Evening star., 1945-02-18
Dutch Deny Officer
lis Held in Tower
For Arnhem Leak
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
LONDON, Feb. 1.-THE curious
case of "the man In the tower" !"
q Dutchman said to have FORE
warned the Germans so that they
smashed the British air-borne at
tack on Arnhem last September,
deepened in mystery tonight as the
Netherlands Government Informa-
tion Service denied the man was
privy to the Arnhem operation but
credited Dutch security police with
catching him.
The story Of alleged treachery by
man who was a member Of the
Dutch underground for three years
and who proved" his loyalty by
killing several Germans, was first
obtained from confidential sources
last December but was released by
censorship only today.
The mans name still is withheld,
but the British Press, which gave
wide display to the account, said he
was "a Dutch officer"
After publication of the story, the
Netherlands Information Service
issued statement denying that he
was a Dutch officer, denying that he
was held in the Tower Of London,
and denying that he had access to
information about the Arnhem op-
Grafton.
British Refuse Statement.
The statement said, however, that
the man held had posed as a
member of the Dutch resistance
movement" and that 'his arrest was
due entirely to the alertness Of the
Dutch security authorities on, the
continent"
British sources thus far have de-
MED all knowledge of the case.
Prior to the Dutch statement, this
| account Of the case had been pieced
together from various sources:
The man, trusted because of three
active years in the underground
presented himself last summer to
Dutch resistance liaison officers ir
London and offered himself as q
message bearer.
| Glad to Kill Nazis.
He knew how to get through the
German lines to the resistance rep
resentatives. Would he be willing
to kill several Germans? Certainly
he was a crack shot. He obligingly
named a number of likely Nazis.
In the underground no one /,
taken at face value when necks are
at stake. Brussels officers, subse-
quently checking his reliability, in.
vestigated and found he had killed
the Nazis he promised.
| 1t now seems likely the estapc
gave him the names OF certain Ger
mans which they intended to xii,
anyway, and he played the role Of
executioner.
Courier Suspected Later.
Thereafter he was accepted. One
of the messages with which he was
reported entrusted carried in
structions to the underground or
the Arnhem attack.
The strength and suddenness Of
the Germans resistance when the
British Red Devil" Parachute Di.
vision descended on the Dutch city
aroused suspicious that they hac
been tipped.
But even as the heroic parachut.
lists struggled back across the Nedel
Rhine from the ruins of Arnhen
there was not the slightest suspicion
of the courier.
1t was not until some time later
that the Allies obtained evidence
that pointed to the Dutchman.
They moved cautiously. He was
dead shot and always went armed
To get him alive, he was induced
to attend a cocktail party and was
seized at the height of what he
thought was a gay affair.
The second chapter Of the story
OF the man in the Tower'-hoW
the Allies caught on to him-prob.
ably cannot be told until after the
war.