TracesOfWar needs your help! Every euro, pound or dollar you contribute greatly supports the continuation of this website. Go to stiwot.nl and donate!

Lanschot, van, Willem Charles Jean Marie "Bib"

Date of birth:
June 30th, 1914 (Vught, The Netherlands)
Date of death:
August 16th, 2001 (Eindhoven, The Netherlands)
Nationality:
Dutch (1815-present, Kingdom)

Biography

Do you have more information about this person? Inform us!

Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:
Tijdelijk Kolonel van het wapen der Cavelarie
Unit:
Inlichtingendienst, Ordedienst (OD), Nederlands Verzet
Awarded on:
August 29th, 1948
Recommendation:
For having distinguished himself in combat against the enemy by performing outstanding acts of courage, tact and loyalty, shortly after the enemy had occupied the Netherlands in May 1940, by starting to set up covert activities and taking charge of the intelligence service of what was then the Ordedienst.
Furthermore by contacting one of the first Dutch agents dispatched from England and lending him shelter and support as well as a radio operator, equally dispatched from England and taking charge of them both. In addition by drafting messages and collecting information beneficial to the Allied conduct of the war and sending them to England.
Moreover, after the agent and the radio operator as well as various members of the intelligence service mentioned above, had been arrested as a result of betrayal within the organization, continuing to deny with remarkable persistance any involvement with the intelligence service, even under inhuman torture and once during a continuos interrogation lasting 100 hours in order to save the lives of his comrades, after which he was transferred to Natzweiler in the Alsace first and later to Dachau without the enemy having succeeded in forcing him to confess.

Royal decree no. 8
Ridder vierde klasse der Militaire Willems Orde (MWO.4)
Period:
After War Period (1945-now)
Awarded on:
1948
Inhuldigingsmedaille 1948

Sources

  • Photo 1: Pauline van Till
  • - Heuvel C.C. van den, Gedenkboek Verzetsherdenkingskruis, Samsom Uitgeverij, 1985
    - Maalderink P.G.H., De Militaire Wilemsorde sedert 1940, Sijthoff Pers, Rijswijk, 1982

Photo