The Lady Is a Spy

by Don Mitchell

  Peter Churchill and Odette Sansom.

  The couple was moved to solitary confinement in Fresnes Prison. In February 1944, Peter was moved to Berlin and then sent to Sachsenhausen concentration camp, where he was held with special prisoners. After ten months in solitary confinement there, he was transferred to concentration camps at Flossenbürg and then Dachau. On May 4, 1945, the prisoners were liberated by American troops, and after giving testimony about his former captors, Peter returned to London. For his wartime achievements, Peter was awarded Great Britain’s Distinguished Service Order.

  Odette had been brutally tortured and threatened with execution. A number of her fellow SOE women prisoners were executed by the Germans. In July 1944, she was sent to the notorious Ravensbrück, where she was starved and beaten. She would, however, survive to be liberated. Odette became a national hero in Great Britain, and she was the first woman to be awarded the George Cross. After her first husband died, she married Peter Churchill in 1947.

  With the end of hostilities in Europe, Virginia and Paul took a trip around France to visit some of their primary Resistance collaborators from the war and to collect equipment they used in their operations. They set out by car from Paris on Monday, June 17, 1945, and drove almost a thousand miles. Virginia and Paul found most of their comrades unharmed and in good health. By the time they returned to Paris late that Friday night, they brought back several sets of communications, which they returned to an OSS supply office the following morning.

  Of the agents Virginia encountered during World War II, Abbé Alesch was perhaps the most interesting. His story is a cautionary tale about the importance of adequately vetting agents to determine their reliability.

  Virginia had hastily departed Lyon on November 8, 1942. On November 12, the abbé left a message for Dr. Rousset, Virginia’s valuable assistant. At 6:00 the following morning, Gestapo agents arrested the doctor. A week later, the abbé returned and talked to Eugenie, the doctor’s maid. She knew nothing of either the doctor’s or Virginia’s work with the Resistance. Eugenie informed Alesch that the doctor had been arrested. The abbé then inquired about Virginia, referring to her as “the English woman” rather than her code name, Marie Monin. Alesch insisted that he must see Virginia’s friend, and Eugenie gave him the name and address of Germaine Guerin.

  The abbé then paid a visit to Germaine Guerin, introducing himself as a friend and associate of Dr. Rousset. Germaine believed him, but her friend, Monsieur Genet, questioned him at length. The abbé had little to say about Virginia, but emphasized his relationship with Dr. Rousset. His knowledge about the doctor ultimately persuaded Genet that the abbé was reliable. Germaine introduced the abbé to two other of Virginia’s colleagues, “the Siamese twins.” (Ultimately, the brothers would be betrayed by Abbé Alesch.) Like Virginia, the twins distrusted Alesch. Nevertheless, the abbé returned periodically to Lyon. Genet was always cordial and took him to dine at restaurants in the city.

  After the war, the concierge of the apartments at the Rue Garibaldi informed Virginia that the abbé came to stay there and took Madame Guerin’s furs away to “put them in safekeeping in Paris.” On the morning of April 27, 1943, the abbé left the Rue Garibaldi flat, and two hours later, the Gestapo arrived and informed the concierge that the abbé was arrested and had talked. At least that’s what they told Madame Guerin. After two days spent searching through the two apartments, a van pulled up and virtually all the contents of the apartments were removed, including Virginia’s clothes and the trunk of men’s clothing that she had stored there.

  Several days after that, Monsieur Genet was arrested and taken to the infamous Hôtel Terminus in Lyon for interrogation. At the hotel, Monsieur Genet was observed to be “tightly manacled, with the skin and flesh of his wrist and arms in tatters, his face beaten up.” Genet was crammed into a freight car along with 150 other prisoners and shipped to the Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany. He suffocated to death before arriving at the destination.

  Virginia later talked to the proprietor of a restaurant in Lyon, who said that he had observed the abbé dining with Monsieur Genet. The restaurateur told Virginia, “it must have been that Abbé who sold him” to the Germans.

  At the end of the war, Virginia said that “I do not know whether Abbé Alesch was a double agent, or a Gestapo agent. I did not trust him and carefully kept him from knowing who I was (or I tried to) and certainly I kept him away from my aides and collaborators … I think that case should be investigated if possible, and the Abbé either brought to justice if he was a double agent or cleared if innocent.”

  Ultimately, justice caught up with the Abbé Alesch, and Allied authorities found out more about him.

  His full name was Robert Alesch, and he was born in Luxembourg in 1906. He would go on to study theology, and in 1933 was ordained a priest in the Roman Catholic faith. He served as a vicar in Davos, Switzerland, until 1935, when he was asked to leave, as he put it: “due to my friendly relations with women of my parish.”

  Later in 1935, Abbé Alesch found a position as vicar at La Varenne-St. Hilaire outside Paris. In January 1942, he was approached and recruited by an official with the Abwehr, Germany’s military intelligence organization. Without much persuasion, Alesch provided reports on the general attitude of the French toward the Germans, and got paid for his reporting.

  At the time of his encounters with Virginia and her group in Lyon, Alesch noted that “in working for Miss Hall and her group I had hoped to gain favor with the English without the knowledge of the Germans so that I might have a cover with the English in case I was ever arrested in the future.” From his work with Virginia and her group, which he referred to as “War Office Liaison (W.O.L.) Friends,” Alesch was able to pass along information to his German handlers.

  French Resistance members being escorted to their execution after a trial before a German military tribunal in Paris, April 1942.

  In October 1942, Alesch met Major Karl Schaefer, the assistant chief of the German Abwehr III—counterespionage group—in Paris. He asked the abbé if it was true that he was working as a courier for the Lyon group, and Alesch replied that it was. Major Schaefer reminded the abbé that because he had accepted German citizenship—in an unsuccessful bid to obtain a clerical position—his courier work for Virginia’s group could be considered treasonous and he could be executed. However, Schaefer offered Alesch the opportunity to continue working with the Resistance but under his direction.

  From that point on, Abbé Alesch became an enthusiastic, paid agent of the Germans while the French Resistance thought he was working for them—a double agent. He recalled that “Schaefer showed me a list of members of W.O.L.’s Friends group which I confirmed as being members and I also added several names to the list which were not known to Schaefer.” His cooperation would lead to the arrest and death of a number of Resistance members.

  Abbé Robert Alesch.

  To be a double agent meant to live a double life. While serving as a vicar at St. Hilaire, Alesch would wear his clerical robes but would change into civilian clothes when he was undertaking his espionage activities. After he resigned his clerical position at St. Hilaire in 1943, Alesch worked with his Nazi handler, Kommandant Schaefer, in arresting approximately twenty-five Resistance members in Lyon.

  Up until the time Paris was liberated, Alesch, at Schaefer’s direction, was told to put on his clerical garb and go to Fresnes Prison to hear the confession of French Catholics who were incarcerated there. While offering the prisoners the sacrament of penance, Alesch extracted information provided to him in confidence and passed it along to Kommandant Schaefer.

  Alesch was fluent in French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, and Russian. After the war the US Counterintelligence Corps (CIC) noted that Alesch “has the facility and intelligence to assume the identity of any of the above-mentioned nationalities.” He was generally successful in persuading people for much of his time as a double agent for the Germans that he was in frequent c
ontact with London as a British intelligence agent. The CIC also noted that “another proven charge against Alesch is the fact that he directly caused the death of twenty Resistance members in Normandy.”

  Several days before Paris was liberated in August 1944, Alesch fled the city for Brussels, where he obtained a position as priest at a refugee center. He remained there until May 1945 when he posed as a British intelligence agent. On May 18, he visited an uncle in Luxembourg who informed Alesch that American authorities were making inquiries about him. He immediately returned to Brussels.

  A few minutes after 6:00 p.m. on July 2, 1945, an officer in the US Army’s CIC and another officer arrested Abbé Robert Alesch at the entrance to a Belgian military installation near Brussels. The arrest was made based on a tip from a Belgian soldier. The abbé was not wearing clerical robes, but a suit, tie, and a gray felt hat. He carried identification claiming that he was Rene Martin, but he conceded that he was, in fact, Robert Alesch, and that he had discarded his clerical robes to evade arrest after he learned that American authorities were looking for him.

  Why did he spy for the Germans? Ultimately, he did it for the money, and the Germans successfully appealed to the priest’s considerable vanity. As he explained after the war in 1946:

  Having no experience in the espionage domain, I had hoped to free myself after a while and return to my first convictions. But I became aware that I was caught in a spiral beyond my control. Moreover, the Germans flattered me with compliments that were not undeserved. They admired my knowledge of languages, my psychological finesse, and even my innate sense of adventure. As to myself, I felt that this new occupation took advantage of a weak spot in my soul of which I had been previously unaware, and that it ended up pleasing me.

  Eventually, Alesch was handed over to the French authorities, and he was tried and sentenced to death by the Cour de Justice de la Seine on May 26, 1948. He was executed by firing squad on January 25, 1949, at the Fort de Montrouge in Paris.

  As the war ended, people took stock of Virginia Hall’s important contributions in France’s liberation. She had been recognized by the government of Great Britain for her first tour of duty in France as an SOE agent by being given the prestigious Member of the Order of the British Empire award.

  In February 1945, a proposal went forward recommending that Virginia receive the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC), the second highest US Army decoration—after the Medal of Honor—that is awarded for extraordinary heroism.

  In a memo dated May 12, 1945, just seven days after Germany surrendered, General Donovan suggested to President Truman that he might wish to make the presentation to Virginia in person:

  Miss Virginia Hall, an American civilian working for this agency in the European Theater of Operations, has been awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against the enemy. We understand that Miss Hall is the first civilian woman in this war to receive the Distinguished Service Cross. Despite the fact that she was well known to the Gestapo, Miss Hall voluntarily returned to France in March 1944 to assist in sabotage operations against the Germans. Through her courage and physical endurance, even though she had previously lost a leg in an accident, Miss Hall, with two American officers, succeeded in organizing, arming and training three FFI Battalions which took part in many engagements with the enemy and a number of acts of sabotage, resulting in the demolition of many bridges, the destruction of a number of supply trains, and the disruption of enemy communications. As a result of the demolition of one bridge, a German convoy was ambushed and during a bitter struggle 150 Germans were killed and 500 were captured. In addition Miss Hall provided radio communication between London Headquarters and the Resistance Forces in the Haute Loire Department, transmitting and receiving operational and intelligence information. This was the most dangerous type of work as the enemy, whenever two or more direction finders could be tuned in on a transmitter, were able to locate the transmittal point to within a couple of hundred yards. It was frequently necessary for Miss Hall to change her headquarters in order to avoid detection. Inasmuch as an award of this kind has not been previously made during the present war, you may wish to make the presentation personally. Miss Hall is presently in the European Theater of Operations.

  By June 1945, Virginia knew that she would be awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. While she undoubtedly felt honored by the distinction, it was reported to OSS headquarters from the field that Virginia “feels strongly that she should not receive any publicity or any announcement as to her award.” Reminding headquarters that Virginia had also requested no publicity for her earlier decoration from the British government, she “states she is still operational and most anxious to get busy. Any publicity would preclude her from going on any operation.” Virginia was hoping to continue her career in the intelligence field, and she didn’t want anything to stand in the way of that.

  Virginia’s Distinguished Service Cross (left) and (right).

  So, on September 27, 1945, Virginia Hall, accompanied by her mother, received the Distinguished Service Cross from General Donovan in a small private ceremony in his Washington, DC, office. The citation, signed by President Harry S. Truman, read:

  Miss Virginia Hall, an American civilian in the employ of the Special Operations Branch, Office of Strategic Services, voluntarily entered and served in enemy occupied France from March to September 1944. Despite the fact that she was well known to the Gestapo because of previous activities, she established and maintained radio communication with London Headquarters, supplying valuable operational and intelligence information, and with the help of a Jedburgh team, she organized, armed and trained three battalions of French Resistance Forces in the Department of the Haute Loire. Working in a region infested with enemy troops and constantly hunted by the Gestapo, with utter disregard for her safety and continually at the risk of capture, torture and death, she directed the Resistance Forces with extraordinary success in acts of sabotage and guerrilla warfare against enemy troops, installations and communications. Miss Hall displayed rare courage, perseverance and ingenuity; her efforts contributed materially to the successful operations of the Resistance Forces in support of the Allied Expeditionary Forces in the liberation of France.

  General Donovan presenting Virginia with the Distinguished Service Cross.

  The following day, September 28, 1945, was Virginia’s final day working for the Office of Strategic Services. In the letter of resignation she had submitted several days before, Virginia stated: “I am deeply interested in the future of intelligence work and would like to be considered in the event that an intelligence organization is established.”

  General Donovan and Virginia, with Virginia’s mother, after she was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.

  Harry S. Truman had become president upon Franklin Roosevelt’s death on April 12, 1945, and saw World War II through to its conclusion. Unlike his predecessor, President Truman was not enamored with either “Wild” Bill Donovan or the OSS. As the United States demobilized and scaled back many of its wartime capabilities, Truman directed that the OSS be closed down over Donovan’s strenuous objections. On October 1, 1945, just days after Virginia received the Distinguished Service Cross, the OSS was officially dissolved, with several of its functions being distributed to the State Department and the War Department.

  When the OSS was dissolved in 1945, General Donovan arranged for employees to buy a commemorative pin for a dollar.

  Virginia was now forty years old and ready to resume life in the United States. She enjoyed intelligence work and had demonstrated an aptitude for it during the war. If at all possible, she wanted to continue to have a career in the intelligence field.

  Lorna Catling didn’t really get to know her aunt until Lorna was a teenager after World War II. “She was a legend in the family. I knew she was a spy.” Virginia was a strong presence, and young Lorna was slightly terrified of her. Virginia was firm in her opinions and kne
w what she wanted. Her niece observed that she never saw her aunt Virginia get mad, “I just saw her leading in a very strong way.”

  In December 1946, Virginia went to work in the Strategic Services Unit (SSU), a former component of the OSS. When Virginia joined this organization, it had been moved from the War Department to the Central Intelligence Group (CIG), becoming the foundation of the Office of Special Operations (OSO), the foreign intelligence collection component of the CIG. Because of Virginia’s fluency in Italian, she was assigned to the Italian desk, where she collected political and economic intelligence, “with special emphasis on the Communist movement and its leaders.” Unsatisfied with the work, Virginia resigned in July 1948.

  Virginia moved to New York City, where in March 1950 she began working for the National Committee for a Free Europe (NCFE), which was located in the Empire State Building. The Committee was secretly acting as the public face of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)—in other words, a front organization—associated with Radio Free Europe, which broadcast uncensored news and information to Communist-controlled nations in Europe. Virginia served as the organization’s head of the Albanian, Yugoslav, and Baltic desks, handling relations with exiles, translating material, and conducting interviews. She provided guidance and assistance to refugees and groups in those countries in their effort to, in Virginia’s words, “keep alive the spirit of freedom and resistance in their native lands in their purpose of bringing about the liberation of all Iron Curtain countries.”

  Virginia’s 1946 US passport photo.

  Also in 1950, Virginia applied for a job in the new CIA organization. At the end of World War II, the economic, political, and military rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies created an extended period of tension known as the Cold War. The specter of the atomic bomb raised the stakes in this great power struggle. President Truman came to realize the need for a centralized intelligence organization and signed the National Security Act of 1947, creating the CIA. The Agency became responsible for coordinating the United States’ intelligence activities, and evaluating and disseminating intelligence.