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 " RAF 161 Sqn - 2 lysanders (Cpt Georges Turner & F/L Per Hysing-Dahl) Reception Pierre Tissier 7 passagers embarquent: Joseph Campana alias Chouchou (Jade Fitzoy), Guy Dath alias Neuf, Pierre Jeanson alias Onze, radio Jean Rougier alias Jacques, Fernand Kluger alias Tam Tam, Joseph Freyeisen (futur 3ème SAS) & Fernand Mercier alias Yves. Jean Roger alias Jean Sainteny arrêté 07/06/1944 & s’échappe 04/07/1944 MGB 502 (Lt. Peter Williams) & MTB 718 (R Seddon) embarquèrent 20 évadés dont 3 femmes Suzanne Warenghem alias Charise, SOE F Blanche Charlet alias Berberis alias Christianne & Mme Madeleine Gerard née Five femme du colonel belge Ivan Gerard avec ses 2 fils (Michel & Pierre), SOE DF Erwin Peter Deman alias Paul alias Daniel, 9 aviateurs dont Lt Gerald Racine (RFCAF Sqn 263), Lt Kenneth Williams (USAAF), Faulkner (USAAF), Charles Akoun alias Charles Ancier alias Faneuse ?."
In one typical operation, Williams sailed at dusk from Dartmouth on February 26 1944, heading towards Weymouth; then, once out of sight, he turned south. On reaching the Brittany coast he cut his speed to reduce noise, wash and phosphorescence, and crept through rocks and swirling tides to anchor within a few hundred yards of the beach. A sailor was placed on stand-by to cut the grass rope in an emergency.
Williams then sent his surfboat inshore with muffled oars, on a rising tide to avoid footprints, in order to land a party which included Francois Mitterrand, the future President of France. As the boat returned, laden with five agents and a downed Allied pilot, it was able to find the MGB in the dark with a device, invented by Williams, which homed in on its Asdic transmissions. By breakfast time, Williams was back in Dartmouth.
Among Williams's other passengers was Suzanne Warenghem, the agent "Charise", whose shapely figure provoked a sailor to mutter gallantly "Ici, mademoiselle," as he helped her aboard. "It's OK, Jack," she replied. "I've been on one of these boats before."
Two of the ladies were Suzanne Warenghem and Blanche Charlet, both SOE agents who had escaped from the infamous Castres prison, where the Germans held hostages from whom they would select a number to be executed as reprisals for attacks on their forces. Mlle. Charlet and four or five of the men came back to Dartmouth aboard 718.
[...]
Suzanne Warenghem became Suzanne Charise when she married André who was in the American equivalent of the British SOE. They were friendly with George Colledge (the Signalman of MGB 502 which brought her out of Beg-an-Fry) and his wife Jill. I met this charming couple at George’s home in Coventry a couple of times and heard first-hand of her ordeal in Castres prison and the escape therefrom.
After the arrests in Paris Cole got away from his Abwehr handlers, went to ground in the city and on 10 April 1942 married Suzanne Warenghem. However this union did not last long and on 9 June Cole and Warenghem were arrested by Louis Triffe of the Vichy police DST in Lyons and charged with espionage. On 21 July they were brought to trial and Cole was sentenced to death but Suzanne was acquitted. She went to Marseille where she gave birth to Alain Patrick in October but despite the best efforts of Dr Rodocanachi, the baby died in January the following year. In November 1942 Cole was saved from execution when the Germans took over Vichy France and eventually he was recruited by SS Major Hans Kieffer of the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) to work with him at 84 Avenue Foch in Paris.
Harold Cole is described by Reginald Spooner of Scotland Yard as "the worst traitor of the war" and by Airey Neave as "the most selfish and callous of German agents" and "the most successful of our enemies". Cole survived the war but in June 1945 he was arrested in Saulgau, Germany by Peter Hope of MI5 and sent to a prison in Paris. He escaped the Paris Detention Barracks in November and was finally shot dead in January 1946 by two Paris gendarmes looking for deserters.
For more details of this extraordinary man see 'Turncoat - the strange case of traitor Sergeant Harold Cole' by Brendan Murphy and 'In Trust and Treason - the strange story of Suzanne Warren' by Gordon Young. Suzanne Warenghem (she later anglicised her name) was the young Pat Line courier who fell in love with and married Harold Cole. There is also a fascinating "factional" novel about Cole called 'The Blue Noon' written by Robert Ryan and published 2003.
Jacques Ghémard le jeudi 30 août 2018 - Demander un contact Recherche sur cette contribution | |
