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In memory of Abraham van Rij  








The history of Abraham van Rij    8-3-1903 (37)   details

Abraham van Rij    8-3-1903 (37)
In 1941 Abraham van Rij was 2nd officer on the SS Texelstroom.
On the 22nd of february the ship was torpedoed a few miles of the coast of Iceland.
None of the crew members survived the attack.

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Stoomschip Texelstroom

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The steamship ss. 'Texelstroom' (1918) in service for the Dutch Steamboat Company (HSM) on it's voyage from Reykjavik to Grimsby, captain A. J. E. Levering, was torpedoed by the German Submarine 'U 108' en sank at 63.15° N / 20.30° W.

It was the first hit by the 'U 108'.

Source : K.W.L. Bezemer De Nederlandse koopvaardij in de Tweede Wereldoorlog (1981)

Source : http://www.scheepvaartmuseum.nl de maritieme kalender

De Texelstroom

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Last shipment of POW's

The SS Texelstroom played a modest part in the events of may 1940. It's not clear whether Abraham van Rij was a crew member at the time.

Many German POW's had been assembled at several locations at The Hague and a few elsewhere in the country. When it became clear that the war was about to come into its final stages, an order was filed that the POW's were to be evacuated to England in order to prevent them from being freed by their comrades. The previous day the main bulk had been shipped to the other side of the Channel. The 14th another 339 POW's were transported from The Hague to IJmuiden. The men were boarded in IJmuiden on the steamship Hr Ms Texelstroom. At 1900 hours the ship departed for England.

In fact the transport was an infringement of the preliminary armistice [terms] that had been agreed before. But the Dutch did not pay much attention to this. The occupational force that soon came in place found out that the Hr Ms Texelstroom had left port after the capitulation and launched an investigation to the matter. The responsible Dutch Lieutenant was heard by the SS and stated that he had not been aware of the capitulation when he had sent off the ship. The Germans did not believe him, but when he stated that would he have known about the capitulation that he would not have stayed in the Netherlands but boarded the vessel himself, they believed him.

In total about 1.350 German prisoners had been shipped to England. Of these men the majority had belonged to the German landing party at Ypenburg.
The far majority of the POW's was member of an airborne or air landing troop, and then of course many Luftwaffe crews were amongst them too. All in all the Germans lost quite some well trained and fit young men when these men were taken away to POW camps in England [later Canada].


Source : http://www.waroverholland.nl/index.php?page=british-forces-in-hoek-van-holland




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