ELMS Members Phil Douglas and John Clinch wanted to add something special to the Comete 2008 Pays Basque walk, so instead of just going to St Jean de Luz for a long weekend and walking across the Pyrenees, they started in Belgium the Saturday before. Like the Comete evaders of World War 2, they travelled by train from Brussels, and saw for themselves the various obstacles that confronted convoyeurs and their 'parcels' on the long journey south.

This is Phil laying an ELMS wreath at the Etterbeek Barracks for 'Nemo' - the Baron Jean Griendel. It was a stormy day so the wreath was probably blown away. Perhaps we could ask for a hook to be screwed in the wall under the plaque ...

An ELMS cross was placed for Jean Vandenhove. Jean helped many of the evading soldiers of the 51st Highland Division and was caught hiding a pilot of one of the first RAF crews to evade in Belgium. After capture he was cruelly tortured. Jean Vandenhove died in Essen on 4th August 1943

Tuesday 9th September 2008. Phil and John started their journey at the Gare du Midi in Brussels by catching the 10.05 train to Mons for the first part of the journey to Quiverain.

Quiverain was just one of the places used by Comete convoyeurs to cross from Belgium into France. The train crossed the border here so there was a customs control and an inspection of papers. The evaders would leave the train as though they had completed their journey, walk away from the station and cross the border into France on foot avoiding the controls, they would then restart their journey at the next station in France.

This is where Tante Go guided early Comete evaders Bobby Conville and Allan Cowan in October 1941 - Allan was caught smuggling cigarettes but the customs officer let him go after taking some of the contraband for himself.

During the war, here opposite the station there would have been shops and cafes, but now that the border between France and Belgium is completely open the town must have lost business and be a lot quieter.

Blanc Misseron is the border station on the French side of the now disused French part of the Mons-Valenciennes railway line. The evaders would rejoin the rail line here therefore avoiding the border controls. As the train no longer continues into France, Phil and John took the bus from the border to Valenciennes.
Photo by http://com mons.wikim edia.org/w iki/User:S miley.toer ist

Valenciennes station - on the way to Corbie. The evaders would have changed trains here so as to get to Corbie on the Somme where they had to cross the Zone Interdite (the militarised Forbidden Zone) into the Zone Occupée - a different part of the German occupation control system.

A break at Arras for a visit to the Faubourg-de-Arras British cemetery where both John's uncle and Phil's great-uncle are commemorated - victims of the Great War

Corbie station. Phil and John arrived just as it was getting dark at the end of the first day of their journey.

Dedée describes leaving some evaders at a cafe near
Corbie station - this may be the cafe ...

The hotel restaurant l'Abbatial in Corbie where
Phil and John stayed the night.

Wednesday 10th September 2008.  This is the next bridge along the Somme from Corbie -  to avoid the border controls evaders would have crossed the river by small rowing boat or sometimes by swimming from the Zone Interdite on the righthand side of the river to the occupied zone on the left. Just across the river is the village of Hamelet.

In Hamelet many evaders were taken to the house of Nenette Boulanger. Phil and John got a warm welcome from Nanette's daughter, grand-daughter and their partners. This is inside Nanette's house at Corbie where so many fugitives stayed the night on their way to Paris.

This is Phil laying an ELMS wreath at the grave of Nanette Boulanger and and her partner Ignace Sobieszuk at Hamelet cemetery.

Nanette's partner Ignace was a Russian from Argentina who fought with the International Brigades in Spain. Ignace also helped the evaders though he was himself hiding from the Germans as well.

The evaders woud leave Nenette's house the next morning and walk a few kilometers to the station at Villers-Bretonneux to take the train to Amiens on the way to Paris. Phil and John, who probably had a lot more luggage than the evaders, were kindly given a lift to the station by Nenette's grand-daughter.

This is Amiens, where many evaders would take the train for the Gare du Nord in Paris.

10 Rue Oudinot in Paris. Madam Laurentie lived on the second floor, Elvire Morelle rented a flat on the fourth floor and Aimable Fouquerel lived on the fifth floor.

The night train from Paris-Gare d'Austerlitz to Saint Jean de Luz cost 100.50 euros for a berth in a sleeper car. Thursday 11th September, Phil and John arrived in the early morning at Saint Jean de Luz in time to join the veterans and walkers arriving for the Comete Pays Basque Walk.

Friday morning at St Jean de Luz and a vin d'honneur courtesy of the maire with the rest of the ELMS group.

The grave of the Dassie family at Bayonne where the ELMS party paid their respects on Friday afternoon.

Jean Dassie, Nadine Dumon and Lulu Dassie
at the Angelet War Memorial.

Each year a special reception is held at Angelet town hall
to remember the reseau Comete.

Starting point of the weekend's commemorative walk -
the grave of Florentino at Ciboure cemetery.

Saturday morning ceremony at Urrugne as Comete veterans
Nadine Dumon and Gordon Mellor prepare to lay wreaths.

From Urrugne the walk continued across the mountains to the border crossing at the river Bidassoa and then resumed next day to finish at Florentino's birth-place in the Basque village of Hernani