Churchill's White Rabbit by Sophie Jackson

Author:Sophie Jackson
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780752478937
Publisher: The History Press
Published: 2012-08-28T20:00:00+00:00

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Note

1. Marshal, Op cit.

– 11 –

Farewell, Dear Brossolette

THE FOURTH YEAR OF the war was slowly drawing to a close with Forest sitting back behind a desk glowering at the future. Men who excel at wartime adventures rarely find peace in less hazardous work. Forest was frustrated. Brossolette was still deep in France and the snippets of news filtering into London suggested that his continued presence was becoming more and more risky.

Meanwhile the usual politics had Forest almost tearing his hair out. He had composed a damning report of Sophie and Baudet after his experiences in France, but there were supporters of the pair in London who refused to believe the allegations. Instead they set out to blacken Brossolette’s name and, by extension, Forest’s. Even the officials Forest was reporting to were torn by the remarks. Forest knew all this but could do nothing about it. Instead he was put in an office interviewing prospective candidates for the Jedburgh teams SOE was forming.1

He was also increasingly troubled about Brossolette’s safety in France. There was no doubting now that the Germans were actively searching for him and he needed to be rescued as soon as possible.

He was not the only one who was concerned. In December 1943 the Free French decided that it was time to bring back Brossolette and another agent, Emile Bollaert. Forest was given the task of organising the rescue operation and relished the chance to finally be doing something that could directly benefit his friend. He arranged for two Lysanders carrying four agents to France to pick up Brossolette and Bollaert before returning home.

On 10 December he drove to Tangmere airfield with the four nervous new agents. The Lysanders were ready and waiting for them, but the door of the plane was as far as Forest could go. He wished the men well and, despite poor weather, the aircraft took off on time. There was nothing Forest could do but wait for their return, hopefully with Brossolette safe and sound.

It was impossible not to have some concerns about the dangers of the operation. Every time an aircraft took off on operations during the war there was a high chance that it would not be coming back. Forest was a realist. He knew the risks, the many things, both mundane and disastrous, that could go wrong and cause the mission to abort. But he had to cling to the hope that soon his friend would be safely back in England.

Five hours passed and then the whine of an engine indicated the return of one of the Lysanders. Forest got up anxiously, but when the door opened he was disheartened to see the same agent he had wished-well only a few hours before, exiting it. The bad weather had deteriorated during the flight and it had been impossible for the pilot to make out the landing site. In the end he had had to return without landing.

There was still the hope for the second Lysander and Forest sat down to wait again.

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