Typical Corridor Coach Encountered by Evaders - Auzeau 2007 & Patrick Baldy |
The De Greef family - Left Elvire de Greef 'Tante Go' Right Janine de Greef |
Pilot Officer Bob Kellow |
On the Trains (1)
Evaders and escapers were heavily reliant on train travel to
cover the long distances necessary to reach freedom. In Germany there were no
escape lines or guides, so fugitives using the trains had to rely on their own
resource and ingenuity to try for freedom. In the Nazi occupied territories of North Western Europe , escape networks did operate and it
was to these that evading and escaping service personnel were often passed. The
guide was an essential tool in the trafficking process as the fugitives were
moved down the lines.
Various strategies were adopted by escape lines and their guides around train travel to minimise suspicion, reduce risks and transport their charges to the next point as inconspicuously as possible (See Post The Guides – Part Two.) Any arrests or problems affected the security of the whole line and the lives of its operators.
Pilot Officer Bob Kellow was waiting at Brussels Gare Midi
railway station in 1943 with an RAF evader known as ‘Bill Williams’. The men had
been passed train tickets discreetly by their guide and were told to follow two
men waiting near the ticket barrier at a distance. Various strategies were adopted by escape lines and their guides around train travel to minimise suspicion, reduce risks and transport their charges to the next point as inconspicuously as possible (See Post The Guides – Part Two.) Any arrests or problems affected the security of the whole line and the lives of its operators.
‘The
men were moving towards the barrier and we quickly moved up behind them but not
too closely. We showed our tickets as we passed through, then followed our
guides along the platform. They peered through the windows of each coach
searching for an empty compartment and eventually stopped by an open door….We
quickly followed them. Looking down the long corridor I saw them move into the
standing area at the end of the coach. We followed, found a space next to them
and leaned against the wall. As I stood with my back to the wall and my hands
behind me I could feel the handle of the door. Then I suddenly felt something
else. Something had been pushed through the handle. With a glance at our guide
who nodded, I carefully removed the object and found it was two magazines
rolled together. I passed one to Bill and we became immediately engrossed in
these publications. It mattered that neither of us could understand a single
word written in them. At least we had something to do to avoid eye contact and
unwanted conversations with other passengers.’
The practice of passing over railway tickets by way of a
handshake was sometimes utilised by guides. Other methods were also used to
transfer tickets, including outside the station and in cafes, but sometimes a straightforward process could
go wrong as RAF Flying Officer Alfie Martin described in 1943 when he left
Paris on the night train for Bordeaux:
‘Not
long after we had started, the lady with us looked across, took out her rail
ticket, and by signs asked me if I had ours. I shook my head, felt in all my
pockets and brought out the seat reservations but no tickets. Then there
started a great panic. I went out into the corridor, she followed and I
explained that the man had not given them to me. For some time I thought that
Doug and I were as good as captured, but the lady went up the train and after
some time came down again, passed me in the corridor, went in and sat down.
After she had passed I searched my pockets and discovered two tickets, so
dangling them in my fingers I went back into the compartment and took my seat.
At once she sat up and started talking to me, much to my consternation and she
showed me two tickets which she had just purchased from the conductor. I
thought that she had slipped the tickets into my pocket as she had passed, but
they must have been put there by the man who had showed us on to the train….I
had been entirely unaware that they were in my pocket. The conversation was of
great interest to the other passengers but did not arouse particular attention.
After I had made a few monosyllabic replies, they all sat back and continued
their reading.’
This chain of events could easily have led to disaster.
Escape Lines and their guides often had to think carefully and
consider all eventualities when changing plans as Pilot Officer Robert Horsley
of RAF 50 Squadron discovered in June 1942 while travelling south in France with
Comete’s Andrée de Jong. Horsley also had to be ready for some adaptations of
his own:
‘At
about six in the morning …the train pulled into Bayonne station; Les and I were
instructed to stay put and Andrée left with Hal and Jean. After about ten
minutes the train pulled out of The plan was outlined as follows: I should get off the train and I should go straight into the ‘Pissoir’ on the platform, then exit by the back door, walk across the marshalling yards to a gate, where I would see a man with an Alsatian dog. I should follow him and he would lead me to my hiding place.
Now I have never been inside a French ‘Pissoir’ and in my mind it was like any other English Gentleman’s toilet; imagine my horror when I later discovered that the wall was just above waist high and one urinated whilst saying ‘hallo’ to the rest of the world.’
Horsley got off the train taking advantage of some raucous
behaviour by Spanish soldiers on the platform. He did what he needed to do,
then wandered casually out of the toilet and back exit in full view of the
passing crowds, made for the opening on to the tracks and walked across them
without challenge to the man with the Alsatian dog waiting for him. This was a
risky move which paid off as Horsley went on to successfully evade capture.
Sources
Paths to Freedom – Bob Kellow
Bale Out. Escaping Occupied France with the Resistance – Alfie
Martin
Free to Fight Again – Alan Cooper
Next Week - On the Trains (2)