Women who Spied for Britain

by Walker, Robyn

  With the date of D-Day still unknown, but driven by the knowledge that it could happen at any time, Butt and Hudson began working around the clock. Sonia was responsible for numerous tasks, including scouting for suitable drop zones and looking for safe houses for radio transmissions. Daily broadcasts from the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) carried messages to agents, often in the form of ridiculous sentences, such as ‘the canary has laid an egg’. While these sentences appeared nonsensical, and the British made no effort to disguise them in their broadcasts, the agents who were listening in would have been prepped to know exactly what the messages meant. It was in this manner, over the BBC, that orders were received instructing SOE agents and Resistance teams to attack or sabotage roads, telephone lines and rail transportation. Butt’s expertise with explosives was in high demand, as the Resistance workers needed instruction so that they could complete their sabotage work. She also cycled hundreds of miles acting as Hudson’s courier, coordinating the actions of all the Resistance groups in the Le Mans region. In an effort to raise the numbers in their group, Butt appealed to an influential Le Mans priest, Father LeBlanc. It was a difficult conversation, as neither Butt nor the priest was willing to trust the other. Butt was too security conscious to simply blurt out that she was with the Resistance and that they needed him to help them recruit more men! Father LeBlanc, too, was cautious, as he had no way to be sure Butt was not a German spy. Finally, deciding to take a risk, Butt asked Father LeBlanc to select any phrase he wanted, and to listen to the French news broadcast over the BBC the next evening. The priest chose the phrase ‘the meek shall inherit the earth’.10 Butt had the group’s radio operator send an urgent message to London: ‘Imperative BBC broadcast tomorrow night on French service 7.30 p.m. the following words…’11 Father LeBlanc’s chosen phrase was broadcast the following evening, and the priest became one of the group’s biggest allies, urging his parishioners to join the fight. The HEADMASTER circuit had become a force to be reckoned with. Butt and Hudson made an effective team professionally, and on a more personal level their mutual attraction continued to grow.

  Butt was extremely busy in the days leading up to D-Day. Hudson put her in charge of the group’s finances, which were used to purchase civilian goods, pay rent on safe houses, and bribe officials and civilians alike. Butt and Hudson also decided to mix blatantly with the Germans, gambling that they would be far less suspicious if they appeared to thrive on German company. They often dined at black market restaurants that were frequented by German officers. According to Butt, she mixed so well with the Germans that

  many French who didn’t know me scowled at me … I was taken for an ‘officer girl’. Because of my fair hair some of the French thought I was German. There were German officers who suspected I was in their own secret service. I left them to puzzle. It all helped to confuse the issue.12

  Butt had been told by Buckmaster that one of the reasons she was chosen as an agent was that she was a very attractive woman.13 She recognised how useful her beauty could be and made a concerted effort to establish ‘friendly’ relations with the Germans. Butt’s willingness to chat and flirt with the German officers made her privy to information that she was quick to relay over the wireless to London. One officer in particular, a German colonel, showed serious interest in Butt, and she was quite sure that he wanted to pursue a deeper relationship. One evening, as the two sat chatting in a café, Butt’s handbag, which held her revolver, slipped off the back of her chair and made a loud, metallic clunk as it hit the floor. From the Colonel’s penetrating gaze, Butt got the sense that he knew exactly what was in her purse, and, thinking fast, she reached into her purse and pulled out a forged firearms permit that had been signed by the Gestapo. Butt recalled,

  From that moment the colonel and I understood each other. I was a Gestapo spy, probably the mistress of a high Gestapo officer, which accounted to him for a lot of things – why I frequented the expensive black-market cafes, why I never let him accompany me to my quarters. I was a dangerous person but that lent spice to our tête-à-têtes. He was playing with fire, he let me know in so many words – but he liked it.14

  She had another near miss a short while after. As Butt was heading for a meeting at a safe house, she recalled developing a strange premonition that something was wrong. ‘Something compelled me to turn back. At the bottom of the street I passed a man I knew. Without looking at me he said, “It’s blown.”’15

  Her instincts saved her life, as an informer had advised the Germans that a new female agent would be arriving at the home. The Gestapo was waiting for her at the safe house, but she never arrived. Ironically, Butt’s German colonel had shared with her that the Germans were well aware that a new female agent had been parachuted in and was working in the area, noting that they expected to arrest the woman very soon. Butt simply shuddered and told him she could never imagine herself having the courage to jump out of a plane, secretly amused that the colonel had no idea how close to that new female agent he was!

  On the morning of D-Day, 6 June 1944, Butt was dining in a café when she heard the official radio broadcast that the invasion had begun. Radio instructions to the HEADMASTER circuit had contained orders for Resistance groups to disrupt German communications by attacking railways, roads, and telephone lines. Not only were these attacks designed to undermine the effectiveness of German communications during the battle, they would also force the Germans to rely on radios to communicate. Since the British had cracked most of the Germans’ codes, they could monitor German radio communications and stay reasonably well informed about German troop movements and supplies. Over the next couple of weeks, Butt was extremely busy, organising attacks on German communications and convoys, as well as finding hiding places for RAF pilots who had been forced to parachute out of their planes over French territory. She also took on duties as a weapons instructor. Sensing that some of the men were embarrassed to be taught weaponry by a young girl, she told them, ‘I know I am only a girl but we are short-handed. This weapon takes a bit of figuring out. But when you know it, you will be able to use it better than I can.’16 There was also the task of finding safe houses for the group’s wireless operator, since German direction-finding devices were hard at work in the area.

  Eventually, Hudson decided to form a large group of armed men who could carry out damaging attacks against German units and distract the Germans from the Allies at Normandy, whose invasion appeared to have stalled. Butt and Hudson decided that the Forêt de Charnie was a logical base for this force of Resistance fighters, and soon established a camp there. Butt was an active participant in the night-time ambushes that were launched against the German convoys, impressing her counterparts with her fearlessness. Their usual technique would be to lie in wait along thickly wooded areas of a main road, making sure that there was a country road or trail nearby, to which they could escape after the attack, making a speedy exit from the area by either bike or car. As the convoy approached, the ambushers would attack the lead vehicle with Sten guns, disabling it, and then rake the rest of the convoy with gunfire and grenades before slipping away into the woods to make their escape. These ambushes, led by Butt and Hudson, were tremendously successful but required a constant supply of guns and ammunition. An arms drop was planned for the evening of 7 July 1944, but on the morning of the drop it was discovered that a group of Resistance men had been arrested on one of the roads just outside the forest. The Germans were now alerted to the fact that Resistance activity was taking place within the Charnie. Butt and Hudson set off for the forest on 8 July, stopping at a safe house a few miles from their destination. Here they learned that, under torture, one of the Resistance men had led the Germans to the site of the arms drop and a firefight had taken place. Many of the Resistance fighters were killed or taken prisoner. The group’s wireless operator had managed to escape but he had been forced to leave behind his radio. Worse still, all of the arms that were parachuted in were captured by the Germans.

  The los
s of the radio was probably the most devastating outcome of the Charnie attack. Without contact with London, Butt and her group were unable to arrange for parachute drops of arms and supplies. There was also a shortage of money. Operating capital was necessary to provide the group members with clothing, shoes and bicycle tyres, and to purchase the ‘goodwill’ of local residents. A suggestion was made to approach the treasurer of the Catholic Church in Le Mans, in the hope that, even if he did not provide the Resistance with funds, he at least would not betray them to the Gestapo. Butt approached the Abbé Chevalier and arranged a meeting between him and Sydney Hudson. Hudson managed to secure 200,000 francs of Church funds. With this money in hand, the group was able to focus its full attention on the disruption of German communications. Throughout the month of July, Butt helped to organise five groups of Resistance workers, who carried out a number of ambushes against the Germans and cut the phone lines and cables running through the district. It was also during this period that Butt once again showed her unwillingness to back down from the Germans. One day, while exiting a building in Le Mans, she discovered that a German soldier had taken her bicycle and ridden off on it. Furious, Butt followed the soldier and, upon seeing him park the bicycle and enter a shop, she promptly stole it back and continued on her way!

  As the HEADMASTER network waited anxiously for the Allies to break out from the Normandy beaches, they realised that, in order to continue to work effectively, they required radio contact with London. Butt was sent off on her bicycle in an attempt to link up with someone who could provide the group with a radio. She returned empty-handed two days later, with news that the Allies were breaking through on the Normandy front. This fact was borne out when, days later, Butt and Hudson were cycling along the road and saw two German staff cars pass them. That in itself was not unusual, but when the two cars turned around and came flying back down the road Butt and Hudson braced themselves for trouble. The Germans sped right past the pair, however, and they soon learned why the Germans had been travelling so quickly. At a crossroad up ahead, an American armoured column was making its way past! Clearly the tide of the war in France was turning.

  With the knowledge that the Allies were in the area, Hudson requisitioned a German staff car that their group had found abandoned and, after mounting a French flag on the front, he and Butt drove off towards the American lines. They made contact with American intelligence, and over the next several days the Resistance groups began to come out of hiding, rather secure in the knowledge that they were now behind the Allied lines. Butt, however, had a moment where she was made to feel anything but safe. Because of her habit of dining in cafés frequented by Germans, and of posing as a collaborator, a group of locals grabbed her off the street and grouped her with a number of French civilians who were suspected of working with the Germans. Women suspected of consorting with Germans usually had their heads shaved; Butt was in line for this type of treatment when someone in the Resistance recognised her and came to her rescue!

  Once the Allied armies had managed to fight their way off the Normandy beaches, they began forcing the Germans back eastward through France. The Germans, with their miles of fortifications along the coast (known as the Atlantic Wall), had expected to be able to defeat any invasion army on the beaches. The Germans had little defence in depth, and once the Allied armies had broken through the coastal defences they were able to fan out behind German lines. By 31 July 1944 the Germans had been cleared out of Normandy and the Allies had advanced well inland. The Le Mans area where Butt and Hudson were operating was soon overrun by the Allied armies. Feeling that they could still be of use, Butt and Hudson offered their services to the Americans. Since they were familiar with the territory, why not send them in behind enemy lines to perform reconnaissance? The Americans accepted their offer, and both Butt and Hudson embarked on numerous undercover missions, penetrating deep behind German lines. During the end of August the pair, as well as another young man, were sent into the Falaise Pocket to discover whether or not the Germans were evacuating. The Falaise Pocket was a region in which the remains of the German Seventh army and the Fifth Panzer army were slowly being encircled by the advancing Allied troops. The encirclement had not been fully completed, and a corridor through which the Germans could escape still existed. Butt, Hudson, and their young friend drove by car into the pocket and, after scouring the countryside, they met up with a priest who informed them that the Germans were indeed evacuating. Information in hand, the trio headed back towards the American lines, only to run smack into a retreating column of German forces. Noticing a small gap in the column, Hudson accelerated and drove though the line of soldiers, making it safely back to the Americans and handing over the group’s report. However, their next trip behind German lines was more eventful.

  By the end of August the Americans were closing in on Paris. They were interested in learning about German troop strength on the other side of the Seine, and Butt and Hudson were sent in to reconnoitre. On 27 August, they managed to cross the river. Both possessed documents allowing them to pass as collaborators, and they crossed easily through German checkpoints. Travelling through the countryside, it appeared to Butt and Hudson that the Germans were not present in large numbers and they prepared to return to the American lines to report that it was doubtful the Germans intended to make a major stand in this area. Hanging the tricolour flag off the front of their car (to signal to the Americans that they were ‘friendly’), they headed back towards the American lines. Rounding a curve in the road, however, they came face-to-face with a German patrol blocking the bridge across the Seine. Hudson accelerated hard, crashing through the patrol and racing across the bridge. The Germans opened fire, bullets ripping through the back window of the car. Butt escaped injury (however, she later discovered bullet holes through her jacket, which had been draped across the back of her seat), but Hudson was hit by ricocheting metal below his left shoulder. Making it across the bridge did not bring the pair the security they were hoping for. Each road they turned down was blockaded by Germans. Eventually they decided to abandon the car and travel on foot. However, the area was swarming with Germans, and Butt and Hudson felt that the safest course of action was to head for the town of Bar-sur-Seine, where hopefully they could blend in with the townspeople. The town appeared deserted except for German soldiers. The Germans stopped Butt and Hudson in a café and took them into custody with a small group of townsfolk. The women were soon released and Butt returned to the café where they had been arrested in order to collect Hudson’s coat. She was confronted by two German soldiers, who searched her and then sexually assaulted her at gunpoint. Returning to where Hudson was being held, she handed him his coat and told him she had secured lodging in a local home for the night. She also told him about the assault, describing it as ‘something rather disagreeable’ and then commenting, ‘Luckily they didn’t discover the American passes.’17 No more was said, but her reaction clearly illustrated that, while she may have been devastated by the assault, she, like many soldiers, had become somewhat desensitised to the violence inherent in war. Hudson could offer little support to Butt, as he was detained overnight, but he managed to escape and link up with her the next morning. The pair headed north along deserted roads, eventually crossing the Seine a day later. On the other side, they hailed an American jeep, and after showing the soldier their American passes they were taken back to American Divisional headquarters.

  For Butt the war was now effectively over. Her husband Guy d’Artois, who had commanded over 3,000 Resistance fighters in central France and had also established the most formidable communications system in the whole Resistance, had reported to SOE’s advanced headquarters in Paris, where he was reunited with Butt in September 1944. Butt was honest about the relationship that had developed between her and Sydney Hudson but was very clear about her desire to spend her life with d’Artois. Hudson was devastated, but respected her decision and left the couple in Paris. Shortly thereafter Butt became pregnant with her fir
st child and left the service, travelling with her husband to Canada in 1946, where they settled in the French-speaking province of Quebec. Butt and d’Artois eventually had six children: three boys (Robert, Michel and Guy) and three girls (Nadya, Christina and Lorraine). Butt was awarded the Member of the British Empire (MBE) and a Mention in Dispatches (when a soldier’s name is listed in a report written by his or her superior officer and sent to the High Command, describing heroic action in the face of the enemy) for her service and gallantry during the war, while her husband received the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) and the French Croix de Guerre. Butt, now known by her nickname ‘Tony’, raised her six children and performed the duties of a military wife as d’Artois continued his career in the Armed Forces. Her daughter Nadya remembers that her mother did not speak too often about her wartime exploits, and believes that was out of sensitivity for her husband and a desire to make sure she did not ‘outshine’ him.18 Always full of energy and extremely active in social situations, Butt continued to charm all who met her. Nadya describes Butt as ‘a very strong mother who made all of the decisions. She was, and is, always beautifully dressed – a real clotheshorse, with her nails done and her lipstick on.’19

  In December 2001, Butt flew to London, England, and was reunited with her fellow agents, Nancy Wake and Sydney Hudson, who had gathered to attend the premier of the documentary Behind Enemy Lines – The Real Charlotte Grays. Butt and Hudson had not seen each other since the war, and those who witnessed their reunion describe it as deeply touching. The documentary detailed the stories of female agents during the Second World War, and it was an exciting opportunity for the old friends to catch up. She returned to England in March 2004 to witness her lifelong friend Wake being made a Companion of the Order of Australia, declaring proudly that ‘nobody can beat you Nancy, nobody’.20 Butt remained close to and corresponded regularly with Hudson, who published his own account of his military career (Undercover Operator), and died in April 2005 at the age of ninety-four. Guy d’Artois was hospitalised for the last five years of his life and Butt was his devoted caregiver, demonstrating a deep loyalty and love for her husband right until the end. He passed away in March 1999 at the Veterans Hospital in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec. Butt, now a grandmother and one of the few SOE agents still living, resides just outside the city of Montreal. Sadly, she is suffering from Alzheimer’s, but she is well cared for by both her loving family and a devoted caregiver.