The Leiden students who sailed to England during the Second World War
In a sailboat, a canoe or stowed away on a ship: during the Second World War, many Leiden students tried to cross the sea to join the Allies in Britain. ‘Soldier of Orange’ is the most famous, but who were the other ‘England voyagers’ or Engelandvaarders as they are known?
The risks were enormous: drowning, being arrested or being shot in the dunes before even leaving dry land. According to Museum Engelandvaarders, there are 136 known attempts by resistance fighters to cross the sea from the Dutch coast to unoccupied Britain. Only 31 of these attempts succeeded. The museum in Noordwijk aan Zee shares many remarkable stories, including those of the attempts made by students and recent graduates from Leiden. In this article, we highlight a few examples to ensure they are not forgotten. A selection of sources used for this piece is listed at the end.
It is estimated that more than 2,000 Dutch citizens tried to escape to England during the Second World War. The majority of these Engelandvaarders took the southern route, travelling to France or Portugal and crossing the sea from there. According to the National Archives, at least 172 people never reached England because they drowned or were arrested on the way. There were also a few female Engelandvaarders, such as Elly Nauta (1917-1960), but as far as we know, they did not study in Leiden.
First successful crossing
Three law students were the first to cross the North Sea from the Dutch coast: Kees van Eendenburg (1914-1966), Karel Michielsen (1918-1996) and Fred Vas Nunes (1914-2008). They could no longer bear to watch the Germans take control of the Netherlands. Their boat was a simple motorless dinghy that they used for sailing trips on the Kaag Lakes. The Netherlands had been occupied for just two months when they attempted the crossing on 5 July 1940.
It was a cloudy day, which was advantageous because visibility was poor. They took their boat by horse and cart to the beach at Noordwijk and told German soldiers there that they needed to take it to Scheveningen. Michielsen was an experienced rower for the Njord rowing club and with their combined strength they soon rowed their barely 3.5-meter dinghy through the surf. The Germans became suspicious and opened fire, but the poor weather ensured they disappeared from view just in time.
Reception in England
After two days struggling at sea, they were rescued by a British minesweeper. Radio Oranje broadcast the coded message, ‘The Bebèk has arrived’. This referred to Kees van Eendenburg: ‘bebèk’ means ‘duck’ in Malay [‘eend’ means duck in Dutch]. In England, they were received by Queen Wilhelmina, who awarded the three the Bronze Cross without stopping to consult the government.
From student to squadron leader
Van Eendenburg first trained as a sailor in the British Royal Navy and later became a pilot for a Royal Air Force squadron. In September 1944, German troops shot him down near Lille during a reconnaissance flight over France but he managed to land safely and rejoin his squadron. Karel Michielsen and Fred Vas Nunes were also fighter pilots, and all three survived the war.
Njord members
A striking number of members of the Njord rowing club – around 25 – tried to escape to England. Their stories are recorded in the book Njord in de oorlog (Njord in the War), which was published in 2021 and was written by a group of current and former members. Njord member and Karel Michielsen’s brother, Erik Michielsen (1917-1944), made several attempts to escape with three friends.
He and his rowing friends tried to escape in a canoe, a fishing boat and a motorboat. Their efforts were cut short because German soldiers were nearby, but they managed to escape being caught. Michielsen would eventually reach England via the southern route. He died during a training flight in 1944, shortly before completing his pilot training.
Rudy Burgwal
Another Leiden Engelandvaarder was Rudy Burgwal (1917-1944), a geology student of Indonesian descent. Together with skipper Sietse Rienskema, Burgwal reached England in a sloop from the southern province of Zeeland on 3 September 1941. Burgwal had actually wanted to fight the Japanese in Asia, but in England was persuaded to become a fighter pilot in Europe. He was highly successful at shooting down ‘flying bombs’ – unmanned fighter jets with explosive charges – until he was shot down and died in France at the age of 26 in 1944.
Espionage
Among the Engelandvaarders and Njord members was Olympic rower Ernst de Jonge (1914-1944). Shortly before the war, he had served as president of the Leiden student association and had just graduated when war broke out. He left Curaçao, where he was working, to join the resistance in England. MI6 trained him as a spy and in February 1942, a ship dropped him off the coast of Katwijk to gather military intelligence in the Netherlands. Just a few months later, he and some other resistance fighters were captured in Wageningen. De Jonge died in the Rawitsch concentration camp in Poland in September 1944.
Rescue on film
The only students to cross the North Sea from the Netherlands in 1944 were law student Flip Winckel (1919-2009) and three geology students – John Osten (1920-2010), Hein Fuchter (1921-2016) and Henk Baxmeier 1920-2008). Joining them on board was Engineer Edzard Moddermeijer (1916-1998). They had hidden their ‘zuiderzeevlet’ – a seven-metre motorboat – in the reeds along the banks of the Haringvliet.
On a cold winter’s day (24 February 1944), they set course for England and after 24 hours at sea were picked up near Great Yarmouth by the British Navy. American captain Andy Jackson Hardy witnessed the rescue and filmed the moment. The frozen group were given rum and navy coats to warm up. Osten went on to serve with the Princess Irene Brigade, a unit comprising other Engelandvaarders. Fuchter went on to serve in the RAF. All four survived the war.
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Watch the video on the original website orSoldier of Orange
This brings us to the most famous Engelandvaarder of them all: Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema (1917-2007), the ‘Soldier of Orange’. Having just completed his law degree, he secured a place in early June 1941 on board a cargo ship docked in Rotterdam and bound for New York. Another stowaway on board was Bram van der Stok (1915-1993), a medical student from Leiden who had hidden beneath the boiler room. After a long detour that took them past the Faroe Islands, they reached England.
Both went on to become pilots for the Royal Air Force and were highly decorated for their acts of resistance. It was Hazelhoff Roelfzema, however, who became the iconic resistance hero from Leiden. With this article, we wanted to tell the stories of other Leiden Engelandvaarders who risked their lives in the fight for freedom.
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1945: Resistance fighters Peter Tazelaar, Rie Stokvis, law alumnus Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema (Soldier of Orange). Anefo -
Bram van der Stok. Photo: Traces of War.
Sources used
- Tulpen voor Wilhemina. Geschiedenis van de Engelandvaarders (A. Dessing, 2004)
- Njord in de Oorlog (Willem Ballieux, Pim van Doorn, Diederik van Gent e.a.,2021)
- Engelandvaarders - Museum Engelandvaarders
- Nationaal Archief dossier Engelandvaarders
- Eendenburg, van, Leendert Carel Marie - TracesOfWar.nl
- Kees van Eendenburg en het 322 (Dutch) Squadron RAF - Museum Engelandvaarders
- Hoe de oorlogsroeiers van Njord met vier kano’s naar Engeland wilden varen » Mare Online
- 8 maart Vrouwendag: vrouwelijke Engelandvaarders | Nationaal Archief
- Leidse student uit ’de Oost’ kampioen neerhalen ’vliegende bom’ V1 | Noordhollands Dagblad
- Bram van der Stok - TracesOfWar.nl