大象传媒

• Continued from chapter three

In the event, everything passed off smoothly. Friends Gaston Charruet and Bernard Monamy were the two young men entrusted with infiltrating the hospital. The others stayed behind, near the porter鈥檚 lodge. When Gaston and Bernard reached Jack鈥檚 room, they found it empty 鈥� Jack had just disappeared off to the toilets! He was hastily fetched back into his room where a hat and overcoat were thrust on his head and back. He was a tall man, so no doubt looked strangely conspicuous in his 鈥榙isguise鈥�, especially since he was also wearing his slippers and hospital pyjamas!

Back at the porter鈥檚 lodge, the porter had passed out with the stress of the happenings going off under his nose. It was only at this point that Jack realised that his getaway vehicle was not a car, but a bicycle. Assisted by Gaston and Bernard and with Gilbert bringing up the rear, they pushed and pulled their 鈥楨nglish patient鈥� on his bike, out of the hospital grounds and out on to a minor road leading to the east of Sens, towards a village called Malay-le-Grand, some 5 km cycle ride away. It must have been very hard work for Gaston and Bernard. Although Jack tried to assist by pedalling with his left leg, in which he had some movement and feeling, his right leg was useless. He had to rely on being pushed and pulled along by the two Frenchmen.

It was Monday, it was market day, and it was pouring down. Despite the rain, the streets around the hospital were busy with traffic. It was almost two weeks since the D Day landings, and German SS divisions were being mobilised and were heading through the town on their way to the Normandy coast. But Jack kept his nerve. In fact, his sense of humour came shining through. Gilbert later recalled that during the journey down the back roads, he treated them to a whistled rendition of 鈥業t鈥檚 a long way to Tipperary鈥�!

Under the very noses of the Germans, the strange posse of men finally made their way safely to their destination 鈥� a small farmhouse belonging to the Calmus family of Malay-le-Grand. There, a bed had been made ready for Jack 鈥� who was still wearing his slippers and pyjamas under his raincoat. Also waiting to change his dressings and give him an injection was Mme Vautier, one of the nurses who had looked after him devotedly during his hospital stay.

Tuesday 20th June dawned. Jack had spent just one night in a normal house after being rescued from his hospital bed but he was soon to be on the move again. Gilbert Praz, the man who had planned his unorthodox means of escape from the hospital was on top form again and plotting the next part of his evacuation. He put Bernard Monamy and Gaston Charruet, the two young resistants who had daringly got him out to Malay-le-Grand by bike, in charge of the operation. Sens had been packed with soldiers heading for the Normandy front, but so was the village. The Germans were going from house to house requisitioning billets for their soldiers on the move. There wasn鈥檛 a moment to lose.

This time, Jack was well hidden. At the appointed time, a horse drawn cart came to the Calmus鈥� house. Hanging from the back of the cart was a plough. Jack was hastily shown that he was expected to lie down in the cart. A mixture of straw and manure was then piled on top! Hardly very sanitary but it served its purpose of blending into the rural surroundings. The cart headed north out of the village, heading for a pre-arranged rendez-vous point with Raymond Chillinger, the local milkman. Well out of the way of prying eyes, Jack was transferred into the milkman鈥檚 horse-drawn vehicle and conveyed, in relative comfort to a farm called La Feuchelle which belonged to the Thoraillier family.

Shelter here was provided in the form of a hayloft at the side of the main farmhouse. The only access was via an external ladder. The Thoraillier family brought Jack food and drink and the two nurses from the hospital, Mlle Henriette Fraudin and Mme Vautier bravely risked their lives bringing him much needed medication and changes of dressings. Bernard Monamy also brought him a pair of shoes at last. Up to this point, he鈥檇 only had his hospital slippers.

Two days and two nights passed and Jack was on the move once again. This time it was quite a risky move, back down to Sens in a horse-drawn vehicle, lent by a sympathiser, L茅on Godard. A local resistant called Raymond Mare went on ahead to scout to see if the coast was clear. Unfortunately, just as they were crossing the centre of Sens, the air raid sirens sounded and officials started hurrying everyone off the streets as American planes attacked a petrol depot. It took some strong talking on the part of Raymond Mare to keep their little convoy out of the air raid shelter and through Sens on to the comparative safety of a small 鈥榖uvette鈥� close to the banks of the River Yonne. This was an isolated spot called Les Oasis. It belonged to the Descamps family and had been used pre-war as a place to come for a quiet drink.

Now it was deserted, an excellent hiding place. Jack spent a couple of days here, being brought food daily. It was also here that Jack was visited by his nurse, Mme Vautier, for the last time. She and her husband would be arrested the following month, as would Gaston Charruet, the young man who鈥檇 helped him escape from hospital. Gaston was arrested for helping German soldiers to desert. He was interrogated and tortured, and died in custody, but his body was never given back to his family. Fortunately M and Mme Vautier, despite being imprisoned, were set free when the Americans liberated the area in August.

It was also the last time that Jack would be in the care of Gilbert Praz, who, up till now, had organised all his movements since leaving hospital. He鈥檇 made contact with another resistance group called 鈥楤ayard鈥�. They were based in the Joigny region and for that reason, Jack鈥檚 next move, which took place on 24th June, was by car and involved a hazardous journey of some 40 kilometres to the south.

The black car that came to Les Oasis to pick up Jack was occupied by three men. They were brothers, Amed茅e and Serge Caselli and their friend Henri Pannequin. Pannequin was a railway worker and had been involved in many acts of sabotage on the important rail network in the area. The Caselli brothers were Italian 茅migr茅s whose family had fled their native land to escape fascism, only to be caught up in it again in their adopted country.

On the way south, Jack sat in the back seat of the car, together with some bags of potatoes. He later recalled a heart-stopping moment when they were stopped at a check point. Luckily, the false papers that were shown passed muster and they were waved through.

Journey鈥檚 end was an abandoned farmhouse called La Petite Ermite in the parish of Sommecaise, where a small resistance group had set up their HQ. To Jack鈥檚 great surprise, two Brits were already in the camp. One was an escaped POW called Captain Thomson and the other was a secret agent, dropped by the Special Operations Executive behind enemy lines. And what鈥檚 more, the agent was a woman. Her real name was Marguerite Diana Frances Knight, but her nom de guerre was 鈥楴icole鈥�. She鈥檇 been parachuted into France two days after the Mailly-le-Camp operation.

She was also surprised to see Jack. In a de-briefing report later given to her superiors and which is now kept at the National Archives, she recalled how, upon her return to their Command Post late in the evening of 24th June:

鈥溾�︹�e found a British airman had been brought from Sens to our maquis. He was in a bad state, having been shot in the head at a previous maquis where he had sheltered. We bandaged him and at 1am went to rest.鈥�

None of them got much rest. At 5 in the morning, 鈥楴icole鈥� and Captain Thomson, who were on sentry duty together, realised that they were being surrounded by hundreds of Germans. 鈥楴icole鈥� sprinted back to raise the alarm while Capt Thomson did a reccy on foot. The order was given to evacuate. For Jack and another injured man, Andr茅 Paitard, there was no question of fleeing on foot. The chief of the group, Henri Frager (who was later betrayed and deported to Buchenwald where he was shot), pushed both men into his car and told his driver, Raymond Laluque, to get them to safety.

They escaped by the skin of their teeth, having survived running out of petrol in the middle of a field. Thanks to the courage of Raymond, who fetched them blankets to keep warm and who managed to tell some of the other scattered members of their group of their whereabouts, the two injured men were taken to a nearby deserted farmhouse called La Petite Vacherie, before being evacuated to the nearby ch芒teau of Montigny where they spent the night.

The Caselli brothers, who were still in overall charge of Jack鈥檚 movements, were briefed about the German attack. After a brief stay at a nearby farmhouse called La Grande Vacherie, where one of their maquis camps had been established, Jack was on the move again.

• Continued in chapter five

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Allan Price of the 大象传媒 Radio Shropshire CSV Action Desk on behalf of Janet Marsden and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

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