Reinder Lieuwes Bangma (Amsterdam, 4 januari 1921 - 2005) was Engelandvaarder.

Bangma was met zijn groep de laatste Engelandvaarder die in 1943 vertrok. De groep bestond uit de van Arenthals, Tobs Biallosterski, Jan de Bloois, Brunings, J.F.M.H. Goossens (1897-1968), Jacob van Grondelle, J.C. Jansen, F. de Koning (1923-2009), Philippe Kruis, Anton Schrader, Jacob Snijders. Anton Schrader had de vluchtboot meegenomen in het ruim van zijn 'Nooit Volmaakt' van Leidschendam via de Schie, de Nieuwe Maas, de Oude Maas en door het Spui naar het Haringvliet. Vandaar vertrokken ze op 8 oktober 1943.

Na zijn aankomst in Engeland kwam hij bij de SOE en werd opgeleid tot sabotage-instructeur. In de nacht van 2 maart 1945 werd hij met Jan Lodewijk van der Weyden, die via Zweden naar Engeland was gegaan, bij Lunteren geparachuteerd.

Na de oorlog trouwde hij met Mary Wishart ; zij woonden in Santpoort . Met zijn tweede vrouw Eileen woonde hij in Portugal en Neston en Hoylake, Cheshire.

Source: Wikipedia.




Reinder Lieuwes (Rein) Bangma werd geboren op 4 januari 1921 te Amsterdam. Zijn vader Liewe was kleermaker voor dameskleding, zijn moeder Maria Hermina Bangma-Hofman, was huisvrouw. Rein had drie broers: Anton, was ondergedoken op het adres Zoomstraat 53 te Amsterdam. Lieuwe, ondergedoken bij de familie Biallosterski in Santpoort en Berend, ondergedoken op een boerderij in de Achterhoek, waarschijnlijk ook in Varsseveld. Op het moment dat Rein Bangma in de Royal Victoria Patriotic School ondervraagd werd waren zijn broers 25, 21 en 18 jaar oud. Als huisadres geeft Rein het adres van zijn ouders op: Wustelaan 94 te Santpoort. Het RVPS nummer dat Rein krijgt is: 17108. Rein volgde een opleiding op de Zeevaartschool te Amsterdam en had tijdens de oorlog al verscheidene reizen gemaakt, voornamelijk naar Zweden. Hem was door de bezetter duidelijk te verstaan gegeven niet in Zweden asiel aan te vragen. De familie van de reder, of van de eigenaar van het schip en zijn eigen ouders zouden dan als gijzelaars vast gezet worden.

Volgens het RVPS rapport heeft hij Nederland op 8 oktober 1943 verlaten via het Haringvliet in een bootje genaamd "De Meerkoet". Op 10 oktober 1943 komt hij op de Engelse destroyer HMS Campbell in Harwich aan. Op 11 oktober arriveert hij in de RVPS in Londen.
Hieronder volgen transcripties van meerdere RVPS rapporten, Rein Bangma is uiteindelijk drie keer ondervraagd.



1e Rapport van 21 oktober 1943.

Bangma underwent an elementary education at Santpoort and later moved to IJmuiden. He then spent two years at the Gymnasium after which he transferred to the MULO.

In September 1938 he went to the Nautical School at Amsterdam, completing his examinations in July 1940. After he spent 8½ months on the KNMS trainingship 'Calypso' he signed off at the third of May 1941.

He was advised to complete his sailing time for 3rd Mate's ticket by signing on with coastal vessels. Therefore, on 7 May 1941 he signed on with the 'Maartje', captain and owner, Goumare, visiting Swedish ports. He signed off 7 June 1941. Before leaving on the first journey Bangma had been warned by the German Harbour Authorities that should he desert in Sweden, the captain of the ship would be punished and his parents would be taken as hostages. He therfore deceded that it would be too risky to attempt to jump ship in Sweden

On 10 June 1941 he signed on with the 'Polaris', Captain and owner Schuitema. With this ship he made three trips to Sweden, signing off 23 September 1941.

Having completed his sailing time for his 3rd Mate's ticket, he than returned to the Nautical School at Amsterdam where he studied for about four or five months. The main reason for this was in order to avoid him being sent to German (forced labor).

At the beginning of 1942, one of the instructors (
van de Zeevaartschool in Amsterdam) called De Hart, a member of the NSB, managed to oust the director Haverkemp from his job and took over his place. As a result of this the students went on strike. Bangma took a prominent part in the demonstrations and De Hart then sent a letter to Bangma's father telling him that he would see if he could have Bangma sent to Germany in order to teach him a lesson.
This took place in March 1942 and although De Hart did not actually carry out his treat, Bangma's father thought that for safety's sake he should go to work on a farm.

Therefore, he arranged for Bangma to stay at a farm owned by G.H. Hofs, Aaltenscheweg C 345, Varrseveld, Achterhoek.
Bangma had been friendly with another Nautical student, Jansen (RVPS no. 17110) and the latter came from Haarlem where he asked Bangma's parents where Bangma was. Jansen then came to stay at a neighbouring farm.

A relation of Bangma's called Jollink (
Jolink), Aaltenschweg Varsseveld was also a farmer and several Jews were in hiding on his farm. These included Mr. and Mrs. Koeijn (Konijn?) and a certain Hirsch of Zwolle. Through these people Bangma heard of other Jews who wanted to go into hiding and he therefore started to contact other farmers in order to find other hiding places for these people. He carried out this work with Jansen which they did in their spare time but had to work on their respective farms during the normal working hours.

This went on until about October 1942 when Bangma returned home (
Santpoort) as he was beginning to be very bored with farm work. He was officially registered at Varsseveld and returned home without changing his registration. His food coupons were sent on to him from where he had been working.

Meanwhile, De Hart had lost the directorship of the Amsterdam Nautical School but remained there as an instructor. Haverkamp was once again made director and Bangma therefore returned to study at the Nautical School where he attended all classes except those taken by De Hart. Apparently there had been a great deal of protest about De Hart the becomming director of the Nautical School and as a result of this Haverkamp had been given back his job.

Bangma remained at the Nautical School until the Christmas Holidays of 1942. During these holidays his parents received a warning by telephone at about 04.00 hrs, stating that a house search was going to take place and advising Mrs. Bangma to send het four sons away from the house.

The boys therefore left and shortly afterwards the Dutch police arrived, one of whom had telephoned the warning to Bangma's parents.

Bangma went to stay with a Nautical School friend of his, Berthus de Goede, Parallelweg 54, Ede. (Bert de Goede later became SOE/BBO operative
RUMMY)

Meanwhile during the Christmas Holidays Bangma had been brought into contact with 'Het Parool' through (Tobias) Biallosterski (RPS 17107) who in turn had got to know a Jewish girl, Klara Oudkerk (dealt with in report on Biallosterski) who was hiding at Bangma's parent's house since October 1942.

Bangma then helped to spread copies of "Het Parool" in a small way. About March 1943 Bangma travelled to Amsterdam where Biallosterski introduced him to some of the members of the committee of "Het Parool" at the Atlanta Restaurant.
These were: Joop Stallinga, Jaap Lambeck and "Maarten".
The Committee of "Het Parool" between April 1943 and October 1943 was composed as follows:

"
ERIK", who has adopted the alias of Pieter 't Hoen since Goedhart (Records) the original Pieter 't Hoen was arrested at the end of 1942. "ERIK" was really the head of the committee and wrote articles for the paper.

Joop Stallinga
- this man also wrote articles and dealt with the distribution of the paper.

"
MAARTEN", who looked after the financial side and also wrote articles.

Biallosterski
& Bangma who were in charge of the distribution.




DESCRIPTIONS
.

Joop Stallinga, member of SDAP. Address: Van Lennepstraat 117, or 119 Amsterdam. Age: 25.
Height: 1 metre 70. Build: Slightly hunch backed. Face: Reddish fair hair, freckled face, wears glasses.

Jaap Lambeck. Address: Gerard Springerstraat 15, Amsterdam. Age: About 30. Height: 1 metre 80. Face: Sparse hair, which is inclined to stand out stiffly. Wears false glasses. General: Generally wears PTT cap and has false papers showing him to be employed by the PTT.

"
MAARTEN". Zoomstraat 53, Amsterdam. Age: About 35. Height: 1 metre 80. Build: Slim. Face: Fair Hair.

"
ERIK" @ Pieter 't Hoen. Address c/o Roosenburg, Berg 171, Neunen near Eindhoven. Age: 40 to 45. Height: 1 metre 85. Face: Dark skin, bald top with dark curly hair at sides, big nose.

When Bangma was introduced to the committee members at the Atlanta Restaurant he was asked if he was willing to take over the ditribution of "Het Parool" in Gelderland, De Betuwe including Arnhem, Nijmegen Apeldoorn, etc. Bangma agreed to take on this job and carried it out with the help of Bertus de Goede, although the latter was not a member of the committee, but knew many people who were willing to act as agents in the distributing of the clandestine paper. Eventually Bangma had about 40 agents in the area allotted to him. "Het Parool" was printed in The Hague, name and address of printers forgotten. The papers were then transported by the road transport firm "Snelle Visser" of the Spui, The Hague. The papers were sent from the printers to the transport agents by 'bakfiets' (transport bicycles). The transport firm then delivered them by lorry to their agents in Amsterdam at the Nieuwe Zijds Voorburgwal. The transport firm was not aware that they were carrying clandestine papers. Thes bundles of papers were then fetched by bakfiets and taken to the distribution centre of "Het Parool" at Ouwerzijds Achterburgwal 118, Amsterdam. Although the centre changed from time to time.

In April 1943 Bangma moved to Amsterdam and went to live with Biallosterski at this address (
Oudezijds Achterburgwal 118). The windows had no curtains and had the appearance of being the office of the factory underneath. There was also a little notice over their doorbell stating "office". It was rather dangerous to use this place as living quarters as well as a distributing centre of "Het Parool". The paper appeared monthly between the 20th and 30th of each month. Earlier on in the month a stencilled copy of the BBC-News was issued. This started after the confiscation of private wireless sets in Holland (by the Germans).

About two months later the distribution centre was moved to a dis-used leather work shop in the Koestraat, Amsterdam. This was condemned and very old ramshacked building. Bangma, Biallosterski and Lambeck then took bundles of these papers personally to their various agents. The circulation was abbout 30.000 and plans were made to increase this to 60.000.

During this time Bangma assited Biallosterski to fetch the RAF pilots as described in the report on Biallosterski. They continued with their work until eventually they decided to try to escape as there was the danger of being picked up by the Germans and sent to work in Germany (Arbeitseinsatz). They also had the alternative of going into hiding which did not appeal to them at all.

The committee of "Het Parool" did not at first agree with their decision to escape but after a time came to the conclusion that it was too danderous to stay any longer.

In July 1943 they had moved to room in the Rozenstraat 19, Amsterdam. In September 1943, having resigned from "Het Parool", Bangma and Biallosterski moved to the house of Bangma's parents. (Wustelaan 94, Santpoort). If a search had taken place during their stay, they were to hid in a space behind a false wall in the house. However, no house search took place.

Bangma's brother Anton was on the committee of "Je Maintiendrai" and was in hiding at Zoomstraat 53, Amsterdam (
same address as "Maarten"). Another member of this committee was Adrianne (Adriaan) de Bak, who was in hiding at Bangma's parents house in Santpoort. Bangma stated it was De Bak and not Meyer who was brought into contact with "Het Parool" as stated in the report of Biallosterski. The committee of "Je Maintiendrai" consisted of the following people:

Anton Bangma
.

Adrianne de Bak. Address: Rijksstraatweg Santpoort. Age 39. Height 1 metre 65. Build: Slim. Face Dark, dark hair.

Cornelis van Paasen (student). Address: Peace Palace, The Hague. His father (now deceased) was employed there and his mother still continued to live there. From May 1941 to June 1943 "Je Maintiendrai" was stencilled there as some exellent electric stencilling machines were available in the building. Age: 26. Height: 1 metre 70. Build: Slim. Face: Fair hair.

Kees Vihoff (Dutch student). Age: 24. Height 1 metre 70. Face: Dark hair, wears glasses.


The history of "Je Maintiendrai" is as follows. Meyer, mentioned in the report on Biallosterski founded the paper at Santpoort. Andianne de Bak and Anton Bangma then joined the committee. Van Paasen of The Hague was brought into the committee by Meyer. About May 1941 Meyer was sought after by the Gestapo in connection with the hiding of Jews and therefore went into hiding himself. From that time he broke off contact with "Je Maintiendrai".

From May 1941 to June 1943 the paper was stencilled at the Peace Palace in The Hague. During 1943 "Je Maintiendrai" was brought into contact with "Het Parool". They were however seeking a method of printing "Je Maintiendrai" instead of stencilling it and eventually found a printer, name unknown, in Leeuwarden. They changed over to printing "Je Maintiendrai" in June 1943. During the early days of "Je Maintiendrai" (Rein) Bangma assisted in the spreading of a few copies of the paper but apart from that did not carry out any important work.

In July 1943 many of the distributing agents were arrested in different parts of the country. The distribution had to be re-organised and Bangma and Biallosterski therefore helped in ths re-organisation. It was not long before the distribution again reached about 15.000 copies. Just before Bangma left in September 1943, "Je Maintiendrai" came into contact with another organisation, name unknown, and were making plans to increase the distribution to 60.000. Since the prcess of producing "Je Maintiendrai" had been changed from stencilling to printing in June 1943, the paper had appeared twice monthly.

Whilst Bangma was assisting in the re-organisation of the distribution of "Je Maintiendrai", he moved to Amsterdam for a couple of weeks during September 1943. He lived care of some friends, Ribbelen, Stationsweg 275, Amsterdam.

Meanwhile, about June 1943, Bangma and Biallosterski sought a means of escape to the United Kingdom. They would have liked to gone with the RAF pilot Giddy, but this they were unable to do so.
As stated in the report on Biallosterski, they met Willy Gutteling (Record) who in turn brought them into contact with ... (redacted)(Anton Schrader). The description of the journey to the Spui and the escape agrees with that given in the reports on De Bloois (RPS 17106) and Biallosterski (RPS 17107).

As stated in the report on Biallosterski, they met Willy Guterling (Records) who in turn brought them into contact with ... (redacted) (
Anton Schrader). The description of the journey to Het Spui and the escape agrees with that given in the reports on De Bloois (RPS 17106) and Biallosterski (RPS 17107), Bangma however, gives the following additional information: Bangma sat in front of the boat with .. redacted (Anton Schrader) and Jansen (RPS 17110) and Bangma took care of the navigation of the boat. Previously on the morning after the unsuccessful escape of 'vlet' (see report on De Bloois 17106). Bangma had accompanied ... (redacted) (Anton Schrader) and Kees Koolen in the 'Nooit volmaakt' on a reconnaissance of the route up to a point just past Hellevoetsluis. This proved to be of great assistance during their escape journey through Het Haringvliet. The course was as follows.

They sailed straight across Het Haringvliet from the corner of Het Spui close to Middelharnis. They then followed the southern bank of Het Haringvliet and as they were passing Dirksland they saw an aircraft illuminated by searchlights. Shortly afterwards they changed course and sailed along the centre of Het Haringvliet.

Just past Hellevoetsluis they saw two patrol boats but were not spotted by them. Near De Kwadehoek they saw another patrol boat which was about 400 metres away but once again they were not seen.

After they had passed Het Balkgat they changed course to North-West in the direction of Harwich. In the distance they saw a bomber in flames crash into the sea but decided not to go towards it to try to pick up survivers as it was a long way and they could see burning petrol on the sea. In addition they considered that the boat was fully loaded and they could not safely take any more passengers on board. There was also a good possibility that enemy patrol vessels would be patrolling the coast.

Next day, 9 October 1943 at about  07.30 hrs the engine failed. After about three hours of hard work Snijders (RPS 17112) managed to get the engine in running order again.

Finally they spotted a convoy and were picked up by HMS 'Campbell' and taken to Harwich arriving 10 October 1943. Later they were sent to the RVPS on 11 October 1943.


Conclusion

Bangma appeared to be perfectly frank during his interrogation. He carried on with his clandestine newspaper until it became imperative for him to leave Holland in order to avoid being sent to work in Germany. He appers to be very courageous and patriotoc young man.

He wihes to join the Navy and I do not think he is any danger from sucurity point of view.


Recommandation

I recommend that Bangma be released to the Dutch authorities for incorporation in the forces.


                                                                  
       (signed) P.R. Steel (Lieut.)
                                                                                   
                                                                                                      18-10-1943








Het volgende rapport na de tweede ondervraging van Rein Bangma werd op 29 oktober 1943 opgesteld.


Bangma has been re-interrogated after comparision of his account with that of his ship-mates of 'De Meerkoet'.

I questioned Bangma briefly on his acquaintance with the personalities of the Zeevaartschool in Amsterdam and is quite emphatic that is was De Hart who became director of this school in early 1942. Asked whether he had heard the name De Booy in connection with the nautical school. Bangma remembers a student of this name who had been with him on the training ship 'Calypso' but who had left this ship to join the Waffen SS. There was no question of this man ever having been a director either on the 'Calypso' or in the nautical school itself. He remembers quite well the name of Van Caspel (RVPS 8881) the source of our information on De Booy as this youth was one of his own fellow students. It thus appears that Van Caspel misinformed us when he stated that De Booy had become the director of the Zeevaartschool as according to the testimony of both Jansen (RVPS 171100 and Bangma it was definitely De Hart who occupied this position in early 1942.

Bangma has related that, during his Christmas holidays, 1942, his parents received a warning by telephone from a Dutch policeman that the police were going to carry out a search of the house in order to conscript the four sons for forced labour in Germany. Questioned about the origin of this warning, Bangma states that the policeman who telephoned is unknown to him personally but is a friend of his mother’s and is named Roelofs. As a result of his patriotic sympathies Roelofs himself has subsequently had to go into hiding.

The following is Bangma’s account on his becoming acquainted with Biallosterski (RVPS 17107) which resulted in his (Bangma’s) association  with the committee of ‘HET PAROOL’ and, as a result of which, the Bangma family gave refuge to Clara Oudkerk. Biallosterski was looking for accommodation where his girl Oudkerk could take refuge and, consequently, approached two acquaintances Henny Meyer - aged 35 years and Adriaan de Bak, already mentioned in the previous reports as being members of the organization ‘Je Maintiendrai’. Henny Meyer was already a friend of Bangma ant it was thus that the Oudkerk girl came to stay with them in October, 1942. Henny Meyer’s shop, incidentally was a drapery and man’s outfitting store MAGAZIJN NEDERLAND in the Hoofdstraat in Santpoort. Meyer originally stenciled the paper ‘Je Maintiendrai’ on these premises from the time of the foundation in the Spring of 1941 until May 1942 (not 1941 as mentioned in the first report) when he was compelled to go into hiding and the stenciling of the paper was thence forthwith carried out at the Peace Palace at The Hague (by van Cor van Paaschen and Jos Gemmeke).

In the same connection of ‘Je Maintiendrai’ Bangma was given the following additional information concerning De Bak: -

De Bak had in peace time been employed at the stock-exchange in Amsterdam but in the autumn of 1941 he was called up for forced labour in Germany, but instead of responding to this, he lived in hiding at the BANGMA’s until June 1943, maintaining his position as a member of the committee of ‘Je Maintiendrai’. As during this latter month there were numerous arrests in the ‘Je Maintiendrai’ organization De Bak deemed it wiser to make a further change of residence and went to live with the family Smit in the Zoomstraat 53 in Amsterdam where Bangma’s brother is also living. De Bak is a native of Rozenstein near Santpoort. Vihoff, also mentioned as a member of the committee of  ‘Je Maintiendrai’ comes from Utrecht. It was he who was responsible for the recruitment of the printer at Leeuwarden and it is in consequence of this that Bangma does not know the identity of this printer. Vihoff is a comparatively new member of the ‘Je Maintiendrai’ organization and Bangma has met him only two or three times.

To Bangma’s knowledge .. (redacted).. has never had any contact with ‘Je Maintiendrai’ and Biallosterski’s contacts with this organization have been strictly limited until a comparatively recent date, after the collaboration between the two papers had been established, although as already shown Biallosterski has known De Bak and Meyer for some time.


HET PAROOL’

Bangma, as already related in the first report, had not come into contact with this organization until early 1943 through the introduction of Biallosterski: his activities in connection with this paper have, consequently, been entirely carried out in conjunction with Biallosterski. Bangma does, however, provide the information that it is Joop Stallinga who has been a long standing member of the committee of ‘Het Parool’ since its early days when the committee included such people as Warendorf (RVPS 14635) and Koos Vorrink, Wiardi Beckman, etc.

BANGMA has explained to me that his friend - Hans Kuypers - (No. 25 at 4A) was a fellow-student of his at the nautical school in Amsterdam. He has recommended Kuypers to the ‘Je Maintiendrai’ organization to take his place in the organization. He believes that Kuypers was, at the beginning of the war, associated with the organization ‘De Geuzen’ and it is, therefore probable that he is indentical with the subject of the trace at 4A (2) which is entirely favourable. (Is this a brother of Bram and Sape Kuypers?)

CONCLUSION

As will be seen Bangma practically completely refutes De Graaf’s statement at 9A. My impression, it must be admitted in fairness to Bangma is that he is being honest, and as Bangma was indeed threatened but according to him with arrest if Postma saw him again, it is to my mind possible that De Graaf may be inaccurate in his statement that it was for giving away information, particular ly in view of the fact that De Graaf himself admits he ‘never’ learned the full details of the affair. As further he ‘heard that Bangma was threatened….’ Perhaps De Graaf’s source had also ‘heard’ and the true facts surrounding the incident have become distorted. Nevertheless, perhaps it would be possible to ascertain more precise details as to whom DE GRAAF’s source actually was, and besides this no doubt …redacted… also Biallosterski could be asked for a statement (he was already back in the UK from his first mission).


                                                                                                             JEM/7-8-1944
 
                                                                                                                                          
R.S. Sands
                                                                                                                  Capt.
                                                                                                                                          



Na de derde ondervraging werd opnieuw een rapport opgemaakt. Dit keer werd Rein Bangma met name ondervraagd over zijn relatie tot een zekere  Postma. Blijkbaar wist Kas de Graaf hier ook iets van en vandaar deze derde ondervraging. Dit laatste rapport werd pas op 7 augustus 1944 opgemaakt.



Bangma has been interrogated again to-day in the light of the statement from De Graaf (RPS 18967) (Kas de Graaf) at 9A.

In the First place, Bangma flatly denies ever having worked for ‘VRIJ NEDERLAND’, and further that he has ever given away any information to the Germans NSB or anyone sympathetic towards the Axis cause. Eventually it emerged that Postma, reported by Bangma at page 2 of 6A as a suspect is obviously the member of the SS referred to by De Graaf at 9A.

Bangma’s version is as follows: In June 1943, Postma ran into him on the Munt at Amsterdam. Bangma refutes ever having met Postma at Zandvoort, as mentioned by De Graaf, and declares in fact that from memory he cannot be at all certain that he was over in Zandvoort in 1943. Postma who was in the uniform of the Dutch police (‘vaandrig’or cadet) recognizing Bangma greeted him, and then asked to look at his identity card.

On this (ID card) the date had been altered, and besides the fact that it was a crude effort, Postma, according to Bangma would have remembered what his age must be, Postma having, of course, formerly been, it should be added, a fellow student of Bangma on the ‘Calypso’ training vessel at Amsterdam. Bangma explained away the reason for the alteration as being to avoid being sent to work in Germany. Postma asked Bangma what he was doing and the latter replied nothing. Postma, who volunteered the information, that he belonged to the SS then proceeded to put in propaganda for all the advantages of the NSB, and offered to try and get Bangma, as a former colleague, a National Socialist job which would do away with the danger of being picked up and sent off for forced labour in Germany.

Bangma declined, and Postma said that in his NSB function he really could arrest him. However, in view of the fact that they were old students colleagues etc, he declared he would overlook it now. But advised him if he had any sense he would leave Amsterdam as otherwise if he (Postma) should see him again he would be obliged to arrest him.

In the meantime, Bangma states Postma had said he had to go to report to some superior official and asked Bangma to accompany him while he did this, assuring him that he need not to be afraid of being arrested. Bangma claims that having said he was doing nothing and being in the position he was, he felt he had not much option. He denies that Postma knew anything about his ‘PAROOL’ or  ‘Je Maintiendrai’ activities

With Postma, Bangma therefore walked round to a small police-station office on the Josef Daniel Meyerplein (Amsterdam). Here Bangma states he waited at the most for ten minutes or ¼ hour while Postma reported. Postma then set off with him to the tram which they bordered, Postma alighting at the Dam leaving Bangma to continue his journey which was actually to the Beurs from where he was going to the ‘Parool’ premises then on the Orderzijds Achterburgwal (Amsterdam).

That evening Bangma states he reported the whole incident to Joop Stallinga of the ‘Parool’ committee  (referred to at paras 15 and 16a, 3a and para 8, 5a) . It was decided that apart from being a known ‘rotter’ Postma was obviously a potential danger to the ‘Parool’ knowing Bangma whom he had threatened to arrest if he should see him again. Joop Stallinga said he would see what he would be done since, according to Bangma, he was connected with someone in the organization which was responsible for the liquidation of important people such as for example Seyffard
(Although Bangma does not know it, he is plainly referring to the organization known as C.S. 6)

Bangma did not leave Amsterdam and subsequently the attack referred to by De Graaf, at page 2 6A, took place against Postma (Postma was shot down by JAN VERLEUN of the CS-6 group) but Bangma states he thinks it could not have been completely successful as he believes it was Postma he saw at Amsterdam in September 1943 dressed in civilian clothing and with a limp walking arm in arm with a girl in grey Luftwaffe uniform, one of the German so-called ‘Blitz Madel’ usually used for telephone operation. 

As stated already, Bangma flatly denies ever having given away information or having met Postma at Zandvoort, and adds that …redacted… Biallosterski (RPS 17107) as also De Graaf (RPS 18967) whom he has seen since the latter’s arrival in the UK know of the affair. …redacted… , according to Bangma apart from being aware that he has worked for ‘Parool’ knows nothing to speak of about his activities.

CONCLUSION

As will be seen Bangma practically completely refutes De Graaf’s statement at 9A. My impression, it must be admitted in fairness to Bangma is that he is being honest, and as Bangma was indeed threatened but according to him with arrest if Postma saw him again, it is to my mind possible that De Graaf may be inaccurate in his statement that it was for giving away information, particular ly in view of the fact that De Graaf himself admits he ‘never’ learned the full details of the affair. As further he ‘heard that Bangma was threatened….’ Perhaps De Graaf’s source had also ‘heard’ and the true facts surrounding the incident have become distorted. Nevertheless, perhaps it would be possible to ascertain more precise details as to whom DE GRAAF’s source actually was, and besides this no doubt …redacted… also Biallosterski could be asked for a statement (he was already back in the UK from his first mission).

JEM/7-8-1944
 
R.S. Sands
Capt.
                                                                                                                                                                                  



Postma, Herman Gerrit
geb. 19-3-1919 te Smallingerland

CABR: PRA Amsterdam     63028      inv.nr. 86563
PRA Den Haag                  26803      inv.nr. 90703
PF Den Haag                  2118/46    inv.nr. 109255
PF Den Haag                  23861/46  inv.nr. 109789
Pol Zuiv:                                       inv.nr. 4861 


Postma werd door CS-6 lid Jan Verleun op 24 juli in de Watteaustraat neergeschoten. Hierbij riep Verleun: "Postma, je gaat er aan! Jij bent verantwoordelijk voor het oppakken van de Paroolgroep. Kijk maar naar het vogeltje"!

       
                    
Op 15 augustus 1944 begint ook Rein Bangma aan de opleiding tot BBO agent. Tijdens de parachute training maakt hij een zeer harde landing en beschadigd zijn ruggewervel. Hierdoor ligt hij enige tijd in het  militaire hospitaal Mostyn Hall. Rein wordt uiteinedlijk samen met de WT operator Jan van der Weijden, alias SNORT, op 3 maart 1945 op de Veluwe gedropt. Bangma krijgt de alias FRED en de missie heet WHIMPER. Zijn naam in het veld is Louis van der Schans. Daarvoor had Tobias Biallosterski Londen enige malen verzocht of Rein hem in de rol van organisator in Amsterdam kan komen helpen. Dit gaat echter niet door vanwege het eerder genoemde parachute ongeluk.

Hieronder volgt een transcriptie van het missie rapport:


Report on this mission
WHIMPER, carried out in occupied Holland 2nd Lieutenant Reinder Lieuwed Bangma.

Bangma (organiser) with his WT operator 2nd Lieutenant Jan van der Weijden were parachuted into German occupied Holland in the night of the 2nd March 1945.

The flight over to Holland went well, and three minutes after midnight they were over the dropping-field. The plane released its load in two runs, and the reception was exellent. In the first run the agents were dropped, in the second the containers and packages. Most of the American containers had opened or were badly damaged and in many cases the contents lay scattered all over the field. One package came down a long way from the field and was damaged.
On the dropping-field they met Bill, one of the local commanders, and he handed them over to the guide who was to take them from the field. They left immdiately and went to a house 2 hours away from the field, where they stayed for two days. On the first day they examined their pachages and found most of the material undamaged. It had been temporarily stored in a very good underground hidding place under the field. It was to be transported from here to the place where Bangma and Van der Weijden were to begin, which had not yet been decided upon.

On the 5th of March Bangma and Van der Weijden left for Barneveld where they were to stay for several days in order to get used to the surroundings. A short time after their arrival the slogan for their field came through unexpectedly. The field was really no longer good, as just before they came a load had fallen into the hands of the SD and the latter were very active there with patrols.

The new dropping went very well, until the whole reception committee went home before curfew was over, with theit Stens, dimantled in their bicycle bags. They were held up and 15 of them were arrested. In spite of the fact that Bangma and his operator had emphasized the importance of speed in transporting the weapons, their material was still in a hiding place comparatively near the fied, together with the contents of the containers from droppings. Previously the hiding place had only been known to a few people, but now nearly the whole reception committee knew about it as it had become more or less a general store. It was already very difficult to transport the agent's material quickly as Rauter had just been wounded at that time and the Germans were very active throughout De Veluwe. The result was that the two agent's material and the loads of three droppings were lost and that fourteen men were shot. After the arrests Bangma and Van der Weijden tried in vain several times to recover their material.

As a consequence of all this there very many arrests, particularly in Ede, one of the chief reasons being that the reception committees were not kept apart but recruited from the resistance itself - a system which Bangma was unable to change.
Bangma and Van der Weijden stayed a week in Barneveld, and two days after they arrived - the day after the arrests - they met Paul, Bill and Gert. Gert was also a local commander. The discussions went quite well, and the agents were to go to Velp (although Bangma did not entirely agree with this plan) and their material would follow as soon as possible. A week later they went to Velp, where they met the local commander - whose name Bangma has forgotten - and Henk, the so-called intelligence officer. The second day that they were in Velp they heard that the Germans had conducted a systematic search over the heath and had found the hidding place and taken all their material. Paul immediately sent a telegram off saying that Bangma and Van der Weijden had lost all their material, but forgot to say that that did not include their codes, AAT's plan and their money, which they had kept with them. Bangma sent a futher telegram later on in this connection.

After three days
ATT returned to Barneveld, where he took part in receptions, raids, etc. Bangma tried to make himself as useful as possible in Velp by giving instruction, about which there seemed to be a certain amount of doubt, patricularly as regards to the method of shooting and security.
After about a week Bangma went to Apeldoorn and on the way was stopped five times by the control. His cover-story and papers appeared to be very good - the Rückkehrschien - in particular made a great impression. In Apeldoorn he submitted the dropping grounds Beethoven, Mozart and Brahms and got to know the so-called top of the 'Binnenlandsche Strijdkrachten', including Karel, the communications officer, who worked a lot with him. A few days later Bangma returned to Velp, where he instructed a reception committee, but unfortunately - which he only heard much later - the ground on which they were to work was rejected.
After he had done this Bangma went back to Apeldoorn and again submitted the three above-named dropping-fields, with the addition of Elgar. He did all this via the wireless operator in Overijssel (
Jaap Beekman?) and had also a Belgian operator, Frans Hals (Dick Kragt, MI-9), who sent some messages for him. Up to now he had had no reply, but after a few days the slogan for Beethoven came through. He went three nights with the reception to the field but without success. The position at the time was very bad as the field was used by the Germans for manoeuvres, which meant that there was a ban on it and that the Germans lay in its immediate vicinity. A curious factor was that the time slogan came through twice in the afternoon and the filed slogan followed only in the evening, during curfew hours, which made everything very difficult.

After Bangma had given some more instructions and been present on some raids he went to Elburg, as Paul said that there was a WT operator there. This did not turn out to be very much; the man's name was
Theo.
In Elburg Bangma met
Henk the communications officer and Berends, the local commander. He gave some more instruction here and was again present on several raids, one or two of which he himself led.


After Bangma had given some more instructions and been present on some raids he went to Elburg, as Paul said that there was a WT operator there. This did not turn out to be very much; the man's name was
Theo.
In Elburg Bangma met
Henk the communications officer and Berends, the local commander. He gave some more instruction here and was again present on several raids, one or two of which he himself led.

After he had been five nights in vain on the field Elgar, Bangma finally received 15 containers and 2 packages. The second package got into the wrong hands, but he was able to recover 2 WT sets from it.
AAT (Jan van der Weijden ?) then immediately came to Elburg. Bangma had previously sent two dropping fields and several other telegrams via Theo, but they were never received in London. After about five days in Elburg Bangma received his first telegram from England, numbers 7, 8 and 9 which had been sent about ten days earlier.
Later on he had a certain difference of opinion with the local commander Berends over the distribution of weapons and the question as whether or not they should go through with the droppings, which Berends wished to oppose. Berends was then dismissed by Paul.


In Elburg Bangma met
Maarten, Lieutenant Knottenbelt. The later led the operation on the bridges over the Grift canal, which failed, and during which several men lost their lives.
In the Veluwe Bangma and his co-workers made quite a success of blowing up trains and annihilating German cars and lorries which were either alone or in small groups. In Elburg and its surroundings they made about forty prisoners of war, and in Oldebroek three German tanks were put out of action. In the military camp at Oldebroek considerable quantities of food, drink, shoes, etc fell into their hands. Shortly after this they were liberated.


Note by Bangma.

We found out that in general for blowing up railway lines two charges of 1½ lbs were hardly sufficient. we used eight 1½ lbs charges, four on one rail and four on the other, which was more than enough.

Source:
HS9/83/7

REIN BANGMA.