During the Second World War, Lichtenvoorde played a central role in assisting Allied airmen and escaped prisoners of war. Due to the large-scale resistance activities and the many Allies who found safe refuge there, the village earned the nickname ‘Little England’. Its favourable location on the flight path to the German Ruhr area, combined with a landscape of peat bogs and forests, made the region an important hub in the so-called Pilot Line.

Strategic Location and the Origin of the Line

Due to its proximity to the border with Nazi Germany, the Achterhoek was a high-risk but essential area for military personnel escaping German captivity or landing by parachute after a crash. In the early years of the war, assistance was often incidental and relied on luck. As the air war over the Ruhr area intensified and the ‘Landelijke Organisatie voor Hulp aan Onderduikers’ (LO) became more professional, a tightly organised network emerged in Lichtenvoorde.

This network connected Twente and the Achterhoek with the south of the Netherlands. Allies were brought by bicycle to Lichtenvoorde from towns such as Raalte, Rijssen, and Hengelo (Overijssel). After a short period in hiding, they travelled further by train to North Brabant or Limburg, to reach liberated territory via Belgium.

Logistics and Recognition Markers

The transport of airmen required strict security protocols. A well-known tool was the use of a specially folded newspaper. Resistance members accompanying the pilots would carry a newspaper in their pocket in a specific way. At stations, they looked for contact persons with an identically folded newspaper to ensure a safe handover.

Within Lichtenvoorde itself, specific locations were well-known in the international resistance network:

• De Groene Deur (The Green Door): Many French-speaking refugees were sheltered by the Meijer family in Lichtenvoorde because the head of the household was fluent in the language. The house with its striking green door became a famous beacon.
• De Bijenkistschuur (The Beehive Crate Shed): At the Leemreize family home, as many as four different nationalities were sometimes hidden simultaneously in a shed used for beehive crates.
• Het Zwarte Veen and the Harreveldse Bulten: These locations were used for weapon drops and secret radio equipment.

Scale and Key Figures

The effectiveness of the pilot assistance in Lichtenvoorde became evident after the war when a list was found containing the names of 236 Allied servicemen who had been hidden in the village for shorter or longer periods. In total, more than thirty individuals from the former municipality of Lichtenvoorde received the Resistance Memorial Cross (Verzetsherdenkingskruis).

Crucial figures within this network included Joep ter Haar (nicknamed ‘Pilot Joep’), Gert Reinders (‘the Dog’), and Hendrik Leemreize (‘Pietje Stofmeel’). Women such as Dina Geurink-Wisselink also played a vital role; she balanced caring for her family and working the land with hiding fugitives, including a Russian pilot and Jewish people in hiding.

The Final Months of the War

Following the failure of Operation Market Garden in September 1944, the route to the south was cut off. Pilots could no longer be moved onward and were forced to remain in hiding in the region long-term. During this period, the resistance prepared for the final liberation. In the closing months, many resistance fighters and those in hiding joined the Dutch National Battalion, also known as the ‘Forgotten Battalion’, which advanced alongside the Allies during the liberation of the Veluwe.

Commemoration and Heritage

The history of the Pilot Line is kept alive by various memorial sites in the region:

• Nationaal Onderduikmuseum: This museum provides an overview of the assistance to those in hiding and pilots throughout the Achterhoek.
• Little England Monument: A propeller on the Joep ter Haarplein in Lichtenvoorde commemorates the efforts of the local resistance.
• Crash Museum Lievelde: This museum focuses specifically on the air war and the aircraft that came down in the region.

Although the occupier attempted to break the network through raids and betrayal, the core of the resistance in Lichtenvoorde remained active until the liberation in the spring of 1945.

The “Little England” monument on Joep ter Haarplein in Lichtenvoorde