Lt. Cecil 'Tuck' Belton Midwoud

On the return, Belton's B-17 'The Lucky Lady' flew alone back to England, slowed down due to Flak damage over Germany. He had just crossed the Zuyder Sea in Holland when the aircraft exploded over Wervershoof, in the top of the Dutch northwest peninsula. Debris and bodies came down in a field 300m northeast of Midwood. Pilot Belton was thrown clear in the explosion high in the air and could use his parachute. All other crew members fell dead on the ground. Buried next to each other in hamlet Midwood, in the churchyard cemetery

Lt. Belton: "I was unconscious for some time; a parachute pack hung above me in the air. I had the pack strapped only to one D-ring on my shoulder. I managed to pull the cord. Unable to control the chute, I spun around under it. I landed in a field, hard on my back in 6 inches of snow. In the distance, civilians in wooden shoes came towards me".

In another world. American pilot 'Tuck' Belton in Holland, Hungerwinter January/February 1945.

When Lt. Belton landed in northwest Holland on January 20, 1945, the situation was grim. It was the darkest days of Holland in WW2. After almost five years of German occupation, there was a shortage of everything, especially food. People were starving. The winter was dark and cold; there was no more electricity, gas, wood, coals, or petrol left. Curfew, no transportation. Resistance groups were very busy with all kinds of activities. The Germans had put up roadblocks everywhere, had firefights with the Underground, and shot groups of prisoners in the streets countermeasures. Belton had landed in the Dutch clandestine center of weapon droppings, where RAF aircraft nightly dropped containers with arms for resistance groups. It was a remote farm- and agricultural area, but particularly dangerous. Unaware of what turmoil he had landed, he soon learned all about it, still recovering from the loss of his crew, whom he paid his respects to on a cold night in Midwood Church, used as a morgue January 21, 1945.

Lt. Belton was with the Dutch Underground for 6,5 weeks (46 days), January 20 - March 7, 1945. His experiences and his March 9 Escape & Evasion report give an excellent and exciting insight into the Dutch Jan/Feb. 1945 WW2 situation, as witnessed by an outsider passing through.

The Chicken House

After landing in the field, Belton was put on a bicycle, but he had never ridden one. Between two resistance men (Flip Fluitman & Trenk Kooter), he was kept upright and brought to a farm for a clothing change. His flying gear and uniform go under a barrel of cabbage, and he receives civilian clothes. A few miles is pedaled further to an old wooden chicken shack, 'chicken house,' as Lt. Belton recalls. This is an old stable in a field behind the farm 'De Eendenkooi' in Midwood-Oost, owned by Gerrit Kanis. It is the hide-out of a group of resistance fighters, most of whom belong to 'Westfriesland-post/Enkhuizen .'He stays there until January 28. Via higher resistance channels in Amsterdam, the identity of Belton was checked by transmitting (in Morse code) his service no. to London. The military passed on the death of all Belton's crew to London.

Belton recalls, "there were 12 to 16 members of the underground in the chicken house; one was a woman". This was Ms. Alie Commandeur, the eldest daughter of Themis Commandeur. He owned the farm in nearby village Venhuizen, which was the previous hide-out of the resistance group. At this farm, another American on the run came to the door in July 1944: waist gunner Arthur F. Brown of B-17G 42-97983 (crew Cribbs). His B-17 bomber had collided over Hoorn with another B-17; both crashed. Sgt. Arthur Brown had become a member of this resistance group for months but left December 24, 1944, a month before Lt. Belton's arrival on January 20, 1945. Sgt. Arthur Brown tried (successfully) to reach Allied lines in the South of Holland. Brown had shot dead opponents while with the group, and despite his short stay, Lt. Belton would do the same.

The resistance also had a British airman in its care during the Belton period. This was (Scottish) Flight Sgt. Henry Radcliffe, navigator of the nearby crashed (Twisk) twin-engined Beaufighter NE465 of RAF Coastal Command 254 Squadron (pilot F/Sgt. Arthur J. Maton, KIA January 17, 1945, grave in Twisk). They soon brought Radcliffe in contact with Belton. From April 16, 1945, the group kept underground a Spitfire pilot (Spitfire NH425). That was a Norwegian: Sgt. Bjarne Aasberg of 332 RAF (Norge) Sqn.

Under. Names Lt. Belton remembered of the men in the chicken house. Followed by our (2017) initial attempt for identification:

Images below.

Group portrait of the resistance men May 1945. Right: STEPHEN visits in 1990 farmer Gerrit Kanis, owner of the chicken house.

The January 22, 1945 Shooting at Cafe Bantam in Hoogkarspel and Enkhuizen Hospital.

"Plenty of arms at the chicken house," said Belton. "They issued me a Colt .45, a Smith & Wesson revolver, a Winchester rifle, and a small British MG (machinegun, Stengun) to use when on guard". Already after two days, Belton was taken along on emergency action. Thirty civilians cutting down roadside trees for firewood were arrested by Landwachters (armed Dutch Nazi-collaborators, traitors, "Quislings," as Belton says). The chicken house group decided to free the civilians by scaring away the Land Wachters. Some of the Land Watchers had gone to find transport; two others guard the prisoners assembled in cafe Bantam in village Hoogkarspel. The resistance men fired at the restaurant, one land Wachter came outside and was shot dead. The other went around the back and encountered STEPHEN. His sten gun jammed, and subsequently, Stephen was shot through the chest and an arm by the Landwachter. Stephen fell behind a bush. The Landwachter reached over the brush to finish the job, but Stephen drew his pistol and shot into the traitor's hand that held the gun and could get away.

Belton: "We took Steve, who could talk a bit English, to a small hospital" (Enkhuizen). "I was on guard outside the hospital. Around the corner came two "Quislings," I did not know what to do. One moved his hand to his sidearm. I opened fire first and shot them both with my sten gun". "Everybody rushed outside. I ran until I was in an orchard and hid there for the night. It was ice-cold. A black dog came to me. I kept him under my coat, so we kept each other warm. The next morning our men found me and took me back to the chicken house".

The shooting would have consequences unknown to Belton, who left the chicken house on the 28th. On February 6, a German truck stopped in Hoogkarspel, and five men were executed as a reprisal. They had nothing to do with the above incident but were captive resistance fighters from Amsterdam Weteringschans-prison: Joris Ruijter, Cor Schreuder, Anton Ammerlaan, Jan Bos, and Johan Bos. A monument was erected for them in Hoogwoud (remembrance).

29 January - 2 February 1945. Spanbroek, Wormerveer, Zaandam (Hembrug bridge) to Amsterdam.

The leaders of the Underground decided it was better to move Lt. Belton further south, to the frontline, and cross to Allied lines. He left the chicken house, was shortly back in Midwoud and on-farm 'Mandrill' (resistance HQ for the weapon droppings fields, commander Mr. Hil Schipper), and met Scottish F/Sgt. Henry Radcliffe in a safehouse in small-town Spanbroek-Obdam. From then on, Belton and Radcliffe were a team. Together and accompanied by guide "Janish" (Jannes, age 25), they bicycled towards Zaandam. Stayed there three days with a woman (30) and two small children. She was also hiding a doctor in the attic—her husband slave-laborer in Germany.

The Hembrug-bridge had to be crossed between Zaandam and Amsterdam. To the guide's horror, they saw how a large group of German soldiers (50) had arrived on the bridge, preparing themselves for a significant control on passing people. The three simply slowly zig-zagged between them; the guide said 'Guten Morgen' to the soldiers, who had not started the power yet and let everybody pass until seconds later the control started. Here Belton went through the eye of the needle. His false papers (below) were reasonable, but the qualification 'doofstom' (deaf & dumb) would not have gotten him through this control when challenged.

Text on above Belton's false ID: Willem Schenk. Born 16 October 1912, Zaandam NH (North Holland). Occupation: bookbinder. Issued on February 11, 1944. Home address: Westzijde 22. Remark: doofstom (deaf & dumb).

Rozenoord.

During bicycling and stay in Amsterdam, Cecil Belton witnessed executions. On January 30, 1945, five men were executed in a small park (Rozenoord) at the Amstel dike. That was nearby one of Belton's safehouses on Amstel Lane. The victims had an age between 19 and 26. They were shot as reprisal for resistance sabotage (blowing-up) of electricity sub-stations that powered German facilities. Killed were Pieter Hartog, Jan Kloos, Jan van Nijendaal, Leen Reidsma and Thomas Treffers. The next day six men were shot on the same location: Gerrit Jonkhart, Karel J. Krop, Anton G. Siem, Ernst Meyer, Arnold Werst and Pieter Spel.

Hide-outs.

In the safehouses underway, Belton and Scottish navigator Radcliffe stayed in cramped hiding spaces that the Germans could not find in case of searching. According to Belton, food was very scarce "Civilians were eating cats and tulip bulbs, but he and Radcliffe got food that could be procured from the Black Market." Belton heard that the Germans sometimes shot bullets through suspected double walls, floor, and ceilings. Below is an example of WW2 hiding space, the Corrie Ten Boom house in Haarlem (below). Belton did not stay there to illustrate such hide-outs.

Amsterdam, 2nd to February 12, 1945, "Hans."

In Amsterdam, the two evaders came in the care of an essential underground agent: Tobias 'Hans' Biallosterski (alias "doctor Hans de Bruin''). This young Dutchman was only 25 years old, escaped to England at the beginning of the war, and parachuted back as a secret agent in Holland twice. He was the initiator and organizer of the weapon droppings around Midwoud-Spanbroek and maintained contact with England via morse-code transmitters and receivers (also dropped by parachute). Belton and Radcliffe had landed in the dropzones that Hans had set up with priest-student Hil Schipper, who lived in Spanbroek, a codenamed 'Mandrill' farm. Hil became the drop-field commander. Belton and Radcliffe had now arrived in the Amsterdam headquarters of this very successful weapon smuggling organization.

Belton, in his March 9, 1945, Escape & Evasion report: "Amsterdam. Stayed in an underground HQ, where there was a small switchboard to which information was relayed and then passed on to a radio transmitter elsewhere. Hans ran this HQ (25, dark, 6 ft, slim, often dressed as a doctor with a black hat, RAF black boots, dark suit, and stethoscope, spoke English and had been trained in England". Belton's trained eye had noticed these Royal Air Force flying boots on Hans immediately. Hans had requested brown shoes to be dropped with the weapons at 'Mandrill' in transmission to England. The boots came but did not reach him. Hans's wife Eva (Danish, living in London) arranged to drop boots because of the cold. However, RAF boots were full-risk footwear in occupied Holland in 1945. A week after Belton and Hans had met, Hans was arrested at control in Wognum, in which the boots drew attention, but without the boots, he would have been arrested.

Belton: "Four girls worked in the Amsterdam HQ decoding and transmitting messages. They were: (1) Loli - 21, dark, heavy, Russian, (2) Geraldo, 21, brown short, glasses, South-Holland, (3) Josephine, 26, brown hair, dropped by plane with five other girls, resulting in broken leg still in a cast, (4) an American girl, 21, dark, 5'6", heavy. Also three men: (5) "Yat" - 24, 5'10", med. light br., (6) Posed as Gestapo - 6'2, slim, 35-40, (7) Carls - 28, blond, high forehead, sabotage chief".

Cecil Belton probably describes the persons: (1) Louise 'Laloe' de Vries. One of the dropping fields was named after her, (2) Gerda 'Geraldo' Meijer-Lankhorst, (3) Frankie 'Josephine' Hamilton, British agent, she broke her leg in nightly parachute jump into Holland, (4) Madeline van Geuns. Dutch father married her American mother in California, raised in the USA. (5) probably 'Yard' or 'Jard.' Dutch secret agent, also parachuted in Holland, the real name of 'Jard' was Gerard du Celliée-Muller, (6) doctor Henk Veeneklaas ?, (7) possibly Jaap Carels, technical specialist and chief of the 'Brandt Group' who had built an illegal telephone network in Amsterdam.

Belton heard in the HQ that they had blown up electricity (transformers) buildings as sabotage. He may not have known that the executions he saw on the 30th were German reprisals for this. On February 7, five well-known and influential Amsterdam civilians were shot at Rozenoord as reprisal for the liquidation of 'Quisling' Jan Feitsma. On February 9, ten men (most arrested for printing an illegal newspaper) were shot by a firing squad on the street to liquidate two Quislings in Zaandam. That was on the Prins Hendrikkade (monument) towards Hembrug bridge that Belton had crossed a week earlier.

On February 11, 1945, the Amsterdam HQ fell. Gerda 'Geraldo' was arrested when she returned to collect some left clothes. Hans and Jard were arrested on the 10th in village Wognum after a meeting with Hil Schipper at the Mandrill dropping fields the day before. Arrested with them were also three other influential men in their organization. Belton and Radcliffe hid in safehouses in Amsterdam and left the city to the south between 9 and 12 February 1945.

Alphen a/d Rijn, Rotterdam, Zwijndrecht (15 February), first frontline-crossing attempt from Sliedrecht.

After Amsterdam, the first stop was Alphen aan de Rijn, where they stayed one night. Their guides were 'Black Bill' (dark hair) and 'White Bill' (blond hair). They were moved to Rotterdam, where another guide took over; it was 'Pierre.' He took them to Zwijndrecht. He stayed there for three days in the house of a policeman named 'Freek' (40 years); he had a big wife, his mother-in-law living in, and two boys of 12 and 14 years old. On February 19, Pierre and Freek took Belton and Radcliffe to Sliedrecht.

In Sliedrecht was a safe house on the river dike (Molendijk 16) from where nightly trips to Allied-held territory were made, by canoe, a 15 kilometer long and dangerous journey to Lage Zwaluwe. They had to cross the New Merwede River (Waal), pass through the 'Biesbosch' swamp with numerous German machinegun posts, and finally cross the Amer River (Maas) to enter the small Lage Zwaluwe harbor.

Sliedrecht - Lage Zwaluwe

The route Sliedrecht to Lage Zwaluwe (Allied territory) was a new one (first trip 6 February 1945), set-up by Bertus van Gool (Desiderus Hubertus) and Jacobus Bakker, codename 'Alblas'. The starting point was the house of Bertus' mother-in-law, Molendijk street no. 16. In the cellar was a hidden room. The men had crossed to the liberated south of Holland before via other lines and were included in the Canadian Army and appointed' cross master.' They were issued Canadian uniforms, canoes, and weapons. In total, the line had about 21 resistance men in service as cross master (group photo). Also, Canadian special forces were involved, led by Captain 'Andre'.

Before dawn, the Dutch crossers delivered persons and intelligence in Lage Zwaluwe and canoed back through the frontline (Biesbosch) to their homes in Sliedrecht before start. Another line ran from Werkendam to Drimmelen. They returned to the occupied zone with medicines and especially insulin. Each man made between 5 and 50 trips between November 1944 and May 1945 (450 trips made in total).

The new line was intended to cross mainly military personnel to own lines, such as downed pilots, secret agents, and British paratroopers that were underground since the battle of Arnhem in September 1944. The first trip was made by cross masters Jan Visser ('Grey Jan') and Koos Meijer, night five, on February 6, 1945. First passengers came from hidings in the Amersfoort-Barneveld-Maarn region. They were no less than the wounded British 1st Airborne Brigadier-General John Hackett, Colonel Graeme M. Warrack, and Captain (MD) Alexander Lipmann-Kessel, the South-African Airborne surgeon who operated on Hackett when they both were POW and Hackett was shot through the stomach. The trip of Lipmann-Kessel failed, but the 2nd try on the 10th was successful, and he was reunited with Hackett.

Belton and Radcliffe and four British paratroopers were crossed on the 4th trip night, February 19, 1945, but Captain Andre was not there with his boat at the Rendez-Vous point, and all had to be returned to Sliedrecht. Belton: "Our guides were 'Lofty' (22, very tall) and Pete (24, dark). We had hoped to meet a Captain 'Heaps,' who ran a Canadian patrol boat on the river, but he was not there". "Next days I stayed in Sliedrecht, three days with a couple who had six girls, age 8 - 20 years, name wife 'Tinie.'

Zoll-sekretär Willy F.E. Fischer

After the failed crossing on the 19th, Belton and the other five had to wait three weeks underground in Sliedrecht. What nobody knew is that German searches for Lt. Belton and F/Sgt. Radcliffe in the Midwood area went on. It was known to the Germans that a crew member of the crashed American bomber was hidden somewhere around Midwoud, as was the navigator of the downed RAF Beaufighter.

In Medemblik was stationed a fanatic Nazi, a Dutchman named Willy Franz Emil Fischer. He was a military border control and customs agent, Dienststelle Zollgrenzschutz Medemblik, attached to the German Schutzkommando in north Holland. Under his leadership, he and his men brutally interrogated civilians in Midwoud and Oostwoud on the whereabouts of the airmen. The resistance men of the chicken house and the Madrill-farm decided to teach him a lesson and warn him to back off. On February 17, they shot up Fischer's car, wounding Fischer. On February 27, the reprisal came. The Germans took five resistance men from Amsterdam-Weterschans prison. There was no transport to Midwoud available. Therefore, the five were executed in Amsterdam, again at the Amsteldike in Rozenoord park, not far from Belton's Amsterdam safehouses he had just left. Victims names: Zeger Besterveld, Leo Bosch, Dirk and Jacob van der Heijden and Jacob Roman.

In December 1951, the Dutch still had Fischer in captivity for his violence in Dutch towns in WW2. After a trial in December 1951, with also charged in the indictment for confiscating food, furniture, clothes, and money. He was set free because the sentence for imprisonment did not exceed his remand. He was expelled from Germany.

Photo above. Crossers Adriaan de Keizer (back) and Piet van den Hoek (front) on the Allied river side. Sten guns ready on their knee. They are waiting for darkness to go back. The canoe is an American or Canadian one, motorized. The engine was insulated for sound and exhaust with a muffler, but it was not silent enough and only used where it could. The floater on the side is probably the mooring buoy.