by Larry Loftis
One radio operator: Millar, Maquis, 17–18.
rat charge: For a detailed graphic illustrating the design and operation, see David Stafford, Secret Agent: The True Story of the Covert War Against Hitler, p. 6 of photographs (unpaginated).
time-pencil fuse . . . Gammon Grenade: See Lorain, Clandestine Operations, 157–61.
Vickers . . . MG 34 and 42: Foot, S.O.E., 81.
William Fairbairn . . . Shanghai Buster: Loftis, Into the Lion’s Mouth, 161–65; Langelaan, Knights of the Floating Silk, 65–74; Dear and Foot, Oxford Companion to World War II, 1019; Rigden, How to Be a Spy, 15–17.
silent killing: Langelaan, Knights of the Floating Silk, 66–67; Loftis, Into the Lion’s Mouth, 163; Dourlein, Inside North Pole, 81; Millar, Maquis, 22; Foot, S.O.E., 84; Rigden, How to Be a Spy, 5, 15–16, 361, 367.
Beaulieu: Foot, S.O.E., 79–90; Foot, SOE in France, 53–58, 95, 104; Dear and Foot, Oxford Companion to World War II, 1019; Dourlein, Inside North Pole, 79–89; Langelaan, Knights of the Floating Silk, 59–81; Churchill, Of Their Own Choice, 9–32; Rigden, How to Be a Spy, 5–8.
clatter of activity . . . eight o’clock: Tickell, Odette, 78.
“Now we’ll just” . . . “Céline!” . . . “Suppose”: Ibid., 79.
chance meeting with Christine Collard . . . “Fifi”: HS 9/307.3, UK National Archives. Marie Christine Chilver was not the only agent provocateur, but apparently was the best.
“What’s this chap”: Tickell, Odette, 80.
Kim Philby: Kim Philby, My Silent War, 22–38.
“What is the Morse sign”: Ibid., 81.
“All on”: Ibid.
men in German: Imperial War Museum (IWM), Oral History, interview with Odette Marie Céline Sansom, produced October 31, 1986, catalogue number 9478, Reel 1; Buckmaster, They Fought Alone, 47.
Recruits were stripped: Buckmaster, They Fought Alone, 47.
canoe, navigate by the stars, poach: Tickell, Odette, 81.
began to irritate: Ibid.
“She has enthusiasm”: Finishing Report for candidate Samson [sic], HS 9/648.4.083, UK National Archives.
“Well, Céline” . . . “I am very much”: Tickell, Odette, 83.
Ringway: See, generally, Churchill, Of Their Own Choice, 27–28; Dourlein, Inside North Pole, 84–86; Foot, S.O.E., 89–90; Foot, SOE in France, 55.
“Now, ladies and” . . . “You will enjoy”: Tickell, Odette, 84.
“We’ll have just” . . . “Be excused?”: Ibid., 85–86.
face crashed . . . medical clinic: Ibid., 86.
“Certainly, if you” . . . “That’s like”: Ibid., 86–87.
“Good-bye, Francoise”: Ibid., 88.
Dropping her children off . . . heartbreaking: IWM, interview with Odette Sansom, October 31, 1986, catalogue number 9478, Reel 1.
“I therefore order”: Binney, Women Who Lived for Danger, 9–10.
“You happened to be”: Tickell, Odette, 91.
50,000 francs: Ibid., 95.
“Have your clothes” . . . “Do you” . . . “Now these”: Ibid., 96.
Whitley . . . Lysander . . . Catalina: Ibid., 99–101.
Cornwall . . . Whitley . . . rising and sinking: Ibid., 102–3.
CHAPTER 3: MISSION TO MARSEILLE
“Get out everyone”: Tickell, Odette, 103.
“You are going”: Ibid., 104.
In the middle of October: The dates Odette left for Gibraltar and for France are nebulous. HS 9/648.4.005 and 9/648.4.007, UK National Archives, record that Odette “Left for the field” on October 30, 1942. Presumably this refers to the date she was to have left from Gibraltar for France. However, even this date does not allow sufficient time to travel by felucca to Cassis, where the party landed on November 2, a date firmly established. See, for example, HS 9/648.4.008, 9/648.4.012, 9/648.4.050, and 9/648.4.057, UK National Archives.
“one of the most”: Dear and Foot, Oxford Companion to World War II, 487.
Jan Buchowski . . . Virtuti Militari: Churchill, Duel of Wits, 153–54. Odette also describes Buchowski as “very brave.” Imperial War Museum (IWM), Oral History, interview with Odette Marie CélineSansom, produced October 31, 1986, catalogue number 9478, Reel 1.
feluccas on the Gibraltar: See, generally, Foot, S.O.E., 126, and SOE in France, 65–66.
“too rough even”: Ibid.
“I am the commander”: Tickell, Odette, 105–7. Odette confirmed that Buchowski initially refused to take a woman on his felucca in her interview with the Imperial War Museum in 1986. IWM, interview with Odette Sansom, October 31, 1986, catalogue number 9478, Reel 1.
October 23 . . . Dewucca: The time necessary for the felucca delivery is nebulous. Peter Churchill stated that it was a ten-day trip (Duel of Wits, 223), while official British historian M. R. D. Foot wrote that the felucca trip normally took twelve to fourteen days. S.O.E., 126; SOE in France, 65–66. Thus, Jerrard Tickell’s suggestion that the trip took eight days appears erroneous. Odette, 122.
“Did they give you”: Tickell, Odette, 107.
Including Major George Starr: In her debriefing on May 12, 1945, Odette stated that those on board (with her and Buchowski) were “Captain Young, Urbain [code name for Marcus Bloom], Madame Lechene [Marie-Thérèse Le Chene], Miss [Mary] Herbert, and [Major George] Starr,” confirming Peter’s passenger count. HS 9/648.4.079, UK National Archives. See also Buckmaster, They Fought Alone, 284 (Bloom), 286 (Le Chene), 290 (Herbert), 297 (Sansom), and 298 (Starr); Ruby, F Section SOE, 127.
November 2 . . . Cassis . . . Marsac: HS 9/648.4.008, 9/648.4.010, 9/648.4.012, 9/648.4.050, 9/648.4.057, and 9/648.4.079, UK National Archives; Churchill, Duel of Wits, 223–24. In They Fought Alone, Colonel Buckmaster cites the felucca’s arrival date as November 4. See each agent’s arrival date at 284 (Bloom), 286 (Le Chene), 290 (Herbert), 297 (Sansom), and 298 (Starr).
Odette stood . . . calm . . . mimosa and thyme: Tickell, Odette, 108–9.
Villa Augusta: HS 9/648.4.057 and 9/648.4.079, UK National Archives.
Marie-Lou Blanc . . . “Suzanne”: Foot, SOE in France, 187.
languages . . . one of the finest: Leo Marks, Between Silk and Cyanide: The Story of S.O.E.’s Code War, 17; Cookridge, Inside S.O.E., 156.
Dropped by submarine: Churchill, Of Their Own Choice, 70–71.
French destroyer: Churchill, Duel of Wits, 164–65.
“here, there and everywhere”: Buckmaster, They Fought Alone, 76.
Villa Isabelle . . . Baron Henri (“Antoine”) de Malval: HS 9/648.4.057 and 9/648.4.079, UK National Archives. See also Cookridge, Inside S.O.E., 151–53.
But what captured: Churchill, Duel of Wits, 225.
Auxerre . . . demarcation line: HS 9/648.4.057 and HS 9/648.4.079, UK National Archives.
a passeur: Philippe de Vomécourt, Army of Amateurs, 55.
“I don’t need any”: Churchill, Duel of Wits, 226.
Adolphe Rabinovitch: KV2/164 (18a) and HS 9/648.4.080, UK National Archives; Churchill, Duel of Wits, 317; Foot, SOE in France, 187; Cookridge, Inside S.O.E., 165–66.
temperament of a wolverine: HS 9/648.4.080, UK National Archives. (Odette: “He had a terrible temper.”) Peter dedicated Duel of Wits to Arnaud, whom he described as “a violent, difficult, devoted, and heroic radio operator.”
could and did swear in four: Marks, Between Silk and Cyanide, 74.
Hercules . . . panther . . . bet: Churchill, Duel of Wits, 201–3.
“Rabinovitch swung his giant”: Marks, Between Silk and Cyanide, 75.
“Very tired”: Tickell, Odette, 124.
André (“Carte”) Girard: KV2/164 (18a), HS 9/648.4.057, UK National Archives.
asked for something to do: HS 9/648.4.057 and 9/648.4.079, UK National Archives.
“I want you to go”: Churchill, Duel of Wits, 227.
Riquet . . . twenty-five . . . sergeant: Cookridge, Inside S.O.E., 170.
“What was that” . . . “Very restless”: Churchill, Duel of Wits, 228.
“I seem to remember” . . . “Enchantè”: Ibid., 229.
November 6 . . . Marseille: HS 9/648.4.057 and 9/648.4.079, UK National Archives.
“I want you to take” . . . “Having got rid”: Churchill, Duel of Wits, 230–31.
General Charles Delestraint: Foot, SOE in France, 204. He would later be captured by the Gestapo and was executed at Dachau on April 19, 1945.
“Je vous apporte des”: Tickell, Odette, 132.
If Vidal was in . . . “When you’ve got”: Churchill, Duel of Wits, 232.
Marseille: Tickell, Odette, 128–30. Tickell’s account of the Marseille trip, while confirming Peter Churchill’s account on the whole, includes a few discrepancies. Churchill, for example, specified that the amount given to Odette was 50,000 francs; Tickell, however, writes that it was 200,000. More glaring is Tickell’s misstatement that Odette retrieved Peter’s briefcase from the petrol dealer, Gontrand, who was not on the felucca pickup and could not have had Peter’s briefcase. Tickell also seems to have inverted the order of Odette’s route, citing that she visited Gontrand’s garage before going to Vidal’s hotel.
Marseille . . . unruly population . . . underworld: Foot, SOE in France, 194.
three agents: The agents were Ted Coppin (sabotage instructor), H. M. R. Despaigne (wireless operator), and Sidney Jones (to establish the INVENTOR sabotage circuit). Ibid., 194–95.
It is forbidden: Penny Starns, Odette: World War Two’s Darling Spy, 64–65; Imperial War Museum, picture archive, album 854.
“Monsieur Vidal?”: Tickell, Odette, 132–34.
“Here I leave you”: Ibid., 135.
raiding the waiting rooms: Corrie ten Boom, The Hiding Place, 86.
deporting millions: Cookridge, Inside S.O.E., 172.
safest of safe houses: Philippe de Vomécourt, Army of Amateurs, 78.
brothel . . . “open to civilian gentlemen”: Benjamin Cowburn, No Cloak, No Dagger: Allied Spycraft in Occupied France, 38.
the razzia: ten Boom, Hiding Place, 86.
“Que désirez-vous, Madame?”: Tickell, Odette, 136.
curtains . . . cigarette . . . hairpins: Ibid., 137.
three in the morning . . . military police: Ibid., 139.
CHAPTER 4: THE BRIEFCASE
“Where’s Lise?”: Churchill, Duel of Wits, 244–45.
Remember when you: Ibid., 245–46.
three hundred thousand guerillas: Foot, SOE in France, 184. See also KV 2/164 (18a), UK National Archives.
His mouth went dry . . . “Oh, God”: Churchill, Duel of Wits, 247–48.
Chez Robert: Ibid., 249; Tickell, Odette, 143.
smallpox: Tickell, Odette, 139. In Churchill, Duel of Wits, 250, the madam had said that the niece was suffering from scarlet fever.
He congratulated her: Churchill, Duel of Wits, 250.
“Cannes has nothing”: Tickell, Odette, 140–41.
“It’s easy and silky” . . . “No very ordinary”: Ibid., 141.
“Lise, this Auxerre business” . . . “How much?”: Churchill, Duel of Wits, 250–51.
SEND LISE: Ibid., 251.
Hugo Bleicher . . . Geheime Feldpolizei: See, generally, Hugo Bleicher, Colonel Henri’s Story; KV 2/164 and 2/2127, UK National Archives; Tickell, Odette, 178–81.
somewhat of a celebrity: KV 2/164 (10B), UK National Archives. MI5 would later characterize Hugo’s ascent as a “meteoric climb to fame.” KV 2/2127.1 (24a).
INTERALLIÉ: See, generally, Roman Garby-Czerniawski, The Big Network; Mathilde-Lily Carré, I Was “the Cat”: The Truth About the Most Remarkable Woman Spy Since Mata Hari—by Herself; Bleicher, Colonel Henri’s Story, 37–39; KV 2/164 (20z, 10B) and all of KV 2/72 and 2/73, UK National Archives.
“There had been nothing”: Bleicher, Colonel Henri’s Story, 22.
August 11 . . . wife, Lucie . . . son: Among Hugo’s possessions when he was transferred to British custody was a gold wedding ring with the inscription “Lucie 11.8.29.” KV 2/164 (4c), UK National Archives. In his wallet at the time was a photo of his child (KV 2/164 (7c)), whom his personnel file states was age five. KV 2/2127.
Was he a soldier: Bleicher, Colonel Henri’s Story, 24.
Geheime Feldpolizei and stationed in Caen: Ibid., 28. For a history of Bleicher’s training and original duties with the GFP, see KV 2/164 (4B), UK National Archives.
Keiffer . . . “Kiki”: Bleicher, Colonel Henri’s Story, 37–38, 62–63, 117–18; Garby-Czerniawski, Big Network, 209, 231–32; Carré, I Was “the Cat”, 90, 117–18, 129, 135; KV 2/164 (18a), KV 2/72.3 Supp. 4, UK National Archives. Czerniawski recorded on his network chart (209) that Keiffer’s first name was “Raoul” (apparently an alias) and that he also went by the code name “Desiré.” Depending on the source, his name is variously spelled “Keiffer” or “Kieffer.”
INTERALLIÉ: Garby-Czerniawski, Big Network; Bleicher, Colonel Henri’s Story, 37–38; Carré, I Was “the Cat”. See also KV 2/72.3 Supp. 4, KV 2/2127 (unpaginated, but p. 3 of Bleicher’s personnel file), UK National Archives.
“Every spy who is”: J. C. Masterman, The Double-Cross System in the War of 1939 to 1945, 1.
“there are others”: Ibid.
Colonel Oscar Reile . . . former chief . . . forty-six: KV 2/164 (8a), UK National Archives. Bleicher refers to Reile as “Major Relling” in Colonel Henri’s Story (42), and editor Ian Colvin incorrectly identifies him as “Colonel Rudolf” (43n1). Bleicher properly identifies Reile during interrogation at Camp 020 on June 20, 1945. KV 2/164 (8a).
“We are fighting”: Bleicher, Colonel Henri’s Story, 42.
perfect French . . . English or Spanish: KV 2/2127.1 (unpaginated, but appearing at the beginning of P.F. 600, 861), UK National Archives.
“Monsieur Jean”: Ibid., 19, 46. Bleicher also would use aliases of: Jean Castel, Jean Verbeck, Colonel Henri, Colonel Heinrich, and Gottschalk. KV 2/164 (12a), KV 2/2127 (throughout), UK National Archives.
November 11 . . . 1940 armistice: For a detailed chronology of the war, see Dear and Foot, Oxford Companion to World War II.
1,800 calories: Philippe de Vomécourt, Army of Amateurs, 26–27. See also Cowburn, No Cloak, No Dagger, 17 (“A little simple arithmetic soon showed that in practice a human being could not subsist on the quantities awarded by the monthly ration cards.”), 38 (“half of the nation were going hungry and concentrating their thoughts and energies on occasionally achieving a tasty meal.”).
briefcase . . . list of network agents: KV 2/164 (18a), UK National Archives.
CHAPTER 5: CONTROL
two hundred letters long: Marks, Between Silk and Cyanide, 10.
Shakespeare, Keats, Tennyson: Ibid., 11. Marks emphasized to agents that the Germans knew their Shakespeare, too, and could look up Keats, Tennyson, Poe, or any other famous poet in reference books. The safer poem codes, he told them, were obscure poems or ones they had written themselves. Since Leo took a liking to Peter, he offered him this gem:
The boy stood on the burning deck
His feet were full of blisters
He hadn’t got them from the fire
But from screwing both his sisters.
Peter opted to keep it as a backup. Marks, Between Silk and Cyanide, 190.
20 percent . . . “indecipherables”: Ibid., 9.
Norgeby House . . . “having it off”: Ibid., 136–38.
“You’ve been kept”: Ibid., 139–40.
culprit was Peter Churchill: Marks, Between Silk and Cyanide, 126.
I danced two waltzes: Ibid., 66.
“direction-finding” vehicles: Michel, Shadow War, 369; Foot, SOE in France, 96–97.
“hatted”: Marks, Between Silk and Cyanide, 126.
Carte’s own men . . . Frager . . . security was nonexistent: HS 9/648.4.079, UK National Archives. “I refused to work with him,” Odette said during her debriefing on May 12, 1945, “as his security was so bad it was just not safe.” Ibid. See also Cookridge, Inside S.O.E., 168. (“His disputes with Henri Frager . . . reached
a paroxysm of hostility.”)
bringing Peter and Carte to London: Cookridge, Inside S.O.E., 168; see also Foot, SOE in France, 224–25.
location one of Carte’s men found: HS 9/648.4.057 and 9/648.4.079, UK National Archives.
Per the SOE standards: SOE’s training manual stated that, to ensure the safety of the incoming craft, “Rising ground and hills should be ten miles away.” Rigden, How to Be a Spy, 147.
“My dear Raoul”: Tickell, Odette, 143–44.
“Your papers!”: Churchill, Duel of Wits, 253.
Of the thirty-eight . . . 42 percent: Foot, SOE in France, 414–18. SOE women who would not return from France were: Yvonne “Jacqueline” Rudellat (died in Belsen, April 1945), Andrée “Denise” Borrel (executed at Natzweiler, July 1944), Vera “Simone” Leigh (executed at Natzweiler, July 1944), Noor “Madelaine” Inayat Khan (executed at Dachau, September 1944), Cecily “Alice” Lefort (died or executed at Ravensbrück, early 1945), Diana “Paulette” Rowden (executed at Natzweiler, July 1944), Eliane “Gaby” Plewman (executed at Dachau, September 1944), Yolande “Yvonne” Beekman (executed at Dachau, September 1944), Madeleine “Solange” Damerment (executed at Dachau, September 1944), Denise “Ambroise” Bloch (executed at Ravensbrück, early 1945), Lilian “Nadine” Rolfe (executed at Ravensbrück, early 1945), and Violette “Louise” Szabo (executed at Ravensbrück, early 1945). See Buckmaster, They Fought Alone, 282–99.
