Spy Princess

by Shrabani Basu

  It was probably through Norman that the Germans got to know about the Juggler sub-circuit and made their arrests. Worms was arrested on 1 July while eating at his regular black-market restaurant, Chez Tutulle, in the rue Pergolese. He never kept his appointment with Antelme. Guerne and his wife Jeanne were also arrested with him. His second-in-command, Jacques Weil, saw him being arrested and fled to Switzerland. Their radio operator, Gaston Cohen (Justin) fled to the countryside and made his way back to England via Spain. The courier to the Juggler circuit, Sonia Olschanezky, managed to survive till January but was then arrested and sent to Natzweiler concentration camp where Andrée Borrel and she were both executed by lethal injection in July 1944.

  After a few days of torture, during which they beat him insensible and broke his arm, Suttill too is said to have caved in and accepted a bargain made by the Germans. The bargain was that Suttill’s leaders would order their subordinates to reveal to the enemy all their dumps of parachuted weapons and explosives in return for a promise that nobody but themselves would be executed. The details of the pact are revealed in Vogt’s account to Jean Overton Fuller.29 But it is disputed in many quarters. It was Norman who visited the houses of the Resistance workers, carried out most of the bargaining with the sub-agents and asked them to surrender their arms. Suttill was taken away to Berlin almost immediately for further grilling and was not seen by any prisoners after the first three days. It is, therefore, unlikely that he signed or even knew about the pact. It is clear from the SOE files that the chiefs at Baker Street regarded Norman as the traitor and had little doubt that he had cracked under Gestapo interrogation.30

  When Armel Guerne met Norman at Avenue Foch prison, Norman told him that the Gestapo knew everything about the Prosper organisation since they had arrived but had let it run on.31

  In jail, Guerne was shown photocopies of SOE orders for the bombarding of workshops where engines were repaired at Nantes. He also saw 8–10 photos included with the order which had been sent in 1943. Guerne said he saw a letter from Prosper to his wife and three reports, one with Prosper’s signature. He saw radio messages in code in English and German and a message in Antelme’s own handwriting, all of which made him think that the Germans did indeed have a fair knowledge of SOE activities.

  Norman also told Guerne that he had agreed to a proposal made by the commandant of the Paris Gestapo that if Norman and Guerne surrendered all the arms depots, the Germans would spare the lives of all members of the group except the chiefs, and would stop their files reaching a military court. Guerne confessed to giving out names of a few agents and also identifying some depots.

  The skilful mind games played by the German police officers – Ernest Vogt and Josef Goetz – probably sapped Norman’s resolution. The number of arrests following this alleged pact ran into hundreds. Members of the Resistance – mainly farmers on whose lands parachutes had been dropped – were told that they would be treated as soldiers, not as traitors who would be executed, if they cooperated. In the confusion many farmers and labourers, who thought they were going to be discovered anyway, cooperated. When the Gestapo had the information they needed, they predictably broke the pact. An unknown number of Resistance workers, estimated at between 400 and 1,500, were arrested. Their treatment left many French families very bitter. The smashing of one network led to the infiltration of another. To his horror, a jailed leader of a Prosper sub-circuit was shown a Michelin map belonging to the F-section with clearly marked dropping zones. The map was presented to him by SS Hauptscharführer Karl Langer, who followed this up with a file of photocopies of reports to London of sabotage operations. Langer recited the dates and locations of parachute drops and then added: ‘We know that your network has just received someone called Madeleine. We have not found her yet. We will.’32

  Once the Gestapo had visited his flat, Antelme knew he was in danger. He burnt any compromising papers that he had, contacted Robert Benoist and moved to Benoist’s estate at Auffargis near Rambouillet at the beginning of July. Here he stayed at the house of Robert’s brother, Maurice Benoist. We know from Robert Benoist’s files33 that Noor accompanied him to Auffargis but do not have definite dates – apart from 17 and 18 July – that she stayed there. Other circuit members hiding in Auffargis were Maurice Benoist, his wife Suzy Benoist and their maid and Grover Williams and his wife. It is possible that Noor was transmitting from there and making the final arrangements for Antelme’s return to London. Antelme remained in Auffargis all of July and left with William Savy by Lysander on a flight organised by Déricourt and Noor on the night of 19/20 July. Before leaving he made sure that Noor had a safe address and enough money. He had already given her 6,000 francs for her current expenses when she first went into hiding on 25 June. Any money she had was with Garry at the time. Before leaving he gave her 40,000 francs and then sent her a further 1,000 francs through Déricourt.

  He also left 30,000 francs with Raymond Andres, in whose safe house Noor was living when he left. The amount, he said, would cover her costs and any other expenses Andres may have to incur on behalf of the circuit. Antelme later reported to London that ‘Madeleine proved very useful to me during this disturbed period’34 and said he had suggested to her that she should be attached to Déricourt, who would need his own wireless operator. He arranged for Robert Dowlen, wireless operator to Grover Williams, who was based in Pontoise, to lend her a set (since Noor’s own radio set was still in Le Mans) and told Noor to stand by pending confirmation from London.

  It was Noor on Poste Madeleine who broke the disastrous news of the destruction of the Prosper circuit to Maurice Buckmaster. She had managed to get her radio set from Le Mans with the help of Dutilleul and Simon and returned to Paris to her safe house. Buckmaster also received reports about its demise from Cohen and Dowlen (before Cohen had to flee and Dowlen was arrested). All the leaders and their equipment had been captured. Circuits in Gisors, Grignon, Falaise, part of Le Mans and L’Eporcé (the estate of de Montalambert) were blown. Noor’s circuit leader, Garry, had left for Le Mans. There was now only one transmitter in Paris. It was Noor’s.

  Buckmaster replied that it was too dangerous for her to work and she should return to England. He would arrange a plane to fly her back. But Noor refused and said she would rather stay if she could. As the last wireless operator left in Paris, she felt it was crucial for her to remain where she was so that London would know what was happening in Paris. She said she would slowly try to organise another circuit and rebuild the old one.35

  Buckmaster was in a dilemma. He knew that Noor’s life was in danger and it was only a matter of time before she was arrested. But Poste Madeleine was now the last link with Paris and it had a crucial role. He accepted her offer as the sacrifice of a soldier and allowed her to remain. Buckmaster told Noor that since all the listening apparatus of the Germans would now be trained on her, she should not transmit for a while. He warned her that since hers was the only wireless operating in Paris, it would be easy for the Germans to track her with their direction-finding vans.36 She could, however, receive transmissions, which could not be detected.

  Virtually alone now in Paris, Noor agreed to lie low and transmit with extreme caution. Poste Madeleine’s dangerous game was about to begin.

  NINE

  Poste Madeleine

  With Antelme gone, Noor felt terribly alone in Paris. She was still staying at Raymond Andres’ flat at 1 Square Malherbe with Germaine Aigrain keeping a maternal eye on her. Noor had her radio set with her, though she was not transmitting from her flat at this time. Antelme had given her some assignments before he left and on 20 July she had a rendezvous with Robert Gieules at the RAC Place Vendome, where she handed him 400,000 francs.1 Antelme had also asked Noor to report regularly on the progress of plans for the financing of invading troops.

  Noor’s clandestine work now involved keeping in touch with three French agents – Robert Gieules, Paul Arrighi and Charles Vaudevire. The four met several times a week through the su
mmer at a bench in the Tuileries gardens. In this circle she was known by the code name Raymonde. Vaudevire was the peacetime director of the French Société Radio Electrique, who serviced her transmitter when it broke down. Arrighi was a barrister who lived on rue de Miromesnil, Paris. Vaudevire also introduced her to Viennot, a Paris businessman who had employed members of the Resistance on his staff to provide them with cover. Viennot played a dangerous double game. Outwardly he was friendly with the Germans and tried to get information from their headquarters at Avenue Foch. He often smuggled attractive women into the German ranks to attempt to find out vital secrets. He also used a regular ‘gang’ of criminals to counter the Germans. These gangs undertook daring rescue jobs when required.

  On the night of 22/23 July, London sent French section’s second-in-command, Major Nicholas Bodington, to Paris to ascertain the scale of the damage to the Prosper circuit. He was accompanied by Jack Agazarian and the two of them made the crossing by Hudson. Déricourt arranged the reception and settled Bodington at the flat of his courier, Julienne Aisner (Claire), in the Place des Ternes while Agazarian stayed in a more modest flat in a working-class area of Paris. At this time Norman’s wireless was being worked back to London by the Germans, and F-section had their doubts about whether his messages were genuine. Nevertheless London asked Norman for a safe address where he could meet Bodington and Agazarian. The message came back asking them to meet Norman in the flat of a Madame Philipowski in the rue de Rome. This address was then passed on to Bodington and Agazarian. Both of them were convinced that the message was a trap, but felt they should check it out. Agazarian offered to go. Predictably, he was arrested as soon as he knocked on the door on 30 July.2 His captor identified him by sight. Agazarian refused to divulge any details despite brutal torture and finally ended up in front of a firing squad at Flossenburg, just six weeks before the end of the war.

  With his radio operator captured by the Germans, Bodington now relied on Noor. She often stayed overnight in the flat in the Place des Ternes and transmitted for him. At the time Noor was also working for Déricourt as well as coordinating with Robert Gieules. Through Noor, Bodington discovered that elements of the Prosper circuit had remained intact. One was Garry’s Cinema/Phono circuit, as Garry had escaped capture, and the other was a fragment of the French Resistance: a Giraudist rather than a Gaullist faction called OCM. It worked closely with F-section agent Claude de Baissac’s Scientist circuit in Bordeaux. Claude de Baissac knew Suttill and Antelme well and often came to Paris to meet them. The local Paris contacts of de Baissac consisted mainly of OCM members under the leadership of a French major with the unlikely name of Marc O’Neil. For logistical reasons it had been decided to transfer the group to Prosper, and Suttill had met O’Neil on 24 June, the day of his arrest, to discuss this. After Suttill’s arrest, Claude de Baissac had to take responsibility for the group again and it was handed over to him by Bodington.

  Noor also organised a rendezvous between Bodington and Robert Gieules at the Tuileries.3 Antelme had asked Gieules to establish a list of contacts of people in the Ardennes who would help the SOE in that sector, and Gieules conveyed this list to Bodington.

  Bodington helped Noor rent a flat at 3 Boulevard Richard Wallace, Neuilly-sur-Seine.4 It was in a block of modern flats facing the Bois de Boulogne, and Noor occupied a small room on the ground floor. The suitability of the apartment was questionable however, since most of the apartments were occupied by SS officers. Noor now lived directly in their midst. Bodington himself moved to another flat in Avenue Malakoff to an address unknown to other organisations.5

  Meanwhile the bad news continued on the arrests. On 29 July two men went to Madame Lethias’s house in Pontoise looking for Benoist’s radio operator, Robert Dowlen, but he was out. On 31 July, eighteen men came to arrest Dowlen, who had been traced by direction-finding vans. On 2 August, the Gestapo arrested Madame Lethias and took twelve million francs from her desk. The same day they arrested Robert Benoist’s brother, Maurice, at seven in the morning at his home at 75 Boulevard Berthier, Paris.

  Barely ten days after Antelme had left Auffargis, the Gestapo now arrived there. Accompanied by two Gestapo officers, Vogt and Peters, Maurice Benoist was driven to the family estates at Auffargis, calling first at his father’s property and then his own. Grover Williams was arrested at Maurice Benoist’s house and beaten up. Along with him the Gestapo arrested Maurice’s wife, Suzy Benoist, and Mrs Williams. Next they were driven to Robert’s farm where they discovered a stack of arms behind a false plaster wall hidden by bales of straw.6 Maurice had hidden these himself with the help of Antelme. Benoist’s father was questioned for 8 hours and his mother was beaten, and then they were both taken to Fresnes prison. Robert Benoist had evaded arrest because he was in Paris at the time. He now hid in a friend’s room in the city. On 5 August, when Benoist stepped out to make a call from a call box to enquire about his parents, he was asked by two Germans to get into their car. He made a dramatic escape from the car, hid in a friend’s flat, contacted Déricourt on 7 August, moved to another safe house and escaped to London on a flight arranged by Noor on 19/20 August.

  The capture and disappearance of F-section radio operators – Norman, Agazarian, Robert Dowlen, Macalister, Dubois and Cohen – left Noor as the only operator in and around Paris and though she had been warned by Buckmaster to lie low, she started transmitting cautiously. Single-handedly she did the work of six radio operators. She went on air and exchanged messages with Antelme (now in London), who wanted her to keep in touch with Octave Simon and send him information about the financing of troops during the invasion.7 On 28 July he sent a message saying Noor should contact Simon to ask his brother-in-law about the matter. Through Simon, Noor was to arrange direct contact with the people who would be connected with the scheme. Noor sent him a message on 31 July that the goods depots were now ready at Amiens. She reported that there were 3,000 gearboxes for Tiger tanks in the factory at present and gave its exact location. On 3 August Antelme replied that he assumed the Amiens goods depots were connected with Dutilleul (Champagne) and asked Noor to get the latest news from Garry and to collect 150,000 francs from Grover Williams for Dutilleul. (Unknown to him, Grover Williams had already been arrested.)

  Antelme had complete faith in Noor and knew that she would rise to the occasion despite the difficulty of working in Paris at that time. The work was dangerous as Noor had to carry her wireless set around with her most of the time. In the early days this was still in the form of a bulky suitcase, weighing about 30lb, and could attract the attention of the Gestapo. It was only later, by 1944, that the wireless sets were hidden in smaller briefcases which were lighter to carry and less noticeable. Some time in early August, Noor was involved in a scrape with the Gestapo when she went to meet Octave Simon. After they had lunch she accompanied him to his home, but the Gestapo were shadowing them.8 Noor was a fast runner, however, and so she managed to outrun the Gestapo. She later met Déricourt’s courier Julienne on a Metro platform and told her what had happened.

  Noor had been warned by Buckmaster that the German listening apparatus would be tuned in on her. In order to evade detection she transmitted from various places and under different conditions. Sometimes she would drive out with Arrighi or Vaudevire, and transmit from the suburbs of Montrouge, Levallois and Noisy-le-Grand. They would stop the car in a quiet lane where Noor could let out the aerial and transmit. Arrighi had lost both his wireless operators, so he asked Noor if she could send messages for him as well. He worked for General de Gaulle and needed to send messages to the headquarters in London. Noor readily agreed and she was now sending messages not only to French section, but also directly to De Gaulle’s office in England. She would go out with Arrighi every Wednesday and Friday and transmit between 5 and 5.30 p.m. She arranged for a drop of one million francs to be flown in and delivered to him. All the while she kept in touch with Gieules, who liaised between the F-section and important French civilians.

 
Meanwhile Bodington decided to buy a café in Place St Michel to be run by Julienne. It was to be used as a contact point for agents seeking to escape from France and also to evacuate RAF pilots or French Resistance workers who needed to go to England. Once he had done this, he returned to London on Déricourt’s aircraft on 16/17 August. Noor received the messages organising Bodington’s flight. With him went F-section agents Claude and Lise de Baissac, the brother and sister duo. Claude was the leader of the Scientist circuit in Bordeaux and Lise often acted as a courier for Antelme. On 19/20 August, Noor organised the flights and escape routes by Hudson for ten more people returning to London. They included Octave Simon, Robert Benoist and Vic Gerson. Noor remained the only British agent in the field (the others were mainly local recruits) and she must have felt increasingly isolated, but she carried on undaunted.

  Noor needed safe places to transmit, so she turned her attention to old schoolfriends. This period of her life in Paris has been pieced together to a large extent by her friend Jean Overton Fuller, who went to Paris after the war and traced Noor’s friends and the surviving people in her circuit. Noor first called on her music teacher Henriette Rénie, whom she had not seen for nine years.9 Noor asked her if she knew of a room to let.

  Henriette Rénie asked Noor to stay with her, but Noor told her she could not do that. Noor told her that she had come to establish a wireless post for transmission to England. She knew she could not compromise her teacher’s safety. Henriette Rénie was alarmed at the risks Noor was taking. She had known Noor as a quiet girl and was amazed at how much she had changed. Yet on one level Noor was still very much the same person that her teacher had known: shy, earnest and friendly.