Shelburne Escape Line

Last updated February 07, 2024

The Shelburne Escape Line (1944) was a resistance organisation in occupied France in the Second World War. The Shelburne Line, financed by the British intelligence agency MI9, helped Allied airmen shot down over France evade capture by the occupying Germans and return to Great Britain by boat from the coast of Brittany. For the Allies, the rescue of downed airmen had a practical as well as a humanitarian objective. Training new and replacement air crews was expensive and time-consuming. Rescuing downed aircrew and returning them to duty became a priority.^[1]

MI9's first attempt, called the Oaktree Line, to set up an escape line for aircrew by boat from Brittany to England failed due to German infiltration and poor leadership. Its successor, the Shelburne Escape Line, helped more than 300 airmen evade German capture. In addition to those aircrew evacuated to England, the associated Francois Line in Paris helped aircrew escape to neutral Spain or shelter in place in a forest refuge in France.

Background

Tens of thousands of allied aircrew were shot down over Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II. The majority of them were killed or captured by the Germans, but more than 5,000 in Western Europe were helped by escape lines to evade capture and return to Great Britain. The largest of many escape lines were the Pat O'Leary Line, founded in Marseilles by people of several nationalities, and the Comet Line founded by Belgians. However, by spring 1943 those two lines had been weakened by German infiltrators and the capture of many of their leaders and "helpers", as the volunteers who worked for the lines were called. At the same time the air war over Europe was expanding and an increasing number of downed aircrew needed the help of escape lines to evade capture. The Shelburne Line was created and financed by MI9. Most other lines, although they may have been assisted financially by MI9 and other allied organisations, were the product of the efforts of private citizens of France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and other countries that resisted the German occupation.^[2]

The Oaktree Line

The predecessor of the Shelburne Line was the Oaktree line, created by Airey Neave and James Langley of MI9 as an escape line to evacuate downed airmen by boat from Brittany in France to Dartmouth in England. The leader they chose for Oaktree was Vladamir Bouryschkine, a Russian-American better known as Val Williams, who had previously worked with the Pat Line. Canadian Raymond Labrosse went with Bouryschkine to France as the wireless operator. The pair were parachuted "blind" (not met on arrival) into France on 20 March 1943. Their radio was damaged in the jump and they were unable to communicate with MI9 in London. The pair had been warned not to contact survivors of the Pat Line which had been infiltrated and destroyed by the Germans, a warning Bouryschkine ignored. Bouryschkine went to Paris and set up an organization there to house and care for downed airmen in safehouses and then journeyed to Brittany where 90 downed airmen were awaiting evacuation. Thirty-nine of them were staying in the chateau of an American woman, Countess Roberta "Betty" de Mauduit.^[3]^[4]

Attempts to organise a sea evacuation failed because Oaktree still lacked a radio. Bouryschkine instead led a group of airmen southwards intending to link up with the Francoise Line of Marie-Louise Dissard and cross the Pyrenees on foot to Spain. Bouryschkine (notoriously careless about security^[5]) and his party were captured by the Germans on 4 June 1943 in Pau. Labrosse made it back safely to England. Oaktree collapsed and many helpers in Paris and elsewhere, including Mauduit, were captured. Bouryschkine and Mauduit both survived imprisonment. The Oaktree Line was penetrated and betrayed by Gestapo agent Roger Le Neveu.^[6]^[7]

Shelburne Operations

On his return to England, Labrosse persuaded MI9 that an escape line from Brittany was still feasible. MI9 designated Canadian Lucien Dumais to head the reconstituted Oaktree with a new name "Shelburne". Dumais proved to be an efficient leader. On 19 November 1943, Dumais and Labrosse landed in France at a clandestine airfield, and this time Labrosse arrived with a functioning radio for communication with MI9. The plan they devised with Paul Campinchi and other French helpers was to hide downed aircrew in Paris where they received forged identity cards, clothing, training, and special passes for the forbidden coastal zones in Brittany. The men were hidden in safe houses, attics, barns, and abandoned buildings. During the moonless part of the month, the airmen were transported by railway to the town of Plouha near the ocean in Brittany. There they waited in a safe house for a coded message informing them that they would be picked up next night on Bonaparte Beach and taken to Plymouth, England by a Royal Navy motor gunboat.^[8]

The planned evacuations were risky. The Germans offered substantial rewards to people who betrayed downed aircrew and more than 20 residents of Plouha or nearby helped in the evacuation. A butcher, Francois Le Cornec, headed the local resistance organisation.^[9] The Brittany coast was fortified by the Germans. Bonaparte Beach was lined with steep cliffs. A German artillery blockhouse was 1,200 metres (1,300 yd) north of the beach. The motor gunboat had to anchor for several hours offshore while sailors rowed small boats to the beach to collect the airmen. Despite the risks, the Sheburne Line successfully mounted five evacuations of 118 aircrew, plus a few civilians, from Bonaparte Beach between January and March 1944. The sea evacuations were suspended after March; the Shelburne personnel were told the suspension was due to "shortening nights" but actually it was because the allies worried that continuing evacuations might interfere with plans for the Normandy Invasion of 6 June 1944.^[10]^[11] Moreover, the Germans had begun mining the beaches in Brittany and fortifying defenses in anticipation of the allied invasion, which made the continuation of Shelbourne impractical. French helpers of Shelbourne found 17 land mines on Bonaparte Beach and marked their location in anticipation of using the beach again for evacuations.^[12]

Among the evacuees was Oaktree leader Vladamir Bouryschkine who had escaped from the Germans and was (as usual) talking carelessly. At one point before the evacuation, Dumais pointed a pistol at Bouryschkine and told him he would kill him if he opened his mouth again.^[13]

After D-Day

Three additional evacuations, called Crozier I, II, and III, were carried out from Bonaparte Beach in July and August 1944, evacuating 27 additional people to England. In August the capture of Brittany by allied forces was complete and Shelbourne concluded its last operation on 9 August. After D-Day, the number of airmen evacuated by boat was 115 members of the US Air Force and 21 of the Royal Air Force. A few civilians were also evacuated to make up a grand total of boat evacuations was 145. Unique in the dangerous work of escape organisations, and contrary to the earlier MI9 experience with the Oaktree Line, not a single member of the Shelbourne Escape Line was captured or killed in the course of its operations.^[14]

The Paris branch of Operation Shelburne, the "Francois Line" headed by Paul Campanchi – not the same as the "Francoise Line" headed by Marie-Louise Dissard – also helped evaders flee occupied France to neutral Spain and, starting in May 1944, sent evading aircrew to the "Sherwood Forest" camp near Fréteval established by Operation Marathon as an alternative to land and sea evacuations. Airmen sent to Sherwood Forest were liberated by a small force led by Airey Neave on 14 August after the Germans had retreated from the area near the forest.^[15]

The total number of airmen who were helped by the Shelburne Escape Line to evade German capture is estimated at 307. Wireless operator Raymond Labrosse attributed the success of Shelburne to the experience gained from the often tragic experiences of the pioneering Pat and Comet Lines. At a reunion of the evaders in 1964, the courage of the French helpers of Shelburne was extolled: "Theirs were calculated feats of audacious, rash fearlessness – carried out under the very eyes of the German occupational forces."^[15]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Airey Neave</span> British politician, military officer, and lawyer (1916–1979)

Lieutenant Colonel Airey Middleton Sheffield Neave, was a British soldier, lawyer and Member of Parliament (MP) from 1953 until his assassination in 1979.

Operation Pegasus was a military operation carried out on the Lower Rhine near the village of Renkum, close to Arnhem in the Netherlands. Overnight on 22–23 October 1944, Allied military forces, Britain's MI9 intelligence organization, and the Dutch Resistance evacuated 138 men, mostly soldiers trapped in German-occupied territory who had been in hiding since the Battle of Arnhem a month earlier.

Countess Andrée Eugénie Adrienne de Jongh, called Dédée and Postman, was a member of the Belgian Resistance during the Second World War. She organised and led the Comet Line to assist Allied soldiers and airmen to escape from Nazi-occupied Belgium. The airmen were survivors of military airplanes shot down over Belgium or other European countries. Between August 1941 and December 1942, she escorted 118 people, including more than 80 airmen, from Belgium to neutral Spain from where they were transported to the United Kingdom. Arrested by the Nazis in January 1943, she was incarcerated for the remainder of World War II. After the war, she worked in leper hospitals in Africa.

MI9, the British Directorate of Military Intelligence Section 9, was a secret department of the War Office between 1939 and 1945. During World War II it had two principal tasks: assisting in the escape of Allied prisoners of war (POWs) held by the Axis countries, especially Nazi Germany; and helping Allied military personnel, especially downed airmen, evade capture after they were shot down or trapped behind enemy lines in Axis-occupied countries. During World War II, about 35,000 Allied military personnel, many helped by MI9, escaped POW camps or evaded capture and made their way to Allied or neutral countries after being trapped behind enemy lines.

Marie-Louise Dissard,, was a member of the French Resistance during the German occupation of France in World War II. She initially worked with the Pat O'Leary Line, a network which helped downed Allied airmen evade German capture and return to Great Britain. The O'Leary Line was first headed by Ian Garrow and later by Albert Guérisse. In 1943, after their arrests and the destruction of the O'Leary Line by the German Gestapo, Dissard created an escape network called the Francoise Line. The Francoise Line helped more than 250 Allied airmen escape occupied France and return to Great Britain. Including her work with the O'Leary line, Dissard helped more than 700 allied airmen escape from France. She received financial assistance from the British intelligence agency, MI9.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edgard Potier</span>

Dominique Edgard Antoine Potier was a Belgian airforce officer during World War II who organised an MI9 escape and evasion network, known as Mission Martin in Belgium and the Possum Line in France. Captured and tortured by the Germans, Potier committed suicide.

Jacques Desoubrie was a double agent who worked for the Gestapo during the German occupation of France and Belgium during World War II. He infiltrated resistance groups, such as the Comet Line, and was responsible for the arrest of several leaders and more than 100 members of organizations. The lines helped Allied airmen who had been shot down or crash-landed to evade German capture and escape occupied Europe. After the war he was tried, convicted, and executed in France.

Plouha is a town and commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department of Brittany in northwestern France.

Fréteval is a commune in the French department of Loir-et-Cher. The village is located on the right bank of the river Loir. Archaeological evidence indicates that the site was occupied by the second century CE. In the Middle Ages, the fortifications of the Château de Fréteval were used to defend the region against Anjou and, later, England. The Battle of Fréteval was fought nearby in 1194. The Forest of Fréteval extends into the northern part of the commune and was used in World War II as a refuge for Allied airmen shot down over France.

The Comet Line was a Resistance organization in occupied Belgium and France in the Second World War. The Comet Line helped Allied soldiers and airmen shot down over occupied Belgium evade capture by Germans and return to Great Britain. The Comet Line began in Brussels where the airmen were fed, clothed, given false identity papers, and hidden in attics, cellars, and people's homes. A network of volunteers then escorted them south through occupied France into neutral Spain and home via British-controlled Gibraltar. The motto of the Comet Line was "Pugna Quin Percutias", which means "fight without arms", as the organization did not undertake armed or violent resistance to the German occupation.

Harold Cole, also known as Harry Cole,Paul Cole, and many other aliases, was a petty criminal, a confidence man, a British soldier, an operative of the Pat O'Leary escape line, and an agent of Nazi Germany. In 1940 and 1941, he helped many British soldiers escape France after its surrender to Nazi Germany in World War II. He became a double agent for the Germans in December 1941 and betrayed to the Gestapo 150 escape line workers and members of the French Resistance, of whom about 50 were executed or died in German concentration camps.

Virginia d'Albert-Lake was a member of the French Resistance during World War II. She worked with the Comet Escape Line. She and her husband Philippe helped 67 British and American airmen evade German capture. She was arrested on June 12, 1944 and imprisoned by the Germans in Ravensbrück concentration camp and other camps for the remainder of the war.

Sir Michael Justin Creswell was a British diplomat. During World War II, he was an attaché at the British Embassy in Spain. He worked with the Comet Escape Line to help allied airmen who had been shot down over Nazi-occupied Europe to escape to neutral Spain and return to Britain. He was Ambassador to Finland from 1954 to 1958, Ambassador to Yugoslavia from 1960 to 1964, and Ambassador to Argentina from 1964 to 1969.

Micheline Aline Dumon, , was a member of the Belgian Resistance during World War II with the Comet Line. Her surname often appears misspelled as "Dumont" in historical sources. She was awarded the British George Medal and United States Medal of Freedom for helping allied airmen shot down over Belgium and France evade capture and imprisonment by Nazi Germany. As a member of the Comet Line, founded by Andrée de Jongh, she aided in the escape of more than 250 allied airmen. She guided downed airmen from Belgium and France to the border of neutral Spain from where they could be repatriated to Great Britain.

Elvire De Greef,, code name Tante Go or Auntie Go, was a member of the Comet Escape Line in World War II. From her house in Anglet in southwestern France, near the border with Spain, she led efforts by the Comet Line in the Basque country to exfiltrate people from occupied Belgium through France to Spain, especially Allied airmen whose aircraft had been shot down by Nazi Germany. Once across the border in neutral Spain the escapees were transported to the United Kingdom. De Greef's husband and two teenage children also worked with the Comet line.

Florentino Goikoetxea (1898–1980) was a Basque who worked for the Comet Escape Line during World II. A smuggler by profession, he guided more than 200 Allied airmen shot down in occupied Belgium and France over the Pyrenees mountains to neutral Spain from where they could be repatriated to the United Kingdom. He was honored with the George Medal from the United Kingdom and the Legion of Honor from France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pat O'Leary Line</span> Resistance organization in France during World War II

The Pat O'Leary Line was a resistance organization in France during the Second World War. The Pat O'Leary escape line helped Allied soldiers and airmen stranded or shot down over occupied Europe evade capture by Nazi Germany and return to Great Britain. Downed airmen in northern France and other countries were fed, clothed, given false identity papers, hidden in attics, cellars, and people's homes, and escorted to Marseille, where the line was based. From there, a network of people escorted them to neutral Spain. From Spain, British diplomats sent the escapees home from British-controlled Gibraltar. Many different escape lines were created in Europe of which the Pat Line was the oldest and one of the most important. Collectively, the many escape lines helped 7,000 Allied military personnel, mostly airmen, escape occupied France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The Pat Line received financial assistance from MI9, a British intelligence agency.

Escape and evasion lines in World War II helped people escape European countries occupied by Nazi Germany. The focus of most escape lines in Western Europe was assisting British and American airmen shot down over occupied Europe to evade capture and escape to neutral Spain or Sweden from where they could return to the United Kingdom. A distinction is sometimes made between "escapers" and "evaders". Most of those helped by escape lines were evaders.

Operation Marathon in World War II helped allied airmen who had been shot down or crash-landed in Nazi-occupied Europe evade capture by the Germans. The British intelligence organization, MI9, created the operation to gather downed airmen into isolated forest camps where they would await their rescue by allied military forces advancing after the Normandy Invasion of June 6, 1944. The Comet Line, a Belgian/French escape line, operated the forest camps with financial and logistical help from MI9.

Marguerite "Peggy" van Lier Langley was a guide for the Comet Line which helped allied airmen shot down over German-occupied Europe in World War II to escape to neutral Spain.

References

↑ Hemingway-Douglass, Reanne (2014). The Shelburne Escape Line. Anacortes, Washington: Cave Art Press. p. 2.
↑ Neave, Airey (1970). The Escape Room. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company. pp. ix–xiv, 229–238.
↑ Neave 1970, pp. 229–238.
↑ Ottis, Sherri Greene (2001). Silent Heroes: Downed Airmen and the French Underground. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky. pp. 146–149. ISBN 0813121868.
↑ Clutton-Brock, Oliver (2009). RAF Evaders. London: Grub Street. pp. 162, 165. ISBN 9781906502171.
↑ Hemingway-Douglass 2014, pp. 6–8.
↑ Ottis 2001, pp. 148–149.
↑ Ottis 2001, pp. 149–157.
↑ Hemingway-Douglass 2014, pp. 36–37.
↑ Neave 1970, pp. 252–252.
↑ Clutton-Brock 2009, p. 169.
↑ Ottis 2001, pp. 157–158.
↑ Hemingway-Douglass 2014, pp. 31–32.
↑ Clutton-Brock 2009, pp. 172–174. Statistics vary according to the source as some evaders were helped by more than one escape line or the record is simply incomplete..
1 2 Ottis 2001, pp. 158–159.