A man by the name of
Christian Lindemans. A member of the
Dutch Resistance in
World War II, this man singlehandedly caused the
Allies defeat in the
Battle of Arnhem in 1944, costing the lives of 7000 British
paratroopers as they landed directly in a battalion of crack
German Panzers and
infantry.
For ten days they fought to break the trap, but to no avail. Fewer than 2000 of the "Red Devils" managed to escape into safety back to France. Victory in this battle would have allowed Allied tanks to rush into the Rhineland into the heart of Germany, possibly ending the war by Christmas 1944, and preventing the Battle of the Bulge. The objective was the capture of several key bridges in the area. The consequences of this man's actions were disasatrous, among other things, it allowed the Russian Red Army to reach Berlin first, allowing the USSR to gain an advantage in the Cold War.
Lindemans was an important leader of the Dutch Resistance against the Nazi regime, but his gambling and womanizing made him a prominent target of the Gestapo and the SS. Nicknamed "King Kong", he defied the Gestapo openly and fought mock battles with them. However, he had struck a deal with the Nazis years back when he was captured. For money and women, this traitor became the most important Nazi mole in the Netherlands as well as the surrounding area, including Belgium, France, Norway and Denmark. As the commander of the Resistance Underground, he had access to almost all the information on Allied plans, anti-Nazi activists as well as Allied spies and agents, and he betrayed them by the dozen. By the time he was uncovered, it was estimated that he sent over 200 agents into the hands of the Gestapo to be tortured and executed.
His supreme betrayal took place at the Battle of Arnhem. He was informed by the French Resistance of an imminent attack on key bridge locations into Germany. He promptly ratted to the Gestapo, and overnight elite Panzer divisions slowly rumbled into position directly where the British paratroopers were supposed to land. No member of the local resistance met them, and they were slowly slaughtered.
No one knew of this until Christmas 1944, when British counter-intelligence put two and two together and figured out there must be a traitor among them. They singled him out and sent him to the Tower of London for immediate execution.
His existence was kept very hush-hush by the government until now for they feared the rage of an entire nation for allowing a traitor to kill thousands of their men. People started questioning about this famous prisoner known as the Traitor of Arnhem. However, he committed suicide before he could be executed. An easy death for a traitor who cost the Allies thousands of men, billions of dollars, and gave the Russians an incredible advantage in the Cold War.