Library Reference Number: 148
Addendum to "Bailing Out - The Route Back To UK"
A short time ago, Harry Fisher presented us with some information concerning the gallant work undertaken by French men and women during wartime. The article, labelled on this website as library reference 143 and entitled 'Bailing Out- The Route Back To UK' contained details of Harry's experience of these brave souls, some of whom paid dearly with their lives. In this section, some newly discovered information has been added. If you haven't read the original article, you can read it now by clicking here and using the link at the base of that page to come back here.
It is said that "Necessity is the mother of invention" and this was never more evident than during world war two, when there was a desperate need for innovation and rapid progress in gaining the upper hand in the field of technology. Jet engines and radar may be examples seen in this light; but if mobile phones and modern forms of communication and technology had been available during the period of Harry Fisher's account, the outcome may have been quite different. However, for resistance workers without the advantages of present-day modern aids, sheer courage, loyalty and determination was the order of the day.
Since Harry's account appeared (Web Library Index No.143), there have been various articles on the Internet relating to the work of the French Resistance, and of particular interest was information and photographs depicting Monsieur Gabriel Cochet, numero 1 de I'OCM 138 (See picture on the right). This was the actual person who led Cell 138 and was instrumental in planning Harry Fisher's escape route back to UK. For Harry's part, since making his story available, he has discovered a hidden box in his home, containing forgotten letters and information which could complement the articles appearing on the Internet. It is felt that this additional information may be of interest to anyone undertaking research in this subject, and may corroborate or close gaps in some of the information installed on the Internet from the French source. Harry Fisher writes:
My recent article "Bailing Out - The Route Back to UK" being almost entirely written from memory, it was quite an interesting find to unearth a hidden box in my home containing letters and documents which would help to fill in some of the missing links. For example, I was taken to a farmhouse for safety along with my bomb-aimer, and as previously explained we spent a lot of time concealed in mushroom caves. However, we were allowed to return to the farmhouse frequently to toilet and bathe ourselves. I can now reveal from recovered letters the farmer was:Lucien Crepin, FermeDu Chatetet, Montigny-Lengrain, par Vic-sur-Aisne.
In a letter dated 1st November 1944 shortly after the liberation of Northern France, Lucien Crepin wrote this letter to my home address in Edinburgh asking for information about me. Lucien was the farmer who covered me in straw and took me hidden in the farm cart to the Resistance Chief Gabriel Cochet's house. He took a great risk transporting me in this manner under the nose of German armed soldiers as described in my recent account. Much to my surprise, both the Resistance Chief's photograph and his house are shown in the Internet feature.
Another letter recently found, was one to my mother from Mme Preux dated 19t" November 1944 also asking about me. Unfortunately, the name of the farm in Morsain is not contained in this letter. This was the brave lady who took crew-mate Archie McPhee and myself by train from Vic-sur-Aisne to Paris, then proceeded to take us to her mother's Paris home with German soldiers around us every inch of the way. Not content with that, she had subsequently written home to my mother asking how I had fared.
Now to Paris and the wonderful three nurses who proved a great help in my time of need. In my recent article, I had highlighted Therese in whose home we were hidden at grave personal risk to herself. Perhaps, because of being surrounded by other persons of great courage, I did not give sufficient credit to the other two nurses. One I can only name as 'Denise' as I didn't learn her surname. The other was 'Germaine Renoncourt' and she in particular was one tremendous lady. How I failed to mention her before I shall never know - put it down to my advanced years. Among my recently discovered documents, I discovered a very affectionate letter from her dated 17t" January 1945. Her address then was:- 135, Boulevard - Brune, Paris.
Continuing to examine my long-lost documents, I found a letter dated 1St November 1944 from the Head of the Underground Movement in Pau. (Pau was mentioned in my article as the gateway to escape over the Pyrenees). His business address then was:- L. Van de Poele, c/o Ste Textile Wattinne & Co.,1,Rue Leon Daran, Pau, (BP),France. In this letter, he quoted the name of the young girl who guided us from Paris to Pau by rail. Her name is (or was) Isabella, daughter of Count Paul de Liedekerke, she and her father were Belgian. L.Van de Poele, Head of the Underground in Pau was also Belgian, and in his letter, he had mistakenly understood that I had got safely over the Pyrenees into Spain. I had replied to his letter giving him the whole story of how I had been caught by the German border patrol. L. Van de Poele did not receive my letter until over five months later after he had returned to Belgium. In his next letter dated 10t" May 1945 he was scathing about the Basque guides, and to quote "These people were always ready to receive their money, but not always ready to take the full risk they were paid for."
Another illuminating piece of information in his letter from Belgium was that "The place you were taken back to in Pau must have been 'Villa Albert' Avenue Trespaye, which was the High Quarter of the Gestapo and only a quarter of a mile from the house I was living in. Thanks for not giving us away, or I may have been sent to one of those nice German camps, if not worse. (His actual words). L.Van de Poele's address in Belgium at that time was:- Champ Des Oiseaux, 39, Rue Jean Gome, Heusy - Verviers.
The recent discovery of the above mentioned letters in my home, makes very interesting reading for myself after 60 years. I am also aware that in the absence of feedback to those resistance 'helpers' at that time, the contents may provide some belated answers to the current generation of researchers. Evidence of present interest has surprised me with names, places and photographs currently appearing on the Internet. It is very gratifying to myself and others who found themselves stranded in occupied territory, to learn that those who helped us are being recognised and memorials erected in their memory. To support this belated move, I should like to contribute any of the above details to those who are attempting to reconstruct some of those courageous acts.
Another interesting background feature to my account of receiving help in occupied France, was that I have recently been informed via the Internet, that there existed a German resistance movement at that time. As if life wasn't complicated enough in trying to identify friend or foe, it's just as well I hadn't been fully aware of this situation. It now appears that not all Germans agreed with Hitler's policies, and in fact an aborted attempt had been made on his life. The main contrast in German attempts to resist Nazism appears to have been the inability to organise actions on a large national scale because of widespread betrayals between differing factions; whereas the Dutch, Belgian and French Resistance units or 'cells' though appearing to be autonomous, individual, or un-connected, were actually all integrated into a massive highly organised international network, a situation for which I shall be eternally grateful, along with many others who were assisted to freedom.
As mentioned at the beginning of this `Addendum`, `high tech' during WW2 was in its infancy favouring neither pursuer or the pursued, current Internet technology however, has opened up past events to a much wider audience. For example, I had previously considered there were plenty of twists and turns in my time spent `on the run' in occupied France, but more recent revelations from the Internet have sent shivers up my spine. In my `Bailing Out' story (No.143 in Branch Web Library), I described how one of my `helpers' farmer Lucien Crepin, had covered me with straw in a farm cart, and under the nose of the Germans had taken me to Viv-sur-Aisne to the house of Resistance Leader Gabriel Cochet where I was interrogated by this numero 1 de I'OCM 138, to ensure I was a genuine member of RAF aircrew, and not a German `plant' which was an ongoing hazard.
From the Internet, I have recently discovered that only two months after my visit to Gabriel Cochet's home he had more visitors - the Gestapo. On 29'h June 1944, Andre Bataillard (numero 2) and Pierre Henin, a school teacher, had arranged to meet in Gabriel's home to discuss further resistance operations. First of all, a 'farmer' scout was sent in to Gabriel's office by the Nazis, followed by the Gestapo who had been watching close by. Gabriel was immediately handcuffed and about to be taken away, when Bataillard and Henin turned up and came face to face with the Gestapo who immediately arrested them as well. I shudder to think what would have happened, if Lucien Crepin had brought me along to meet Gabriel on that date, my whole life would have suddenly changed course if we had 'walked in' to the Gestapo's presence while they were arresting the others.
I visited France on several occasions after WW2 meeting some of the `helpers' including Gabriel Cochet. Coming from a rural background, he spoke mainly in French, but some of the others spoke English fluently, and I was treated with great friendliness and hospitality on my return visits to France. In fact, Gabriel's wife and daughter visited UK after the war, and I felt honoured to meet and accompany them on a short tour of Scotland. During those post-war years, although reference was made to our wartime experiences, there still existed the very strong reluctance to reveal too many details, and the sense of confidentiality and security still seemed to prevail.
It was therefore with great sadness that I recently received details on the Internet from a French source, describing some of the hardships suffered by section 138 personnel. This information was only received after I had published the story "Bailing Out - The Route Back to UK" and the full impact of those recent revelations has reminded me of the full extent of the fatalities and high cost paid, which I shall now very briefly describe.
Andre Bataillard (138 numero 2) had been deported to a German concentration camp where he died on 14th April 1945. Pierre Henin (school teacher) also deported to a German concentration camp suffered from gross illtreatment and brutal torture, died on 19th April 1945, aged 22. Gabriel had been interrogated by the Gestapo for seven hours then 'tortured in a bathtub' to force him to talk. When this failed he was hung for several hours with his hands tied behind his back. Gabriel again refused to talk and was subjected to more brutal interrogation by the Gestapo who knowing he was a resistance leader were determined to force him to divulge names. After being taken to Gouraud prison and then St.Quentin, they realised it was futile and branded the number 40060 on his right arm ready for extermination. He was deported to Germany, and on 13th April 1945 was taken to Sandbostel, near Bremen, which was notorious for atrocities carried out there, being generally known as a 'death camp.' Gabriel was then incarcerated in Neuengamme concentration camp near Hamburg.
When the British Army approached, the Nazis took Gabriel with many others to Lubeck on the Baltic, and loaded between 7 - 8,000 prisoners into four ships including Athen, Cap Arcona, Thielbek, & SS Deutschland in an attempt to escape capture. When the ships were bombed, thousands of prisoners were suffocated in locked holds, drowned, or those who struggled ashore were machine-gunned by the German SS. For thirty years after this event, skeletons and bones continued to be washed up on shore around Neustadt in Holtstein. By this time Gabriel had contracted typhus and was fighting for his life, but he was one of the few survivors of those hell ships. This underlines the strength and character of this remarkable man. Despite being mercilessly ill-treated and tortured he had refused to betray others, and presumably the Germans had been less inclined to kill him before they could extract information from him, being well-known by this time as a powerful resistance leader.
Having only had access to these facts from a French source quite recently, it has only intensified the respect and gratitude I already possessed for those persons who helped me in those troubled times. It gives great credence to the saying that the more a person has done - the less he is inclined to talk about it. The extent of those cruel experiences had never been fully divulged during my return post-war visits to France; and yet Gabriel Cochet born into a farming community in 1904, had survived all those harsh experiences inflicted by the Germans, and lived in his beloved France until 1996, dying at the age of 92 years. He had started off with 20 men when the need for action to free his country arose, and by the time he was captured, had built up a resistance unit of 240 people. A truly remarkable person whom I shall always be proud to have met.
A memorial plaque, again observed on the Internet, shows that thirteen members of that small section of the French resistance gave up their lives, mostly being shot in rescue operational activities, or meeting an early death in concentration camps. Numerous others had been captured but survived the rigours of concentration camps. They, along with other helpers including providers of `safe houses' may have remained un-named; but although for ever retaining their anonymity, they have truly earned our deepest gratitude.
Very few of the people who helped us will still be alive, as I was only 23 years of age when all those events took place. I trust that those who follow and are attempting to create historic records, will find some of the items I have mentioned to be of some assistance in filling some of the gaps. That completes my total recall as I do not think anything further will turn up now. Thus ends probably the most traumatic chapter of my life.
Webmaster's Note: - When Harry returned to France in the post war period, he took a friend named Bill Booth who now lives in Plymouth and who managed to find the two lower photographs added along side the text of this article. The table picture shows Harry Fisher, the author oof this article, sitting third from the right while Bill Booth is seated third from left. The female on the extreme left was one of the nurses who concealed Harry from the Germans at their clinic. Other persons around the table are French Resistance members who helped Harry along the way. The other photograph shows Harry Fisher on the left with Bill Booth on the right. The girl in the middle is Gabriel Cochet's daughter.