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Full Description
Many organizations contributed to the Allied cause during World War II by funneling hundreds of downed airmen, escaped POWs, Engelandvaarders, and Resistance fighters out of occupied Europe and allowing them to rejoin the fight against Nazi Germany. The work of escape lines was carried out by civilian volunteers, or "helpers" who looked after "evaders" and guided them from one safe house to the next, each time risking their own lives. Many of the escape lines followed routes through France to the foothills of the Pyrenees. Here, the evaders were handed over to passeurs, or people smugglers, responsible for guiding them over the Pyrenees and across the border with "neutral" Spain.
In France, Toulouse was an important nexus of escape lines working together, Dutch-Paris, Françoise, and the unnamed network operated by Gabriel Nahas and passeur Jean-Louis Bazerque ("Charbonnier"). As evader numbers stagnated, Charbonnier recruited more passeurs and opened up more routes over the central Pyrenees. As the number of evaders in each group reached new highs, risk of accident or detection by the Grenzpolizei grew. Charbonnier did not survive the war and his accomplishments have largely gone unrecognized. His one failed attempt, when 29 evaders in a group of 35 were captured near Luchon on April 21-22, 1944, has only been told in bits and pieces and only through the lens of a few American and British airmen who believed that one of the passeurs had betrayed the group.
Drawing on government and private archives in the United States, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, Jean-Luc Cartron gives the first detailed account of what happened. The author reveals the heretofore unknown identities of some of the evaders in the party, among them a Belgian Olympian, a French priest and leader of the French Resistance, and the son of Mary Lindell, who was much celebrated in the UK after the war. Using multiple testimonies and legal proceedings, Cartron reveals how Charbonnier operated and how the group was betrayed and by whom.
Contents
List of Illustrations
Foreword by Roger Stanton
Preface
Acknowledgments
Author's Note
List of Abbreviations
1. A Perilous Hide-and-Seek
2. For King and Country
3. The Route Past Luchon
4. On the Run
5. Too Many
6. April Attempt
7. Hero or Villain?
8. Aftermath of a Betrayal
9. Maddy De Deken
10. The Woodcutter
11. Escapes and Hardships
12. The Road Blockade
13. Separate Fates
Appendix 1: Allied Evaders, Escapers, Resistance Fighters, and Engelandvaarders Who Attempted to Cross the Pyrenees into Spain, April 19-22, 1944
Appendix 2: The Escape Line Organizations
Appendix 3: Known Prisoners Who Escaped from the Train Bound for Neuengamme, June 5, 1944
Appendix 4: The Arrest and Deportation of Jacqueline Houry
Appendix 5: Evaders Helped by ""Françoise"" Organization in 1944 in Toulouse and Surrounding Area
Timeline of Key Events, 1944
Glossary
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index
