RAF Escaper and Evaders in WWII by Martin W. Bowman

Author:Martin W. Bowman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HISTORY / Military / World War II
ISBN: 9781473850477
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2015-01-29T16:00:00+00:00

Endnotes

28 The Bomber Command War Diaries; An Operational reference book 1939-1945 by Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt (Midland Publishing Ltd 1985, 1990, 1995).

29 Eckardt was KIA on 29/30 July 1942 near Melsbroek in air combat with a Lancaster. He had scored 22 night and 3 day victories at the time of his death.

30 Six Wellingtons and the Halifax W7653 on 102 Squadron FTR. The Bomber Command War Diaries; An Operational reference book 1939-1945 by Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt (Midland Publishing Ltd 1985, 1990, 1995).

31 The Reseau Comete was a resistance group in Belgium and France that helped Allied soldiers and airmen return to Britain. The line started in Brussels where the men were fed, clothed and given false identity papers, before being hidden in attics or cellars. A network of people then guided them south through occupied France into neutral Spain and home via British-controlled Gibraltar. A typical route was from Brussels or Lille to Paris and then via Tours, Bordeaux, Bayonne, over the Pyrénées to San Sebastian in Spain. From there evaders travelled to Bilbao, Madrid and Gibraltar. There were three other main routes. The Pat line (after founder Pat O’Leary) ran from Paris to Toulouse via Limoges and then over the Pyrenees via Esterri d’Aneu to Barcelona. Another Pat line ran from Paris to Dijon, Lyons, Avignon to Marseille, then Nimes, Perpignan and Barcelona, from where they were transported to Gibraltar. The third route from Paris (the Shelburne line) ran to Rennes and then St Brieuc in Brittany, where men were shipped to Dartmouth.

32 Later, Ralston was moved to Stalag Luft III at Sagan.

33 Peggy van Lier later escaped to England, where she was awarded the MBE - later she became Mrs Jimmy Langley.

34 Andree de Jongh was 20 in 1940 and lived in Brussels. She was the younger daughter of Frederic de Jongh, a headmaster and Alice Decarpentrie. A heroine in her youth had been Nurse Edith Cavell who was shot in 1915 in the Tir National in Schaerbeek for helping troops escape from occupied Belgium to neutral Netherlands. In August 1941 Andree de Jongh appeared in the British consulate in Bilbao with a British soldier (James Cromar from Aberdeen) and two Belgian volunteers (Merchiers and Sterckmans), having travelled by train from Paris to Bayonne and then on foot over the Pyrénées. She requested British support for her escape network (later named ‘Comet line’), which was granted by MI9 (British Military Intelligence Section 9), under the control of an ex-infantry major Norman Crockatt and Lieutenant James Langley. Langley had been repatriated after losing his left arm in the rearguard defence of Dunkerque in 1940. Working with MI9 de Jongh helped 400 Allied soldiers escape from Belgium through occupied France to Spain and Gibraltar. (‘Dédée’De Jongh escorted 118 airmen on 218 journeys over the Pyrenees herself.

35 Following his evasion, Larry Carr was awarded a Mention in Despatches. He was commissioned on 19 June 1943. After some leave, he returned to flying duties, but his detailed knowledge of

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