All the fallen resistance people in Limburg

Theodorus Hendrikus van Loon (Theo)

Photo: memorial cross at the railroad in Hengelo, with the inscription: From the employees of the railroad to their colleague Theo van Loon…
On July 22, 2016, the memorial was damaged by vandals. The cross was broken off. Source:[3]

Theo van Loon moved to Deventer with his parents when he was 6 years old. At 15 to Hengelo, at 21 to Utrecht (1941) and then back and forth between Utrecht and Hengelo [1#3].
He was a civil servant with the Dutch Railways [6] and a member of the Binnenlandse Strijdkrachten (Domestic Forces) [7]. In his file of the Oorlogsgravenstichting (= War Graves Foundation, in the National Archives) there is the following handwritten entry on page 4 [1#4], probably from his father:

Theo was a member of the N.B.S., fighting part. He was part of the group that had the mission to raid the power station by surprise as soon as the British were approaching, in order to prevent the Germans from blowing up this power station on their retreat, which would have paralyzed a large part of the industry of the Twente region for years. The raid was successful and the occupiers were captured. Subsequently, other German troops, retreating from Enschede before the British, arrived and began to fight the N.B.S. occupation of the power plant. Our Theo was killed in this action. But this last group of German soldiers could not destroy the power plant because they had no explosives with them.

The fighting units of the B.S. were composed of people who had participated in the resistance during the war, especially the LKP (Landelijke Knokploegen) and the RVV (Raad van Verzet). [2]
The non-combatant part of the BS were the guard troops.

A group of about 25 men tried to defend the power plant and and was able to prevent the German army from carrying out its plan. During the action, a German soldier managed to escape. He alerted a group of SS men. After the arrival of some German soldiers, the resistance fighters fled. They left the power plant via the railroad crossing on Grobbenweg. During the escape attempt, BS men Theo van Loon and Frank Santman were shot dead. Resistance man Adolf Nijhoff was arrested in the power plant and executed by the military on the spot. The fourth man of the group was severely wounded. When he knocked at a farmhouse, the farmer hid him in the barn. In the Groot Driene neighborhood, three streets [3] are named after the fallen resistance fighters.

Theo is buried on the National Field of Honour Loenen [4], Grave B-350.
His name is also on the plaque commemorating fallen railroad personnel in Hengelo station [5].
He is listed in the “Erelijst 1940-1945” (Honor Roll of the Dutch Parliament). [6]

Footnotes

1. Dossier Oorlogsgravenstichting, Nat. Arch., Theodorus Hendrikus van Loon#3 • #4
2. LO/LKP • RVV
3. 4en5mei.nl, oorlogsmonumenten Hengelo, monument voor Theo van Loon
   Grobbenweg, 7555PP Hengelo, Open Street Map
   Theo van Loonstraat Open Street Map
4. Nationaal Ereveld Loenen Website
   Wikipedia • Nederlands • Deutsch
5. https://www.4en5mei.nl/oorlogsmonumenten/zoeken/4/hengelo-plaquette-in-het-ns-station-1
6. Erelijst 1940-1945
7. Oorlogsgravenstichting.nl
8. http://www.maastrichtsegevelstenen.nl/0.OORLOG/oorlog2c-verzet.htm