Memorial Arms Drop Hoge Hexel

On the night of 11 to 12 September 1944, a Short Stirling bomber left England for Hoge Hexel to drop weapons, ammunition, transmitting equipment and a so-called "Jedburgh" team around two o'clock in the morning. This team of three (Dutch Major Henk Brinkgreve, American Major John Olmsted and Irish Sergeant John Austin) aimed to better organise the resistance in the occupied area.

The dropping went well, but the SS stationed nearby had heard the aircraft, and the next day they combed the area completely, also questioning the population sharply and at gunpoint in vain.

The 'Jedburgh team' also found shelter in the area. Of this team, Major Brinkgreve found death in Losser on 5 March 1945 and Sergeant Austin died before a firing squad in Hattem on 4 April 1945. on 4 April 1945. Major Olmsted survived the war. He made another visit to the farm 'Het Kenkhuus' and their residents in 1980.

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Source

• Text: TracesOfWar
• Photos: Joop Rosseboom
• https://vrijheidwierdenenter.nl/lichtroute/route-noord-west/hoge-hexel-wapendropping/