Description
Object description
His unpublished memoirs (213pp ts, in English) of the 1939-45 War, recording his escape from Cherbourg in northern France in June 1940, where he had been serving as French Liaison Officer with the 7th Battalion Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) covering the withdrawal of the BEF, and with whom he was shipped back to England, remaining briefly at Battalion HQ in Cambridge before going to London to enlist into the Free French Forces, disappointment with the lack of organisation he found there, association with French exiles and other personalities in the 'salon' of the Vicountess de la Panouse, President of the French Red Cross in London, the feuds between 'Gaullists' and 'Pétainists', his frustration at being unable to secure suitable employment and the development of his ideas on the most effective ways to encourage and assist those in France who wanted to disrupt the German occupation, the general lack of interest in these ideas amongst British and French authorities in London, being called up for paramilitary training in early 1941, including parachute training at RAF Ringway, in preparation for his deployment to occupied France by the newly-created French Section of the Special Operations Executive (SOE), his drop into the country near Châteauroux (Indre, central France) on 10th May 1941 as one of the first SOE agents there (codename 'Lucas'), making his way to his brother Phillippe's home in the vicinity and securing his cooperation in the task of building up a resistance network ('Autogiro'), information-gathering visit to Vichy (seat of the Pétain government), Lyon and other places in the 'unoccupied zone' to make useful contacts to that end, the hazards of crossing the demarcation line between the two zones, first supply drops to his brother's property, meeting another brother (Jean) in Paris to help set up a network in the latter's part of France, making contacts in industry to effect disruption of production and supplies to the Germans, production of a clandestine newspaper ('Le Francais'), the arrest of his wireless operators later in 1941 and other difficulties in communications with London (commenting also on the deficiencies in SOE organisation in that and other respects) which resulted in a strong sense of isolation and lack of effectiveness, contact with members of the French-Polish 'Interallié' network in December 1941, notably the double-agent Mathilde Carré (codename Victoire, aka La Chatte), who offered to help him communicate with SOE in London, Carré's subsequent confession to him that she had been turned by the Germans and was working for the Abwehr, he then turning her back for his own purposes to save the 'Autogiro' network, return to England by boat in February 1942 after several failed attempts, debriefing meetings with senior Whitehall figures including Lord Selborne, Anthony Eden and General Sir Alan Brooke, being parachuted back into France in April 1942, his arrest by the Germans the same month in Paris and confinement in Fresnes prison, failed suicide attempts, encounters with Hugo Bleicher, Carré's Abwehr 'handler', and interrogations by other Abwehr officials, the prison conditions in which he spent the next 18 months, his trial alongside other members of his network, being sent to Colditz (Oflag IVC) in October 1943 as a British officer POW, concluding with the camp's liberation by US forces in April 1945.
Content description
His unpublished memoirs (213pp ts, in English) of the 1939-45 War, recording his escape from Cherbourg in northern France in June 1940, where he had been serving as French Liaison Officer with the 7th Battalion Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) covering the withdrawal of the BEF, and with whom he was shipped back to England, remaining briefly at Battalion HQ in Cambridge before going to London to enlist into the Free French Forces, disappointment with the lack of organisation he found there, association with French exiles and other personalities in the 'salon' of the Vicountess de la Panouse, President of the French Red Cross in London, the feuds between 'Gaullists' and 'Pétainists', his frustration at being unable to secure suitable employment and the development of his ideas on the most effective ways to encourage and assist those in France who wanted to disrupt the German occupation, the general lack of interest in these ideas amongst British and French authorities in London, being called up for paramilitary training in early 1941, including parachute training at RAF Ringway, in preparation for his deployment to occupied France by the newly-created French Section of the Special Operations Executive (SOE), his drop into the country near Châteauroux (Indre, central France) on 10th May 1941 as one of the first SOE agents there (codename 'Lucas'), making his way to his brother Phillippe's home in the vicinity and securing his cooperation in the task of building up a resistance network ('Autogiro'), information-gathering visit to Vichy (seat of the Pétain government), Lyon and other places in the 'unoccupied zone' to make useful contacts to that end, the hazards of crossing the demarcation line between the two zones, first supply drops to his brother's property, meeting another brother (Jean) in Paris to help set up a network in the latter's part of France, making contacts in industry to effect disruption of production and supplies to the Germans, production of a clandestine newspaper ('Le Francais'), the arrest of his wireless operators later in 1941 and other difficulties in communications with London (commenting also on the deficiencies in SOE organisation in that and other respects) which resulted in a strong sense of isolation and lack of effectiveness, contact with members of the French-Polish 'Interallié' network in December 1941, notably the double-agent Mathilde Carré (codename Victoire, aka La Chatte), who offered to help him communicate with SOE in London, Carré's subsequent confession to him that she had been turned by the Germans and was working for the Abwehr, he then turning her back for his own purposes to save the 'Autogiro' network, return to England by boat in February 1942 after several failed attempts, debriefing meetings with senior Whitehall figures including Lord Selborne, Anthony Eden and General Sir Alan Brooke, being parachuted back into France in April 1942, his arrest by the Germans the same month in Paris and confinement in Fresnes prison, failed suicide attempts, encounters with Hugo Bleicher, Carré's Abwehr 'handler', and interrogations by other Abwehr officials, the prison conditions in which he spent the next 18 months, his trial alongside other members of his network, being sent to Colditz (Oflag IVC) in October 1943 as a British officer POW, concluding with the camp's liberation by US forces in April 1945.
History note
Cataloguer SWW