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Express Delivery |
The men brought back by the Shelburn escape line, and the people who made it possible |
This is the story of the 119 Allied servicemen brought back from occupied France in 1944 by the Shelburn escape line. Some of the evaders had spent many months in enemy-occupied territory but once in the hands of Shelburn, the men (generally referred to as parcels) were returned to England within days – Express Delivery. |
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Shelburn differed from other escape lines in France in that rather than taking men across the Pyrenees to Spain, it sent them direct to England from the north Brittany coast by RN Motor Gun Boats. Evaders who embarked from Plage Bonaparte near Plouha came from as far afield as Germany and Holland, and their helpers came from organisations and groups ranging from MI6 to the royal family of Monaco. Express Delivery places Shelburn within a brief history of WW2 escape lines, explaining how it fits into that overall story, why it couldn't have existed earlier in the war, and why it was so successful. While the book follows the experiences of each individual evader, it also describes in detail the organisations in Paris, l'Oise and Brittany that made Shelburn possible, because it is the helpers who are the real heroes and heroines of this story, many of whose contributions, and eventual fates, have been sadly forgotten. Helpers, the totally inadequate term used for such extraordinary people, came from all walks of life, with men and women of all ages, and even teenagers and children taking the kinds of risks to help foreign servicemen that would be hard to believe today – and the penalties for them if caught were harsh. Captured servicemen could expect to be sent to a prisoner of war camp but the civilians who helped them were liable to be executed or deported to Germany, along with their families and friends.
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Contact me to buy a copy of the book, price £15.00 - signed on request |
Please note that the book (141,000 words) is quite heavy so overseas postage is expensive |
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This page is intended to raise interest and awareness about the book but also to provide corrections and updates to the printed version as and when further information becomes available - a sort of on-line errata - plus things I wish I'd known earlier .. |
With that in mind, purchasers of "Express Delivery" may care to update their copies with the following notes |
Latest update 18 Oct 2021 |
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On 10 September 2019, I received an email from Jean-Yves Thoraval who had been researching Robert Southers story on behalf of Southers family, who visited the area in May 2019. Whilst I don't seem to have made any major errors in my account, Jean-Yves has added some useful information, and answered some of the queries that I had about some of the American reports. |
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Page 111 |
The young man who first helped Marion Hall was probably Joseph Le Denmat. |
Page 132 |
The Frenchman with the young boy who first helped Southers was Auguste Le Goff. The lieutenant's "aunt" who sheltered Southers overnight was Yvonne Bellac. |
Page 133 |
Mme Tinis (query) and her son were Yvonne Tévis (née Le Hénaff) and her son Donald of Saint-Nicolas-du-Pélem. The priest to whom Noel Cozic took Southers was l'abbé Morellec at Caniguel. Bijoutier Louis Michel lived at 20 rue de Verdun in Rostrenen. Jean-Yves says that the two men (one of whom I assumed was Jean-Guy Barou) were Yves Loyer and Pierre Sibiril. |
Page 140 |
The two (assumed) brothers who helped Church and Blye were Valentin Le Stang (of Paule) and Robert Le Tort - and Valentin went to collect civilian clothes from Edouard Le Jeune of Kermoisan, Paule. From this you can also see that "Stephen Le Tour" is actually a combination of Le Stang and Le Tort. |
Page 311 |
The woman (Mme Thevis - query) who sheltered Brennan and his crew was obviously Yvonne Tévis. |
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Some other things that I wished I'd known .. |
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Page 35 |
I've said that James King was taken to a chemists shop in Armentieres - this was Georges van Kemmel (born April 1907) at 32 rue d'Ypres (now rue des Déportés), who lived with his wife Nelly (born July 1910) at No 28 rue d'Ypres. |
Page 229 |
Alfred Logeon .. and his wife Simone .. and their middle daughter Ginette Marguerite (born July 1925) .. The youngest daughter Monique was still at school but their eldest daughter Paulette (Lubineaux) also convoyed aviators. |
Page 186 |
I've said that on 7 Feb 1944, there was no answer when Joe Birdwell and Bernard d'Havrincourt went to Mme Vve Marie Maziliat's apartment to warn her about the arrest of Marie Rose Zerling. There was no answer because Mme Maziliat was away guiding another evader - she and the unnamed evader were arrested at Dijon on 9 Feb. However it would seem that Mme Maziliat was already under suspicion because on 1 Feb, the Gestapo had asked her neighbour (in the same building), Jean Chevallier, for the key to her apartment. He refused, and on 15 Feb, Jean and his wife Bridget (the Irish lady that Birdwell left a message with) were arrested - Bridget (born 27 Feb 1887) was released two days later but Jean was deported, and died in Germany on 25 April 1945. |
Page 245 |
Should say " .. A French lieutenant named
Joseph Marie Roger Dehen born 19 Mar 1917 (who
Mathurin Branchoux says had escaped from a camp at Lubeck) .." The next paragraph should also be corrected from "Roger Dhen" to "Roger Dehen". |
Page 250 |
Add to end of second paragraph: "Another man taken on board MGB 503 that night was former Dahlia agent Andre Edouard Cann (born 2 Jan 1893 at Plougastel) of 136 Route de Pont l'Abbe, Quimper." |
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Page 22 |
I've said that Gilbert Thibault was recommended for an MBE. As a soldier, this was the highest award for which he was eligible but I believe he was actually awarded a well deserved OBE (Civil). |
Page 50 |
"John Brace says .. (assume Mmme Trumelet) .. along with a famale representative of the organisation .." should read " .. (Mme Trumelet) .. along with a representative of the organisation .. who took them to Ruffec next day by herself." |
Pages 119-120 |
I've said that the de la Marniere family were living on rue Traverse when Hugonnet arrived there in January 1944 - however Bernard Selin tells me that their home on rue Travers was destroyed by a bomb in 1941, and they were living at 17 rue Voltaire. |
Page 108 |
I've said that the crew of B-17 42-30200 Slo Time Sally were returning from Cognac-Chateaubernard aerodrome on 5 January 1944 when they were shot down. They were actually returning from Bordeaux-Merignac. |
Pages 113-114 |
The entry for Georges Martin is wrong - I have confused two men with the same name. The paragraph beginning Georges Martin was more than .. " should be amended to begin "Paul Le Baron refers to Georges Martin as Lieutenant Martin .. ". The next paragraph should be deleted entirely and replaced with "Bernard Selin in Nantes tells me (by email in May 2021) that fish-merchant Georges Martin came from Boulogne, and settled at Concarneau early in the war. He became one of the leaders of the Vengeance resistance group, using the code name Gérard, and later returned to his native region, where he died in 1982." |
Page 122 |
Christian was Christian Ollivon (thank you again Bernard) - also mentioned on pages 123, 124 and 323. |
Pages 123-9 and 146 |
I have consistantly mis-spelled the name Borrossi as Barrossi for Jean and his late brother Paul - my apologies to the Borrossi family. |
Page 145 |
I have said that *On the first operation, guides had been able to take evaders .. via a reasonably accessible gully .." However, Job Mainguy, in a report written in 1966, describes Val Williams being taken on a bicycle before transfer to a stretcher for the hazardous descent to the beach. So that paragraph can be deleted. |
Page 164 |
I've said that Maurice and Marguerite Cavalier returned from deportation to Germany. Sadly that is not the case - neither survived. |
Page 240 |
I've said that Buland Khan was helped by a woman called Lise La Rider - that should read Lise Le Rider - and gives her address as 17 rue d'Oleron in Paris, an address that does not seem to exist. The francaislibre.net website says she was married to a Mons Wieselthier, and IS9 lists Mme Lise Wieselthier at 60 rue Madame, Paris VI. |
Page 248 |
I suspected that Mickey's reference to reseau Elie in Brest was connected to Francoise Elie in Rennes. Bernard Selin tells me this was actually an organisation founded by Louis Elie, with no connection to Mlle Francoise that I know of. |
Page 250 |
I wrongly named Cmdt Jean Le Bourhis' wife as Genevieve. Her name was Germaine - Genevieve was their daughter, sister of Raymond. |
Page 281 |
"Mme Jules Henry" should read "Mme Jules Henri" - she lived at 16 Villa Said, Paris XVI. |
Pages 323-4 |
The farmer at
Keramborgne
was Jules Girard not Jules Gerard. |
Page 325 |
" .. Georges Borgeon (query writing) who was later shot .. " should read Georges Beaujean. |
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