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Jeannette Guyot's role in France's Liberation This is an extract from my as yet unpublished book 'Agents Francaises', an account of the French women infiltrated into France as secret agents before and after D-Day to help liberate their country.
JEANETTE GUYOT
parachuted near Loches, 70 km NW of Châteauroux (Indre & Loire), on 8 February 1944, awarded the Légion d’Honneur, Croix de Guerre, Medaille de Resistance, Distinguished Service Cross and George Medal
Jeannette Guyot was born on the 26 February 1919 in Chalon-sur-Saône, about 150 km north of Lyon, Saône and Loire. Details of her early life have yet to come to light except that she finished her elementary education at 17 and looked after her parents who lived in Sevrey, a village a few kilometres south of Chalon-sur-Saône.
Research by Pierre Tillet revealed that both parents were active in the Resistance during the war. Her father, Jean-Marie Guyot, was a timber merchant who became a First Lieutenant Forces Françaises Combattantes (FFC) but was arrested on 5 February 1943, imprisoned in Chalon-sur-Saône, deported on 15 January 1944 and died in Cham, Bavaria. Her mother, Jeanne, was a seamstress who also became a First Lieutenant in the FFC. She was arrested ten days after her husband, imprisoned in Chalon-sur-Saône, deported on 30 January but survived and was repatriated on 11 April 1945.
With the demarcation line between the Occupied and the Unoccupied or Free Zone less than 100 km to the north, from the end of 1940 until August 1941, Jeannette worked with Félix Svagrowsky alias César of the AMARANTE network. She became a ‘passeur’, a guide who used her ‘ausweiss’. border pass. to accompany people to meet boatmen who took them across the River Saône.
Whilst engaged on this clandestine work, she met Gilbert Renault alias Colonel Rémy alias Colonel Roulier alias Jean-Luc. He and his brother had refused to accept Petain’s surrender and went by Norwegian trawler to England on 22 July 1940. One of the first men to volunteer after de Gaulle’s speech on the BBC’s French Service, he was persuaded by Andre Dewavrin, alias Colonel Passy, head of the Bureau Central de Renseignements et d'Action, the Central Bureau of Intelligence and Operations (BCRA) in London, to return to France and organise an information network.
How he was infiltrated is unknown but he helped set up the Confrérie Notre-Dame Network (CND), and from August 1941 Jeannette became his liaison officer. CND supplied the BCRA with military, economic and social intelligence about the Germans’ activities in France and the Vichy government.
She continued to accompany people and carry documents from Paris to Chalon-sur-Saône until February 1942 when she was arrested on one of her journeys. Imprisoned for three months in prison in Chalon-sur-Saône and Autun, about 50 km northwest. She did not break under interrogation and nothing could be proved against her. When she was released, despite the Germans withdrawing her ‘ausweiss’, she continued to take about a dozen people across the demarcation line each month.
There was a report that she crossed the Saône near Sevrey. This could have been to avoid German controls on the A6, the main road from Paris to Lyon, and use quieter roads on the eastern side of the valley.
However, following betrayal by Pierre Cartaud alias Capri in June 1942, many members of the CND were arrested, forcing Jeannette to move from Paris to Lyon. There she met Jacques Robert alias Jacques Rewez alias Denis who was Lysandered out on 27 April and, having been briefed by RF Section, parachuted back on 3 June 1942 to set up the PHRARIE network. It was rated by Dewavrin as the “most extraordinary’’ of all the Free French networks, had several subgroups whose activities encompassed intelligence-gathering, sabotage and helping downed Allied airmen and French civilians to escape from France.
She worked for Robert but, as further arrests were made and she was on the Gestapo’s wanted list, her exfiltration to England was arranged.
On the night of 13 May 1943, F/Lt McCairns of 161 Squadron, landed his Lysander in a field, code-named ‘Planète’, near Les Fontaines, about two km south of Luzillé (Indre & Loire). SIS agent Baird got out and Jeannette got in with Francois Chatelin aka Lamour aka Palanque and Jean-Louis Chancel aka Chavagnac. (Tillet, op.cit.)
The following day, like all refugees arriving in Britain, she was interrogated by British Intelligence to ensure she was not a German agent and then by Captain François Thierry-Mieg alias Jacques Vaudreuil, head of the BCRA’s counter-intelligence unit, who wanted to question her about her work in the Resistance. A copy of his interrogation report is found in her personnel file at the Service Historique de la Défense (SHD) Vincennes.
1. I did my studies at Chalon sur Saone up at the age of 17, I got the elementary patent. after I did not work, I 'm still with my parents. I still live in Sevrey.
2. I worked for the Fighting French until 1941. First with Jean-LUC [Gilbert Renault]’s organisation then with Denis [Jacques Robert]’s PHATRIE organisation.
B. From which date did you start to work officially?
3. From September/October 1941.
B. During all this time didn’t you have any contact with the official organisations?
4. No.
B. You did resistance work by yourself, by what means?
5. I stayed by the demarcation line and ‘passed’ a number of people with CESAR [Félix Svagrowsky]. He lodged at my grandmother’s. Madame Guyot, who was living in Sevrey. At that time, he had seen an opportunity to use my services to help pass people across the demarcation line.
B. When did you get to know CESAR?
6. About January 1941.
B. What did he propose you do?
7. To pass people across the demarcation line. As I had a border pass I could cross really easily. CESAR sent me people to get across.
B. What were the conditions for recognising these people?
8. He was known under the name of FELIX. All who came from FELIX, I got them across.
B. Did CESAR ever Give you a real identity?
9. SVACROVSKY. I believe that he was a mechanic in real life. He was born in France, in Lyon.
B. Where was the centre of his operations?
10. SEVREY. He had stayed there from September 1941. At that time. he had commenced working with PAUL, who worked for our organisation. I passed him many times.
11. From January 1941 until September 1941 I worked on behalf of CESAR. All those he sent came from FELIX. CESAR had fixed his residence at my grandmother’s in SEVREY. I was uniquely in charge of passing prisoners.
B. Were you aware of what CESAR’s work schedule was?
12. No. at that time, I didn’t know. I did when I encountered PAUL. [Roger Dumont]
B. Do you think that CESAR worked for an organisation or did he work on his own initiative?
13. I think it was his private initiative.
14. CESAR was the only one I was in contact with at that time. He moved often and had just come from PARIS.
B. How did CESAR come into contact with the people you passed?
15. I don’t know. In general, the people came by themselves.
B. Do you know whether CESAR made contact with these people in PARIS who found prisoners to be passed?
16. I don’t know.
B. How did you meet Paul?
17. He wanted to cross the demarcation line. At that time, he had false border passes; it was very easy. Actually, he had been in prison, working for Jean-LUC.
B. What is his real name?
18. I don’t know.
B. What did he do?
19. He was a tennis coach in PARIS; I don’t know for which club. PAUL introduced himself, coming instead of FELIX. He had crossed the line many times. He certainly knew what to do and proposed that I passed the people from his special reseau. I could tell already that he was part of Jean LUC’s organisation.
Having realized that I could render services, he asked me to be part of his organisation. I went to PARIS with him and CESAR.
B. Did CESAR work with PAUL?
20. No. We started to work together. The three of us went to PARIS and were introduced to Jean LUC at his tennis court. I don’t know its whereabouts, somewhere by the entrance to MUETTE Metro. It’s a little club on rue Nicolo, near Avenue Paul Doumer, I believe. It had a unique covered tennis court on the third or fourth floor of a large modern building.
B. Who is this Jean LUC?
21. He’s very large but I don’t know anything about him, his real identity of where he lives. I’ve often met him outside but always under the name of Jean LUC. He seems to me to be the chief of the organisation.
B. What happened at that time?
22. We discussed what we could do about the passages and then it was arranged. In my case, I decided to continue my work, that’s to say facilitate the passage into the Free Zone and carry certain documents.
B. What were the conditions like for the people presented to you so you could recognise them?
23. They were brought personally, by PAUL or by Jean LUC.
B. Concerning the passage of documents, what did you have to do with them?
24. PAUL, Jean LUC and other smaller agents like PIERRE [Paul MAUGER] and CAPRI [Pierre CARTAUD], they were actually in prison. I also knew PACOT [François FAURE].
B. Did you stay a long time in PARIS?
25. I was doing the line, sometime I was on one side, sometimes on the other. My mission was to go to PARIS, find the prisoners or the documents. In PARIS, I shared an apartment at 13 rue Verniquet with César SVAGROVSKY.
B. Were you introduced to the prisoners at rue Verniquet or given the documents there?
26. It varied all the time. Sometimes in a café, sometimes in a square. I introduced myself to the prisoners, and took them the next day.
B. How long did it last?
27. Some time, until I went to prison. I was arrested on the demarcation line in February 1942.
28. In fact, I passed people and documents after I got out of prison. When they came, I generally had appointments to rendez-vous with them at my grandmother’s house which was in the Free Zone. As I had a border pass I was able to go from one side to the other.
B. In this role that you played, PAUL and you, and Jean LUC as chief, what was CESAR’s role?
29. CESAR always did the parachute drops and landings in the Occupied Zone, on the Brittany coast.
B. Did he find many?
Yes.
Always on behalf of Jean LUC?
Yes.
B. He worked alone?
No, with the BRITON [Léon SABAZEC], and one time with BOB [?].
B. Did you know everyone there?
Yes, I’d often seen them in PARIS, they often came to the house. BOB and the BRITON worked strictly with CESAR. BOB shared the work, I believe it was specially the parachute drops and landings, while the BRETON did the repairs [ensure there was no evidence left in the fields]. Their field of activity was in Brittany and in the Loire region.
B. Is that all you can tell me about your work with CESAR?
Yes, because his work was completely different to mine. There were certain times when I was in the house in PARIS which I had to type reports, but that was all.
30. In February 1942 I was arrested on the demarcation line, unfortunately by the Germans. It was beastly, I had taken one of our agents to a passeur [guide] who made the crossing by boat, I had accompanied him, I had to go through a post [check point/control point] and at that time a patrol arrested me. The agent was in serious trouble as he had a false identity card so spent three weeks in prison. I was thought to be involved as a guide and spent three months in prison. I spent three weeks in Chalons-sur-Sâone and the rest of the time in Autun.
B. Were you badly treated by the GESTAPO, they didn’t try to make you talk?
Yes, they wanted to know the name of the guide; they were rude, they put me in a cell but they didn’t hit me.
31. When I left prison, they took my border pass so I had to stay in the occupied zone. I stayed in PARIS and continued my activities.
B. When?
Straight away.
B. Weren’t you worried, didn’t you have the impression that after your arrest they would be keeping a watch on the route to SEVREY?
32. No, because it wasn’t always the same route. The demarcation line passed a few kilometres north of SEVREY.
B. During this time did you ‘pass’ many people?
33. Yes. I’m not able to say exactly how many each month exactly, a dozen or more. They were uniquely people in the organisation. I didn’t know them particularly.
B. Those you knew therefore were CESAR, JEAN LUC, BOB, the BRETON and PAUL?
34. I also knew MALOUIN, radio, and FAVELONNE [Lucienne Dixon alias JEFF], who replaced PAUL when he was arrested by the Gestapo. I also knew Madame JEFF who was a friend of PAUL and worked with him anyway, she was married to an American.
B. What was PACOT’s role?
35. He was introduced to me as second in command to CESAR.
B. De CAPRI?
36. I don’t know well what he did exactly, he had a most significant role. He is the one who ’sold’ all the others. I believe his father was a captain in the anti-Bolshevik Légion.
B. How had he been recruited?
37. I don’t know exactly.
B. And FAVELONNE?
38. FAVELONNE worked with PAUL. In the end, he was arrested as well. Madame JEFF has also been taken.
B. And you continued your work during this time?
39. Up to June 1942. At that time the Gestapo came to the house. I had to type a report for Jean LUC, it was really long. I had a rendez-vous at 4 o’clock but I was not able to go. I was given another at half past ten and went to rendez-vous with CESAR, just back from PARIS. When we came home four civilians were waiting on the stairs in the court with the concierge. When they saw us, they demanded our border passes and followed behind us. When I saw them, instead of taking the stairs, I continued walking. CESAR followed me and we went to the cellar, looked for a way out but couldn’t find one. At this time there were [wireless] transmitters in the cellar and all sorts of compromising material. We left the cellar the next morning at 6 o’clock and waited for people to leave and go to work and followed them. We saw no-one on the stairs but when we got to the door, officers appeared and demanded identity cards. The concierge was magnificent. The Gestapo had asked him where we were and he told them we were in the apartment below. He knew what we were doing, didn’t help us but was very sympathetic.
B. Do you know how the Germans became suspicious of 13 rue Verniquet?
39. Yes, it was de CAPRI who told everybody. He had been taken. Anyway, I believe that now he works for them. As it is, all the networks have been forced to move. These hadn’t been arrested: MALOULIN, FAVELONNE, PACOT, PIERRE; Jean LUC had to change his apartment, CESAR and I were saved.
B. Are you certain that CAPRI denounced you?
40. Certain, no, but it is believable.
B. What happened to them?
41.I think that they have been officially condemned to death. I knew it two months ago.
42.There was the famous PHEOBUS who also ‘sold’ a lot of people. I don’t know him. When he was in prison, if he was asked if he knew such and such a person, he said ‘Yes”.
B. When was he arrested?
43. Not very long after PAUL. I have the impression that it was him who ‘sold’ Paul.
B. Do you know the circumstances under which PAUL was arrested?
44. Vaguely. I know that he was arrested in a restaurant he often used to go to.
B. And you’ve got the impression that it was PHEOBUS who ‘sold’ him?
45. Yes, when he was confronted with him and asked if he knew him, he said “Yes.” PAUL has been condemned to death. I learned this two months ago. The others, PIERRE, PHEOBUS, PAUL, PACOT, MALOULIN, have all been condemned to death.
B. What about the rest of the organisation?
46. Not much. Jean LUC, the BRETON; Madame JEFF was arrested at the same time as PAUL, or some days later. I believe she’s been released and reprieved.
B. Why?
47. Certainly to see if she’d do anything. At that time, they were not searching that much.
B. In fact then it’s you, Jean LUC, CESAR and the BRETON.
47. There was also a liaison agent named LEON [Maurice Barbe].
48. At the time I was living with an agent in the security named PASCALINI, at 10 Boulevard Murat. He wasn’t part of the organisation but he was sympathetic. Cesar and I stayed with him for a month. Then we decided to re-cross the demarcation line as we wanted to come to England. There was also the BRETON and LEON. We cross the line at ANGOULEME, the four of us, with a guide named ANDRE. I didn’t know him at all, it was Jean LUC who pointed him out. We then spent some time on the coast of RIBERAC, I can’t remember the name. One time in the Free Zone, I returned to my parents’ home in SEVREY.
49. CESAR and LE BRETON left for North Africa in July. It was very difficult for a woman to pass clandestinely in a boat. They went to ALGIERS, ORAN and from ORAN to GIBRALTAR. They came here, rested for three or four months and then returned to France.
B. Did they have the necessary papers to go to North Africa?
50. No. They were hidden in a boat which took them to MARSEILLE. They went from ALGIERS to ORAN, ORAN to GIBRALTAR and from there they went back.
B. Did they come to see us or the English?
51. Both.
B. You have the impression that they were working for an English organisation.
52. No. I stayed for some time with my parents and, as Lyon was not very far, I went shopping, and by chance I met DENIS.
B. CESAR wasn’t arrested at the same time as the others, was he?
53. I don’t know. I lost all sight of him.
B. But it was him who introduced you to the guide at ANGOULEME.
54. Yes. I know he changed apartments but I don’t know if the Gestapo have been to his new place.
B. Where is he now?
55. Here’s here [in London], I’ve seen him.
B. Why is he here?
I don’t know. I haven’t asked him. After the arrests, he gave me the name of the guide but I’ve not seen him since.
B. So, you met DENIS in LYON?
56. Yes, by chance, in the street. I’d never spoken to him before, but I knew him. He was the third in Jean LUC’s organisation. I saw him all the time. I don’t know what type of work he did, probably intelligence. I saw him in PARIS.
B. Under what other name is he known?
57. JACK, DENIS and actually ARTHUR. When I met him, he asked me to continue his work with him, which I soon did.
B. When you first met him, who were you working for?
58. For him personally. He had lost contact with Jean LUC. At that time, I was liaising between LYON and NICE, with COTY [Jean-Louis Chancel alias Roland Chavangnac]. I did not know him at all.
B. Had he worked with CESAR before?
59. No, it was the PHATRI organisation. I liaised only between DENIS, COTY, YVONNE and GERVAIS. I met DENIS nearly every day outside LYON. In the beginning it was at 2 Place OLLIER, in an office, it was in a particular building. Then we rendez-voused in the street. I was given the job of passing intelligence information.
60. One time I went to NICE. I had trouble with the French police. I had a false identity card in the name of Melle GEORGES.
B. What was your name in Jean LUC’s organisation?
61.Jeannette.I never changed it.
B. The Gestapo must have known the name of your family. When you went back home, weren’t you worried that your parents might be worried.
62. No. I never thought of that.
B. In NICE, how did you communicate with COTY?
63. Outside. He went to the station at the same time every day. I was sure I could meet him at that time. COTY was the second in DENIS’s organisation, he was in the intelligence service. He transmitted the intelligence to DENIS who was in LYON. DENIS stayed a bit in LYON, then he went down to NICE and at that time I had returned to LYON, because I’d had some trouble with the police. It was December 1942.
64. I was in a hotel. There had been a ‘rafle’ [large scale arrest] of evaders [people attempting to leave France]. Their identity papers were being checked and as my card was false they came to my room to ask me to explain it. They asked me if I was ready. I told them, “No. I’ll be an hour.” Then they told me to go and see the Commissioner in an hour, so I left for CANNES. There I met COTY who told me to leave.
65. I went to LYON where I worked with GOBELET. He was part of DENIS’s organisation
B. Was he part of Jean LUC’s organisation?
66. No.
B. What was his real name?
68.M.de PIERREBOURG. He was a tissue wholesaler, 20 or 22 rue de Constantine. At that time, I liaised between LYON and VICHY. At VICHY I saw BERTHE, I didn’t know who he was, and VALETTE. I went to VALETTE’s house who had a publicity office at 29 rue de Mascaret, VICHY. I liaised between BERTHE and VALETTE on one side, and with GOBELET on the other. All three depended on DENIS who was their chief.
B. Since when did this organisation call itself PHATRI? What does its name mean?
68. I don’t know.
69. I worked with them until March 1943. During that time. I stayed continuously with GOBELET.
70. We were also involved with the Lyon police. I was in contact with all the National Security. They had set up an organisation alongside the National Security and it was these members of National Security who provided the intelligence for GOBELOT. The chief was M. CHABERT, principal Security inspector in Lyon. He had M. PELISSON, ICARD, FAUCHEUX, LACHASSAGNE; they were all inspectors.
I don’t remember the others’ names. There were more or less a dozen. I especially knew those I pointed out to you. I went to the Security Office and specially occupied myself there. They made the register of identity cards; they had all the intelligence on the Gestapo I needed. It was GOBELET who set this up.
71. This organisation still exists. There was an event with GOBELT and DENIS, and I believe that GOBELET doesn’t work there anymore following something that happened with DENIS. GOBELET received lots of money and he gave very little to the organisation. I had already done a lot to make it bearable DENIS had a lot of work, but not a lot of money to give the organisation; I believe this is the reason why there was discontent between them.
72. GOBELET had asked to go to LONDON with his family, this had been refused. He went to see M. CHABERT and asked if he could stop work. I also went to see M. CHABERT, asked him to continue and pass on the service to DENIS. CHABERT had entered an arrangement with MARC, DENIS’s third in charge. At that time M. CHABERT had been appointed chief, he had a little organisation, he centralised all the intelligence and sent it to DENIS. GOBELET ceased work completely. I lost all contact with him.
73. The next day I got into trouble. I was at M. FAUCHEUX’s house and the Gestapo came to search it. They came and rang for the porter, asking for Jeannette. I didn’t know what was happening. Certainly they had been given the address. If GOBELET and FAUCHEUX knew the address, I didn’t know. I didn’t open the door. It was a day when M. FACHEUX was on night shift, his wife had left on holiday. Normally I would have been on my own but I was with CESAR. He went to look at the door and then left by the balcony. I’ve seen him since March. We got over the balcony and escaped through a construction site next door. At that time, I went to the house of another Security inspector, M. ICARD, he was very kind, he lived at 20 rue Jerome. M. FAUCHEUX lived at 10 rue Nicolai. I went to ICARD’s house and that day I ceased all contact with the organisation. I was ‘burnt’ [The Gestapo wanted to arrest her].
B. What was your personal impression of GOBELET?
74. He had very little will. He received a lot of money. I don’t know how much.
B. How much did you receive?
75. 7,000 francs a month at that time. When I was with Jean LUC I got 4,000 a month.
B. Did CESAR return to France to work for PHATRI?
76. Yes. He worked for the DENIS reseau [network] and independently. He was always there. I saw him with COTY and FRANCOIS.
B. And DENIS?
77. He had an incident not long ago. He had been arrested by the police. He had been to NICE and returned to LYON with the courrier [intelligence reports]. There had been a rafle [large scale arrests] on the train and he was arrested. Two or three days later COTY left the area. He actually went to PARIS. I believe that he came here [London] the next month.
B. CESAR continued to work with the DENIS group. He formed his own reseau.
79. There was the CHABERT group in LYON, MARC liaised with in the CANNES and NICE areas. YVONNE was with MARC; I don’t know what she did, liaison probably. CHABERT worked with MARC at this time.
B. What did you do?
80. I went to see ICART and ceased all my work. Afterwards, I went to someone else’s house and stayed there a month until the time of my departure [for England]. I was helped a bit by CESAR, but most was done myself as I was his courier.
B. What do you know about your parents’ arrest?
81. I’m not very well informed about this.
B. What caused it?
82. PACOT had stated to talk [providing the police/Gestapo with information] two and a half months ago; by that time my parents had been arrested.
B. Have you the impression that PACOT’s a bastard?
83. No. Not at all, he’s very good, but I believe that he wasn’t able to resist the torture; he had a son. I believe he was tortured in from of him. I suppose that the arrest of my parents is linked with this, and by carelessness. I’d left my parent’s address at the house. I was the only person in my family who knew where to find me. At that time, I was in TOULOUSE.
B. What did you do in TOULOUSE?
84. I was there with M. GOBOLET to facilitate the release of two young people from St Sulpice prison. I was back with him at that time.
85. It was from their parents that I learned of the arrest of my parents. I don’t know under what incrimination; I simply know they are missing. My grandmother, she’s 80, has been interrogated, so I stopped having any contact with her, because she was old already. I have not tried to make contact with my parents. I’ve done absolutely nothing. I’m worried about their imprisonment, naturally.
B. So you decided to leave?
86. I wasn’t me who decided who decided to leave. It was DENIS.
B. Who organised your departure?
87. CESAR. They came looking for me and I left by plane during the night, in the area of CHÂTEAUROUX on a landing strip prepared by CESAR. Three of us left, COTY, FRANÇOIS and I. DENIS didn’t leave. COTY was to leave the following night. They will cross and DENIS will come here [? England].
B. Who’s FRANÇOIS?
88. He left for another reseau, MARCO POLO reseau.
B. Had you seen often him before?
89. Yes, because I stayed at his house in LYON for some time.
90. We left on Wednesday 14 May and brought the courrier. A small young man called BILLARD got out of the plane [a Lysander]. I didn’t know him. We got in. The plane took us to an aerodrome in England [RAF Tangmere]. Then we were taken to M. BERTRAND’s house [Bignor Manor, near Chichester, West Sussex] in the country. We were very well received and from there we were taken to London. The English took us directly to the French Office on Duke Street on Wednesday night.
B. Do you know whether any members of DENIS’s organisation were a bit suspect?
91. No. There was nothing about GOBELET being a little suspect. The others weren’t. COTY is very good, MARC as well. They were also very good in Jean LUC’s reseau.
B. What’s the general situation in France like?
92. It’s not brilliant. At the moment there’s a very bad feeling about the young men being forced to leave and work in Germany. In my view they’re not very brave. The first ones were not very happy, for a normal life they needed 10,000 francs a month. Mostly they averaged 2,000 a month. In general, what helps is that their family in the countryside send them food. Mostly they’ve had enough of actual politics; they don’t all have the same opinion about the occupation; they’re beginning to understand a bit of the situation. They love Petain less than de Gaulle in France, but this had made a bad impression and there is disagreement.
93. In the police there are two groups, those who are for and those who are again. It’s very clear. Those that are against are as bad as the Gestapo – vis-à-vis the French population, the German soldier is alright.
B. Have you heard anything about shooting hostages?
94. Yes. They take hostages at every turn, but it’s not published. At this time there are lot of people who’ve disappeared in France, one doesn’t know what’s happened to them.
B. Have you heard anything about the measures the Germans and French are taking about the gas?
95. No. I’ve heard nothing about it. I have heard about what measures they’re taking against the invasion, by the security inspectors. The people of LYON have been ordered to leave all their doors open to allow free entrance and exit, all those against it would be shot immediately etc. But for the gas, nothing.
B. Do you know of any French Germanophiles?
96. I know one. Charles ABBET, he owns the Olympia bar, rue des Ramparts des Ninay in LYON. He received enormous tips from the Germans. I know he works for the Gestapo, and the intelligence.
B. One last question - apart from the mail transmission and intelligence work for Jean LUC and others, have they sought to form shock troops?
97. I don’t know. We carried transmitters in paniers to LYON. CASENAVE [Jean Fleury alias Jean Panier alias Mudslinger (Electre)] was working on it, I don’t know where he lived. He received his instructions from LONDON. I haven’t seen any other English people.
OPINION OF THE COUNTER-ESPIONAGE SECTION
Melle GUYOT alias JANIN made an excellent impression. Her declarations appear honest. A Visa No. I has been issued accordingly. (SHD Vincennes, GR 28 P 4 153-4, my translation)
Having proved her bona-fides, Jeannette was enlisted in the Free French Forces under the name of Jeannette Janin and worked with ‘Colonel Rémy’ who had been brought to England by trawler from Finistère on 6 January 1943. (Tillet, op.cit.)
Part of the Allies’ plans for the invasion of France was the SUSSEX Plan, a joint operation by the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), the American Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and the BCRA. With the assistance of Kenneth Cohen of SIS, Francis Pickens-Miller of OSS and other BCRA officers, Colonel Rémy recruited French men and women who had reached Britain from Spain and North Africa following their interrogation at the ‘London Reception Centre’. This was the name used for the Royal Victoria Patriotic School in Wandsworth where the male refugees were sent and Nightingale Lane in Clapham where female refugees were sent.
On 13 November 1943, under the command of the British Major Guy Wingate and American Colonel Malcolm Henderson. the first recruits undertook a ten-week training course at Drungewick Manor (TS-7), near Hersham, Surrey and, as numbers increased, at Praewood, a large country house near St Albans, Hertfordshire. ( Courses on military intelligence techniques were run by SIS and OSS instructors. Patricia Cleveland-Peck interviewed Wingate after the war who reported that,
“There were about 120 Frenchmen and women here under the command of my skipper, the late Colonel Malcolm Henderson,” he said, “They lived at Praewood, another large house just up the road and most of their field training took place in the grounds.
The training included codes, enemy recognition and identification, civilian disguises, unarmed combat, gun handling and grenade throwing.
I remember going to pick up the grenades which hadn’t gone off,” Guy reminisced. “We couldn’t afford to waste them.” (
Following Moulin’s success in unifying the various resistance groups, France was divided into regions, each had a military delegate, command team and liaison officers to coordinate with London regarding the intelligence gathering, sabotage, evasion, propaganda etc. Geographic distribution of the Resistance regions in the build-up to D-Day. (
They also received parachute training at Ringway Aerodrome, near Manchester. As much of the railway network in northern France had been put out of action by saboteurs, the agents were all issued with bicycles and taught to drive motor bikes and cars. Their syllabus also included night map reading, skills they would need back in France.
According to the ossreborn website, their British and American instructors divided them into thirty teams, normally two men, an organiser and a wireless operator. They were issued with L pills, lethal capsules of potassium cyanide, to use should they face capture, and 25,000 francs each and 150,000 for the team. The wireless operator was issued with an American TR-1 and/or a British Mark VII set, batteries and bicycle generator and equipped with a double-transposition cipher with a flash code. This was a group of numbers, each of which represented a word or phrase designed for transmitting military intelligence.
Their mission was to collect and send back information on the German order of battle and their troop movements by identifying the different units and counting the amount, type and direction of their rail and road traffic. They were also to recruit locals to help. An observer was provided with an S-phone, what the Americans called a Klaxon and what the British called an ‘Ascension module’. It was a ground-to-air communication device, which was used to pass on information to radio operators on board overflying Mitchell bombers of 226 Squadron. As the plane circled around a long conversation could be had and vital intelligence passed between both operators. These planes returned to their base at RAF Hartingbridge, now Blackbushe Airport, where the information was passed on to High Command.
French clothing was issued from a store in Savile Row, London, and one imagines that, like agents trained by SOE, they would have visited a dentist to have their teeth checked to ensure that they had appropriate French fillings and a barber or hairdresser to ensure they had the current hair styles. Briefing for their mission was held at Sunnyside Manor (Area O), and agents would probably have had free time in London before being deployed. ( Clive Bassett, Jedburgh and Carpetbagger historian, referred to the OSS using Sunnyside House, now a public house in Kingsthorpe, Northampton, about 12 miles north of RAF Harrington.)
Prior to their flight, these teams were accommodated at ‘holding stations’ including Grendon Hall, Northamptonshire, which was close to RAF Harrington where the USAAF Carpetbagger missions were flown out from, and Farm Hall, about half an hour’s drive from RAF Tempsford, where the Special Duties Squadron was based.
According to the Le Plan-Sussex-1944 website, Jeannette’s regular requests to Rémy to be allowed to be trained for these Pathfinder missions were eventually granted and she and 22-year-old Sub-lieutenant Evelyne Clopet, were given paramilitary and clandestine warfare training at Prae Wood and parachute training at Ringway.
Given a commission as a lieutenant, 25-year-old Jeannette was one of the first two SUSSEX teams. Her organiser was Captain Georges Lassale, alias Charles Lescour, and she was to act as his courier and wireless operator. The organiser of the other team was Major Marcel Saubestre, code-named Marcel, with Lieutenant Pierre Binet, code-named Lucien, as his wireless operator.
Although the mission was ready to depart in January 1944, continuously bad weather and human error prevented their departure during that moon period. The reasons were explained in the OSS history of the SUSSEX PLAN.
An Actual Dispatching
Since it gives a good picture of the procedure involved in a dispatching operation from the viewpoint of the staff who got the agents ready, the following account by Major O’Brien of an unsuccessful attempt to dispatch four agents – the original Pathfinders – is included. This was a British operation.
I picked up Marcel, Lucien and Jeannette at Palace Street and after a very hasty lunch in an ABC, we met K [Kenneth Cohen] of SIS and Jean (the W/T) at TS … [probably Praewood]. We arrived at Tempsford at about four thirty on Saturday afternoon. Farm Hall is a large, old and very comfortable house, presided over by Mrs Watchon, a WAAF officer, who is very efficient and full of charm. She has a large staff of WAAFs who do the cooking and serving at the Hall. Everything is done there to make the agents comfortable. [There was no Farm Hall in Tempsford. There was a Farm Hall on West Street, Godmanchester, about 12 miles north of the airfield and used to accommodate French agents and Jedburgh teams before departure from Tempsford or Harrington.] The house was rather full of other agents and dispatching officers, since there were to be 29 planes departing that night. We were led to a large bedroom where we left Jean to change from battledress into civilian clothes, while Jeannette, Marcel and Lucien came with K and me into the billiard room, where we went over their identity papers and examined all the contents of their pockets to make sure they had no papers or objects such as cigarettes, matches and so forth, which would link them up with England. The net result of this operation was that K and I came out of the room with our pockets stuffed with matches and cigarettes.
Then we went for high tea, where a sharp distinction was made between passengers about to take off and dispatching officers, the agent getting a fried egg in addition to what was served the others. After tea, we went to the third floor of the house where a sergeant in charge of the supply room issued our friends the objects they had picked out from the shelves. These consisted of French cigarettes and matches, bandages, medicaments of various sorts, chocolate, tins of rations, knives and arms. K of SIS had already brought four .25 automatics and ammunition for them so we ignored the side arms. We had difficulty in persuading Jean not to take a spring cosh. I gave them such a sales talk about the .69 grenade that they each took one.
At about 7 o’clock we got into the car again and drove out to the field, which is about 12 miles from Farm Hall. There were four or five cars making the trip due to the large number of parties departing that night. As soon as we arrived at the field, we were led to a Nissen hut where our group was alone. In general, the groups are kept separate, the only unfortunate thing being the limitations in accommodation at Farm Hall. Inevitably people meet on the stairs or at tea and see who is going out. For instance, Charles recognised a man in another party as someone he had met at Ringway [the parachute school].
In the hut, the Pathfinder equipment was ready in large bags marked ‘Calanque’, the name of the operation from the viewpoint of the dispatchers. NCOs dressed our four agents in their strip-tease suits [heavy-duty overalls with two zips down the front for ease of removal] and parachutes and mud boots. During the dressing, the same non-coms served the agents with rum, plying cup after cup. Jeannette did not take any. Squadron Leader Bonzie showed K of SIS and me the Etat-Major map with the pin-point [drop zone] marked on it. Apparently until that moment K of SIS had not been informed of the exact pinpoint.
The pilot came in, by the name of [Wing Commander] Hodges, and was introduced all round. By the time Jeannette was dressed, it was apparent that she could easily break an ankle with her small shoes swimming in the over-large mud boots, so we had to remove her parachute and strip-tease in order to take the boots off, on the theory that it was worse for her to hurt herself than to get covered with mud.
I loaded and issued the .25 automatics. By this time the four agents had every available pocket stuffed with their equipment, including automatics, grenades, cigarettes and flashlights. The last objects issued to them were thermos bottles of coffee and packets of sandwiches which they carried to the plane in their hands.
We then drove a few hundred yards out onto the field to the Halifax. It was already tuning up and after about ten minutes of standing about and repeated farewells, the passengers all climbed in.
This plane was engaged in three operations and was carrying no fewer than nine passengers and 19 containers or packages. This discovery earlier in the evening annoyed K, who phoned through to Commander C, but it was impossible to make any change. Our operation was scheduled as the last and was given priority over the others.
The morale of our four agents was excellent throughout all the preparations; the only one to show any nervousness was Marcel, the oldest of the group, and his nervousness manifested itself in a slight querulousness and tendency to issue orders to his three companions. However, there was nothing frankly disagreeable about this to anyone. Although the agents had to sit about for some little time in their uncomfortable costumes, particularly the first one or two to be dressed, nevertheless they continued smoking and talking cheerfully with everyone. They definitely had the impression that they were being coddled [well cared for in terms of food, drink and entertainment]. In connection with our future operations, I would suggest that we do this kind of thing as much like the British as we can, but that, in addition, we avoid a sudden change in treatment at the time when agents arrive at the dispatching center. In other words, let us begin coddling them during the briefing period at the Freehold [probably Sunnyside House].
Our plane left at exactly 9 o’clock, the scheduled time. It was preceded and followed by other Halifaxes, there being about one every three or five minutes. Most of them were bound for France, but at least one was bound for Norway and another for Denmark.
K of SIS and I went to bed and were awakened at 0530 hours with the news that the plane had returned with our party, having dropped the other two parties. The other operations were easier than ours from the pilot’s viewpoint because they were blind droppings [with no reception committee]. We got up and dressed at once, and by 6 o’clock our friends had returned to Farm Hall where we talked with them.
The pilot was sure that he had found the pinpoint, and he had made three runs over it without seeing the ground lights, Altogether, he was in the neighbourhood for twelve minutes. The plan, as outlined by the dispatcher in the plane, was for Jeannette to jump first, then the packages, Lucien second, Jean third and Marcel last. Jeannette and Lucien were to take their place on the forward side of the opening [‘Joe hole’ – the American term for the opening in the fuselage through which the parachutists jumped], with the packages on the tail side. As soon as the packages had gone, Jean and Marcel were to take the place vacated by the packages. All of this had to be arranged before departure because of the noise in the plane during flight. Hence, during the unsuccessful operation, Jeannette and Lucien were occupying their action stations for forty minutes. They could look down through the hole and see the passing countryside 500 feet below them. The moon was bright and they saw meadows, woods, houses and a road, but saw no lights.
The passengers returned to Farm Hall from their eight and a half hours of flight and went up to bed at once, after eating some sandwiches and drinking some more coffee. The operation did not take place Monday night because of weather.
Procedure at a Dispatching Field.
A memorandum written by Major Stearne after a visit to the British dispatching field at Tempsford in March 1944 describes the steps taken at the airfield in connection with dispatch of agents.
‘On Friday, Group Captain B [sic] decided, for the purpose of instruction, to attach us to S/Ldr B for a period of 24 hours, to follow the activities step by step. The following will be an outline of general procedure.
At about 10 a.m. we left Farm Hall and went immediately to the intelligence offices at Tempsford. There we checked up on the remainder of the previous night’s operations, and got a list of crews and operations that would be carried out that night. We then went to the cottage [sic] and began checking the loads and preparing briefing data for the crew. At 1 o’clock we returned to the intelligence section, and there S/Ldr B briefed each crew and on pin-point information… (OSS report related to SUSSEX Pathfinders, Plan-Sussex Collection, Pathfinder, Vol.3, p.183-7)
Their next attempt was on the night of 8 February 1944. At about 11:45 pm, the four of them were parachuted from a Halifax flown out of Tempsford by 161 Squadron pilot Flight Lieutenant Parker. They landed safely in the neighbourhood of Clion, 27 km southeast of Loches, about 70 kilometres northwest of Châteauroux in Indre-et-Loire and were met by the BCRA ECARLATE reception committee, headed by Felix Guilcher, code-named Gondole and Romain.
At this point occurred the second of the misfortunes which were to plague the mission. Of the three containers to be parachuted, two of them (containing food, two sets of radio equipment, the VVV and LMT codes and all documents, including the lists of BBC alert, execution and postponement phrases, passwords etc.) through an error were not dropped. Furthermore, this oversight was not reported to SIS until a week later when it was too late to deliver the containers until the next moon period. The team started its mission with one radio set, about ten flashlights, and nothing more. Fortunately, Lucien and Marcel had memorised the names of the thirty-one points.
A third misfortune was quickly encountered. Several of Lucien’s father’s associates, on whose contacts and assistance so much reliance had been placed, had been arrested. (Ibid, p.130)
With the support of the French Resistance, their mission, Operation Calanque. was to prepare for the arrival of 52 Sussex teams which were to be parachuted into Northern France between April and September 1944; to locate dropping grounds for the parachutists and their equipment; to help build up caches of arms and equipment; to prepare safe-houses where the new agents would be accommodated upon their arrival and to receive and dispatch them to their areas of operation.
After arriving in Paris with Lasalle, Jeannette visited her cousin, Madame Kiehl, who ran the "Café de l’Electricite" at 8 rue Tournefort in Montmartre. There she got to know others in the resistance and a few days later moved into Madame Andrée Goubillon’s apartment, whose husband had been imprisoned and who owned the café.
In an interview after the war, Madame Goubillon told the BBC, “I knew which kind of work she had come to make, and when she asked me... if I were ready to help her, I answered yes without the least hesitation. Although the café was located beside an office of the Gestapo, I knew what I wanted to do, I was not afraid.” (Daily Telegraph 26 April 2016)
After Liberation, she renamed it "Cafe Sussex”. This was because Sussex agents used to rendez-vous there using the password: How’s my aunt, how’s my uncle? She reported that she knew what type of work Jeannette was involved with and offered her what help she could. Despite the café being next to a Gestapo office, she was not afraid and was never caught. [La Mission “PATHFINDER”]
Over the following seven months, with the help of the second team, they found 22 drop zones, organised 17 drops, along a line from Brittany to Alsace. Some DZs were used twice. She was also involved in finding almost a hundred safe houses to accommodate fifty-three subsequent ‘Sussex’ teams. Pierre Binet & Etienne Ancergues were arrested and shot in Forest d’Othe on 19 August 1944, two days before the Allies captured Paris.
From 1 October 1944 until 30 June 1945, Jeannette was allocated to the Direction of the Studies and Researches. She then returned home to Sevrey and married Marcel Goucher, another Sussex agent.
In recognition of her contribution to France’s liberation, de Gaulle’s government awarded her the Chevalier of the Légion of Honour; Croix de Guerre with Palm and Medal of the Resistance. The British awarded her the George Medal, the second highest civilian gallantry award as military awards were not awarded to women. The only other woman agent who was given this award was Nancy Wake.
Jeannette was one of only two female recipients of the US Army’s Distinguished Service Cross, the second highest American award after the Medal of Congress. The other was Virginia Hall. President Roosevelt’s citation provided more light on Jeannette’s mission for the OSS.
As the principal liaison agent of the mission, she travelled widely over the northern France and contacted a large number of agents. Lieutenant Guyot travelled by various methods of conveyance with luggage, which, if it had been opened by the Gestapo, would have resulted in her torture and death. Because of her great courage and initiative, she undertook the most dangerous assignments, such as reporting on Gestapo activities and verifying reports of the arrest or execution of any of the "Sussex" agents. Lieutenant Guyot's work and conduct were beyond all praise and exemplify the highest traditions of the Armed Forces of the Allied Nations. (General Orders: Headquarters, European Theater of Operations, U.S. Army, General Orders No. 85 (May 8, 1945)
After the war, Gilbert Renaud, code-named Colonel Rémy, wrote prolifically about the resistance and referred to Jeannette in his Mémoires d'un agent secret de la France libre, Raoul Solar, 1946-50. After the war she led a quiet life, avoiding publicity and died in Chalon-sur-Saône on 10 April 1916 aged 97 leaving two daughters and a son. ( Soulier, D. Le Plan Sussex - Guerre Secrète en France Occupée 1943-1945, (2013); Email communication with Pierre Tillet, 23 November 2013; Daily Telegraph obituary, 26 April 2016) Bernard O'COnnor le samedi 30 avril 2016 - Demander un contact Recherche sur cette contribution | |
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