by Larry Loftis
five-foot-high ridge: Ibid., 256. Odette determined that the Germans had ploughed the field to create the hazard. HS 9/648.4.057 and 9/648.4.079, UK National Archives.
“Where are the 1,600 meters” . . . the airman: Churchill, Duel of Wits, 256–59. Odette remembered that the field had been chosen by a woman living in Manosque. HS 9/648.4.057 and 9/648.4.079, UK National Archives.
“December Moon” . . . Arles: Churchill, Duel of Wits, 261; HS 9/648.4.057 and 9/648.4.079, UK National Archives.
SOE procedure: Rigden, How to Be a Spy, 150.
“You’re an odd”: Churchill, Duel of Wits, 262.
“It’s a long story” . . . “Marianne’s seven”: Ibid., 263–64.
Marseille . . . rue St. Bazil: HS 9/648.4.080 and KV 2/164 (18a), UK National Archives.
looked like a ruffian . . . Kiki: HS 9/648.4.080, UK National Archives.
20 Quai St. Pierre: Cookridge, Inside S.O.E., 169.
“Michel”: Churchill, Duel of Wits, 265.
To beat a Control check: An example of beating a Control check is best illustrated by an incident experienced by Philippe de Vomécourt, one of three brothers who had joined SOE at the outset of the war. He had been stopped at a routine check in Vierzon during 1943, and a German officer said to him, “Excuse me, but would you please step off the train? We just want to check one or two things.” Philippe went with the soldier into a small office and was told to have a seat.
“What are you doing?” a Wehrmacht lieutenant asked.
“Doing? Why I’m an inspector of the railways, and I work for the Gestapo,” Philippe answered, reciting his cover. “Here, look at my identity papers, it’s all there.”
The lieutenant went through the papers, muttering to his associate. “Do you speak German?” he asked.
“I’m sorry, I speak English, but I don’t speak German.” Philippe was lying, of course.
The lieutenant said to his assistant in German, “But I’m sure he’s the right man. He will be shot, just like his brothers.” The lieutenant’s eyes, however, never left Philippe’s.
Philippe made no show of emotion or understanding; a deadpan face waiting to get his papers back so he could be on his way. The lieutenant turned to his aide. “No, his name’s de Vomécourt, but he can’t be the right one. The man we’re looking for does speak German, but this one didn’t understand what I said.”
He told Philippe that they’d have to check with Paris, and Philippe was ushered to a holding room containing some thirty people. Paris would confirm that he was, in fact, the man they were looking for, so he had to think fast. He noticed the pattern: a guard would come into the room and call out a name, like in a doctor’s office, and the person would be escorted to another location.
Minutes later the guard began calling out a dozen names, and Philippe said “Yes” and followed the group out. When the queue turned left, following the guard, Philippe turned right for the exit and caught an incoming train going in the opposite direction. Philippe de Vomécourt, Army of Amateurs, 98–100.
duty officer: Churchill, Duel of Wits, 268.
CHAPTER 6: THE KISS
SOE handbook was clear: Rigden, intro., How to Be a Spy, 109.
“Where the devil”: Churchill, Duel of Wits, 267.
“I turned on a few”: Ibid., 268.
“Deux et trois”: Ibid., 268. Tickell, Odette, 151, has a different code: “Le ciel est gris.”
rescue team . . . train: Churchill, Of Their Own Choice, 103–4.
“I know the very”: Churchill, Duel of Wits, 269–70.
“An admirable performance”: Ibid., 270.
Grand Hôtel Nord Pinus . . . Amphitheater . . . theater . . . St. Trophime: Ibid., 270–71.
Côtes du Rhône . . . “Pon-soir, Mademoiselle”: Tickell, Odette, 148–50. Peter Churchill does not have this story in his account of December 1942 in Duel of Wits. However, the temerity of Odette in the piano story is in accord with a similar action in Churchill’s account of the confrontation with the German general on the train. Duel of Wits, 269.
“Deux et trois font cinq”: Churchill, Duel of Wits, 275; Tickell, Odette, 151 (with “Le ciel est gris”).
“And you will come”: Churchill, Duel of Wits, 276.
“I have listened to”: Ibid., 277.
The only Hudson: Foot, SOE in France, 73.
SOE’s only Lysander: Ibid.
Bassillac: Peter Churchill and Jerrard Tickell cover this operation in detail. Duel of Wits, 299–312; Odette, 154–63.
arm in arm: Ibid.
“Les femmes sont”: Churchill, Duel of Wits, 300, 304; Tickell, Odette, 157.
temperature was now in the low teens: Peter Churchill recorded that the temperature was 10 degrees below zero, Celsius, or 14 degrees Fahrenheit. Duel of Wits, 311.
“Keep an eye”: Ibid., 307.
“Put out those lights”: Ibid., 308; Tickell, Odette, 160.
German Shepherd: Tickell, Odette, 161; Churchill, Duel of Wits, 313. Tickell provides the dog chase from Odette’s point of view (identifying it as a police dog), while Churchill identifies the breed as Alsatian, the British name for German Shepherd.
CHAPTER 7: PEARL OF THE FRENCH ALPS
“Frizi, Frizi!”: Tickell, Odette, 162.
“I wonder how”: Churchill, Duel of Wits, 310.
the Domino: Ibid., 311; Tickell, Odette, 162. Churchill and Tickell both track the morning, although the latter’s account seems slightly embellished.
four Gestapo: Churchill, Duel of Wits, 312; Tickell, Odette, 163.
“Eugene”: Churchill, Duel of Wits, 313–14; Tickell, Odette, 164–65; Cookridge, Inside S.O.E., 169.
Gisèle: Churchill, Duel of Wits, 313–14; Cookridge, Inside S.O.E., 169.
Corsican croupier named René Casale: Cookridge, Inside S.O.E., 152.
Faverges . . . Hôtel de la Poste: Churchill, Duel of Wits, 315.
“You should have” . . . “Good God!”: Tickell, Odette, 165–66.
thirty-five-pound transceiver . . . B Mark II: Foot, SOE in France, 95.
As always: Churchill, Duel of Wits, 317.
mid-January and headed to the Alps: HS 9/648.4.080, UK National Archives.
they began with . . . resolute . . . her strength: Churchill, Duel of Wits, 317.
first Allied raid into Germany: Dear and Foot, Oxford Companion to World War II, 1330.
Stalingrad . . . Kursk: Ibid.
“Pearl of the French Alps”: So nicknamed by French geographer Raoul Blanchard, a professor of geology at the University of Grenoble (and later, Harvard University) and the founder of the Alpine Geography Institute, Grenoble, France.
Venice: The canals produced by the Thiou River, which runs through the center of Annecy, bear a distinct resemblance to the Italian city.
St. Jorioz . . . Hôtel de la Poste: HS 9/648.4.080, UK National Archives.
new identity cards: Ibid. Odette identifies Marsac as “Muriel.” Churchill, Duel of Wits, 318.
Monsieur Guy Lebouton: Cookridge, Inside S.O.E., 170.
“These are my friends”: Tickell, Odette, 170–71; Churchill, Duel of Wits, 319–20. Tickell’s and Churchill’s accounts of the meeting with the Cottets vary slightly but otherwise confirm the event and details.
Marsac rattled off his group: Churchill, Duel of Wits, 320. See also HS 9/648.4.080, UK National Archives; Cookridge, They Came from the Sky, 80; and Inside S.O.E., 175.
Paul . . . Talloires: HS 9/648.4.080, UK National Archives; Cookridge, They Came from the Sky, 80. Odette mentions in her debriefing on May 12, 1945 (HS 9/648.4.080) that Frager was “living at Montan” on the opposite side of Lake Annecy. This area, however, is called Talloires, so Montan may have been the name of the hotel or villa.
medical certificate: HS 9/648.4.080, UK National Archives.
OVRA . . . district office in Annecy: Cookridge, They Came from the Sky, 81.
Seythenex . . . Faverges: HS 9/648.4.080, UK National Archives; Churchill, Duel of Wits, 321�
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“Another little trick”: Churchill, Duel of Wits, 323.
radio direction finding: See, generally, Foot, SOE in France, 41, 96–97, 149, 193, 287, 330; Cowburn, No Cloak, No Dagger, 156–57.
107 . . . 31 were executed: See Appendix 2 of Buckmaster, They Fought Alone, 282–99.
fifteen to seventeen words: Cowburn, No Cloak, No Dagger, 155.
a capital crime: Ruby, F Section SOE, 70.
IF YOU PUT . . . “You can send”: Churchill, Duel of Wits, 323.
Marseille, Lyon, Nice . . . forty new drop zones: Cookridge, Inside S.O.E., 171.
tall, thin . . . twenty-six . . . facial lines . . . hunted: 9/648.4.079, UK National Archives; Bleicher, Colonel Henri’s Story, 86–87; Foot, SOE in France, 327.
Bardet had been arrested . . . Riviera . . . Aix-en-Provence: Foot, SOE in France, 245.
“I don’t like that”: Churchill, Duel of Wits, 323. “I was not taken by him,” Odette said at her debriefing on May 12, 1945, “and the men certainly did not like him. Marsac alone thought he was a good man. I told Raoul I did not think it was any good having a man like that.” HS 9/648.4.080, UK National Archives.
“I’ve got a complicated”: Bleicher, Colonel Henri’s Story, 73–74.
For details of the elaborate setup and arrest at Café Jacques, including the various players, see Cookridge, Inside S.O.E., 173–75, and They Came from the Sky, 78. See also Henri Frager’s debriefing in London in November 1943, wherein he describes a Russian, Nicola Posniakov, who appeared to be involved in the plot. KV 2/2127.2 (2A), UK National Archives. Frager guesses correctly that it was not the Russian who set the trap. During his debriefing that year in October, Arnaud identifies the man as “Nicholas de Paris.” KV 2/2127.2 (1y).
“We know next to” . . . “Do everything”: Bleicher, Colonel Henri’s Story, 74–76.
Café Jacques: Cookridge, Inside S.O.E., 175, and They Came from the Sky, 78.
CHAPTER 8: GRAND DUKE
“Two umbrellas have”: Buckmaster, They Fought Alone, 69.
wife and two of his daughters: Foot, SOE in France, 225.
Tournus . . . Cammaerts: HS 9/648.4.080, UK National Archives; Churchill, Duel of Wits, 321–39. Odette stated in her debriefing of 12 May 1945 (HS 9/648.4.080) that this pickup occurred on March 14, which is incorrect; March 14 was the original date ordered by Baker Street (Churchill, Duel of Wits, 327) but the Lysander failed to show, and the pickup was rescheduled for the night of March 22–23. See also Cookridge, They Came from the Sky, 73.
“If they think”: Churchill, Duel of Wits, 327.
DONKEYMAN: Ibid.
“JEAN MARIE” circuit: See, for example, Cookridge, They Came from the Sky, 169.
the lieutenant was also a Cambridge: Cookridge, They Came from the Sky, 77.
“Au revoir”: Ibid., 328.
Georges Duboudin: Ruby, F Section SOE, 71; Buckmaster, They Fought Alone, 288; Foot, SOE in France, 227.
Cammaerts’s . . . one car . . . Paris: Foot, SOE in France, 227 (citing Cammaerts’s final report after the war). Cookridge, who consulted Cammaerts for his They Came from the Sky, has the car going to the local station and Cammaerts and Marsac entraining from there to Paris (76).
doctor’s authorization: Foot, SOE in France, 227.
Roger stayed with Marsac: Cookridge, They Came from the Sky, 76, and Inside S.O.E., 178.
two million francs and a pistol: KV 2/2127.2 (5a), UK National Archives; Foot, SOE in France, 227.
meeting . . . Champs-Élysées . . . afternoon: Bleicher, Colonel Henri’s Story, 75–76; KV 2/2127.2 (2a), UK National Archives; Cookridge, They Came from the Sky, 78, and Inside S.O.E., 175.
“Can’t you control”: Churchill, Duel of Wits, 342–43.
FOR ARNAUD STOP: Ibid., 343.
Monsieur Gaston . . . Claire . . . handkerchief: Bleicher, Colonel Henri’s Story, 74–77; Cookridge, Inside S.O.E., 174–75.
“Messieurs, mesdames!”: Bleicher, Colonel Henri’s Story, 77. The date of Marsac’s arrest is shown as 23 March 1943 at KV 2/164 (18a), and March 24 at KV 2/2127.2 (2A), UK National Archives. Adolphe Rabinovitch (cited with his operational name, “CATALPHA”) confirmed the cafe arrest details as he heard them in his SOE debriefing on 1 October 1943 KV 2/2127.2 (1y), UK National Archives. Odette confirms details of the arrest as she heard them (believing with Arnaud that the arrests were a Gestapo operation) from Lejeune in St. Jorioz later that month, and notes that she and Peter had warned Marsac not to go to Paris. HS 9/648.4.081, UK National Archives.
Lucienne Frommagot: Her code name was Suzanne, KV 2/2127.2 (1x and 1y); Churchill, Duel of Wits, 344; Cookridge, Inside S.O.E., 175.
flat in the rue Vaugirard: Cookridge, They Came from the Sky, 78, and Inside S.O.E., 178.
“Sorry to startle” . . . “I’d better”: Cookridge, They Came from the Sky, 79.
“Not one of us” . . . Voltaire . . . Hôtel de la Plage: Ibid., 79–80.
safe house in Cannes . . . the address: HS 9/648.4.027 (Peter’s letter to Colonel Perkins on June 4, 1946, wherein he states: “she sent him . . . to a safe house in Cannes”); HS 9/648.4.064 (Odette’s debriefing on May 12, 1945, wherein she states that she “had sent ROGER to a safe place in which to lie low” on April 13, 1943); HS 9/648.4.082 (Odette’s debriefing on May 12, 1945, wherein she states: “The day before the operation I sent ROGER (Cammaerts) to a safe place in the South of France”), UK National Archives. Also, Cammaerts states in his affidavit for Odette’s George Cross award on 20 November 1945 that only she knew of his address in Cannes. HS 9/648.4.042, UK National Archives. However, in a report dated January 16–18, 1945, Cammaerts mentions that Arnaud had sent him to the safe house. Foot, SOE in France, 490n63. Furthermore, after Bleicher arrested Odette and Peter, Arnaud refused to return to London (as Buckmaster had suggested) until he could personally warn Cammaerts (Marks, Between Silk and Cyanide, 283); Arnaud, of course, would need the address in Cannes where Cammaerts was staying to make this personal visit. The discrepancy is easily resolved by piecing together the logistics and meetings: since Cammaerts met with both Odette and Arnaud in St. Jorioz—apparently together—it appears that Odette and Arnaud together sent Cammaerts to the safe house.
“Bleicher,” he said, “we must get”: Bleicher, Colonel Henri’s Story, 77.
three days . . . refused to talk: Cookridge, Inside S.O.E., 175. Note that Cookridge interviewed Hugo Bleicher after the war.
“the Hitler system”: Bleicher, Colonel Henri’s Story, 78.
6 percent and 9 percent . . . SOE training: Rigden, intro., How to Be a Spy, 151 (“The Party is and will remain a minority of the German people; it consists of between 4 and 6 million [of a German population of 70 million] members. Membership was closed in 1933, soon after Hitler’s advent to power.”). See also HS 7/55 and HS 7/56, UK National Archives (containing the SOE syllabus lectures).
“I cannot believe”: Bleicher, Colonel Henri’s Story, 78.
Hugo confirmed that it didn’t: Before and after his own arrest, Bleicher always contended that he was anti-Nazi. KV 2/164 (18a), UK National Archives. While the assertion was self-serving, it apparently was true. After the war, MI5’s Ian Wilson concluded: “Bleicher is believed to be an expert at his work and a relatively humane man—he had no love for the Nazis.” KV 2/164 (2B).
notorious and hated Gestapo: The Abwehr, the intelligence arm of the military, was throughout the war in competition with, and hostile to, the Gestapo and SD, Nazi Party Intelligence. After the war, British Intelligence confirmed that Bleicher did, in fact, try to prevent captured agents from being mistreated by the Gestapo. In addition, he and his Abwehr superiors treated these agents as prisoners of war rather than as spies—who could be executed under international law. KV 2/164 (18a), UK National Archives. One British agent, C. J. Parke, interrogated and turned by Bleicher, testified to Hugo’s “distrust of, and repugnance for the Gestapo and even the SD,” and stated that Bleicher made “scathing remarks” about the
m. KV 2/2127.2 (14D). During his debriefing in London in 1943, Henri Frager told British Intelligence that Bleicher had confided that there was a “struggle to the death” between the Abwehr and the Gestapo. KV 2/2127.2 (1z). See also the comment by Major Wethered, one of MI5’s regional security liaison officers, on November 19, 1943: “another example of the known feud existing between the Abwehr and the SD.” KV 2/2127.2 (3a), UK National Archives.
Finally, see Bleicher’s remarks in his memoir: “We had daily brushes with the S.D. and its gangs . . . It would be a distortion of history if we did not mention the conflict between the S.D. and the Military Intelligence . . . [a]s my Abwehr service and the S.D. were on hostile terms.” Bleicher, Colonel Henri’s Story, 52, 63. At one point, Bleicher wrote, the conflict went so far that some Resistance men, “with Abwehr agents backing them, shot up several S.D. men in the sporadic clashes that followed.” Ibid., 63.
“Is it possible”: Bleicher, Colonel Henri’s Story, 78.
In room 13 of the Hôtel Bergerac . . . one million francs: Ibid., 79.
“My dear Marsac” . . . “The precondition for”: Ibid., 80–82. Bleicher’s ruse of planning to escape with Marsac is confirmed at KV 2/164 (18a), UK National Archives.
“I will work for”: Bleicher, Colonel Henri’s Story, 82–84.
letters . . . Roger Bardet: Ibid., 84; KV 2/164 (18a) and KV 2/2127.2 (11A, 10A, 9A), UK National Archives.
“You are to be”: Bleicher, Colonel Henri’s Story, 85. See also KV 2/164 (12a), UK National Archives.
