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Limburg 1940-1945,
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Jacques Crasborn, from Ittervoort, decided after four years of high school to study for mine surveyor. On January 1, 1940, he was employed in this profession at the Oranje Nassau IV mine. His school friend L.J. de Graaf, head of the administration of the same mine, involved Crasborn in the distribution of the resistance paper “Het Vrije Volk”. As head of the KP groups in Südlimburg, he led the attack on the local distribution office in cooperation with LO-Valkenburg. In the second half of July 1944, Crasborn and Van Kooten moved to Swalmen at the invitation of J. Frantzen. They found shelter on the monumental De Baxhof farm of the Poels family on the outskirts of the village.
During Operation Market Garden, he asked the KP groups to procure weapons, which led to the adventure in the forests of Baarlo. [1]
Crasborn was the commander of this campaign, but was usually not on site.
Photo: Major Jacques Crasborn, from December 2 on, 1944 second commander of the BS (Inland Armed Forces) south of the rivers Rhine and Maas, in an armchair by the fireplace, on his first visit to the Command of Limburg at the Hotel Oranjehof in Valkenburg. [3]
After the war, Crasborn became chairman of the Limburg section of the National Federation of Former Resistance in the Netherlands (NFR / VVN) and Stichting 40-45 (foundation to commemorate the fallen of the resistance in Limburg 1940-1945).
Cammaert describes him as follows: Crasborn, J.R.P., Heerlen, mining official. Worked closely with G.H. Bensen. Both initially belonged to a sabotage group in the mines and helped Allied refugees. After Bensen’s departure, Crasborn’s star rose quickly. In 1944, he was appointed leader of K.P.-Limburg. In September 1944, he led the railroad sabotage in the province from Swalmen and became involved in the adventure in the Baarlo woods with H.J.H. Bouten and others. After the liberation, he held a high position with the Stoottroepen. He was later transferred to the staff of Prince Bernhard. [2]
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