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| The Customs Control Point in 2011 - Keith Morley |
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| Maurice Bricout's House in 2011 - Keith Morley |
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| Evader USAAF Charles Carlson pictured in the winter of 1943 with frontier guide Henriette Hanotte 'Monique' (left) and Raymonde HOËL (right). The latter operated in Comete with her sister Nellie. The evaders changed identity papers and money from Belgian to French at their home on the edge of Rumes before the border crossing. - 'Monique' Hanotte |
Maurice Bricout was also described by Anne Jacobson
Robertson in her book ‘The Road Home’ as wearing the uniform of the French
artillery, yet in November 1943 F/O Robert Clements RAF 57 Squadron said in his
evasion report:
‘We got
off (the train) and walked across the border being guided by a Belgian
Policeman who was very proud of the fact that he wore RAF battle dress.’
One of the guides in that sector, Odile de Vasselot
recounted that:
‘Maurice Bricout
arrived superb to see in his Customs Officer uniform.’
Despite conflicting information, Lieutenant Bricout is
likely to have worn the uniform of a Customs Officer, or on rare occasions donned
civilian clothes. (see also last week’s
post)
Working for the Germans as a Customs Officer, Bricout would
have been able to use his inside knowledge of border activities to help the Comete
Escape Line decide when and how to traffic the evaders out of the town of
Rumes, over fields, past one of the Customs control points and on to his
farmhouse in Bachy.
Evader reports indicate that Bricout did not always lead
them over the border himself. On occasions the airmen followed their guides
(usually one guide to two evaders), arriving at Bricout’s home via the back
garden and farmhouse rear door. They would all stay in the kitchen and upon
arrival, his wife Rachel would take over, ensuring that the evaders and their
guides were given food and drink. Maurice and their son Rene would help in the
traditional style of French hosts and the airmen reported their experiences
favourably.
P/O George Ward said
‘A few of us were there; I seem to remember there was quite a party.’
George Watt described in his book The Comet Connection how he was one of four escapees with a woman and a man as their guides. They came to a
large farmhouse; the guides went in first before beckoning the evaders inside a
large kitchen. Half a dozen people were already there; a woman, three or four
men and a twelve year old boy. Food and wine appeared and there were toasts to
the evaders, their guides, the Resistance and the death of Hitler. They laughed
and ate, the wine flowed freely and everyone got pleasantly high.
Evaders and their guides would stay in the farmhouse kitchen
for most of the night. There were no sleeping arrangements, as the house was
not equipped to support these numbers. Enough time existed after the meal for a
catnap before the guides left with their charges around 4.00am, each airman
being given a baguette in greaseproof paper. The party moved across fields to
Cysoing railway station where they boarded the early workmen’s train to Lille and
subsequently caught the afternoon train to Paris.
The Comete Escape Line operated this route from August 1943
until the end of December. In early January 1944 the line collapsed again as
the Abewehr and Gestapo moved in. Many key operators and helpers were arrested.
Comete was decimated and would never fully recover, although it did bravely
regroup.
Maurice Bricout alleged that he continued to shelter and
pass on various evaders to nearby houses as late as 27 July 1944, providing
meat and butter for them costing 2,000 francs a month. On 10 July his house had
been searched by the Gestapo and he disappeared afterwards to join the Maquis.
On 27 July Bricout returned to the house to pick up some linen. The Gestapo
were waiting. He managed to jump out of a back window and escape to the woods
but his wife Rachel was arrested. The Gestapo completely ransacked and robbed the
house, leaving nothing. Despite being tortured, Rachel never revealed
information about her activities, the Organisation or Bricout’s whereabouts,
and he never gave himself up. She was liberated in very poor health on 3
September 1944 by the Allies from the prison infirmary after the Germans had
abandoned it in retreat.
In claims to the
Allies for compensation and reimbursement of expenses in connection with his
work, Bricout alleged he had worked with ‘Jean Jacques’ in setting up a number
of the six lines in that sector, had assisted soldiers to evade capture in
1940, guided or provided shelter/ food for over 300 evaders during 1943 and
part of 1944 and had been left with nothing.
On 26 December 1946 Maurice Bricout was rightly awarded the
US Medal of Freedom with Bronze Palm ‘for exceptionally meritorious achievement
which aided the United States in the prosecution of the war against the enemy
in Continental Europe from April 1943 to September 1944.’ A fitting reward in
the author’s view, but that was only one side of the story.
Next week the final part. Why were there doubts expressed by
the Allies around some of Bricout’s claims? Why in the US files did Lieutenant Sarant
of the US Forces European Theatre of Operations give instructions that no
compensatory payments were to be made to Bricout?
© Keith Morley
Looking forward to next week's installment. Whether all his claims were true or not he and his wife and fellow colleagues are all brave and heroic.
ReplyDeleteThanks Sally. I have a copy of Maurice Bricout's file, which provides a real snapshot of just how things were after the Allies liberated Belgium and France. Looking forward to putting the record straight.
ReplyDeleteThe subjects of this latest post by Keith were certainly brave and good hosts to the evading airmen. Sounds as if the latter enjoyed a few riotous evenings chez Bricout and who would blame them being as they were under constant and extreme pressure of discovery and punishment. His wife Rachel also proved to be made of ‘stern stuff’. They drank to the ‘death of Hitler’ by the crackling fire.This was quite common in those days. There were some allies who took this further too. Over 42 documented plots existed to try to assassinate Hitler. There were failed assassination attempts by disaffected individuals in the early days of Hitler's reign, such as radical university student Maurice Bavaud, whose three easily thwarted tries in November 1938 got him guillotined; the efforts of a British group of James Bond–like spies armed with, among other things, "exploding rats"; and the well-known attempts of German officers, such as Hitler's architect Albert Speer. Also would-be-assassins, such as members of the Polish underground. Most of the assassination attempts failed because of poor planning; others fell victim to circumstance, while some may simply have been rumours. In the event Hitler took his own life. According to reports he ‘committed suicide by gunshot on 30 April 1945 in his bunker in Berlin. His wife Eva committed suicide with him by ingesting cyanide. That afternoon, in accordance with Hitler's prior instructions, their remains were carried up the stairs through the bunker's emergency exit, doused in petrol and set alight in the Reich Chancellery garden outside the bunker.’ After the War Bricout, we are told here, applied for compensation with some difficulty. We shall follow this in Part three as this is intriguing. Churchill said, “ We have, I believe, within us the life-strength and guiding light by which the tormented world around us may find the harbour of safety, after a storm-beaten voyage.” Let’s hope that Bricout’s journey through the War was rightly recognised. On to the next part…....
ReplyDelete