J. van Essen

J. VAN ESSEN

About: ◐ Named by the historian Wolter Noordman, and by him alone, as the owner of the barn near Harskamp where Murphy and James Hardy spent the night of 24–25 November 1944 with Davison, an RAF officer and four American airmen. Noordman also has men of the party stranded in the woods after Pegasus II brought to the same man's barn by horse and wagon.

Unit or role: ◐ Owner of the barn, by Noordman; no source gives his first name, his work or his dates.

Where: "Westerhuisweg, Harskamp" (Noordman, p. 285); "Driehuis/Harskamp" (p. 259).

Evidence: ◐ Noordman, Schuilplaats de Veluwe (2019), pp. 259, 285, 337, the only source for his name; ✓ Hardy's MI9 report, which has the barn but not its owner; ◐ the same barn, unnamed, possibly in Noble's report, Stearns's E&E 2870 and Boeree, Kroniek van Ede (1947), p. 202.

Nothing has been found about him before November 1944. Where the searches went is under Searched, not found.

◐ Noordman has the barn in use four days before Murphy reached it. After the failed Pegasus II crossing of 17/18 November, Allied men brought by lorry from Elburg (24 by Boeree, of 40 expected, p. 201; about twenty by Noble, Hardy and Noordman) were set down in the wrong place, missed the column and were left in the woods; by the evening of the 20th, after moving to another plot, they were sitting opposite the forester H. van de Brink's house (Boeree, p. 202); Murphy's small party was with them for a night and a day and left at three in the morning of 20 November (Hardy; Noordman, pp. 284–285). Noordman: "Deze groep is uiteindelijk op maandagavond 20 november door Eb van Omme en Gerrit van Ee met paard-en-wagen opgehaald" (this group was finally fetched with horse and wagon on the evening of Monday 20 November by Eb van Omme and Gerrit van Ee) (pp. 284–285; Eb van Omme, Gerrit van Ee).

Adrian Davies. One of them, the RAF fighter pilot Adrian Davies, who told his story to Noordman about 1990 (Noordman, p. 250), described the move:

One morning someone finally came with a big tub of kale stamppot. … That evening there followed a transport by horse and wagon and we ended up in a barn. First of all I hung my fur-lined boots on a beam to try to get them dry. Now and then someone from the underground came over to talk to us. From that barn I left, with Frank Batterbury, for a farm in the neighbourhood of Barneveld.

Dutch originalOp een ochtend kwam er eindelijk iemand met een grote bak boerenkoolstamppot. … Die avond volgde een transport met paard-en-wagen en kwamen we terecht in een schuur. Allereerst hing ik mijn met bont gevoerde laarzen aan een balk in een poging ze droog te krijgen. Zo af en toe kwam iemand van de ondergrondse naar ons toe om met ons te praten. Vanuit die schuur vertrok ik samen met Frank Batterbury naar een boerderij in de omgeving van Barneveld.

— Adrian Davies, as printed by Noordman · Schuilplaats de Veluwe, pp. 258–259

The same paragraph ends "De schuur was bij J. van Essen, Driehuis/Harskamp. Later werden wij ondergebracht bij G. van den Brand, Wesselseweg, Kootwijkerbroek." (The barn was at J. van Essen's, Driehuis/Harskamp. Later we were put up with G. van den Brand, Wesselseweg, Kootwijkerbroek.) (p. 259). ◐ The sentence sits inside Davies's quoted account, which closes only at the end of his Goggin paragraph (p. 261), and is in his first person ("Later werden wij…"), so as printed it is his, in Noordman's edition of what he was told. "bij" says the barn was at or with J. van Essen, not that he owned it; in Hardy's chapter the same identification stands outside the quoted account, as Noordman's own note (p. 285, below).

Charles Noble. Charles Noble, an RAMC captain of the same party, reported to MI9 how they left the wood after a reconnaissance for food with Capt. Redman:

Two police then appeared, having been informed of our whereabouts by 3 of the party who had set out 24 hrs before. They arranged for us all to be taken away on a cart at about 10 o'clock to a barn where we spent 5 days. The following day a person named 'DICK', who seemed connected with British Intelligence arrived and arranged for food and clothing to be brought. The name of the owner of the barn can be supplied by him.

— MI9 · Capt. C. B. Noble, RAMC · report · Noble

At the end of the five days they were split up, and Noble was taken to the Klooster family at Barneveld (Noble).

⚠︎ Noble's own later account (unpublished private papers, shared with us privately), told long after the war, has a first reconnaissance at dawn with "Carl Sterns" (◐ Stearns, below) that ran into a German sentry hidden in the wood, then one with "Theo Redman" the next morning. Coming back they met "two Dutch people": "We told them that we were twenty five evaders hidden, and they refused to believe this"; the two were taken to see them and reported to the underground. They were then taken "to a barn near there, I think not far from Barneveld" for "about five days", and he thought they were "supplied with underwear and some cigarettes", part of "a massive drop that had come from London". It does not name the police, the cart or "DICK".

Carrol Stearns. The American Lt Carrol Stearns, who joined the party on 17 November, gave the Americans his account of the same night:

They waited in the woods until the evening of the 20th, when two of the British officers, Capt. NOBLES [sic] and Capt. REDMAN, decided to contact some Dutch, as the underground seemed to have abandoned them. … REDMAN got help, and a girl and two policemen came that night and led the group to a road where a horse-drawn wagon was waiting. They were taken to WINTERHUIS, about 5 miles north, and sent to various farms for a few days.

— US National Archives · RG 498 · E&E report 2870, 2nd Lt Carrol A. Stearns Jr · the report, PDF p. 3 (report p. 2)

Boeree. Th. A. Boeree's chronicle of Ede has the evening from the Dutch side, without the barn's owner. Piet and Rinus (◐ Willem van Dijk and Martinus van Beek) found Eb van Ommeren at H. Esveld's at Kootwijkerbroek, "die bereid was, die avond de 24 man uit het bosch te halen" (who was willing to fetch the 24 men out of the wood that evening); the wagon came at eight, Gerrit van Ee brought a tarpaulin, and "Zij werden gebracht naar een veeschuur te Westeneng en geleidelijk over de boeren verdeeld" (they were taken to a cattle shed at Westeneng and gradually shared out among the farmers) (Boeree, p. 202, checked on the page image).

J. van Vemde. J. van Vemde, ◐ very probably the keeper of the dug-out near Roekel, wrote in May 1946 that besides the men he hid, "zich nog 20 man verborgen hielden op een zekere plaats in het bosch" (another 20 men were hiding at a certain place in the wood); fed for two days, "Daarna zijn ze per auto door bemiddeling van Willem van Dijk te Harskamp naar verschillende onderkomens vervoerd" (after that they were taken by car, through Willem van Dijk of Harskamp, to various shelters). "Deze 20 menschen stonden onder bevel van een captaim [sic] Redman (of een dergelijke naam)" (these 20 were under the command of a Captain Redman, or some such name) (his letter, p. 8).

◐ That these are one move, to one barn, is our reading. All five put a group left in the wood and moved, by horse and wagon or cart in four of them (Noordman, Noble, Stearns, Boeree), by car in Van Vemde's; Redman is named with them by Noble, Stearns, Van Vemde and Noordman (p. 257), not by Boeree. Three date the move to the evening of 20 November (Noordman, Stearns, Boeree); in Noble and Van Vemde it follows only from the days they count, and Davies has "een paar dagen" in the wood. Only Noordman names the barn's owner, and the place is "Driehuis/Harskamp" in Noordman, "WINTERHUIS" in Stearns (◐ the Westerhuis of the Americans' cards, as John Craven's page reads it) and a cattle shed at Westeneng in Boeree (Where the sources disagree).

After four nights in the crowded dug-out near Roekel, Murphy and James Hardy left on the morning of 24 November 1944 for the farm near Otterlo they had set out from on the 18th. Hardy's MI9 report:

That night we were taken by a member of the Dutch Underground (WILLEM's brother) to a barn somewhere in the OTTERLO area, but as it was dark I have little idea where it was. In the barn I met Pte. DAVISON, an R.A.F. Officer, and four U.S. Aircrew, none of whose names I know. I understand that the Americans were members of a Fortress crew and had been shot down on 21 Nov.

— MI9 · Pte J. Hardy, 16 Parachute Field Ambulance · IS9/WEA/1/270/2351 · 13 January 1945 · the report

Leslie Davison had been in the wood with the larger party when Hardy's party left it on the 20th (Hardy), so ◐ his being in the barn on the 24th fits the barn the wood party was taken to. Noordman, printing Hardy's account, names the barn and the men in it:

The barn was J. van Essen's, Westerhuisweg, Harskamp. The RAF officer was John Craven. The four American airmen were the co-pilot Bob Blackburn, the navigator Sidney H. Willig, the bomb-aimer Harry Bonekat and the flight engineer and gunner Ray Haydel.

Dutch originalDe schuur was van J. van Essen, Westerhuisweg, Harskamp. De RAF-officier was John Craven. De vier Amerikaanse vliegers waren copiloot Bob Blackburn, navigator Sidney H. Willig, bommenrichter Harry Bonekat en werktuigbouwkundige en schutter Ray Haydel.

— Wolter Noordman · Schuilplaats de Veluwe (2019) · p. 285

The men in the barn each have a page: Leslie Davison; John Craven; Bob Blackburn; Sidney Willig; Harry Bonekat; Ray Haydel. Noordman gives no source for the names.

They stayed the night, and "the following evening DAVISON, MURPHY and I were taken by DICK and another member of the Underground to a nearby farm", from where helpers cycled them to the outskirts of Barneveld, and Hardy's "GHYS" and "JAN" took them on towards Achterveld; Noordman's note identifies them as Gijs van Zijtveld and Jan Dijkstra (Hardy; Noordman, p. 286). Gijs took Murphy and Hardy to Jacob Veerman's farm (Hardy; Achterveld).

"DICK". ◐ Noble's "DICK", who came to the barn the day after the wood party arrived, and Hardy's "DICK", who took the three British soldiers from it on the 25th, are very probably one man. Willig and Bonekat's helpers' list has a "DICK", 25, who "speaks High Holland Dutch and good English. Wore a British uniform. Was head of underground in area of BARNAVELD", with John Roskamp of Barneveld "DICK's" right-hand man (E&E 2976, Appendix C, p. 1, PDF p. 7). That the Barneveld "Dick" is the barn's "DICK" is ◐ our inference; that he was Dick Kragt is argued on Kragt's page and not settled.

◐ Noordman's list of the people who gave him information, under Bronnen (sources), has "Dhr. J. van Essen, Driehuis-Harskamp" among those in the Netherlands (Noordman, p. 337). The Netherlands entries carry no dates (the foreign ones do, as "correspondentie 1989-1991") and none says what each told him, so whether this is the barn's owner, or someone of the same name at the same place, and whether he is where Noordman's identification of the barn came from, is not shown. The same list has "Mr. L. Davison, correspondentie 1987-1997, interviews 1989, 1992 en 1994" (p. 335, under Canada), and Davison was in the barn on 24 November; whether the barn's name came from him is not shown. The list also has "Mrs. M. Craven, correspondentie 1987-1990, persoonlijk archief en interview 1989" (p. 336, under Groot-Brittannië); the book does not say whom she is or what she told him.

• Whose barn. Noordman is the only source for the name. Hardy did not know where the barn was (Hardy); Noble wrote that "DICK" could supply the owner's name and gave none (Noble); Stearns and Boeree name no owner.
• Where it was.
  • "Westerhuisweg, Harskamp" (Noordman, p. 285) and "Driehuis/Harskamp" (p. 259, and "Driehuis-Harskamp" in the informants' list, p. 337).
  • "WINTERHUIS, about 5 miles north", with no point named to measure from (Stearns, PDF p. 3); ◐ the same word as the Westerhuis of the Americans' cards, so the Westerhuisweg itself (John Craven); a cattle shed at Westeneng (Boeree, p. 202); "somewhere in the OTTERLO area" (Hardy).
  • The Westerhuisweg today has addresses in both Harskamp (municipality of Ede) and Kootwijkerbroek (municipality of Barneveld) (PDOK), and the Van Ee family of Gerrit van Ee lived at Westerhuisweg 8, Kootwijkerbroek, his father being a J. (Jan) van Ee (Gerrit's page). ◐ Whether the barn was near theirs is open (Open questions, item 23).
  • ◐ Same initial, same road: whether "J. van Essen" is Noordman's rendering of a J. van Ee, with Boeree having the men "bij van Ee in Essen" (p. 203) and Martinus van Beek listing "J. van Ee Westenegg" (Gerrit's page), is not shown either way. Noordman's informants' list has both "Dhr. G. van Ee, Barneveld" and "Dhr. J. van Essen, Driehuis-Harskamp" (p. 337).
• How the wood party was moved, 20 November. By horse and wagon or cart in Noordman (pp. 284–285 and p. 258), Noble, Stearns and Boeree; "per auto", by car, in Van Vemde's letter (p. 8).
• How many were in the barn.
  • Noble: the whole party, "about 24" by his own count before the move, taken to the barn and kept there five days (Noble).
  • Hardy, there on the evening of 24 November, met only "Pte. DAVISON, an R.A.F. Officer, and four U.S. Aircrew", and none of Noble, Redman or Stearns.
  • ◐ If the move was the 20th, Noble's five days would run to the 25th and so span Hardy's evening, and Davison is in both parties; but the headcounts do not match, so "one barn" stays our reading.
• How long they stayed. Five days by Noble; "a few days", at various farms, by Stearns; "geleidelijk over de boeren verdeeld" (gradually shared out among the farmers) by Boeree. Davies left the barn with Batterbury for a farm near Barneveld, undated (Noordman, p. 259).
• The Americans.
  • Willig's report, whose helpers' list covers Bonekat too, does not mention the barn or the British paratroopers. Its list has a farmer "VAN EE", 40, near Stroe, "Provided food and shelter 23 Nov 1944", and Teus Roskamp, described as a veterinarian, on a farm outside Barneveld, "Furnished food and shelter 24 Nov 1944" (E&E 2976, Appendix C, p. 1), which is the night Hardy has four American airmen of a Fortress crew in the barn with him and Murphy (the names are Noordman's).
  • Its next page also has an "Unidentified person" living in a small house off the road from Stroe to Harskamp, who "Provided shelter and meals 28 Nov - 2 Dec 1944" (Appendix C, p. 2, PDF p. 8), four days after the barn night.
  • Bonekat's own report and Haydel's do not mention the barn either (E&E 2977, 3057); no report was found for Blackburn (Open questions, the RG 498 row).
• The RAF officer. Noordman's John Craven; the Americans' cards put Craven near Westerhuis with Wilson, Riley and Knowles on 28 November, and with Blackburn and "Sgt Ray" of the Fortress crew at Kootwijkerbroek on 29 November (John Craven, with the cards).

• The British index of Dutch helpers has no Van Essen at Harskamp. Its E/5 sheet has four Van Essens: Dirk, Wielweg 15, Zwartebroek; Hermannus, Wachtelenberg B 263, Epe; Nies J., Doormansingel 18, Doesburg; and Siena, Jufferenpad 47, Meppel (the sheet, read on the image; the sheet prints Zwartbroek and Siena Miss).
• The American helper files hold five Van Essens, none from Harskamp:
  • Adrianus, a marechaussee of Veen, Noord-Brabant, born 1919 (his file);
  • Dirk, of Wielweg 15, Zwartebroek, born at Barneveld in 1884, who hid a wireless operator, "Aat", in March 1945 (his file, pp. 2–3);
  • Hermannus, of Epe, born there in 1903 (his form spells it Hermanus, the British index Hermannus), who says he collected Carrol Stearns and James Wilson from Doornspijk and "sheltered them for 1 month" (his file, p. 2; the table on p. 3 has them "17/10-17/11"). ✓ Stearns's own report names him: "Later he stayed with HERMAN VAN ESSEN at EPE (Z 8119) for three weeks" (E&E 2870, helpers appendix, PDF p. 6);
  • Nies J., a woman, of Doesburg (her file);
  • Siena, of Meppel (her file).
• The name sweep (Kew, Arolsen, Open Archives, Delpher, the Kamp Amersfoort and Neuengamme lists, the London Gazette and others) found other Van Essens only: most of the Van Essens in the Kamp Amersfoort and Neuengamme lists were arrested at Putten, none is tied to Harskamp, and the Gazette's are other men and firms (the sweep's hits).

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