Date of birth:

June 7th, 1921 (Leerdam, the Netherlands)

Date of death:

February 12th, 2015 (Werkendam, the Netherlands)

Nationality:

Dutch

Cornelis Pieter van den Hoek, resistance name "Schele Piet" was a painter by profession. After a leave from Cologne where he was forced to work from October 1942 to November 1943, he went into hiding in the Biesbosch with the group of Jan de Landgraaf and others. This group captured 75 German soldiers in the Biesbosch and held them in two hidden houseboats. On 5-11-1944 they were -after a risky anyway- handed over to the Polish army in Drimmelen. Between November 1944 and May 1945 he was a courier for the Intelligence Bureau, making 37 crossings through the Biesbosch. He was a member of the Intelligence and Espionage Group "Albrecht". On 13-1-1945 things went wrong and he was arrested together with another crosser and transported to camp Waterloo in Amersfoort, from which he managed to escape on 11-2-1945 in order to cross again. After liberation, he worked for the Military Authority from 28-9-1945 and 31-8-1947. On Sept. 1, 1947, he was honorably discharged.

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Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Rank:

Burger (Civilian)

Unit:

Koerier Bureau Inlichitngen / Lid Inlichtingen- en Spionagegroep "Albrecht"

Awarded on:

August 30th, 1948

Recommendation:
For having distinguished himself in battle by eminent deeds of courage, tact and loyalty at the end of 1944 and the beginning of 1945, having repeatedly established the secret line of communication for the Department of Intelligence of the Dutch Government between liberated and occupied Holland via a waterway of 18 kilometers along the Biesbosch and the river Merwede, rowing at all times between extremely alert enemy posts and patrol boats.
Further, while on one of these trips, his boat having been riddled with bullets from an enemy patrol boat and he was arrested after having been forced to abandon his boat, for having escaped within a month and subsequently having assisted in maintaining the line of communicaton by boat between liberated and occupied Holland.
Finally by having taken part, in the company of a few other right minded Dutchmen, in raiding and takng prisoner small groups of heavily armed Germans who were subsequently locked up and guarded in motorbarges in a secluded part of the Biesbosch.

Royal Decree No. 8, dated August 8th, 1948.

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

• Photo: liniecrosserssliedrecht.nl
  
• - HEUVEL, C.C. VAN DEN e.a., Verzetsherdenkingskruis, Samsom Uitgeverij, 1985.
  - HOEK, PIET VAN DEN, Biesbosch Crossings 1944-1945, Kok Voorhoeve, Kampen, 1993.
  - MAALDERINK P.G.H., De Militaire Willemsorde sedert 1940, Sijthof Pers, 1982.
  - SIMONS, J., Liniecrossers, Omniboek, 2021.
  - Brons, Nr.70, Jaargang 20, 2011, Vereniging Dragers Militaire Dapperheidsonderscheidingen
  

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The Wilgenhorst Sliedrecht

Sliedrecht - South Holland