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Mr Denheijer nows lives at Reydon. He was a private in the Dutch Coastguard.

In May 1940 the Germans invaded Holland and he remembers shooting at the parachutists as they tried to land. He doesn't think he hit anybody. Many of the parachutists were very young and had been told they were helping to liberate Holland from the British. They were overrun within 3 days and occupied. Mr Denheijer then became a prisoner of war until the General Staff signed an agreement that Dutch forces would cease resistance. All prisoners were freed if they had an occupation. Mr Denheijer was a seasonal fisherman and training to be ships engineer. Mr Denheijer moved to Rotterdam and joined the resistance via a river barge company. His codename was Klaas. The company had contracts in lots of ports and strong links with the French resistance. They were involved in sabotage. Mr Denheijer was sent to Brest in France to assist on one of these contracts using false papers. His mission was to monitor the harbour and ship movements. He met his French contract nightly in different bars and cafes to pass on the information he had gathered.
Three big German cruisers arrived there in 1942 - Gneisenau, Scharnhorst and Prince Eugene. They had all been damaged by the British Navy and were there for repairs. They were too large to fit in the harbour and lay in the bay outside and were camoflaged. The German's commandeered lots of fishing boats and placed metal containers on board. They also placed these containers in the streets of Brest. When activated these dispersed a mist which hid the port and the ships. He doesn't know how. He found out when the cruisers were leaving and that they would sail through the Channel to Kiel, the main German Navy base. The British didn't expect this, because it was so dangerous for the cruisers. This information was relayed to Coastal Command, but only 6 Swordfish planes were available and they did not cause much damage to cruisers. Neither did the shore batteries.
He had a second mission to Hamburg. He lived on a river boat. He moved the boat from Geesthacht on the Elbe. He was trying to find out where the Uboats were assembled and how the parts were transported. This was in July 1943. He survived an attack by allied planes on the train he travelled there on. On 27 th July 1943 he was wounded by shrapnel through his left hip while on a motor river barge that was caught up in hugh carpet bombing raid on Hamburg. He hadn't taken shelter because he didn't think the boat would be a target. He thinks the bomb exploded in the air and the shrapnel from a phosphorous bomb passed straight through his hip breaking his leg. The whole town was flattened and phosphorous bombs had set fire to town and jetty. Despite his broken leg he managed to crawl into a dingy (fortunately made of metal). Another Dutch barge rescued him and he went back to the Hague. He was in hospital fro a long time. It was very difficult to cure him because of the phosphorous left in his leg. This is still painful today. He lost 2 inches from his leg and particles of phosphorous have migrated down his leg. His ankle glows at night because of this. He remained in the Haque until liberation.
Mr Denheijer re-started his studies after the war and became a ships engineer and sailed all over the world. He came to Britain in 1964. His company had strong connections with Everhard cargo company who did the maintenance of their ships at Great Yarmouth. Newberry engines were installed on these and these were to be modified by installing turbo blowers. Mr Denheijer was a specialist in this and came to Gt. Yarmouth to live. He subsequently worked many years for the Water Board and lived for 20 years on a motor cruiser.

This story was submitted to the People's War site by Andrew Milner of Suffolk Libraries on behalf of Mr Denheijer and has been added to the site with his permission. the author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

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