THE HONGKONG TELEGRAPH,
SATURDAY, JULY 9, 1949.
THE DEADLY ART OF THE BRITISH SABOTEUR
C.V.R. Thompson
Big bang in the night and Home but
the spy slips away
Wrecking the railway yard: Captain Stevens upsets the port of Rouen.
Swift and deadly was the work of the British spy-saboteurs parachuted into France during the German occupation.
Here are the stories of two men of Special Operations Executive who, working to a master plan drawn up at their headquarters in Baker- street, London, carried out notable feats of sabotage at Troyes and Rouen.
T
by ... JERRARD TICKELL
10. the railwaymen of He himself manufactured 48 charges, which Troyes came, one late Ilb. plastic spring evening in were,
the
as he said alrlly, "ab- 1942, an Englishman known solutely tallor-made for as "Antoine," who had ar
job."
rived in France by parachute some days before.
And суса
man
1
A heavy locomotive after the man from Baker- street had finished with it.
All was well; Champagne carks popped, and the health of the Fuehrer was drunit...
·Tributes were paid to the
and even more Important — a
was handed over on account of work done:
veal the culprit. The Gestapo reaction was characteristic.
The 13 suspects were assem- bled and informed that would all be shot unless guilty man confessed.
no hearth
NEW YORK.
THERE will be no fire-
places in a black of flats Mr Milton Erlich, a con- tractor, has begun bullding in a New York suburb.
Mr Erlich thinks that the hearth, so long parociated with the sentimental side of family life, is old-fashioned and out of date.
"It is not even useful any mere," he said. "Wo get our. hent from radiators, not from open fires,
"Why build a fireplace Just to give people a focal centre around which to group their chairs."
So Mr Erlich will give his tenants a really useful and up- to-date focal centre, He calls it the muslcorner.
1
3
It will consist of a built-in TV set, a gramophong, and radio, with built-in shelves for records.
And the musicorner is in such dominant position in every sitting room that even the man who hates TV, gramophones,
and radios will still have to sit beside them,
B FAR AH. New York' they A
gourmets are concerneti, the the world energency in over. They have announced that white ties and talls will be worn for the first time since before The
tha at
butumn's
The German Admiralty war who loathed the Gestapo champagne-tasting partles. then took a hand, and two
"Wholesale, rather than re- tall, was Antoine's way of do- Timing was n very delicate Ing business, problem, as all the charges
hours of the In the early lie was a Yorkshireman, an would have to be in place with morning Colonel
von Litroit. engineer,
in a period of 45 minutes be- the German garrison comman- quality of French workmans divers were lowered to ox-Wo EISENHOWERS may be with
came to the twinkling
slow tween 1.30 am and 3 nm, on der at Troyes,
k Account guards, movement of scene, and poured vehement smile. His name is Captain ocomotives, and the absence of verbal contempt on his shrine Frauels Benson, D.S.O., M.C.
French milway personnel. The Ing troops, Over д
of Hloss pernod, Antoine outlined the plan drawn operation was set for July 3. up at the Baker-street head- quarters of the movement.
The
at
locomotive depot Troyes was not only an architer
eyesore, but it nice shelter- a number of railway engines of very great importance to the
tural ed a
Germans.
The running sheds consisted of two round houses foined by workshop, the whole Brea
guarded by trigger
a
closely happy Germans.
One of these houses contain-
ed, at various times, all the big
main line engines,
Example being better than
Rollant precept, the
colonci climbed on to the footplate of one of the engines in the trans- his men. fer line, the better to borongue
The rendezvous was at midnight under a bridge by the canal. By 1.15 a.m. the
Hardly had be drawn breath team was inside the depot.
to speak before the locomotive Coolly, Antoine guided the men in pairs to each pit, elephantine wings, and took to next to his shuddered, sprouted showed them where to place, the air in flame, and debris. their charges and their time The colonel was last seen mak-
ing bolt for his car. pencils.
There was, he says, "o good
Arrests followed thick and
suspects were released.
deal of fumbling as the dificully, but after investigation all
cheque for five million francs
amine the hull.
available as Republican, or Tory, candidates in America's election next presidential The hole was 51. by 3ft. and as the pintes had buckled (1952). General Eisenhower la Inwards, the naval experis de-now letting it be known that he cided that the job was an ex-
will be willing to take on
the AGE termal une.
Job.
And back in his native State, NOW. The Gestapo sourly released loent Republicans are trying to
20 the 13-who departed to their persuade his brother Milton to hemes in high jubilation-and run for governor next year, and arrested instead the unfortu- for the White House two years nate sentry who had dreamed later. of his Gretchen in the autumn dusk.
VEN DUSTMEN in Columbus,
capital
After a perfunctory court martial, the unhappy man was will now
Gantner
of California
Solo Agents
for
GLAMOUR!
Many exciting models on salo at leading stores
U. SPALINGER & CO., LTD. 3rd floor, York Bldg., Chater Rd., "Telephones: 26774, 31258.
HAVE YOU PROTECTED YOUR EARNING POWER? THE MOST VALUABLE PROPERTY YOU OWN
30
TOTAL ANTICIPATED EARNINGS BY AGE. 60,.
BASED ON MONTHLY INCOME OF
$1,500 $2,000 720,000 960,000 540,000 720,000
$
3,000 1,440,000
$ 5,000
2,400,000
1,080,000
1,800,000
40
360,000
480,000
720,000
1,200,000
50 180,000 240,000
360,000
600,000
city of Ollo State, If you had an equivalent value invested in property you
have, to prove they
Would it not be prudent and advisable for you to increase your Life Insurance holdings in a similar manner?
In a mellow glow, the Ger- ollicials man Admiralty tripped ashore and the crow of some 45 men arrived to load the vessel with 12 mil-
equipment, 20 tons of am lion franes' worth of Aadic
munition and
supplics for a three months' cruise.
shot and the crew, who had are loyal Americans to keep would protect it to the hilt with Fire and Accident "SUPPER'
noisily given vent to their de-their jobs. The City
Council Insurance. blew
light and gratification at the ship
the passed a Bill requiring every up
disappearance of their
employee to swear ship, municipal of struggling about underneath During the hours of darkness the intricate
the Wehr-ho is not a Communist. Penalty mechanism of a The Gestapo realised that a
blue were drafted inta With them, wearing a
nacht and posted to the Bus- for refusing is the sack, this house also concealed three big locomotive in pitch black job of such magnitude could jersey and a pair of unspeak- sian front. or four of the biggest locamo- darkness has to be experienced only have been organised by able trousers, shuffled a repre- For this and other exploits PACK from lives in Europe.
to be belleved."
London, and the blame was sentative of Colonel Buckmas Captain Geoffrey Stevens was Britain,
a holiday With the co-operation of those
rightly laid at thic door of ter's Section, Baker-street Løn- awarded the D.S.O.
Frank Conlff, friends, now around him, An- After 40 minutes the job was Colonel Buckmaster, head of don,
New York columnist, presented Laino proposed to blow the done and each pair of saboteurs the French tection of Special
his readers with a new explana- whole lot sky-high.
made their separate way to Operations Executive.
He apparently · carried his
Hon of why the British ore such safety,
Copto his
Francis Benson went supper with him in a brown
good colonists. Said he: "They bicycle
round paper parcel - a meal
spread out all over the world looking for a decent meal." Troyes, shaking his head or would have caused him violent rowfully at the mangled loco- invigestion hau be eaten . The parcel contained a 31lb. plastic country smule...
charge, lovingly made by
Stevens Captain Geoffrey (known la Rouen as "Gerard" and fitted with two six-hour time pencils,
The operation was planned
ONE
on
in meticulous detail, for goes off before time motives, smiling his slow north Captain Benson knew only too clearly what the result.
By two strokes of good for-
of failure and capture would tune the doodlights at one of
be to his comrades and to the level crossings were out of himself.
his
tremendous targets were
"heat Insulated "all "round.
WUS
SIX
pnirs.
poms,
two
four-barrelled
that
0110
A 0 p.m. the crew left the vessel and returned to the bor-
With them left the man tr the unspeakable trousers. He wedged is "supper" Arm- against the bow-plates.
[World copyright]
NEXT WEEK Two heroic
women
London Express Service
in
a
THE
MANUFACTURERS
INSURANCE
HEAD OFFICE
•
VJETERINARY organisations in
New York are offering
LIFE COMPANY
(Established 1007) TORONTO, CANADA,
Windsor House Hongkong
Tole: 34156-57
group health fusurance for dogs. E. J. R. Mitchell Manager for South China.
The trek of the Pied
Piper's children
N June 26,
ON
And sparkling eyes and teeth
like pearls, Tripping and skipping, ran
merrily after The wonderful music with
shouting and laughter,
1284-665 yeara ngo was born'
the world's best At eleven o'clock, the one of solitary German sentry on loved legends, the tale of the quayside was no doubt the Pied Piper of Hamelin, dreaming of peace, home the ratcatcher, who with his and Gretchen when the ves-flute to his lips is said to sel grunted, shook itself like have danced through the to the east.
In the spring of 1943 a order, and a patrol of German feld security police failed to German minesweeper of challenge Antoine or his com- some 900 tons was attacked Ho conducted personal
13
moment when sliding back the in the North Sea and badly rucks to collect their kit. reconnaissance by daylight and Paulon at the
they were saw, to his disappointment, that
by R. A. F. the high pressure cylinders at anfety calches of their Colts... damaged
Typhoons.
The vessel was salved---arıcı – The first explosion split brought to the shipyards of the The only possible way of ensuring permanent destruction the silence about 30 minutes Ateliers et Chantiers de Norly to crawl underneath and after the team had melted andie, near Rouen, for re pince charges in the Inside low away. The time pencils bud There the vessel underwent pressure cylinders.
been set at two hours, and a complete overhaul and was
po one had obviously gone off re-equipped with three prematurely.
imachine-guns, and a bigger gun Antoine grinned and burrlott for action at sea.
She was ready for her trials German all us Undeferred, the indomitable homewards
in the first days of September. garrison were Antoine conducted a second re- troops in the
TOASTS connaissance at midnight, climb rushed with pollee to the de- ing Into the pits in black dark- pot.
and feeling with hyper.
about, kicking drunk, and was well... sensitive fingers among the mass
At about it a.m. a group ot pirton rods, guide slides and doors open, poking
At dawn, the Gestapo valve gears to And the Ideal guns into corners.
gold-laced representatives of rived and immediately decided position where his explosive At the height of the search the German Admiralty came that the charge must have been charges should be placed. the second explosion occurred, aboard accompanied by various placed internally.
On his way out, he planned and the troops dashed helter- notabilities,
There were 13 men
who town. ckelter out of the depot, sur- The ship left for her trials could have boarded the ship He chose six local men, a rounding it at a safe distance, down the Seine, sailing as far and these were arrested one by dammed, mills were built and
schoolmaster, a blinking as each launderous as Caudebec, and returned up- one. poacher, a veterinary surgeon: reverberation was followed by stream, docking at about 3 Interrogation, at first kindly
another.
and then vicious, failed to re-
men to do the job
Tiess
101
his tenny's line of retreat.
saddler,
and two others.
BRITAIN
They torc
machine
p.ri.
GOLD AND
DOLLAR
RESERVE
If this tale is true, tho
youngsters had a long trek, for the bishop's land lay 450 miles
that
a spaniel and settled down streets of the German town The story goes that they liked
their with a crowd of laughing
new home so much in the water.
they never returned. children at his heels.
Browning, towards the end of Hamelin lies about 35 miles his poem, says:— from Hanover. By the eleventh Dourishing Dr-century it was
trading centre.
the
Six minutes later the tip of the funnel just showed over ripples of the Seine.
"ALL RIGHT, MATE? ITS ONLY OUR AMERICAN AND WESTERN UNION FRIENDS
THATS
WAS AFRAID OF."
30.1 my arványément with Evening SizeLATON
A
com-
century later the munity had grown into a small
The waters of the Weser were.
the town became one of tho richest in Lower Saxony.
NOT SEEN AGAIN But, despite its wealth, tho could not get rid of its
town -raisi
They Jought the dogs and killed the cats,... And bit the babies in the
cradlez,
And ate the cheese out of the
vais,
And licked the soup from
the cooks own ladies; Robert Browning's poem fa obviously based on the fairy tale by Grimm.
....In Transylvania there's a
tribe
Of allen people that ascribe The outlandish ways and dress On which their neighbours
lay such stress,
To their fathers and mothera
having riseT
Out of some subterraneous
prison
Into which they were trepan-
mcd
Long time ago in a mighty
band
Out of Hamelin town Brunswick land;
But how or why, they don't
understand.
Today, Hamelin is a busy rail and shipping centre.
of
The townsfolk are proud the Raltenfangerhaus, a build- Ing erected in 1602 to com- memorate the Pied Piper's un- welcome visit.
of
This relates how the Pled It stands at tiro corner Piper, after being refused the Bungelosen ́ Strasse, along which. reward he had been promised the Pied Piper is said to have for ridding the town of its led the children, and the main plague, lod the children of street, now a shopping centre. Hamelin away to the mountains,
where they
outside the town, disappeared into a cave and The
were never seen again,
TA
FAMOUS CLOCK
Town Hall's famous
I now believed that the clock, with its miniature figures hundred and thirty children who of the Pled Piper,. the rats and disappeared that June day were the children, performing to the abducted by a ratcatcher on the music of an electric organ, at- orders of a Bishop, Brung von tracted many visitors before the
war. Schaumburg.
The building was destroyed on A LONG TREK
the last day of the war-the This blahop, whose castle was only war damage suffered by: not far from Hamelin, owned the town.
innd in the Troppau-Mahrisch Today, men and women in the Ostrau region on the Czecho- British Forces of Occupation'can. slovakian Polish border.
.
cross the bridge over the Weser to the hillside overlooking the
It was elded to bring in town, where they can peer. Intb
natural that
ble the
when be "foreign labour" land he should think of young people of Hamelin
・to samo Piper" cavo, which during the
dank and gloomy "Pled
dog war was an air raid shester. Du E. P. Bone
Bo ho gave his orders (and;- All the little boys and girls,
With rotu cheeks an flaxen-
curls:
London Exprese Herolde) ~
OH BOY
BLUE BAND MARGARINE
· Dalicious on Sand- wiches, nutritiva in cakes and all cooking—it must be BLUE BANDI
FRESH PACK BLUE BAND
MARGARINE
HERE'S SOMETHING NEW... For Tired, Irritated Eyes!
+
Here's something new in ayo totions! Eye-Mo, the quick relief for tired, Inflamad oyas, comos roady for instant use in Its awn patented glass dispanser. This hygienic Eye-Mo dispenser is so designed that it keeps Eye-Mo constantly from, from all
contamination,
·Humanhandsnavertouch Eya-Mo. There's nothing to mix, no fuss or muss -no separate dropper that's so hard to keep clean, Eye-Mo is completely germ-free and sofal
The Eye Mo dispanser delivers one drop of a time-for accurate: dosage and no wasta! You get your- full money's worth. Every drop of Eye:Mo counts with quick relief for tired, Inflamed #yos!:
EYE-MO
EYE-MO