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VIS MISSION
The mission
“A strong wind blow in my face, then a
large jolt, my parachute just opened. After the noise of the engines,
it was a complete silence. The weather was nice, the moon was still
almost full, and I went down slowly towards this ground close to
Rochefort sur Loire. I could see the gleams of the bombardment for
which I was partly and well involuntarily responsible. Very quickly
under me a corn field approached in which I landed carefully and
without noise. But I did not have the time to dream to the moonlight.
I quickly got rid of my parachute harness which I rolled as I
learned how to do it. Idem for the jumping overall, the helmet and
the on-boots in fabric which I hide of best than I can. I joined
Jourdet rather quickly, my fellow-member who jumped behind me, and
who fell into a vineyard, just between stakes on which he could have
been impaled!
Lieutenant Vaas aka Jourdet
Click on ...
Everything was calm and quiet around us. Then, a man got out from
the shade and went in our direction. It was Pierre who was waiting
for us with his committee of reception. There were several men, and
among them a farmer of the surroundings with a horse-drawn carriage,
that we met.
This dropping zone received our four Sussex teams. We
spent a good part of the night to recover all our containers. There
were two containers per team giving eight containers in total that
we loaded into the carriage. With the parachutes, that made a lot of
volume! All our comrades gradually joined us, except one who reached
us later on. He explained that he fell in the middle of the Loire
river on a gravel bank! Fortunately at this season the Loire river
was almost dry.
We walked behind the horse-drawn carriage. Pierre
informed us that our two planes passed and passed again each other
several times above the ground, one in the direction of the length,
the other in the direction of the width, instead of following each
other, and risking each time the collision. It was true that we flew
without light.
Once arrived in the farm courtyard, we unloaded all our
material that we stored in the stable. Pierre warned us that we had
to leave before 6.00 am with all our gears! There was no provisional
shelter as it was planned, nor means of transport for us and our
material. Pierre simply told us that we should speak to Mr.Vignon,
the Secretary-general of the Prefecture of Blois, and gave him the
following password: "sharp incidents occurred" It would have to then
answer us: "the case is rather frequent"
After this last precision Pierre left the farm.
Maurice
Fleury’s farm in Villebaron
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The farmer agreed to keep our equipment for the day, while we went
by train to Nantes buying trunks. Nantes was the nearest town
located at 40 km from Forges, the village where we were. But there
was only one train in the morning at 07.00 am and another to return
in the evening. As it already was more than 05.00 am, not question
of sleeping, then we took our bags from the containers, in which we
put the few objects which we could need during our journey.
We quickly realized on the station platform that all
our bags were similar, in brown or blue fabric with handles and
reinforcements of clear leather! Well, these bags were in fashion,
and we could see them everywhere, but all the same, eight new bags
at the same time in this small station... We were not very proud
that we could be noticed. God thank you, at the station, people did
not seem to pay attention to us. May be they did not want to see us.
We listened to them discussing about the flights of the last night,
saying that the planes returned for the third consecutive night, and
that something was under preparation... Finally the train for Nantes
arrived. We got into there, and it was at that time, during our way,
that while hearing the conversations around me, I realized suddenly
that I understood all that they said. From England I had lost the
practice of French.
We arrived without problem in Nantes. I walked with
Jourdet in the streets with a certain apprehension when we crossed
German soldiers and officers whereas as lately as yesterday, we met
American or English! It seemed to me that they must find on our
faces that we came from England! We had lunch in a restaurant, and
we paid with tickets of food. It was the first time, and I gave them
by paying attention well not to mislead me. As they were false, I
was a little anxious and asked my-self whether they will be accepted
without problem. But I was quickly reassured, the waitress accepted
them without even looking at them!
During the afternoon, we bought our trunk after having
trailed downtown to spend time, but we started to be tired. It was
not surprising, it was nevertheless the third consecutive night we
almost did not sleep. In addition the nervous stress of the three
flights and parachuting was not made to arrange the things. I was
wondering whether I should take one of the pills which were given to
us to fight against the sleep. But I knew that after a few hours of
full form, the tiredness and the lack of sleep would come back even
worse. As we did not arrive yet in Blois, I preferred to abstain
from and reserve these pills for a more urgent case.
At the station we took again the train to Forges. Once
we arrived, the farmer informed us that Pierre came and took with
him our weapons??? Saying that he had great facilities to circulate,
he would forward them to us in Blois by a certain "Marcel" whom we
did not know! One month later, still not having recovered our Colts,
we told Vignon to ask Marcel about our weapons. But this one, that
we would never see, sent us the answer that for the work we had to
make, we would not need any!?
We would never recover them.
We still spent a good part of the night packing all
material which could be possible to put inside the trunk. I
regretted having to give up our parachutes in beautiful white silk,
but safety first. Moreover I had to say that the farmer, we asked
not to use these parachutes and to destroy them, did not take into
any account our advices! Result, we learned later on, that he had
made shirts with the silk of one parachute. He unfortunately drew
the attention to him. During a search conducted by the Gestapo, the
other parachutes were discovered. After "muscular" interrogation it
was shot to have lodged terrorists.
The next morning, June 3, after having slept a little,
we definitively left Forges for Blois. The railroad tracks,
theoretically direct was cut, probably because of sabotages or
bombardments. We had to go a long way round. Thus we successively
went through Nantes, Le Mans, Château du Loir and Tours. In each one
of these cities, we had to change train and to wait for connections,
so that we only reached Blois on June 5 in the afternoon.
There, we went directly to the Prefecture, and we asked
to see the Secretary-general, Mr Vignon. In a prefecture the
Secretary-general is a personality, the second after the Prefect. So
we had to wait before it received us. Lastly, we were introduced
into his office, in which already two employees of the Prefecture
were. For us there was no question of speaking in front of them, but
they did not seem to want to leave and to the dumb question of
Vignon which looked at us, we immediately pronounced the agreed
password: "Mr. Secretary-general, we came to see you, because sharp
incidents occurred". Instead of the answer that we did wait, he said
"Ah yes, where that?" Very surprised we hesitated a few moments. On
our guards, we started to wonder whether we were in front of the
right person. Our hesitation must give him to reflect, and to
refresh his memory, because he finally said the sentence that we
wanted: "the case is rather frequent". I breathed better. He asked
his employees to leave us.
When they left, he excused himself and said to us that
it had waited us for several days, and he had forgotten the password.
He asked about our trip, then told us that we would be lodged by his
secretary, Miss Helene Jordan, an old maid who lived with her mother
in an apartment in the center of Blois, just opposite of the bridge.
He led us there, and asked us to avoid going outside and showing us.
He explained us why he was very well placed to have all the
information we wanted, and we had to ask him. I informed him that
for safety reasons, it was absolutely essential to find a safe
shelter as soon as possible. He promised to take care of it.
The room in which we were going to live was located on
the last floor of the building, and was mansard-roofed. As it was
very small, I envisaged difficulties for my radio connections.
Indeed, the antenna of my Mark 7 must be sufficiently long to emit
and receive under good conditions. The evening even I tried a
contact with our station of London, but without sucess.
The following day was the 6th of June 1944, the D-Day
in Normandy. I tried once again to have a radio operator contact at
various hours of the day while modifying the position of my antenna.
Finally, in middle of the night, I got my first contact! I was
relieved. It was not perfect, but sufficient to be understood. I
confirmed that we arrived well and that we were ready to work. In
return I received a message congratulating us for our installation
and asking us to announce any troop movement coming from the South
of the Loire river towards the battle front of Normandy while
passing by the bridge of Blois, which was one of rare bridges still
intact on the Loire river: in some kind, a point of obliged passage.
They asked me to also announce the military railway convoys passing
by this city and moving towards Normandy.
Concerning this famous bridge we could not be better
located. Our window overlooked the bridge, consequently we could
observe under optimal conditions all the troop movements and
military vehicles, and immediately announce them by radio. For the
the railway, Vignon announced us that the Blois station manager was
one of his friends, that he knew his patriotic feelings, and that he
would agree to provide us with all the relevant information in his
possession, on the convoys of troops and announced trains.
Effectively the following days, I could transmit by radio a lot of
information concerning these displacements.
At the exit of Blois in direction of Normandy, there
was a railroad bridge which was already bombarded, but being
repaired was in temporary state, because it was essential in the
passing of the reinforcement troops. As soon as I was advised of the
arrival of a convoy, I transmitted it to London which again sent the
R.A.F. to bombard this neuralgic point. The transport of troops and
armoured tanks were thus regularly badgered and destroyed. Moreover,
following each operation, the civil authorities went to the site to
record the damage. For the Prefecture, it was the Secretary-general,
our friend Vignon, who did the inspections. Thus he could make me a
precise report of the damage which I immediately transmitted by
radio.
Our clandestine life occurred up to that point for
best. Our task frequently was disturbed by the air raid warnings: at
the beginning we went down to the cellar or in the shelters, but
very quickly, seeing that nothing happened, we remained in our room.
I indeed had much work with the coding and the decoding of many
messages, which themselves generated a large radio "traffic". Taking
into account the number of messages, the emissions became
increasingly long and begun to constitute an important risk.
My team mate Jourdet, of Alsatian origin, understood
German very well. So during the day, he attended all the places
where soldiers could be, hoping to collect interesting information.
One morning around 10.00 am, the siren sounded the end
of an air raid warning during which we remained as usual in our
room. Automatically I looked by the window, when on the other side
of the Loire river, exactly in the axis of the bridge, I saw two
planes arriving, one behind the other, and moving right on to us.
Two American "P47 Thunderbolt". I was astonished that they still
were there: normally the end of alarm sounded only when there was no
more plane in the surroundings.
I observed them with attention, when suddenly, whereas
they arrived at the height of the bridge, I saw two bombs released
from one of them. It was a striking effect and I had the breath cut,
in a split second, I realized that these bombs would fall on us. We
hurled down in the staircase to try to join the cellar, but we did
not have enough time. A terrible noise, and we were in the middle of
dust and rubble. Instinctively I took refuge under the sink of a
kitchen. Curled up I did not feel very brilliant.
After a few minutes, all became calm again. I left my
pit, my heart still pumping hard into my breast. We realized that
one of the two bombs fell right in front of the house, damaging the
frontage and causing large damage inside. But we were very lucky!!!
There was no casualty, but the house now was uninhabitable. We
immediately left with all our material in the shelter prepared by
Vignon, located at La Chapelle-Vendômoise, 12 km far from the town
of Blois on the road to Vendôme.
This was an insulated farm, outside the village. The
farmer, Mr. Ouzilleau, was widowed, and lived with his eleven year
old daughter. He was a man not very large, plump and very
sympathetic. He was very strong. I never saw somebody of such
strength. I remember that he made me sit on a chair, took this one
with only one hand by the round bar, connecting the two feet on the
side, and was able to raise me with his arm stretched!
Mr
Ouzilleau and his daughter
in September 1944
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He told us that his great pleasure was to
go for a walk along the piers of the Loire river in Blois, to locate
if at night there were unwatched German cars. He used to unscrew the
bolts of a wheel, by raising the car with only one hand, and with
the other removing the wheel which he threw away in the Loire river!
We settled in this farm. Thanks to the layout of the
premises, I could install an external antenna which enabled me to
have contacts radios as good as possible. Jourdet, who needed to be
in Blois for fishing with the information, left me to go to settle
at Mr. Martel’s house. Yvon Martel was the Chief engineer of the
Civil Engineering Department, introduced to us by Vignon. From his
functions, he had an "Ausweis" which enabled him to circulate freely.
It was him who moved us from Blois to La Chapelle-Vendômoise with
all our material.
Unfortunately Vignon’s activities in favor of
Resistance started to point out him, and to made him suspect. Also
he decided to leave the town before being arrested, and went under
ground in Paris. This departure did not obstruct too much our work,
because our network of advisors now was well organized. In addition
to the railway station manager, who continued to communicate all the
information likely to interest us, the Chief engineer already quoted
provided us with worthy details on the launching pads of V1 and
later of V2. He took care in addition of all transport which we
needed. Apart from these two very important advisors, we also had
the Head of the Police force of Blois who was placed at our disposal,
and Maurice Fleury, an employee of the Prefecture about of my age,
was used as information and liaison officer.
Maurice
Fleury
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Installed in Blois, Jourdet took all his meals at the restaurant.
One evening he had a dispute with the chief of the militia whose he
had drawn the attention. The Head of the Police force warned him
that he received orders to carry out his arrest the next morning. So
he had to leave as quickly as possible. He immediately came to see
me in La Chapelle-Vendômoise, he told me in two words what had just
occurred, and informed me that he would take refuge at a
relationship’s house of which he gave me the address in Roanne. He
left at once. The same evening, at the time of my radio
transmission, I informed London of this incident and his departure.
Then, I proposed to continue this mission alone, since with my
network of advisors, I was ready to transmit all the information to
be requested. Of course London agreed and thanked cordially me,
while insisting on the fact that I should not take any useless risk.
I thus continued my mission. More and more information
arrived to me, involving an increase of the length of my radio
transmissions. All this was against the elementary safety rules, but
how to make differently? Of course I finished to be located by the
German goniometry. At this stage I must explain how this location
took place, or more exactly how it took place at that time.
It was a system of location called “by triangulation”.
We had courses at Saint Albans: there were in France three main
centres of radio goniometry. When a clandestine transmitter was
located, the three centres located in opposed places, directed their
antennas towards this transmitter, and thus obtained three lines
forming a triangle which covered a more or less wide area. A plane
was sent above this zone to make it possible to reduce the perimeter
of research. This plane flying at low altitude could easily be
spotted with its antennas. When the zone of emission was well
delimited, then it was the turn of a van to complete the location
concerned. This van was locatable for an attentive observer, because
all its rear body was made out of wood to facilitate the reception
and to eliminate the parasitic interferences. Inside, camouflaged
well, a specialist with earphones on his ears was listening to the
emission and guided the driver until to the front the house where
the transmitter was. This vehicle was in general standardized under
the sign of a department store. Arrived near the clandestine
station, the van was driven very slowly, and not to draw the
attention, its occupants simulated a breakdown and pushed it. It was
the last phase of the research. When an agent was at this stage, he
had interest not to await them. Unfortunately, far too many agents
were arrested, too busy by they work and not seeing them arriving.
As I mentioned it above, in the farm lived a young
eleven year old girl. It was the summer, and she was on holiday. Her
father, Mr. Ouzilleau, told her not to speak about me with whoever
outside. She had understood very well that it was very important.
She was very nice, a little wild, and almost played alone outside,
in front of the farm. At the time of my transmissions, I asked her
to watch the neighborhoods well and to warn me immediately all that
could occur and in particular the vehicles that she could see, as
far as possible. It should be said that at that time circulation was
not what she became, and the cars were scarce, especially in the
countryside. One afternoon, I was transmitting a particularly long
message, when she rushed inside the room to tell me that there was a
car running at slow speed, but still rather far on the road. I went
to the window and I recognized a van of detection that two men were
pushing; obviously in the last phase of their research. I quickly
removed all my equipment and any trace from my presence. For more
safety, I left by the back of the house and went to hide in a corn
field. As soon as any danger seemed to have disappeared, I returned
to the farm where nobody was questioned. This time I was lucky and
had escaped thanks to the young girl.
Of course, I had to stop my work here and to find a new
place.
As always, upon my arrival in this sector, I looked for
an emergency shelter. It was found by Martel, at some friends’ home
in Onzain, 15 km south-west of Blois, close to the Loire river. When
I returned to the farm, I asked somebody to inform Martel, so that
the next morning he came and took me along to Onzain. On our way, he
informed me that Mr. Sibenaler run a rather important sawmill, and
in particular, which supplied wood for the provisional repairs of
the bridges destroyed by the bombardments or sabotages. For this
reason he often received the visit of German officers, but I should
not worry, because he was completely reliable. He introduced him to
me then returned over to his work.
Mr. Sibenaler welcomed me very nicely, and made me sit
under an arbour that he had arranged in his garden, then we drunk a
good wine d’Anjou. I put my radio-set and the spare batteries on the
ground, beside me. We were discussing, when a German Major arrived.
Mr. Sibenaler reassured me immediately, it was one of his customers.
He quickly threw a bag of fabric on my equipment, introduced me like
a friend, and invited the officer to sit down beside me. I was not
reassured at all, but finally everything went well. We clinked our
glasses together, then the officer left after having settled on its
problems with my host. In this case, it was the supply of wood for
the reinforcement of the railroad bridge of Blois, precisely that
one I already made bombed. I felt better his departure.
I was looking for a new emergency shelter. Mr.
Sibenaler told me that it had a cottage, used for fishing, located
at the mouth of the Loire river and the water stream Beuvon, at 10
km far from the village of Onzain, close to the hamlet of "Montils".
He had a boat that I could used to cross the river, and he would
place a bicycle on the other side of the river bank, to help me to
join this cottage.
I started again to work harder, Maurice Fleury
continuing to bring important information to me. One day he saw a
large gathering of German army lorries in some field, of which he
gave me the co-ordinates, near his parents’ house. I immediately
sent this information to London. The same evening, three USAAF
bombers did some dropping, but the bombs missed their targets and
fell near the Maurice’s house, without however damaging his lorry
and his house.
During the same period, Martel told him to inform me of
the presence of a very important convoy of at least twenty-five
"Panzer" and as many support vehicles. They went up towards the
Normandy battle field and seemed to make a break. Once again, I
informed London. This time the bombers did not miss their targets,
and the following day, we could see many smoking skeletons of tanks
and vehicles. Everything had been going well for the first two weeks,
but one day, whereas I had just finished a transmission, I heard a
noise of plane which I could not hear with my headphone. I looked up
at the sky and I saw a detection plane circling above Onzain. It was
not necessary to draw me a sketch! This time, I did not wait for the
arrival of the detection van. I crossed the Loire river in the boat,
jumped on the bicycle, and joined the cottage in which I settled. I
immediately realized that this shelter could be only very temporary,
because it was isolated from all my contacts and to liaise with my
advisors would be inevitably more complicated. Also, when Maurice
Fleury proposed to me to come to install me in his house, I accepted
with pleasure, while keeping the cottage as emergency shelter, since
I was not located there.
Before my departure I was the witness of a fight
between two planes: an American "Lightning" and a German "Focke Wulf".
I wondered what these two planes were doing here above my head, but
it was very impressive. The two hunters mutually fired one on the
other, making dives, candles and any kind of acrobatics. The bullets
whistled around me! I looked at this combat by hiding myself behind
a tree, and I turned around the trunk to get protection, without
anything to lose of this spectacle which was sensational! Finally,
the two planes disengaged, without apparent damages and disappeared.
I
joined Maurice, who lived in his parents’ house in a place named
Villebarou, close to Blois. I continued my job there. But we were
now in August and the American troops approached. I received a
message requiring me to get in touch as soon as the first elements
of the American army were in Blois, with a certain "captain Beau" of
the US G2, from the military intelligence dept, which were informed
of my presence in Blois.
The next day, it was the liberation of Blois ….Joy was
everywhere!!
August
1944 – Some members
of the VIS mission photographed
at the liberation of Blois
Click on ...
I rather quickly found the captain Beau to
whom I presented myself. He asked me whether it would be possible
for me to have teams being able to continue to provide information,
after my departure, on what occurred on other side of the Loire
river between Blois and Tours, where the Germans withdrawn. I
promised to do what was necessary. Helped by Martel and Fleury, I
contacted the F.F.I. of Blois, Onzain, Amboise and Tours. Teams were
sent and would continue to cross the Loire regularly. The
information was collected by Fleury who directly sent them to G2 and
to the captain Beau, I introduced to him.
A few days after the liberation of this region, I was
pleased to see arriving by jeep captain Saint-Clair to pick me up.
He was accompanied by a comrade who was with me in Saint Albans: aka
Olivier, (Real name Jacques Coulon). Native of this area, he asked
Saint-Clair if he could go along with him to see his parents who
lived in Amboise.
Together, with Martel, Fleury and Sibenaler, we had a
memorable meal in a restaurant in Onzain to celebrate the liberation,
and especially our meeting again.
Then it was time to leave this area. With Saint-Clair
and Coulon we drove by jeep to join Paris, which was liberated few
days ago. During our journey, Saint-Clair congratulated me for the
work I achieved. He told me that the allied authorities were
particularly satisfied with information that I communicated to them.
I was very happy.
It was during our return trip that I learned that many
comrades were arrested, and in particular the members of the teams «
Colère », « Salaud » and « Filan ». Arrests which took place near
Vendôme, not far from where I worked.
On the road, we overtook several military convoys and
in each village, people were on the pavements to see us passing and
applauding us. In a hamlet where we stopped for a while, an old man,
begged us to come to his place, to drink the glass of the victory in
his company. He took out an old bottle of white wine which he kept
preciously, I did not know for how many years. He religiously opened
it and poured it in our glasses, but the wine was so old that he ran
like thick syrup, and was not good at all... But this man seemed so
happy to serve it to us that we forced ourselves to swallow it.
We reached Paris on the 1st of September 1944.”
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