1949-07-09 — Page 9

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Mr Erlich thinks that the hearth, so long parociated with the sentimental side of family life, is old-fashioned and out of date.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

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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

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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) ~

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