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They came from Burgundy
Chapter 58
The Girl in the Blue Beret - and two more evaders captured ...
On 1 April 1944, Thomas Maxwell (1941) Bernard Rawlings (#671) Dale Kinert (#672) Elres Dowden (#676) T/Sgt Stephen Rodowicz and S/Sgt Herbert Gebers left Paris for Montauban, Toulouse and Pau ...
Sgt Thomas J Maxwell (1941) was the nineteen-year-old rear-gunner of 622 Sqn Lancaster LL828 (Thomson) which was damaged by flak over Stuttgart then hit again over Paris and the aircraft abandoned in the early hours of 16 March 1944 near Beauvais. Three other crew from LL828 also evaded successfully: flight engineer Sgt Frank Harmsworth (1928) and wireless operator Sgt Peter Jezzard (1929) evaded together and crossed the western Pyrenees in April (meeting Maxwell at Lecumberri in Spain) - and bomb aimer F/Sgt Delbert B Hyde (2/158/366) who was sheltered in the MI9 Mission Marathon camp at Freteval until liberated in September 1944.
Maxwell landed near Bazancourt (Oise) and spent the rest of the night in a barn. Next day he started walking until approached by a young boy who took Maxwell to his home. That evening, Maxwell was taken to Menerval where he stayed until 22 March when he was collected by car and his journey arranged ...
The man in the car was known as ‘M Philippe' and he took Maxwell to a house at 9 rue Croquet du Bosc in Gournay-en-Bray (Seine-Maritime) where Maxwell stayed with an elderly language teacher named Mme Logan and her daughter Yvonne, who was a doctor. On 31 March, M Philippe and a young girl took Maxwell by train to the Gare Saint Lazare in Paris. After a meal in a cafe opposite the station, Maxwell was taken to a priest's home just off the Avenue de l'Opera for the afternoon. Later he was taken to have his photograph taken and then, with two Americans (one of them presumably S/Sgt Clement Mezzanotte (#688) see later) to gendarme Marcelin Villemont's home at 151 Boulevard Davout where Maxwell stayed until the following afternoon. Next day (1 April) Maxwell was taken by Metro to the Gare d'Austerlitz from where two French guides took him and five Americans by train to Montauban, Toulouse and Pau ...
2/Lt Bernard W Rawlings (#671) was the co-pilot of B-17 42-39786 GI Sheets (303BG/427BS) (Fowler) which was on the way to Frankfurt o n 29 January 1944 when #3 engine began to fail and they dropped out of formation. They were attacked by fighters which destroyed the oxygen supply so the aircraft was taken down to low altitude. They hid in cloud cover until it cleared when they were attacked again. With the rudder controls shot away and several of the crew injured (one fatally) the aircraft was crash-landed in south-west Belgium.
The G I Sheets crew scattered and three others also managed to evade successfully: navigator 2/Lt Joseph C Thompson Jnr (#1662) waist-gunner S/Sgt Loren E Zimmer (#1722) – who baled out just before the crash-landing - and ball-turret gunner S/Sgt Richard Arrington (#1723) were sheltered in Belgium until liberated. Pilot 2/Lt James F Fowler and radio operator T/Sgt Donald J Dunwiddie were captured in Lille on 13 May 1944. Top-turret gunner T/Sgt Curtis E Finley was helped by the Francoise Dissard organisation but was one of several evaders captured by a German patrol in the Pyrenees near Bagneres-de-Luchon in April 1944. More details about the last flight of G I Sheets can be found in the ‘Fowler's Fate' chapter of the 1999 Special Revised Edition of "Half a Wing, Three Engines and a Prayer" by Brian D O'Neill, published by McGraw-Hill.
Rawlings was confident that they had landed in Belgium (rather than Germany) and local people soon confirmed it. He and his top-turret gunner Curtis Finlay set off for the nearest woods where they prepared to stay the night. However Finlay was poorly clothed and concerned about exposure so he left. Next morning, Rawlings stayed in the wood until noon before setting off and approaching a farmhouse for some food and directions – he was given sandwiches and directed south towards the French border. He spent the night in another farmhouse south of Beaumont (Hainaut) and the following morning, a man showed him how to cross the border. Rawlings came out on a main road and soon found a sign to a town shown on his escape map. Early that afternoon, Rawlings noticed men watching him, smiling and laughing, and he realised that they knew who he was so he might as well declare himself. He was taken in, given food and, more importantly, a proper touring map of the area. After several more days of wandering, Rawlings was taken into a farmhouse where he was sheltered by Henri and Louise Gossiaux and their daughter Marianne at their Ferme de Faviére while various plans were made for his return to England before he was finally taken to a place where his journey was arranged ...
On 17 February, Rawlings was taken to Sinceny, a small village just south of Chauny, where he was lodged with Marcel Thierry and his wife Simone. That afternoon, he was joined by Dale Kinert ...
2/Lt Dale W Kinert (#672) was the navigator of B-17 42-40032 (92BG/327BS) (Lehner) which was the way to Frankfurt on 8 February 1944 when it was attacked by fighters and abandoned to crash near Vailly-sur-Aisne (Picardy). Kinert was the only one of the crew to evade successfully.
Kinert baled out at about 24,000 feet and whilst he intended to make a delayed jump as advised was also afraid of blacking out through lack of oxygen. He compromised slightly by counting to twelve before pulling the rip-cord and then spent the next fifteen minutes or so floating down, to land in a tree. Unable to disentangle his parachute from the tree, Kinert left the immediate area as quickly as possible, walking for the rest of the day (still in his heated, one-piece, blue ‘bunny' suit) until nightfall when he approached a house where he was welcomed, taken in, fed, given civilian clothes and a bed for the night. Next day, he was taken to a place where his journey was arranged ...
Kinnert was taken by train to Soissons, by bus to Compiegne then train to La Ferté and on to St Quentin where he stayed in a small shop for three days (with the family Saillit or Gaillit – query) then with Mlle Paulette Ma illet at 55 rue des Patriotes, St Quentin ... Ms Marie Bonny ... school for girls ... until 17 February, when he was taken to Sinceny and joined Barney Rawlings ...
The Appendix Cs of Rawlings' and Kinert's reports are almost illegible scribbles by their interviewer (and Kinert's report ends when he joined Rawlings) but fortunately, Barney Rawlings wrote a book about his adventures called "Off We Went (Into the Wild Blue Yonder)". The book was printed by Morgan Printers of North Carolina in 1994 and is not easily available but Barney's daughter-in-law Bobbie Ann Mason very kindly sent me copy to use for this story.
Rawlings and Kinert stayed with the Thierry family at Sinceny until the end of March when they were told they would be leaving next day for Spain. Marcel Thierry didn't have any details of their route but he was sure they would go through Paris and his instructions were to take them to Chauny where he was to hand them over to some organisation people at the station. After a short, early morning cycle ride, the two airmen were introduced to a trim, well-dressed man with a small moustache. He was about 45 years old, spoke good English and had two more American evaders with him. The guide explained that they would travel together as a group of deaf mutes from an institution for the handicapped, who had been to Chauny to be assessed for their suitability for war-work. Rawlings never knew the names of the other two Americans but he mentally christened them as Stan and Ollie, after the film comedians. Note that Rawlings makes no mention of Elres Dowden (#676) see below ...
They took the train to Paris and at the Gare du Nord, their guide gave them Metro tickets and told them to follow a girl in a blue beret. As soon as the girl saw they were looking at her, she led them to the Metro station and onto a train. She took them to the eastern Paris suburb of Saint-Mandé and they dutifully followed her to the second floor of a large grey stone apartment building. The girl was Michèle Moet and inside one of the apartments, they met her parents, Gerard and Genevieve and were later joined by their guide from the train. That evening, Rawlings was taken to another apartment where he shared with an injured RAF gunner and a young organisation member who didn't speak any English. Next morning, Rawlings was returned to the Moet apartment where he rejoined Kinert, Stan and Ollie for breakfast. Later that morning, Michèle Moet took all four Americans back into Paris to have their photographs taken for new ID cards. She led them to the Tuileries Gardens and then took them one by one to have their pictures taken at an automated machine in the Louvre before returning them to Saint-Mandé. Rawlings was taken to stay overnight with gendarme Gabriel Bouyer at 87 rue Haxo and next morning, he was taken back to the Moet apartment for the day. That evening, the four Americans were taken to the Gare d'Austerlitz where they met the man who would take them by train to the Pyrenees.
It was Rawlings' recollection of this brief encounter with Michèle Moet that inspired his daughter-in-law Bobbie Ann Mason to write her 2012 novel "The Girl in the Blue Beret" (published by Random House) which is dedicated to Michèle Agniel (née Moet).
S/Sgt Elres D Dowden (#676) was a waist-gunner on B-17 42-3357 Immortal Lady (482BG/813BS) (Gold) and the third member of the crew to evade successfully after the aircraft was abandoned at high altitude to crash near Chevincourt (Oise) on 8 February 1944. Radio operator T/Sgt Stephen Rodowicz and waist-gunner S/Sgt Herbert Gebers almost made it …
Dowden was helped almost immediately on landing and his journey was arranged. Charles, a Belgian wood-cutter's son, took him to Longueil-Annel (just north-east of Compiegne) where he stayed for nine days with Etienne Demonceaux, his wife and thirteen-year-old daughter. He was helped by Charles Meyer (query) before being taken to Albert's (query) house in Chevincourt and met his co-pilot 1/Lt James Clarendon (#620) - who says that Dowden was one of the men with him when they were taken to a man named Norbert – an organisation member in Elincourt-Sainte-Marguerite.
Dowden's report is very hard to read so this part of the story is put together from snippets and other sources. I've not found Charles Meyer in the IS9 Helper List but there is a Paul Meyer of Longueil-Annel. In addition to Etienne Demonceaux of Longueil-Annel, Dominique Lecomte lists Dowden's helpers in Oise as Louis Duchatelet, Andre Lessertisseur and Norbert and Simone Hilger (of rue du Casquet) in Chevincourt, and Marcel Merlier of Crisolles.
On 24 February, Dowden, James Clarendon, their radio operator Stephen Rodowicz, waist-gunner Herbert Gebers and 2/Lt John Kupsick (#1487) were taken to Chauny by Albert's son (Clarendon says by Norbert and Martine while Dominique Lecomte says that Marcel Merlier drove them there in his lorry). Dowden was sheltered with Gaston Debrie on his farm at Amigny-Rouy (east of Chauny) for two weeks before being moved to another farm at Champs with Victor Maiger (query spelling) for a further nineteen days. On 29 March, a bald-headed man took Dowden back to Chauny and Albert Logeon took him to Paris, along with Rawlings (#671) Kinert (#672) Rodowicz and Gebers. They were met by Jean Carbonnet and Michèle Moet and the group were split into two parties - Dowden, Rawlings and Kinert were taken to the Moet apartment in Saint-Mandé where they met the family – father Gerard, mother Genevieve and young Jean-Marie – and were given new ID cards. Dowden, Rodowicz and Gebers stayed two nights at the Moet apartment - while Rawlings and Kinert stayed elsewhere – before Michèle Moet took them to the Gare d'Austerlitz where they were put on a train for Toulouse.
Rawlings says (in his book) that from Paris, they were a group of six Americans (Maxwell was actually from Northern Ireland but Rawlings wasn't to know that) and their guide – a slim, academic man of about 30 – had told him they would change trains at Montauban and that their destination was Oloron (Oloron-Sainte-Marie) at the base of the Pyrenees. He also told Rawlings that if they became separated, they should meet in front of the Church of Saint Croix in Oloron at noon where they would be collected by someone from the Resistance. When they stopped at Montauban (Rawlings doesn't mention Toulouse at all although I suspect this was actually at Toulouse station) they found their train to Oloron had been delayed by two hours and so settled down in the station waiting room. Suddenly, a dozen men in civilian clothing ‘swarmed' into the station and began demanding to see identification cards. Rawlings was asked his name, age and address and was able to answer in his newly acquired French, which apparently satisfied his questioner (suggesting he may have been German rather than French - or was he only pretending) and Kinert was saved from further scrutiny by a shout from the men questioning two of the other Americans (Stan and Ollie) who found Stan's dog-tags hidden in his shoe. Bizarrely, Stan was then told to put his shoe back on and the agents dispersed, leaving only the man who had questioned Rawlings, sitting reading a newspaper. Rawlings concluded that the agents were more interested in capturing their guide than stray airmen evaders and were hoping that Stan would lead them to him. Sure enough, when the train arrived, the agent followed Stan and Ollie onto the train. Rawlings and Kinert made sure they sat separately from one another and in a different carriage to their guide but Stan soon approached Rawlings in full view of the agent – so he was confirmed as an evader as well – and then Dale Kinert joined Rawlings, again in full view of the enemy agent. Rawlings and Kinert discussed the situation and decided they had to get off the train early rather than lead the agents (whoever they were) to their final destination. Rawlings had a map that suggested the train might stop about ten miles before Oloron, which it did (presumably at Gan) and then as it was leaving the station, Rawlings and Kinert walked to the end of their carriage and jumped off. They spent the rest of the night walking the final ten miles to Oloron and after some delay, duly made contact with the organisation there and were passed on to a man they called Paul. Rawlings was told that their guide had arrived safely (and since returned to Paris) but two Americans (Stan and Ollie) had wandered around Pau for some time before being captured.
I am not convinced that Rawlings and Kinert were on a train that went all the way to Oloron - everyone else says Pau and that seems far more likely. It's possible that Rawlings' guide had pointed out Oloron on the map as being on the way to Spain rather than where the train would take them. On the other hand, the Eglise Saint Croix is certainly in Oloron-Sainte-Marie.
After a night at Oloron, Rawlings and Kinert were taken by gazogene bus some twelve miles further south where they were passed on to their mountain guide. They were soon joined by another guide and three more people (thought to be civilian refugees) to be taken across the mountains. The journey took three nights and at about three o'clock in the morning of the third night (6 April) they reached the final descent to Spain. Almost needless to say, the group were soon arrested by the Guardia Civil who took them to the village of Ustarroz and next day, to Isaba.
Dowden says that they were questioned at Toulouse – which is how Rodowicz and Gebers were caught – and that when they got on the train for Pau, they believed they were being followed and so made sure they avoided any further contact with their guide. Somehow, their guide had got word to Dowden that if they became separated, he was to go to the Hotel St Jacques – although it's not clear from the report which town the hotel was in.
Maxwell (who says they had two guides from Paris) reports that they were questioned and searched at Toulouse station and followed on the train to Pau after one of the Americans responded to a question put to him in English. Although the rest of the party (Maxwell doesn't mention losing Rawlings and Kinert) managed to shake off their pursuers in Pau, two of the Americans (Rodowicz and Gebers) were captured.
At Pau, their guide took Dowden to a hill where he was collected by a blonde girl who took him to stay with Belgian textile merchant Leon van de Poele in his villa on rue Saint-Jammes. Four days later Dowden was taken to the bus station by a local guide who passed him and Tom Maxwell (1941) (who doesn't give any details of his time in Pau) over to an auburn-haired woman. They were taken by taxi to a little town where they collected their two mountain guides and joined 2/Lt James Williams (#668) 2/Lt Charles Screws (#673) a Belgian and a Frenchman. Their guides left them about 15 kilometres before Orbaiceta where (on 8 April) the evaders were arrested and two days later, taken to Pamplona - and later Lecumberri, where Maxwell met his crewmates, Sgts Frank Harmsworth (1928) and Peter Jezzard (1929).