The Great Escapes of World War II: The History of the Most Legendary Escape Attempts by Prisoners of War by Charles River Editors

Author:Charles River Editors
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Charles River Editors
Published: 2017-09-25T04:00:00+00:00

Andrée de Jongh was one of the most extraordinary figures in all the escape and evasion stories of the war. Known as Dédée or "The Little Cyclone," this young Belgian woman was only 25 years old when she set up one of the most successful escape lines of the war. She and several associates were awarded the U.S. Medal of Freedom with Gold Palm and the George Medal, the highest American and British medals awarded to civilians for action during the war.

Andrée de Jongh

The origins of the Comet Line, Dédée's escape route, came during the German invasion of France and the Low Countries in 1940. Dédée was working as a nurse at a hospital full of wounded Allied personnel, and together with some of her friends, she started hiding British servicemen and Belgians who wanted to avoid detection by the Germans and escape to Britain. In 1941, she led her first evasion mission, taking an Englishwoman and 10 Belgians across Belgium and France by train, boat, and foot, avoiding German checkpoints. Reaching the Spanish border, she hired a Basque smuggler named Thomas to take the group across, but they were captured and interned by the Spanish authorities.

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