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Behind Enemy Lines - The war memoirs of Jedburgh Officer John Olmsted

In Behind Enemy Lines, American OSS agent John Olmsted tells the fascinating story of his experiences as a member of Jedburgh Team ’Dudley’, which dropped into occupied east Netherlands on 11/12 September 1944.

Together with his two comrades, Dutch officer Henk Brinkgreve and Irish radio operator John ’Bunny’ Austin, Olmsted’s mission was to help organize the armed resistance in Overijssel in support of the Allied advance during Operation Market Garden, which started six days later.

Following the Allied defeat at Arnhem, Olmsted and his team were trapped behind enemy lines. John Olmsted was one of the few Allied soldiers who managed to escape with Operation Pegasus 2 across the Rhine to liberated territory after the Battle of Arnhem. He vividly wrote about his experiences in Overijssel and Gelderland on the boat trip back to the USA shortly after the end of the war.

Olmsted’s first-person account allows us to see one of the most shocking episodes in Dutch history through the eyes of a young American officer. These are the perspectives of an outsider, who is simultaneously at the center of events. With warmth, humor, and an eye for detail, he grants us a fascinating glimpse into occupied Holland in the fall of 1944.

John Malcolm Olmsted (1914-2001) returned to the Netherlands in 1985. During this visit, he handed over a manuscript to historian Dr. Coen Hilbrink, whose family had sheltered Olmsted in 1944, with tragic consequences. Hilbrink added annotations, highlighting the harrowing experiences of the Overijssel Resistance and the tragic fate of Olmsted’s fellow team members. Brinkgreve and Austin did not survive the war; both were executed in 1945, just weeks before the Liberation.

The manuscript was edited as minimally as possible, preserving Olmsted’s unique perspective as both an observer and a participant, making it a distinctive historical document.

The cover photo shows what remained of the Twente Resistance headquarters after the raid by the Sicherheitsdienst. Olmsted and his team assisted the Resistance with sabotage.