Johan Grün, alias Brutus.
TRANSCRIPTIE

REAL NAME:  GRUN.                                                                   INTERROGATED BY: Capt. DONEUX

OPERATIONAL NAME:  BRUTUS                                                     DATE: 29/5/45

DATE OF MISSION: Went to field 18/10/43                                     CODE No:  D/10
                          
Arrested 3/1/44
                           Liberated 5/4/45


Mission.

To act as liaison officer between the underground press in Holland and High Command, London.

Through a Miss JANNIE REBEL source
(Johan Grün) was to contact a man called JOOP (Jan Stallinga), a representative of HET PAROOL, which controlled two of the Dutch underground papers, vis. TROUW and VRIJ NEDERLAND.


Instructions before departure.

Informant was told that he would travel in an aircraft with another Dutch agent
APOLLO (Jan David Anton van Schelle) and that they would both drop into Belgium in the region of Aerdenhout. Both APOLLO and source objected to having to drop into Belgium as they would have preferred to land in Holland.They were told however that this was impossible as no safe lading grounds were known. The actual drop was to have been blind, both agents having been instructed to make their way independently to Brussels to a certain house, the address of which they both knew, together with a password which was to be used on arrival. The residents of this particular house were to pass APOLLO and source to a "passeur", who would infiltrate them seperately into Holland. APOLLO's mission from then on had no connection whatsoever with source's. Once in Holland source was to be directed to a safe-house from which he was supposed to "spread his own wings".
Informant had been told that once he had got settled down in Holland it was up to him to find a WT-operator locally - through how he was expected to set about doing this was not revealed to him. Until he was successful in finding an operator of his own, he was to use the WT-operator working for the "Passeur". When, however, he eventually succeeded in finding an operator and, using the wireless set, plans and codes which informant was to bring with him from London, and had established direct contact with HQ in England, all contact the the "passeur" was to be cut.



Flight & Arrival.

In actual fact, the following took place:- Informant left the U.K. with APOLLO on the night of
18th October, 1943. Informant had one package with him containing his wireless equipment etc (source had received a short course of training as an emergency WT-operator).
All went well in the aircraft until they approached the D.Z. when anti-aircraft opened up and they found themselves caught in a hail of light flak,
The port engine was hit and the wing commenced to burn so the pilot crash-landed near the village of Colen
(Larum bij Geel). Fortunately, no-one was killed, but the skipper (Cyril Passy) of the crew received a severe cut right across the face. No preparations had been made in advance for such an emergency. Great panic broke out amongst the crew and passengers of the plane, which was on fire, as they feared that they could not fail to be seen and would be arrested immediately. In the circumstances source thought it best for them all to disperse, source and APOLLO to try to make their way separately to Brussels.


Story.

Before leaving the place of the crash, informant disposed of all incriminating material, as under the circumstances, he thought his best cover story was to try to pass himself off as an inhabitant of the neighbourhood, who had been attracted by the conflagration to the scene of the crash. He, therefore, only kept his Belgian papersand destroyed all Dutch documents, etc. Source also retained his pistol. He then set off from thescene of the crash and after walked for about 30 or 40 minutes, he arrived at a farmhouse. The time was about 02.30 hrs. Informant knocked on the door and the owner of the house opened it. This man had seen the plane crash and immediately asked informant if he had arrived by the plane. Informant affirmed that this was so, but for a time the farmer would not be convinced, obviously he has suspicions that source was a German. By being very melodramatic, and passing himself off as a Belgium returning to his country to help in its liberation, informant eventually convinced the farmer that he was ok. He then asked to be directed to the nearest railway station. The farmer gave him the required directions, informing him that the nearest station was Colen
(Olen), about an hour's walk distance
In de nacht van 18 op 19 oktober 1943 is het Geelse dorp Larum van een ramp gespaard gebleven dank zij de koelbloedigheid van een Engelse piloot.

Die bewuste nacht scheerde een zwaar aangeschoten vier-motorige Engelse Halifax bommenwerper, in vuur en vlam, rakelings langs de dorpskerk toren. Met het schijnsel van een volle maan als enige bondgenoot voerde even later de piloot een geslaagde kraaklanding uit in een veld net buiten de dorpskom gelegen. Al de inzittenden kwamen er met de schrik vanaf. Van een waar huzarenstukje gesproken!

Het toestel dat zich te Larum door het veld had geploegd was de Halifax Mk II LW281 met als rompcode 'NF-W' van het R.A.F. 138 Squadron. Het vliegtuig was even na middernacht opgestegen vanaf de Engelse vliegbasis Tempsford, in opdracht van de S.O.E., voor een geheime missie boven België. De Halifax had acht bemanningsleden aan boord en twee passagiers; deze twee laatsten waren beide Nederlandse para - geheimagenten. Verder bestond de lading uit wapens, munitie, springstoffen, en duiven voor het verzet.

Het toestel werd gepiloteerd door de ervaren Engelse vliegenier, Squadron Leader Cyril Wollrick PASSY, DFC.


HALIFAX MK II LW281 'NF-W' VAN HET R.A.F. 138 SQUADRON, 18/19 OKTOBER 1943

DE BEZETTING MET POSITIE OF FUNCTIE IN HET VLIEGTUIG VOOR DIE NACHT BESTOND UIT:

I. DE BEMANNING

1. Squadron Leader (S/Ldr) Cyril Wollrick PASSY, D.F.C. - piloot - ontsnapt
2. Flying Officer (F/O) Geoffrey Ernest Albert MADGETT - navigator - ontsnapt
3. Flying Officer (F/O) George Henry WARD, D.F.M. - bommenrichter - ontsnapt
4. Sergeant (Sgt) J. BRUCE - boordwerktuigkundige - krijgsgevangen
5. Flying Sergeant (F/Sgt) J.E. GROUT - marconist - ontsnapt
6. Pilot Officer Reginald (P/O) Peter MANTLE - staartschutter - ontsnapt
7. Flying Sergeant (F/Sgt) Kenneth Leslie RABSON, D.F.M. - dispatcher - ontsnapt
8. Sergeant (Sgt) Joseph Patrick HEALY, R.C.A.F. - dispatcher - ontsnapt


II. DE PASSAGIERS

1. Jan David Anton van SCHELLE (echte naam)
Geboren op 26 februari 1915 in het Nederlandse Warsen (verm. Harsen) nabij Den Haag. Gerecruteerd door de S.O.E. in Mexico. In 1939 zou hij naar verluid een boerderij gekocht hebben een 120 km van São Paulo (Brazilië) vandaan. Heeft landbouw gestudeerd in Nederland en Argentinië.

De Brit, M.R.D. FOOT, auteur van "S.O.E. in the Low Countries", omschrijft van SCHELLE (1943) als een 28-jarige Nederlandse landbouwer die reeds twee korte missies had uitgevoerd voor de S.O.E. in de gevangenis van Brazilië. Hij bleek een echte talenknobbel te zijn; zo sprak hij Nederlands, Portugees, Engels, Frans, Duits en Spaans. De opleidingscholen in Engeland beschouwden hem eerder als zenuwachtig en a-sociaal. Een andere bron vond van SCHELLE dan weer humoristisch en een prachtig iemand.

Jan David Anton van SCHELLE had van de S.O.E. een volledige para-militaire opleiding genoten; deze omvatte valschermspringen en het zich bekwamen in clandestiene vaardigheden.

De S.O.E. bezorgde hem verschillende schuil-/codenamen naargelang de omstandigheden: Jan David Anton van SCHELLE (echte naam), alias Jan David Anton STOKKERS, alias Jan SCHOLTEN, alias Jan Anton SLUIS, alias
APOLLO, alias BADMINGTON.


2. Johan GRUEN, ook als GRUN vermeld. (echte naam)
Deze geheimagent werd op 21 februari 1919 geboren te Leiden, Nederland. Hij was sergant in het Koninklijk Nederlands Leger. Beroepshalve was hij onderwijzer. Johan GRUEN was naar Engeland gevlucht nadat de Duitsers Nederland onder de voet hadden gelopen.

Net zoals zijn collega had ook GRUEN een doorgedreven para-militaire opleiding achter de rug, en had de S.O.E. hem verder ook bekwaamd in allerlei clandistiene aangelegenheden. Hij had er bijkomend een propaganda cursus gevolgd voor gevorderden.

Van de S.O.E. kreeg hij de volgende aliassen mee: Johan GRUEN (echte naam), alias Johan GOOR, alias Johan VERBRUGGEN, alias BRUTUS, alias RUGGER.

DEZE NACHTELIJKE GEHEIME MISSIE ZOU OFFICIEEL DE GESCHIEDENIS INGAAN ALS OPERATIE "BADMINGTON/RUGGER EN MUSKRAT 3 EN 4"

Wat hield deze operatie in?! Een vrij complexe zaak!


Buiten de acht bemanningsleden waren er ook, zoals de lezer inmiddels al weet, twee Nederlandse geheimagenten aan boord. Het waren Jan David Anton van SCHELLE (codenaam BADMINGTON) en Johan GRUEN (codenaam RUGGER).

Dit betekende dat enerzijds de twee geheimagenten die nacht gelijktijdig moesten gedropt worden in een operatie met de codenaam BADMINGTON en RUGGER; anderzijds zouden diezelfde nacht, en simultaan, door hetzelfde toestel ook nog eens twee droppings (3 en 4) uitgevoerd worden van wapenmateriaal e.d. voor het verzet, ter hoogte van een dropzone die vooraf was gekozen en ter plaatse bemand zou zijn door MUSKRAT en zijn team.

Maar wie was nu eigenlijk
MUSKRAT?
Op de website van de heer Chris van Kerckhoven  http://www.bloggen.be/warresearcher/archief.php?startdatum=1304028001&stopdatum=1304114401   staat het volgende over het toestel en de crash te lezen:
Healy, de Canadese dispatcher, (die de crash site bezocht) moest in de velden even zoeken naar de locatie waar de enorme Halifax-bommenwerper in de nacht van 18 op 19 oktober 1943 zijn noodlanding maakte. Hij kreeg daarbij de hulp van buurtbewoner Fons Van Meerbergen, die als dertienjarige knaap het brandende toestel als een brullende duivel uit de hemel zag neerdalen.

“We waren even na middernacht in Engeland opgestegen voor een geheime missie”, vertelde Healy. “Naast de acht bemanningsleden hadden we ook twee Nederlandse spionnen aan boord. Die moesten boven Tremelo worden gedropt. Maar eerst vlogen we naar Welchelderzande, waar we uitrusting en wapens moesten droppen voor het verzet.”

Daar liep het mis. De piloot vond geen enkel signaal vanop de begane grond en bleef boven de Kempen rondjes draaien. Net op het ogenblik dat de bemanning besloot een laatste bocht te maken, kreeg het Duitse afweergeschut in Herentals het vliegtuig in het vizier. “De Duitsers raakten ons meteen. En opnieuw. Het hield niet op. De vleugels en motoren stonden meteen in brand. Er zat niets anders op dan een noodlanding uit te voeren.”

KERKTOREN

De Britse bommenwerper miste op een haar na de kerktoren van Larum, maakte een scherpe bocht en landde in een veld net buiten het centrum. “Met de brandende motoren leek het of het vliegtuig grote lichten had aangestoken”, herinnerde Fons Van Meerbergen zich. “Het vliegtuig en het afweergeschut maakten een hels kabaal. De bommenwerper maaide twee bomen om, maar kon net in een weide achter ons huis landen.”

“We waren allemaal bang, doodsbang”, zei Healy erg aangeslagen. “We hebben geluk gehad. Maar meer dan dat hadden we met Passy ook een uitstekend piloot. Aan hem hebben we zeker ons leven te danken. Iedereen kon uit het brandende tuig ontkomen en vluchtte naar de nabije bosjes. Via het verzet konden we dan later naar Engeland terugkeren.”

De Duitsers ontmantelden het hele vliegtuig. Van Meersbergen vond naar eigen zeggen decennia later nog kogels en wrakstukken op het veld. Chris Van Kerckhoven trof maandag na enkele minuten speuren met zijn metaaldetector nog gesmolten onderdeeltjes en de gesp van een parachuteharnas.
Cyril Passy, © Chris van Kerckhoven.
Jan David Anton van Schelle.
Source then proceeded along the railway line and about 03.30 a.m. saw the lights of the station ahead. As he deemed it unwise to enter the station at such an unusual hour, he crept into a dry ditch where he stayed until about 7 o'clock in the morning. Several military trains passed by and source considered "jumping" on one of them but changed his mind on finding that it was packed with German soldiers. Fortunately, however, though it was apparentthat that particular line was carrying German military traffic there was no sign of any form of control or picket belonging to the enemy.
After his sojourn in the ditch, his long walk and the crash, informant was now in an extremely dishevelled condition. A fact which was brought even more sharply home to him as he approached the station and saw how extremely well-turned out and smart everyone else appeared to be (see criticisms). Feeling most conspicuous but pretending to be a tramp, he went up to the ticket-office at the station and bought a return ticket to Louvain (Leuven), thinking this wiser than taking a single to Brussels. Informant boarded the Louvain train as it was moving out of the station. Again luck favoured him and there were no controls. He reached Louvain after a more or less uneventful journey. At Louvain he bought a return for Brussels and once more boarded the train as it was leaving.
About 10.00 hrs he arrived at the Gare du Nord, Brussels. He made his way from here to his contact's address, having had to ask his way. He was successful in finding the house without a very great deal of
difficulty. This house belonged to a family called SPOELDERS and was situated close to La Porte de Louvain (exact address unknown).
The actual contact was not in, but source persuaded the contact's mother to allow him to enter the house and remain there until the arrival of contact. Contact eventually returned to his home about mid-day. On arrival SPOELDERS immediately accepted source and did not trouble himself with giving the agreed password. Informant, however, insisted on this elementary security precaution and passwords were exchanged. BRUTUS then informed SPOELDERS that he must expect the arrival of another agent, viz. APOLLO. Contact said that he had been told to expect an arrival from England but was not told how many people to expect. SPOELDERS then told informant that he had been instructed by the "passeur" that he must take source to a certain address given as a safe-house. He also gave informant a password and reply to be used when meeting the "passeur".
Informant by this time was feeling exhausted after his experienced during the last 12 hours or so. He had been able to tidy himself up a bit, but still felt extremely conspicuous as he accompanied SPOELDERS through the streets to his new address, which turned out to be L'Hotel l'Automatique, the Gare du Nord. On arrival at the hotel SPOELDERS had some difficulty in persuading the manager to accept informant, who, of course, had no luggage. After SPOELDERS had mentioned the passeur's name -
VAN VLIET - the manager condescended to receive source but insisted that he should sign the register going as far as to say that source could, of course, sign under a false name and address. Source remained at this hotel, which incidentally, he thought little of as a "safe-house", until, one or two days later, when he was telephoned in his room and told that someone was waiting to see him. During this time, he had moved about the hotel fairly freely, eating in the restaurant, etc; he was fairly well looked after by the manager.His cover story was that he was visiting Brussels from Antwerp, his Belgian identity card showing him to be a resident of Antwerp.
On going below to find out who wanted to see him, he was greeted right away by a man who introduced himself as VAN VLIET
(infiltrant Matthijs Adolf Ridderhof), but he did not give the password arranged. He obviously knew who informant was. Source asked the stranger how he knew source to be the man he was expecting to find, and also, from the other point of view, how was source to be sure that the stranger confronting him was in actual fact "Le passer" - VAN VLIET? Source then asked V.V. if he knew the password. Van Vliet replied immediately giving both question and answer saying that he himself had arranged both. At this junction, source accepted V.V. as "Le passeur". VAN VLIET informed that it was rather unsafe to remain any longer at L'Automatique and on his suggestion he left the hotel, V.V. having settled the account with the manager. He was then taken by VAN VLIET to L' Hotel Leopld III, which lay behind L'Automatique. Here V.V. was obvously well known to the manager, who informed source that it was not very safe for him to stay there because of the increasing number of controls. He, however, promised to find accomodation for informant at the private house of a friend of his. During his conversation with V.V. source was informed of the general conditions both in Belgium and in Holland. According to V.V. Belgium was fairly safe, but in Holland the situation was extremely tricjy because of the N.S.B. Van Vliet also told source not to worry about the loss of his Dutch identity papers, as papers from England were generally not much good as they were apperently unable tp reproduce the correct watermark on the I/C. He (V.V.) was in a position to supply source with prefect papers as he had a high German official working for him - he called this man FRITZ - and FRITZ could provide all the necessary documents. To prove his story V.V. produced from his wallet a bundle of identity cards, travel permits, works tickets, etc, tec and also openly showed informant a revolver he was carrying. All this happened on the walk to L' Hotel Leopold III. Source was horrified at V.V's lack of security. Van Vliet stated that he had received a signal from London asking for news of source as HQ London were extremely anxious as the plane had not returned. This more than convinced source that V.V. was actually in touch with London. A further meeting with V.V. was arranged before source was escorted to his new abode by the wife of the hotel manager. This house was about 25 minutes walk away from the Leopold III, source could not remember its exact address. It proved to be quite a good safe-house and the occupants were very discreet. The household consisted of "Madame" and her mother and an Italian refracteur. These people were quite security-minded and took precautions about being followed when returning to the house. Informant lived here for 4 or 5 days, during which time he had several meetings with V.V, who introduced him to his wife, who appeared to be cognisant of most of the set-up. Source did some shopping with V.V, lunched and dined with him in restaurant,etc. V.V's wife took informant to have his photograph taken for his new identity card, which V.V. was obtaining for him. These photographs, however, were taken "en face" instead of ¾face and, therefore, were useless, so informant was still without the necesarry Dutch I/C. Van Vliet finally gave him a slip of paper in the form of a permit to live in Holland issued by the German authorities. Van Vliet assured him that this would be quite sufficient to ensure his safety anyway intil the time when he was in a safe-house in Holland, where an I/C would most certainly be obtained. Van Vliet personally vouched for informant's safety during the journey to Holland and informant fully believed this to be the case as V.V. was obviously a very influential man. On the fifth day of his stay at this house in Brussels, informant was told by V.V. that everything was now arranged for his journey across the frontier and accordingly he arranged to meet V.V. at 08.00 hrs the following morning at the Gare de Nord.
Next morning, therefore he contacted Van Vliet as arranged and they left by train for Antwerp. They arrived here without incident and proceeded by tram to Turnhout, here a man was waiting for them with 2 bicycles. Source parted fron Van Vliet after a meeting in Tilburg had been arranged.
BRUTUS and the "bicycle-man" then set off. In the park of Baarle-Nassau almost on the border, they hid their bicycles in a copse. The "bicycle-man" then disappeared but to informant's surprise reappeared a few minutes later wearing the uniform of the Dutch police and wheeling a motor-cycle with a pillion seat. They set off on this machine for Tilburg. Here they were met by Van Vliet, and a friend of his called BRAM VAN OORD, who was a teacher of mathe, a very brilliant man, who ran an organisation of his own in Doorn. This organisation had orginally been a part of the O.D, but Van Oord had quarreled with the chiefs of the O.D. and he wanted to adopt a much more active policy than they would. So he broke away from them, running his own group more or less as a resistance movement.

About 25-10-43, Van Vliet, Van Oord and source left Tilburg and proceeded to Doorn by train. There were again no controls.
Having arrived at Doorn Van Oord took informant to his own house
(Kampweg 37) where source remained until his arrest on 3-1-44.
Van Vliet promissed source that he would be perfectly safe in this house as he would have a personal bodyguard. Source, however, did not find this to be so and considered the security in the house as very bad indeed. Van Oord himself was rather of the same mind as Van Vliet on points of security. Neither of them troubled to take many precautions but relied on bluff to carry them through. Three Dutch refacteurs also lived in the house. One of these called GRIEP was, in informant's opinion, a thoroughly sound man - exceptionally security-minded.

Het betreft hier Wim Griep uit Zeeland. Om aan de arbeits einsatz te ontkomen had hij zich ingeschreven bij de school voor Autotechniek in Driebergen. Automonteurs waren nog vrijgesteld van de arbeits einsatz. Op 17 mei 1943 trekt hij met medestudent Jan Oostenrijk bij Bram van Oord in huis. Verder waren hier ondergedoken Piet Dirks en Frans Essenstam, deze laatste studeerde economie in Rotterdam. Medio oktober voegde Dodo Berretty hier zich nog bij. Samen met Bram van Oord voerden zij verzetsacties uit.
Als hun de grond in Doorn te heet onder de voeten werd, of als er razzias plaats vonden doken zij onder in de duiventil op het landgoed Hydepark in de buurt van Driebergen dat eigendom was van de familie Nagell. De dochter van deze familie Aurelie Louise Barones van Nagell (Steffie) bracht hen dan dagelijk voedsel en iets te lezen.
Van meet af aan wantrouwde iedereen George van Vliet (George Ridderhof) behalve Bram van Oord. Hoe Ridderhof met Bram van Oord in contact is gekomen blijft to nu toe een raadsel.


During his stay at this house, Van Oord did admit that there had been many arrests in the neighbourhood he thought that it would be wisest if informant did not meet his various contacts direct. Van Oord himself affered to contact these people for him and arrange meetings. Source agreed to this procedure being adopted.

Informant then sent Van Oord to contact Miss JANNIE REBEL in order that a meeting with JOOP might be laid on. Miss JANNIE REBEL's name and address had become known to London HQ in the following way: A Dutchman called
HANS (Warendorf) escaped from Holland and arrived in England. He had written a book dealing with the Psycho-analysis of a certain law. A friend of his, Miss JANNIE REBEL was translating this book into English. HANS passed over Miss JANNIE REBEL's name to the authorities on this side, stating that she would willingly act as a contact with the Dutch underground press representative, a man called JOOP (Stallinga) Through them HANS also passed on a description of Miss REBEL's house, giving details of the furniture, etc e.g. wireless set concealed in a wooden chest in a certain room and other intimate knowledge concerning both Miss REBEL and JOOP. Before leaving for England HANS had told Miss REBEL that he might send someone back to her, who would be informed of all the above details, etc. Miss REBEL agreed that if an agent did turn up from England she would put him in contact with JOOP. Source had been briefed, before leaving England on all the facts relating to Miss REBEL and JOOP. Some of these facts ha made known to VAN OORD to assist him in contacting Miss REBEL and persuading het to meet source. At this time, by a curious coincidence, source was known to his contacts as HANS, the same name as Miss REBEL's author-friend.
When Van Oord turned up at Miss REBEL's house
(Tuyll van Serooskerkenweg) with the information that HANS had returned to Holland from England and wanted to see her, Miss REBEL, under impression that this HANS was her old friend, immediately fixed an appointment to meet him.
Consequently, informant turned up at this rendezvous and met Miss REBEL, who was not unnaturally a little surprised to find that he was not the HANS she had been expecting. Informant, however, was able to clarify the situation and succeeded in convincing Miss REBEL that he could be trusted. A meeting with JOOP was then arranged. JOOP also accepted source when source volunteared intimate knowledge concerning JOOP's household, friends, etc, etc. JOOP promissed promissed to arrange for informant to meet other represenentatives of the Dutch underground press.


Organisations.

JOOP informed source of the lay-out of the clandestine press, which was as follows:

HET PAROOL press of which JOOP was a representative controlled the 2 papers:

I) TROUW
II) VRIJ NEDERLAND

JOOP was also connected with three other underground papers:

III) DE TREKOMST
(Toekomst?) Representative DIRK, from The Hague.
IV) HET VALK
(Het Volk?)
V) HET VADERLAND

and had contact s with another two:

VI) JE MAINTIENDRAI
(contact HANS of Amsterdam)
VII) DE GENS
(contact DIRK of The Hague)

JOOP was asked by informant to arrange meetings for him with the chiefs od (I) and (II). They, however, refused to contact informant direct as they had not received instructions from England of his arrival. Source offered to have a message sent through the BBC to prove his identity but to this they replied that this was no guarantee and quoted the case of the organisation of RINUS, where a man called VAN DER WOOLS
(van der Waals) had penetrated the organisation, gained the confidence of the WT-Operator and had had messages passed through the BBC.
These men then demanded that source should produce a declaration of indentity signed either by the Dutch Prime Minister or the Queen. To this source replied that such papers would be worthless as their forgery would be a very simple matter. This brought the whole thing to rather a deadlock. Eventually, however, the two chiefs deceided that they were willing to maintain communication with source through JOOP, promising that if informant couls persuade other underground nwespapers to publishanything they they would be willing to reprint it. Source agreed to this suggestion, thinking "half a loaf" was better than no bread. Therfore, he never established any direct contact with either (I) or (II) - all business being done through JOOP.
Informant had brought with him from England a camouflaged matchbox containing microphotographs of a proclamation giving instructions to the Dutch people as to how they were to conduct themselves during and after the liberation. This source was instructed to have published at the right time in all the underground papers.
JOOP introduced informant to
HANS of Amsterdam (Adriaan de Back?), who represented "Je Maintiendrai" and also to DIRK, (Cor van Paaschen?) who represented (III), (IV), (V) and (VII). The latter lived in The Hague. Source had several meetings with these two with regard to the publication of the proclamation by publishing this too soon and thereby suggesting that liberation was due to happen immediately.


Security.

During the time when the above negotiations and meetings were taking place, informant was still living in Van Oord's house. He had become more and more worried about the lack of any security precautions taken by the household and had received that if at all possible he was going to cut himself adrift as soon as he could fron from the Van Oord set-up and find a safe-house for himself. He was assisted in his plan by FREULE STEPHANI VON NAGEL
(Aurelie Louise barones van Nagell (1925), laatste telg van de Nederlandse tak van het geslacht; trouwde in 1949 met mr. Lodewijk Marius Pahud de Mortanges), whom he had met at Van Oord's. In his opinion, this girl was very security minded and was also extremely co-operative. She promised to find him a safe-house. It was source's intention when everything was fixed up to leave Van Oord's for a so called "appointment", but in reality to disappear to his new address and drop all contact with Van Oord and his organisation. In contrast to the total lack of security shown bij Van Oord's household, source stated that the underground press did observe rules and take precautions. For instance, meetings which were always held in private houses never took place at the same hour or in the same house  as the immediately previous meeting. Houses were changed in fact so frequently that there was little chance of them becoming "brule". Members came to and went from these meetings singly, no standing about in groups was allowed. As far as informant could judge discipline in the underground press movement was good.


Internal Communications.

Informant said that to the best of his knowledge, couriers were used, but he, himself, never had personal contact with any. Source used the ordinary mail on one or two occasions - sending supposedly business letters in veiled language, fixing times of appointments, etc, etc. A time convention was used, vis. the time stated in the letter was always 4 hours later than the time of the actual appointment. The place of meeting was not mentioned as this was usually arranged at a previous meeting. In an emergency, however, source met his contacts in the waiting-room at Doorn station. Informant considered the use of the ordinary postal service fairly safe as, as far as he could judge, there was no censorship. The telephone was also used for fixing appointments, but as the place of meeting was never mentioned and the same time convention was observed, little information could be gained by anyone listening in. It will be remenbered that informant's codes and ciphers, etc, etc was burnt at the time of the plane crash, therefore he was unable to write messages or letters in anything more source than veiled language and he kept this form of communication down to a bare minimum. He asked Van Vliet to request more codes, etc, from London and was later told that they would be sent in due course. They never arrived.


External Communications.

As source was without any means of direct personal contact with England and had no noe-time pads or codes, he passed messages to Van Vliet en clair. These Van Vliet passed on to his WT-Operator, who transmitted them to England
(via een door de SD gecontroleerde radio-link). In all, source sent 10 messages to England through Van Vliet's operator, with whom he never had any direct contact. In-messages were generally repeated to him verbatim by Van Vliet. One of the first messages sent by source was the request for another wireless set, plus codes, pads, etc. to be sent out to him as soon as possible. (Source dicovered on his return to London, that London had passed a message to Van Vliet's WT-Operator about the end of November that above equipment would be sent out to informant within a fortnight. He does not know if this was ever received or not, but he certainly did not receive it, although Van Vliet assured him that it was expected). After source had been at Van Oord's house for about 3 weeks or so, Van Vliet informed him that a WT set had come through London. A short time after this the set was brought to Van Oord's house by a man named PAUL. Source was little surprised to find that the transmitter had been tempered with and no the set could only be used for receiving. (Op deze manier kon Grün zelf geen contact met Engeland opnemen en hield de SD de touwtjes in handen). He was also astonished that no codes had been sent and asked Van Vliet if he had any explanation to offer. Van Vliet then told him that London had not actually sent the set direct but had given the information as to where a set could be found. Codes, etc would be sent later from England in about a fortnight.
Van Vliet introduced source to a man called KOOL, who lived a few minutes walk away from Van Oord's hous. (
Het gaat hier waarschijnlijk over Henri van Kol, Kamerlid van de SDAP, die allerlei bouwwerken in zijn tuin aan had laten leggen. Dit was aan de Bergweg in Doorn). KOOL had in his backgarden a gasproof shelter, which he had built several years before the war. Below the shelter there was a hide-out very cunningly concealed. KOOL gave source permission to use this 'hide-out" to store any incriminating material, including the wireless set and copies of all in and out messages. Informant had access to the garden through a side-gate which was kept open and so was able to go to and from this hide-out to Van Oord's house without without being seen by anyone. Source, however, took every precaution against being followed to his hide-out when leaving Van Oord's house and entering this garden.


Arrest of JOOP.

About 20th December, the printing works belonging to HET PAROOL
(in Amsterdam) was burnt down. JOOP, who knew that there was a large quantity of propaganda literature, etc, etc in the building had gone with some others to the scene of the fire to attent to salvage this stuff. Unfortunately, they arrived there too late as the pamphelts, etc had already been dicovered by the SD, who arrested JOOP and his companions. Source was informed of this arrest by REBEL. As JOOP had been his only contact with the two chiefs in charge of the papers (I) and (II) he was now completely cut off from them. REBEL, however, informed him that two men she called "representatives" of JOOP wanted to get into contact with source. Informant, however, refused to meet them as he had no proof of their identity.
The arrest of JOOP made informant extremely wary and more than ever determined get get away from Van Oord's house in case he himself should be arrested, but he knew he could not leave until he was in pocession of some Dutch identity, which he had been promised through a friend of Van Oord's.
(fout, dit moet zijn Van Vliet, alias Ridderhof). These papers were eventually obtained about the end of December in the following way: - A friend of Van Oord's knew a Dutchman, a former resident of Munchen-Gladbach. This man had been bombed out and had lost all his identity papers in an air-raid on Munchen-Gladbach. He had approached the German authorities in Munchen-Gladbach and had been given a permit granting the issue of fresh identity papers, on tis presentation at the Town Hall in Doorn. This Dutchman had already obtained his new set of papers, but the authorities at the Town Hall had handed his German-issued permit back to him. At a meeting arranged between source, Van Oord's friend and employes of the Town Hall, who was willing to co-operate and who was responsible for the issue of new papers, source was told to erase the exsisting name on this permit, a betitude his own and present it himself at the Town Hall at 10 oçlock on the following morning when this particular employee would be on duty and would hand him the necessary offical document. Informant obtained his documents successfully. They were made out in the name of VEENENDAAL, who was supposed to be a teacher at a school in The Hague (which was very well known to source as he had worked there). He was supposed to be visiting friends at Doorn.


Arrangements made in case of arrest.

Fearing that the danger of his arrest was growing particular in view of
JOOP's capture, informant instructed REBEL what she was to do in case of his arrest. He prommised het that he would give away no information for 40 hours after his capture, but that after this lapse of time, it really compelled he would say that she was his one and only contact in Holland. REBEL had agreed to this and assured source that she had made all preparations to disappear completely in a few hours time should the need arias. All members of Van Oord's household also told source that they had made all the necessary arrangements for immediate flight on hearing of his arrest.


Arrest.

By the end of December, it had become absolutely essential for source to establish some sort of contact with the representatives of papers (I) and (II) in order that they could be informed of the decision reached by the other clandestine papers whom source had persuaded to publish his proclamation. Source, decided to ask REBEL to fix a meeting with the two "representatives" of JOOP, whom she had previously told him had wished to meet him. A meeting was duly arranged to take place in The Hague.


Het rapport gaat hierna verder met de arrestatie van Johan Grün op 3 januari 1944 op het station van Driebergen. Het vreemde is dat hij het in dit rapport niet heeft over het feit dat hij een telegram via een Orde Dienst zender in Zaandam (Hein opde Velde?) had verzonden. Het contact met deze zender werd gelegd door Bram van Oord, die natuurlijk nog mensen kende uit de periode dat hij zelf deel uit maakte van de Orde Dienst. Volgens de PEC 40-45 ging het om een B.I. zender. Grün moet toch in de gaten hebben gehad dat er iets aan George van Vliet niet deugde en hij vertrouwde blijkbaar zijn verbinding met Engeland ook niet. Volgens zijn boek heeft dit telegram er toe geleid dat Knoppers als dubbelspion werd ontmaskerd.


On the 3rd January, 1944, informant, therfore, set out for The Hague, carrying with him all the papers appertaining to the proclamation, etc. He was arrested by 5 SD men in civilian clothing, immediately he entered Doorn Station, from which he intended entraining for The Hague. With no fuss at all two of the men gripped hold of his wrists and led him to a waiting car. Source feared that the actual arrest had been so quiet no one would know of it and therefore no alarm would be given to his friends. So he suddenly threatened to make a dash for it, thus creating a disturbance and attracting the attention of all passers-by. Informant knew well that if only one or two people of the village had seen his arrest, the whole place would know within half an hour.
This was eventually the case and everyone concerned had heard of the arrest within an hour of its happening. (Source later found out that although all plans for escape had been made none were actually carried into effect and none of his various contacts left theit houses. This came about in the following way:- REBEL on hearing the news of his arrest, went to Van Oord's house and asked his advise; Van oord referred the matter to Van Vliet. Van Vliet instructed them all to remain where they were and he promised to see what he could do. No one was to leave until he, Van Vliet, gave the word. The reason for this was fairly obvious as it transpired later that George van Vliet was working hand-in-glove with the Gestapo). The Sd-men eventually got source under control and shut him in the car. He was driven to SD HQ, Binnenhof 27 in The Hague. He was not subjected to any interrogationor search until his arrival at HQ.

Wat is er met Bram van Oord en onder andere Janny Rebel gebeurd? Zijn zij ook gearresteerd? Hebben zij de oorlog overleefd?
Volgens het boek "Gedenkboek van het Oranje Hotel" geschreven door E.P. Weber heeft A.C. van Oord uit Driebergen van 31 januari 1944 tot 6 juni 1944 in het Oranje Hotel gezeten. Is vandaar uit verplaatst eerst naar Vught en later naar Sachsenhausen. Heeft de oorlog overleefd.
Jannie Rebel is ook gearresteerd, heeft vijf maanden in het Oranje Hotel gezeten en is vervolgens via Vught naar Ravensbrück gebracht. Ook zij heeft de oorlog overleefd.


Search & Interrogation.

Here source himself was asked to empty his pockets. All papers relating to the proclamation were discovered. Source was not carrying a weapon or other compromising material on him. After this rather summary search source was interrogated by groups of 4 men, who were changed over every 8 hours. The interrogation went on for 56 hours non-stop, during which time he was quite well treated, being allowed food, cigarettes, tec, but not a moment of sleep. During this lengthy interrogation, the SD first tried to establish source's real name, evidently suspecting that the name on his identity card was false. Informant does not think that any check or verification of this was carried out at the townhall as he afterwards heard that the employee who had assisted in obtaining his identity card, was never questioned. Source's game, of course, was to play for time, in order to give the 48 hours warning he had promised his friends. After this time limit had expired informant, through sheer exhaustion, admitted his real identity, stating that he had been an officer in the Dutch Army, who had managed to reach England, from which country he had come to Holland as an agent.

He was packed off and sent under guard to Scheveningen
(Orange Hotel) where he was subjected to futher interrogation on his mission, contacts in Belgium and Holland and training in England. Source withheld this information and was badly knocked about by his questioners for about half an hour. In the end he told them the address of Van Oord's house. (as the occupants of Van Oord's house had not left, as they had promised source they would, they were all arrested and a thorough search of the house was made. As far as informants knows the only compromising article belonging to him that they found was the pistol given to him by Van Vliet. DODO, one of the refracteurs, who lived at Van Oord's  on questioning admitted that this pistol belonged to informant. Source however, was never confronted with or accused of having had this pistol in his possession.

Wie is Dodo? Volgens Biallosterski die hem schijnbaar ontmoet heeft, was Dodo zeker niet Johan Grün zoals men eerst veronderstelde. Volgens Biallosterski was Dodo een man met een groot rond gezicht, terwijl Grün een magere man was. Een van de andere vertrouwelingen van Bram van Oord was een boekhandelaar uit Doorn. Tobias Biallosterski wist niet wie dat was.
Grün verklaart tijdens het PEC interview dat Dodo, Dodo Beretti heette, dat hij in het huis van Bram van Oord woonde en dat zijn vader bij het persbureau Anep-Aneta werkte.
Het gaat hier inderdaad om Dominique Berretty.  Zijn vader Dominique Willem Berretty was oprichter en hoofdredacteur van het Indische telegrafische persbureau "Aneta". Hij verongelukte met het KLM vliegtuig "de Uiver" in december 1934. De moeder van Dodo was de bekende toneelspeelster Mien Duymar - van Twist.

On the 12th of January informant was moved to Haaren, where he as a Dutch officer complained of the treatment he had received at Scheveningen. He was told that treatment of this kind was completely unauthorised and that the matter would certainly be reported and that the men concerned would be "taken down a peg or two". Here informant was subjected to futher questioning - firstly by a man called MAY (Ernst Georg May), later by a man called SCHUMACHER. This interrogation started on the 16th January and went on until the end of March.
MAY - an extremely clever interrogator - was obviously concentrating on questions regarding source's training in England, schools attended, etc. At first source would admit nothing. MAY then showed his an almost complete list of the S.T.S.
(opleidings scholen) in this country to refresh his memory. This list not only gave the names, locations, lay-out of rooms and grounds, etc, etc, of the various "schools" but was so detailed that it even gave the colour of the bathroom tiles, etc. Everything down to the smallest detail seemed to be known and carefully listed. A very complete card-index giving names of personnel, instructors, etc, employed at each school was also in the possession of these inerrogators. Schumacher left this index on the desk one day when he was called out in the middle of an interrogation and source was able to have a quick look through it. Names and personal descriptions of the members of the Dutch section were also given - source remembered seeing the following names: SNEWING, KNIGHT, BINGHAM, OLIVER, MISS BOND. The address of the Dutch Office was given as Eaton Square and there was an added note that students were usually asked to turn up at the Cumberland Hotel, the usual meeting-place. In the "Schools list" informant remembers seeing the name - HORNSBY, CLARK (and his dog "Smuggler"), DOBIE (previously librarian at the Scottish university), etc, etc. These were all listed under the correct schools. Particulars of subjects taught, plans and drawings of the various buildings had all been carefully collated. The only school which they didn't appear to have much information about was the propagandaschool.
During MAY's interrogation source had been asked leading questions about Beaulieu but source denied having been there and stuck to his story even though his memory was constantly being fogged by the production of more and more detailed descriptions of each of the houses there. MAY asked him to give a complete list of all the schools he had attended, all the subjects taught, the names of the instructors and those of his fellow students. In view of their obviously extensive knowledge of the "set-up" informant admitted having attended some of the schools and having learnt such subjects as weapon-training but left out such things as experience in the use of secret ink, codes, ciphers, etc. He was also asked one or two leading questions on "silent-killing" but as he told them he was a peace-loving man he had not shown any interest in this and had not received instruction. When asked to give names of fellow-students at S.T.S. 52, source replied that he had been trained with an assortment of nationalities and had no memory for foreign names. These questions were all repeated to him after a lapse of 24 hours. Informant was not quite sure if he always repeated himself correctly, but thinks he must have as he was seldom subjectedto further repetition of the same questions. MAY wrote down his answers without comment. When hard pressed to give the names of the instructors source gave completely fictitions names and volunteered the information that no list of instructors names could really be kept up-to-date as they were changed so frequently.
He was also questioned about THAME of which he was shown a very accurate drawing. Guessing that they were really very ignorant about the propaganda school, source gave a full and lively description of a completely fictitious place, exsisting only in his imagination. All this was carefully annotated. MAY also questioned him on local conditions in England; - rationingrestrictions, newspapers, propaganda, etc, etc.
He was then given pen and paper and told to write out all briefing instructions given him before his departure from the UK. After putting it off for a long time he produced half a sheet of phoney briefings. No comment was made but a number of fresh sheets of paper, each bearing the same heading as his original briefing dossier were put in front of him and he was told that with this further aid to his memory he might be able to tell them a little more. He still managed, however, not to give too many away, explaining that his briefing had been vert short and not at all comprehensive and that further instructions should have been sent to him from time to time but he had been arrested before receipt  of them.
SCHUMACHER then took over the interrogation. He was a very talkative man and source found it comparatively easy to distract his attention from the matter in hand, consequently time passed and SCHUMACHER did not obtain much more information. This went on for about 6 weeks. SCHUMACHER evinced great interest in the works of the German philosophers and the interrogation of source usually turned into a discussion on philosphy. The authorities, however, suddenly awakened to the fact that SCHUMACHER was not producing the "goods" and source thinks that he must have been severely reprimanded because he suddenly got down to real business once more. Source was asked in great detail what he knew about resistance groups and secret organisations. Source denied all knowledge of such activities. The entire interrogation was carried on in German and informant was quite well treated although he was extremely conscious of the fact that it was his interrogators intention to wear him down with none-stop questioning. Source learnt later that much more brutal methodes were used on other suspects during interrogation. Interrogation was completed by the end of March.

Source continued to be held at this prison after his interrogationwas over until the end of July. During this time he was shown various photographs, and asked if he could identify any of them. Source did recognise one of the photographs as that of a felloe student called KOOPS, but he did not admit recognition. He was never confronted by the actual subjects of these photographs. During his entire stay here, informant was kept in solitary confinement. The cells on either side and below informant's were either kept empty or were used by SS guards or either German personnel. Source was taken out by his guards for exercise. He was not allowed to leave his cell without first donning a mask which he was not allowed to remove until he returned to his cell. On only one occasion were the precautions re-isolation of cells relaxed, when on the 5th june source was moved into another cell. He had been aware during the day of an atmosphere of barely controlled excitement throughout the prison but could not guess the reason for this, having been out of contact with the outside world for so long. During his first night in his new cell, source overheard voices in conversation below him. Lying on the ground he was able to determine that there were at least three people in the lower cell and they were talking in Dutch. Next day he thought he heard tapping and after a bit replied by tapping out morse on the heating pipes. The men below were apparently Dutch refracteurs. They "morsed" to source the day's great news, namely that the long-awaited Allied invasion had begun. This was the first news of the outside world source had had since his arrest, other than from German-controlled newspapers.

Source had managed to get on fairly friendly terms with one of the SS guards and this man kept him supplied with newspapers even after the invasion and he was, therefore, able to keep fairly up-to-date with current happenings. In his new cell, source had been quick to note that the cardboard put over the fan-light above the door for black-out purposes, was unprotected by glass or a metal grid as was usual. He managed to cut out a small hole in this cardboard and by standing on a chair could watch what went on in the corridor outside his cell. In this way he managed to observe and identify several of the prisonners from neighboering cells. Amonst he recognised 2 fellow students HARRY SEYBEN (real name) and
BOB ZIPMA (Student's name) (Huub Sanders). He could not, however, speak to either.

About 24th July informant was moved to Vught, where he was kept for 5 weeks until the end of August. During the journey he recognised one of his fellow prisoners as GRIEP (He was living at Van Oord's home) and managed to exchange a few words with him. From GRIEP (Wim Griep) he heard that Van Vliet had turned out to be a double agent working for the Germans and that the whole set up of the organisation was, therefore, known to the enemy for some time. During his stay at Vught he managed to contact other fellow prisoners, one of whom was SEYBEN, whom he had seen at his last prison. SEYBEN told him that he had been arrested six weeks after his arrival in April, 1944 (19 mei), together with 3 or 4 others. Source also met 2 girls, the husband of one of them girls was an agent dropped along with ZIPMA and a Dutchman from South-Africa - TONY COSTER (Cnoops) by name - in April or May, 1944. Both of these men had been arrested shortly after their arrival.

About the end of August, source was given a red document called a "Schuhzhaftbefehl", which he was ordered to sign. This paper decreed that source was to be committed for trial as having participated in an illegal organisation. Source stated that a white Schuhzhaftbefehl was also in existens. the "white" variety stated that the authorities were satisfied and no further interrogations or trials were deemed necessary, the holder would surely be retained as a prisoner from the date of signature. In a few days time informant was moved for trial to Utrecht. Owing to the extremely rapid advances of the Allies, however, he was not given a trial at Utrecht but was whisked away within less than a week to Anrath together with 80 others, some of whom had already been tried.
Here he remained for a week during which time he learnt that the dossiers relating to the cases of all members of this party of 80 had been mislaid - this was probably due to the state of chaos already resulting from the Allies lightning advance. About the 10th September, the whole party was moved to Lutteringhausen where thanks to the continued absence of any records whatsoever, they wereable to pass themselves off as civilian internees. Source remained here until the 11th November , during which he met a Lt. DE JONG, a Lt. BOSSE BUYSMAN (Borssum-Buisman) and a Lt. TONNET, all of them belonged to Major SOMER's Office (Bureau Inlichtingen). All three had been tried and condemned to death.
When source was moved to Hamlin (Hameln) on 12th November, 1944 other members of the original party of 80 were also transferred. This move, in source's opinion, was occasioned by the rebellous attitude which he and the others had adopted towards the authorities. The move was, therefore, by way of being a punitive measure. The 3 Dutch officers above-mentioned were included in the transferred party. TONNET and BOSSE-BUYSMAN managed to escape en route by jumping from one of the last coaches of the train when half-way through a tunnel. At Hamlin the "Civilian internee" story did not go down. although their papers had not yet been brought to light. Several members of the party were subjected to interrogation and the Governor of the prison was able to establish that 29 members of the party had already been tried and had been condemned to death and the others were awaiting trial for major offences. Eleven members of the later category, including informant, were sent to Hanover on 26th January, 1945. They were interrogated here by the Gestapo until 11th February all of the eleven being accused of having worked for the Orde Dienst.
From Hannover they were transported to a labour camp at Lahde (??). The treatment here was of the brutal sort meted out in the now widely-publicised horror camps. Starvation was only one of the many ils they had to suffer. By 20th March, three of their number had already died and another was dying when they again moved; this time to the POLIZEI PRASIDIUM at Hannover, where they were ordered to await transport to a concentration camp (Bergen-Belsen?). The expected transport did not arrive and on
April 5th source and others were told they were released as the Allies were on the point of entering the town. Including source, they now numbered only seven, the others having succumbed.


Enemy Counter-Intelligence.

Source stated that the "smaller-fry" amongst the local police were with very few exceptions, very patriotic. The Heads of Departments, however, having placed there by the Germans, were definitely pro-Nazi. All controls were carried out by the SD, though source thinks that many members of the Gestapo used the SD as a cover for their activities. Source heard that there were many controls on the main railwaylines, including the following:

AMSTERDAM - THE HAGUE
UTRECHT - AMSTERDAM
UTRECHT - THE HAGUE
UTRECHT - ARNHEM

It was the duty of these controls to check up on any people who appeared to be trying to evade the call-up of their age-group for forced labour in Germany.


Situation in Area.

Generally speaking, the population as a whole was extremely patriotic and their attitue very pro-resistance. While in the field informant did not recruit, train or pay any agents.


Criticisms of Mission, Equipment,etc.

Cover story.

Source has little faith in cover stories originated in this country. In order that a cover story covering the time an agent was absent from his country may be really water-tight, the collaboration of many other persons is absolutely essential. Unforfunately, it is usually quite impossible to contact these other people situated as they probably are in enemy occupied territory. Cover stories made up on the spot may have a modicum of success because some of the personalities involved can presumably be checked up beforehand and given any necessary briefing on the part they are called upon to play. If detained by the local police for questioning, provided that one keeps one's head, the chances of getting away with a plausible story are fairly good. on the other hand, Gestapo questioned will wear anything down.

Briefing.

Source feels that even if things had gone to schedule for him there would still have been almost insurmountable difficulties for him in fulfilling his mission, owing to the complete lack of any really concrete intelligence re the general state of affairs in Belgium and Holland. From what he was told during his training source gathered that it was almost impossible to move about somewhere in occupied countries without running grave risks or being controlled. In actual fact, with the exception of towns, very few controls or patrols were ever met. Had he known this source would have felt far more confident during his first few days. Details of the actual mission were given much too late and informant was not told until the very last moment in what part of Holland he would have to work, therefore, he spent hours at a time checking up on the whole country, whilst at the propaganda school. He considers his time could have been much more profitable spent if he could have specialised rather than generalised.

The micro-photographs which source carried were concealed in a match-box, which had a double bottom. This was the only bit of compromising material source kept on him after the plane's crash landing. Informant used this camouflaged box in the same way as he would use any ordinary match-box. During one of his meetings with Van Vliet
(Ridderhof) source passed him this box to light his cigarette. Van Vliet picked up the box, looked at it and remarked that he was sure it had a false bottom. When source asked him what he had made him say this, Van Vliet replied that this particular brand of such matches were always packed in boxes covered with white paper and not blue as in the case of source's box. Van Oord also commented on the box when he saw it a few days later.

On the Dutch identity card, which source had brought from England but which he destroyed at the time of the crash - his age was given as 23 years. When source arrived in Holland young men of 22 were already being called up for forced labour in Germany. Source feels that his age ought to have been given as 27, thus giving him a greater margin of safety.

Before leaving England, source was informed that there was no brilliantine or shoe polish to be found in Belgium. Informant, therefore, was very careful to see that his hair would show no trace of brilliantine or his shoes of polish. After his forced landing, walk through the fields and subsequent wait in the ditch near Oolen station, he was extremely dirty and untidy and felt that his dishevelled appearance made him particularly conspicous as he found on reaching Oolen Station that all the men there had brilliantined hair and beautifully polished shoes.


Suggestions for Training.

Source consideres that the whole training was a little too short. He suggests that at least some of the lectures should be given by agents or instructors who have recently returned from the part of the country under study. Many more partical points and details re living conditions, controls, and seemingly unimportant but really vital information could be given to the students in this way.

Informant considers that some lectures were far to detailed, e.g. lectures on reconition of different types of German uniforms, etc, etc. This time, he thinks, would have been more profitably spent if devoted to weapon-training especially on German weapons.

During his training, source asked to be given tuition in driving a car, but this was refused; the excuse of petrol rationing being given.He consideres that every agent should be thought how to handle a car and motor-bicycle, how to maintain and immobilise vehicles. Source could have made profitable use of this knowledge during his mission.


Einde trancriptie.

Naar aanleiding van het feit dat London het contact met BRUTUS verloor werd Tobias Biallosterski eerder dan gepland in Nederland gedropt, om de missie van Brutus voort te zetten en om uit te zoeken wat er met hem gebeurd was. Biallosterski en Steman werden in de nacht van 31 maart op 1 april gedropt.
Johan Grün.
Johan Grün is op 18 februari 1920 geboren in de Drie Oktoberstraat te Leiden. Na de oorlog woonde hij eerst in Bussum en is later naar Engeland verhuisd en heeft onder andere voor UNICEF gewerkt.
w.mugge@home.nl
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