Dear People, My father (Gerard Jan Ankerman, "Gé") was working at the Provincial government of the province of South Holland. During WWII Dutch administrations tried to keep people, they counted on for the administration after the war, in a place where the chances were small that they would get deported or used for labor deployment in Germany. For that reason my dad was sent to work at Philips in Eindhoven (on paper they worked for the German army, so their personnel was not taken) and, when the south of the Netherlands was liberated, he joint the XXX CORPS as an interpreter. The only thing I know is that they went to the north of Germany and that they had kind of police-tasks; I know he was for quite some time in Cuxhafen and surroundings. After the war he returned to the Provincial government of South Holland and worked there till he died in a traffic accident in 1968. During his life he didn't tell me much about this time he spent in WWII, but I found some clues that he was in the XXX CORPS. I know that one of the officers was a certain Cyril Ward, but I guess he is not alive anymore; I met him last time in the 60ies, when I was in England with a scouting group. I hope that maybe someone can tell me some more about this part of the XXX CORPS and what happened with it after the war. I have no idea in what part of the XXX CORPS my father was, but I found a kind of round red dog-tag with the text: R D A 102777 ANKERMAN G J N H I have no idea if that helps, but maybe someone can tell me more... Besides I have a commemorative plaque of the XXX CORPS. Is there still a part left of the "Boars" or is there any museum about this part of the British army? Looking forward to hear from you, Sincerely, Geert J. Ankerman.
Welcome to the forum Geert - enjoy! You will probably best recognise XXX Corps as the 'Garden' part of Operation Market-Garden, namely, the ground troops: Guards Armoured Division, 43rd (Wessex) Division and 50th (Northumbrian) Division, in the main. From what you say he worked as an interpreter in XXX Corps and his service number is from the Royal Army Service Corps block of numbers i.e. 1 - 294000. The RDA may be 'Royal Dutch Army' or similar, but on this I am not certain. If you require information on the path of the XXX Corps then just revert with questions... Best, Steve.
I have a book about XXX Corps upstairs, will have a look in it, see if he is mentioned, I leid it were two books, A short History of XXX Corps in the European Champaign and Club Route in Europe, but no names list in both of them, maybe the XXX Corps War Diary can help out.
Hi Geert, I'm guessing that your father would have been used to help process the thousands of Displaced Persons (DPs) and POWs in northern Germany from May 1945 onwards. Certainly elements of XXX Corps were involved - 23rd Hussars, for example, were in Husum, Schleswig-Holstein. Staff from Cuxhaven were brought over to deal with the considerable German naval presence in the area. Interpreters would be very useful - the German-speaking members of 23rd Hussars were in big demand!
Hello and welcome to the forum-good luck with your search. Welcome to the forum Geert - enjoy! You will probably best recognise XXX Corps as the 'Garden' part of Operation Market-Garden, namely, the ground troops: 11 Armoured Division, Guards Armoured Division, 43rd (Wessex) Division and 50th (Northumbrian) Division, in the main. Best, Steve. Wasn't Sapper's unit with 3 Division part of OMG?
Hello and welcome to the forum-good luck with your search. Wasn't Sapper's unit with 3 Division part of OMG? Yes, but not as part of XXX Corps; which is what Geert's enquiry is about. Your note did spur me to remove an error in my original post relating to 11th Armoured Division. Getting the immediately prior Battle of Gheel and OMG confused...
If he spent time with 30 corps around the Cuxaven area he could have been attached to any number of regiments, brigades etc. not just those mentioned for Market Garden.
First of all: thank you all very much for the warm welcome and your suggestions. As far as I know my father was asked to join the XXX CORPS from Eindhoven onwards. He had very good knowledge of the Dutch-, German-, English-, French- and Italian language and also his mother tongue Friesian (which is similar to the Danish). Probably you are very right with the fact that the "dog tag" means "Royal Dutch Army" and I also could imagine that interpreters belonged to a Service Corps. Does anyone have an idea if foreigners like my father are also registered in the "Army Personnel Centre" cause in that case I can at least find out in which part of the XXX CORPS he was.
Hello Geert, See the attached link for a not dissimilar recent enquiry about a Dutch interpreter here: http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/recce/46448-cornelis-fluijt-2nd-lt-attd-3-recce.html You will notice that the service number is from the same RASC block of numbers as your father's. There is also a War Office reference number WO 373/155 which is found again on this forum for another Dutch national here: http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/ww2-news-articles/24972-jonkheer-frederik-pico-groeninx-van-zoelen-rip.html Having checked the War Office reference it - WO 373/155/2 - appears to relate to awards ‘To Netherlands (Not Gazetted)’. I wonder if there is any reference therein to your father? I don’t know if there will be a British service record for your father, but you could make enquiries with the MOD (Glasgow), link here: Ministry of Defence | Contact us | Service Records Enquiries – the link should give you the telephone number and lead you as necessary. I hope this is of assistance. Best, Steve.
He's not mentioned in any of the WO 373 files under 'Ankerman'. The files are online and searchable by name.
Dear Mr Ankerman We're from France. Two years ago, we bought a Bugatti Letourneur et Marchand. The owner was Gérard Jan Ankerman . We think he was your father. Do you remember of the car? We have informations that in 1938, he bought the car in Paris (he lived in Crillon Hôtel) before going to great britain . If you remember about this, CAN you please contact us? Best regards Friederich jean luc My father (Gerard Jan Ankerman, "Gé") was working at the Provincial government of the province of South Holland. During WWII they tried to keep people, they counted on for the Dutch administration after the war, in a place where the chances were small that they would get deported / used for labor deployment in Germany. For that reason my dad was send to work at Philips in Eindhoven (on paper they worked for the German army, so they could keep their personnel) and, when the south of the Netherlands was liberated, he joint the XXX CORPS as an interpreter. The only thing I know is that he went with this corps to the north of Germany where they had kind of police-tasks; I know he was for quite some time in Cuxhafen and surroundings. After the war he returned to the Provincial government of South Holland and worked there till he died in a traffic accident in 1968. During his life he didn't tell anything about this time he spent in WWII, but I found some clues that he was in the XXX CORPS. I know that one of the officers was a certain Cyril Ward, but he is not alive anymore I guess; I met him last time in the 60ies, when I was in England with a scouting group. I hope that maybe someone can tell me some more about this part of the XXX CORPS and what happened with it after the war. Is there still a part left of the "Boars" or is there any museum about this part of the British army? Looking forward to hear from you, Sincerely, Geert J. Ankerman.[/QUOTE] My father (Gerard Jan Ankerman, "Gé") was working at the Provincial government of the province of South Holland. During WWII Dutch administrations tried to keep people, they counted on for the administration after the war, in a place where the chances were small that they would get deported or used for labor deployment in Germany. For that reason my dad was sent to work at Philips in Eindhoven (on paper they worked for the German army, so their personnel was not taken) and, when the south of the Netherlands was liberated, he joint the XXX CORPS as an interpreter. The only thing I know is that they went to the north of Germany and that they had kind of police-tasks; I know he was for quite some time in Cuxhafen and surroundings. After the war he returned to the Provincial government of South Holland and worked there till he died in a traffic accident in 1968. During his life he didn't tell me much about this time he spent in WWII, but I found some clues that he was in the XXX CORPS. I know that one of the officers was a certain Cyril Ward, but I guess he is not alive anymore; I met him last time in the 60ies, when I was in England with a scouting group. I hope that maybe someone can tell me some more about this part of the XXX CORPS and what happened with it after the war. I have no idea in what part of the XXX CORPS my father was, but I found a kind of round red dog-tag with the text: R D A 102777 ANKERMAN G J N H I have no idea if that helps, but maybe someone can tell me more... Besides I have a commemorative plaque of the XXX CORPS. Is there still a part left of the "Boars" or is there any museum about this part of the British army? Looking forward to hear from you, Sincerely, Geert J. Ankerman.[/QUOTE]
