| Q1: Which was the first escape line of WW2 ? |
| With a few exceptions, the first men who first needed to help to leave Occupied Europe were evaders from the Dunkirk area (Operation Dynamo ended 4 June) and from the surrender of the Highland 51st Division (and many associated units) at St Valery-en-Caux on 12 June. Men captured at St Valery were marched across northern France to Belgium before being taken to POW camps in Germany. This enabled several hundred of them to escape the marching columns and find shelter with local people. The Organisation, as it soon became known, evolved from these local helpers, and from the soldiers themselves. Meanwhile, other men were making their own way south towards Marseille from where, they hoped, they would find a way home. However, once across the demarcation line to the relative safety of Vichy controlled France, most were arrested by the French authorities and held in various internment camps. By mid-October, all the internees were transferred to a single prison at Fort St Jean, Marseille. |
| Not all the evaders headed south were arrested however, many made it to Marseille and started looking for ways out of the country by whatever means they could find, so when the interness arrived in the city, they found a fledgling escape organisation already in place. It soon became apparent that the only reasonable escape route was over the Pyrenees to neutral Portugal, or perhaps non-beligerant Spain and then Gibraltar. They made their plans and contacts and so began the southern arm of the Organisation. Soon the northern and southern groups established contact with one another and what later became known as the Pat O'Leary escape line began to establish itself. I think it reasonable to say this was a recognisable escape line by the late autumn of 1940, long before any other. Note that Pat O'Leary himself didn't get into the escape line business until June 1941. (Ed) Rtn |
| Q2: Which was the most successful escape line ? |
| This is not a competition, and anyway, that would depend on how you define 'successful'. If you only consider the number of people brought out of the occupied countries then probably the Pat Line, especially if you include those brought out by Francois Dissard after the arrest of most of the other key Pat Line personnel in early 1943. It is impossible to put an exact number on the servicemen brought out by Pat but certainly several hundred. The other major escape lines were of course the Belgian reseau Comète and Georges Broussine's reseau Bourgogne. Comète records show they took 293 servicemen across the Pyrenees to Spain between September 1941 and June 1944, and in fact they can be credited with helping many more, whilst Bourgogne/Burgundy lists more than 250 servicemen. Alternatively you could consider Shelburn as being a particularly 'successful' line since, although it only ran for a few months in 1944, so far as I know, they didn't lose any of their hundred plus evaders. (Ed) Rtn |
| Q3: How many men were brought out by the escape lines ? |
| Impossible to put an exact number on it. MI9 escape and evasion record numbers suggest more than three thousand men got back to the UK, but that includes men (mostly bomber crews) who were stranded or interned in neutral countries and later repatriated. At the same time we know that many escapers and evaders didn't file a report at all. American evasion report numbers suggest that several hundred of their men successfully evaded before D-Day and many more after. (Ed) Rtn |
| Q4: Did many men escape without the assistance of any escape line ? |
| In the early months of the war many evaders got back before any of the escape lines were properly organised, however very few men got back without help of some kind. Whilst many helpers are known to have been associated with the various organisations, it can sometimes be difficult to know whether a man was helped by members of an escape organisation or not. (Ed) Rtn |
| Q5: Were all escapers shot-down aircrew ? |
| Certainly not. In the early years of the war the vast majority of escapers and evaders were soldiers. Of the first 600 men that got home from France, only about 50 were airmen. It wasn't until mid-1941 that evading aircrew started to arrive in large numbers. However by the end of 1942, almost all evading soldiers had left for the UK, and the first American aircrew started to arrive. After that, allied bomber crews and fighter pilots were shot down in increasing numbers. If we use Comète as an example, their first 'parcel' was a soldier taken across the Pyrenees in September 1941 but they only brought out eleven in total, the last three being escapers from a German POW camp taken across in October 1942 - the rest were airmen, including more than a hundred Americans. (Ed) Rtn |
| Q6: How many escape lines were there ? |
| Impossible to say since one can't define an 'escape line'. There were many smaller groups that were formed, destroyed, dissolved, reformed, amalgamated or simply worked in concert with other groups. Often, especially as the war progressed, men were collected by someone who knew about, or possibly knew someone else who knew about, an organisation. That organisation may then have passed him on another group. An example would be Etienne Dromas' organisation at Chauny that generally passed it's parcels to others, notably Comète and Burgundy, but whether Chauny could be defined as an 'escape line' in it's own right is open to debate. (Ed) Rtn |
| Q7: Who was the most 'famous' escaper or evader of WW2 ? |
| Famous for escaping (successfully) during, or became famous after, the war ? Airey Neave would certainly be a contender as would Whitney Straight or Chuck Yeager. (Ed) Rtn |
| Q8: What is the difference between an escaper and an evader ? |
| I believe the Geneva Convention gives an exact definition but MI9 (see 'Saturday at MI9' pg.21) classified escapers as those who escaped from enemy hands, whilst evaders were those who had not been captured by enemy forces. The importance as far as evaders were concerned was that while escapers could be repatriated should they be subsequently caught in a neutral country, evaders were liable to be interned for the duration. That is why most evaders claimed to be escapers if arrested in (say) Spain. There was a slight problem of classification for allied servicemen held in Unoccupied France up until November 1942 as they were technically internees rather than prisoners of war. (Ed) Rtn |
| Q9: After they got back to the UK, were evaders returned to combat ? |
| I know of many escapers and evaders that went back to war. Of my father's escape party for instance, two of the three soldiers returned to active service (I have no information on the third man) as did all three fighter pilots - two of them were later killed in action. However, I understand that by 1942, Bomber Command at least had adopted the policy of not returning downed aircrew to the same theatre of operations as their evasion - presumably to protect their helpers. However, while some aircrew became training officers, others did return to combat missions. Some were even shot down and evaded a second time but many more were subsequently killed in action. (Ed) Rtn |
| Q10: Why don't you have a list of all the helpers ? |
| Much as I would like to publish such a list, I have no idea how to assemble it. Some organisations are well documented and their members known but most helpers' names are not recorded, and I think it would be grossly unfair to only list the 'easy' ones. Should anyone have any ideas about we could go about this - a list of those who received awards after the war might be one way - please contact me. (Ed) Rtn |
| Q.11: What role did the British security services play in the escape lines ? |
| The three security services most often associated with the escape lines are MI9, SIS and SOE. |
| MI9 (Military Intelligence Department 9) was formed early in the war as a subordinate to SIS when it became apparent that large numbers of men were likely to become prisoners of war. The department set out to establish ways and means of communicating with these prisoners. In fact the official nomenclature was changed several times - for more detail see 'MI9 Escape and Evasion' by Foot & Langley. It was only when the concept of escape lines became recognised that another section was established. The highly secret IS9(d) concerned itself with establishing contact with, and supporting these new lines. In most literature, they are still referred to as MI9. |
| The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) was a long established organisation whose priority was intelligence gathering. Although SIS tried to keep their distance from both the escape lines and (especially) SOE, agents in the field are known to have co-operated with one another. Several dozen evaders were brought out on SIS operations. |
| The Secret Operations Executive (SOE) was 'born' on 19 July 1940 (Cookridge) specifically to "co-ordinate all action by way of subversion and sabotage against the enemy overseas". This generally took the form of sending in agents to arm and support resistance organisations in the occupied countries. There are several instances on record of SOE agents being helped by the escape lines and some SOE agents were recruited with escape line experience - notably Andrée Borrel, Madeleine Damerment and Tony Brooks. SOE had their own escape lines department (DF) for transferring their agents to and from the continent (notably Vic and Var in France) but there were also some shared SOE/MI9 insertion and evacuation operations. (Ed) Rtn |
| Q12: What books would you recommend about escape lines ? |
| 'Saturday at MI9' by Airey Neave is the only book I know that covers most of the 'major' escape lines (although not Bourgogne) in any detail, and is highly recommended. After that you can choose books about either a particular escape line, one of the 'helpers' of one of the lines, or else about some of the escapers or evaders. My personal favourite books about individual evaders include 'Ticket to Freedom' by H J Spiller and 'I Walked Alone' by the Earl of Cardigan. Some of the best books about helpers are only available in French. (Ed) Rtn |
| Q13: Can I join ELMS ? |
| Probably, yes. Membership is open to individuals over eighteen years of age who are approved by the ELMS Committee. Normally, prospective new members are proposed by an existing ELMS member - please contact either this website or the ELMS Secretary direct for details. Former or present members of any of the Escape Lines, RAFES, APOWEC, 15MGB, SOE, AFEES, Special Forces or Resistance organisations do not need a proposer. (Ed) Rtn |
| Q14: Why isn't my name on the Escaper List ? |
| The two 'qualifications' for inclusion on the list are a) that you made a successful 'home run' and b) that I know about it. This seemed easy enough when I first came up with the idea of an escaper list but life is never that simple. In the early years of the war, an allied evader or escaper could be defined as anyone escaping or evading from enemy occupied territory and getting back to the UK. Later of course, particularly in western Europe after D-Day, returning to the UK was not necessarily a viable option. Indeed, many evaders were encouraged to remain in place until the advancing allies could liberate the area. Also, in Italy after the Armistice, escapers and evaders there generally started heading south rather than aiming for Switzerland or Yugoslavia. The list is neither complete nor completely consistent but is very much a 'work in progress' - which is why I ask you to contact me if you think a man's name should added. (Ed) Rtn |
| Q15: How fit do I need to be to take part in a Freedom Trail Challenge ? |
| That depends on which Freedom Trail you intend to walk. Whilst none of them are actually easy - they are supposed to be 'challenges' after all - the easiest is Shelburn. It has quite long days but easy terrain, and regular opportunities to take a break. So if you can walk for (say) six hours in a day with a small pack without undue stress, then it shouldn't cause you any real problems. Comete Pays Basque, is shorter but perhaps slightly harder. Anyone used to hill walking can complete easily enough but there are a couple of long climbs. During the war the entire route was covered in a single night, year round and in all weathers - today the trail is walked over two days in September. However, if you want to join one of the tougher trails, like the Chemin, unless you are an experienced mountain walker, used to carrying a big pack for long hours over hard terrain, you will have to train seriously in order to have a chance of completing. (Ed) Rtn |
