1

The fallen resistance people in Limburg

 

Alphons Smeets
(Michiel Hubert Alphonse)

∗ 14-07-1887 Mheer (L)     † 09-10-1943 Fort Rhijnauwen, prov. Utrecht (56)
- Aid to escaped POW’s - Initial resistance - Erkens Group - Intelligence - Eijsden -

Alphons Smeets was a grower and merchant of fruit in Eijsden, neighbor and tenant of Raphael de Liedekerke, father of Jef and Jan Smeets and brother of the municipal secretary Hubert Smeets.
In Eijsden, the Smeets family, which had already helped prisoners of war cross the border in the spring of 1940, soon formed an important link in the resistance organization around Count R. de Liedekerke de Pailhe and the former soldier N.E. Erkens. [1]
In the course of 1941 a resistance group emerged in Eijsden from the local concert band, see the introduction above the list of Eijsden’s fallen resistants. They were mainly occupied with smuggling people across the border who were wanted by the Germans, but also with intelligence work. Alphons Smeets often had to go to Belgium for his work.
Arrested as a result of the Hannibalspiel, an infiltration of the Marineabwehr (counterintelligence service of the German Navy in Groningen.
See also:
Herdenkingsmonument Fort bij Rijnauwen. [2]
Memorial to the fallen resistance fighters at Vroenhof, Eijsden. [3]
Michiel Hubert Alphonse ( Alphons ) Smeets is listed in the Erelijst 1940-1945 (Honor Roll of the Dutch Parliament). [4]

Footnotes

1. Dr. F. Cammaert, Het Verborgen Front – Geschiedenis van de georganiseerde illegaliteit in de provincie Limburg tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog. Doctorale scriptie 1994, Groningen
   1. Hoofdst. III Hulpverlening aan uit Duitsland ontvluchte (Franstalige) krijgsgevangenen, p.136
   2. Stalag VI J Fichtenhain (Krefeld) & Stalag VI-H Arnoldsweiler (Düren)
2. Historie Herdenkingsmonument Fort bij Rijnauwen
3. Memorial aos combatentes caídos da resistência em Vroenhof, Eijsden
4. Erelijst 1940-1945
5. Oorlogsgravenstichting.nl
6. https://monument-rijnauwen.nl/lijst-gefusilleerden-op-fort-rhijnauwen/