Irene" was trained as a Light Infantry Battalion and as such was assigned to Division A. It was also responsible for supplying the Palace guards in the residency. On 24 November 1945 the battalion was moved to Schoonhoven. Here the training was continued. The battalion received replenishment from that personnel and from battalions leaving for Indonesia, which did not qualify for deployment to the tropics. On 9 May 1946, 1-Princess Irene was dissolved." As you can see the timeline is somewhat different for this unit. Perhaps they were absorbed into the 3rd Battalion of the Princess Irene Regiment which was being raised during this period in 1946 but I'm not entirely sure. Regards ...
Cee thanks for the information. As the picture was at least printed in September does that mean he was more than likely already part of the brigade and thus, did serve. However I do notice he looks very young and bears no medal ribbons or stripes so it may have been taken earlier and not printed untill 45.
Lew, Until you receive some kind of official documentation as to when he enlisted you won't know if he had an earlier involvement with the PIB (43-45). I noticed on the page linked above for obtaining service records that the webmaster, if I'm reading it correctly, has a list of 1800 members of the PIB. I don't know what to make of the date on the back of the photo. He does look young and fresh and it could be an earlier photo as you say. There is also the possibility he returned home after the war and decided to join up at that time. Regards ...
Cee it's just hit me that if he joined after the war he most likely would never have been station in Wolverhampton as the brigade reformed in Holland and thus, would never have met my gt grandmother who lived in Wolverhampton. I am in the process of filling in the form for the Dutch government to see if he has any records. Regards.