Christiaan Lindemans
| Christiaan Lindemans | |
|---|---|
.jpg) |
|
| Born |
24 October 1912 Rotterdam, The Netherlands |
| Died | 18 July 1946 (aged 33) Scheveningen, The Netherlands |
| Cause of death | Suicide |
| Nationality | Dutch |
| Occupation | Motor engineer, double agent |
| Spouse(s) | Gilberte Yvonne Lindemans née Letuppe (m. 1941) |
| Children | 2 |
Christiaan Antonius Lindemans (Rotterdam, 24 October 1912 – Scheveningen, 18 July 1946), the fourth son of Joseph Hendrik Lindemans and Christina Antonia van Uden, was a Dutch double agent during the Second World War, working under Russian control. Otherwise known as Freddi Desmet, officer in the Belgian army and SOE agent with security clearance at the Dutch Military Intelligence Division of the SOE (MID/SOE). He is better known under his nickname "King Kong" or in some circles as "le Tueur" (the Killer) as he undertook missions to kill and was ready to shoot at the slightest provocation. There is speculation that Lindemans may have been a member of ColonelClaude Dansey's Z organisation.
He is blamed for betraying the plans of Operation Market Garden, or more precisely, the Arnhem operation to the enemy and as a result caused the Allies defeat at the battle of Arnhem in 1944, the loss of the battle prolonged the war by 6 months, allowing the Russian Red Army to enter Berlin first.
Krist, as he was called by his comrades, had worked for the Allies with great bravery, being personally responsible for the death of at least of twenty-seven Germans during the guerrilla war in the outskirts of Antwerp. A natural risk-taker, he didn't know the meaning of fear; unfortunately neither did he know the meaning of loyalty.
Before the outbreak of the Second World War, Lindemans worked alongside his brother Jan as a mechanic at his father's garage in Rotterdam. In the summer of 1936, he was injured in a motorcycle accident sustaining a cracked skull and injuries to his left arm and leg which left him walking with a lumbering, simian-like, gait(described by some as a slight limp and a deformed hand). Tall and heavily built (6 ft 3 and 260 lbs), he was nicknamed King Kong (name given to him by his rowing trainer), he spoke French and German well and some English. By his own account, Lindemans started to work as an informant for the British secrets service since the spring of 1940, relaying shipping movements to London. In August of the same year, he found work as lorry driver on the Lille to Paris route carrying petrol for the German air forces. While living at Lille, and through his girlfriend (who later became his wife), he became involved with the resistance sometime in 1940. About September 1942, Lindemans established his own escape line in Abbeville where he was arrested two months later after being denounced by a woman living in Paris, an acquaintance named Colette. He was imprisoned by the Germans for five months, he was the only one of his organization to be detained.
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