Date of birth:

February 24th, 1898 (Sprang/Noord-Brabant, the Netherlands)

Date of death:

April 11th, 1962 (Sprang Capelle/Noord-Brabant, the Netherlands)

Nationality:

Dutch

Adriaan Lambertus van Wijlen, known as Jos van Vijlen (resistance name André) led the André resistance group. The group founded by André Boesman, who died early on, was active in the Langstraat area and later also in the Land of Heusden and Altena. They engaged in pilot assistance, raids, sabotage, etc., in short anything to thwart the enemy. From 1943, Van Wijlen started working with the Southern Netherlands Sector Leader of the Albrecht espionage group, Willem van der Mast, who operated from Hank in the Land of Heusden and Altena. Van Wijlen and Van der Mast discovered the possibility of exchanging messages via the telephone network of the Provincial Electricity Companies of which the Germans were unaware. This network was mainly used when the Intelligence Bureau for whom much of the intelligence was intended was located in Eindhoven. After the liberation of the South, Van Wijlen, as ‘Captain André’ as he was then called, became responsible as crossmaster in the South of the Netherlands for the crossings through the Biesbosch to still occupied territory.

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Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Awarded on:

December 14th, 1949

Distinguished himself in the performance of particularly courageous and determined deeds in the fight against the enemy by providing transport and shelter for a large number of Allied airmen. Then by carrying out sabotage work as leader of a resistance group in North Brabant and providing support to other important military intelligence groups.
In particular by stepping up sabotage work after the invasion by destroying railway lines, cutting enemy telephone lines, shooting down orderlies, hampering shipping traffic, attacking small ammunition transports and preventing bridges from being blown up.
Furthermore, in September and October 1944, front couriers were made available to three other resistance groups, who carried sketches, reports, etc. 21 times through the lines to liberated Eindhoven.
All this, although the enemy raided his house in early September 1944, even after escaping, always ready to support and lead the work of the resistance to the best of his ability, including in particular keeping the crew of two allied gliders out of enemy hands and finally bringing them through the lines. Finally, after the liberation of the southern Netherlands, he was also in charge of the transfer from liberated to occupied territory and organising an intelligence service in the Land of Heusden and Altena.

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

• - HOEK, PIET VAN DEN, Biesbosch Crossings 1944-1945, Kok Voorhoeve, Kampen, 1993.
  - SIMONS, J., Liniecrossers, Omniboek, 2021.