by Henry Landau
I was now ready to start in on the work of liquidation, but I still had to make arrangements with the chief in London about finances. Large sums were to be paid out in claims and pensions, and I had to know what documents and records were required by the British Treasury. Then, too, there was the cost of the liquidation itself: office expenses, assistants, typists, and above all, transportation, in connection with the necessary interviewing of a couple of thousand agents scattered through the whole of Belgium and north-eastern France. Finally, I had to find out what category and class of decorations would be available for rewarding those agents whom I should recommend.
I might have known that C would manage all this for me in the best possible way. I made a flying trip to London to consult him, and had the usual satisfaction of receiving instructions at once definite and flexible – above all, liberal.
‘You alone know what services each individual agent has rendered,’ said he,
And you alone can judge the merits of their claims. The British government wants them satisfied. Find out what pensions the Belgian government is giving the widows of its soldiers; I suggest you recommend a slightly higher figure. For those who have been in prison and need help, recommend a sum you think fair; I suggest the pay of a British soldier for each day spent in prison.
As regards your expenses, and the expenses of liquidation, I will instruct the paymaster to advance you £5000; he will then see that you keep this working balance by paying into your account at Lloyd’s Bank in Brussels sums corresponding to your expenditures, as shown by the receipts you send in. As regards claims and pensions, as soon as your recommendations have been passed by the Treasury, the sums in question will be paid into your account for payment to the claimants.
The decorations to be recommended are those of the Order of the British Empire, military division, from the grade of commander down to the medal. Concerning the militarisation of the ‘White Lady’, I will do my best, but I am very doubtful if anything can be done about it. As for transportation, I will petition the War Office to supply you with such cars as you may need.
The chief kept his word; without a single exception, every decoration I recommended was eventually awarded, and every single claim and pension was paid without a query. It was a pleasure and an inspiration working under these conditions. It was this quality in the chief, this encouragement of initiative, and implicit trust in those subordinates who merited it, which made him so successful in running an organisation which had branches in every neutral country, and which he built up from nothing at the commencement of the war, to the vast machine it was at the end.
CHAPTER 22
EDITH CAVELL — REFLECTIONS
IN ADDITION TO liquidating the British secret service organisations in Belgium and occupied France, I was called upon to look after all other civilian groups which had rendered service to the British. Of these, the two most important were the organisation of Miss Cavell, which had cared for British wounded and had helped them escape into Holland, and the one headed by Piulunowski, a Belgian of Polish extraction, which had over a period of several years supplied food packages and other comforts to the British prisoners in their temporary prison camps in Belgium, where they were kept until they were evacuated to Germany.
None of the members of the Piulunowski organisation risked their lives, but it was England’s duty to consider them for dignified reward, since they performed a great and much needed work of charity. The work was carried out under great difficulties, and often in the face of obstruction and unpleasantness from the Germans. Food was also often contributed by Belgians who were much in need of it themselves. The pitiful condition of many of the prisoners, who had gone through the hell of battle and rough handling by the Germans, moved these hospitable Belgians to compassion and to untold sacrifices. The gratitude shown by the prisoners was now to be officially expressed by their mother-country.
The story of Edith Cavell had created such a stir throughout the world that it was with great interest I undertook the investigation of her organisation, with a view to recommending for decorations the brave companions who had assisted her. At the time of her death, apart from knowing that she was a British nurse who had been shot by the Germans for aiding British wounded to escape, the world did not know the exact details of her organisation. Since then various accounts have been written, notably by Got and by Libiez, who was a member of the Cavell organisation, but in order to make my comments intelligible it is necessary for me to review the story briefly. In my official capacity as liquidator of the Cavell organisation, assisted by Piulunowski and Cutbill, I had many interviews with Braffort, one of the legal defenders at the trial, and with Princess Marie de Croy, the Comtesse Jeanne de Belleville, Madame Bodart, and many others of Miss Cavell’s brave associates. I am therefore able to write from considerable authentic information, and, from my intimate knowledge of German CE methods, can perhaps throw some light on the causes which led to her arrest.
In some sense I could not then, and cannot now, avoid the eerie conviction that I was gaining the most impressive evidence that one could have – the testimony of the resurrected. Comtesse de Belleville, who, when I met her at her chateau, gave me every impression of dedicated, nun-like restraint, had been tried with Edith Cavell, and had stood with her before the court martial to hear the ghastly sentence of execution. The commutation of her sentence had returned her to life inevitably marked by having been in the valley of the shadow of death, and her account of the Cavell organisation, emotionless as it was, affected me profoundly.
After the retreat from Mons, a great number of British wounded were picked up by ambulances, organised by local Belgian doctors and other patriots. However, according to German orders which were published throughout Belgium in proclamation form, they were forced to report these cases to the Germans. Imagine their consternation and emotion when, after they had taken loving care of these wounded, they saw them collected by the Germans for dispatch to prison camps in Germany, to endure behind barbed-wire fences the bad food, wretched and overcrowded sleeping quarters, and the spirit-breaking restrictions, which were so evident in the temporary camps already in use in Belgium.
It was quite natural that an organisation should spring up to help these wounded, quite incapable of undergoing the rigours of a prison encampment, to escape from the small civilian hospitals and homes where they had been sheltered in Frameries, La Bouverie, Wasmes, Quiévrain, Wiheries, Paturages, and other centres in the neighbourhood of Mons. The rescuers were encouraged in this plan by the fact that some of the wounded had not been reported, and others, such as those in the clinic of Dr van Hassel at Paturages, were sometimes overlooked by the Germans. Towards the end of August 1914, Lieutenant-Colonel Gibbs organised at Wasmes a regular drainage of these officers and soldiers through hiding places in the villages and woods. The fugitives were given Belgian identity cards, food, money, and guides who evacuated them through Ostend, until the fall of Antwerp at the commencement of October 1914. This was a relatively simple task at the time, since there were considerable gaps in the German lines, and an organised control of the Belgian inhabitants had not as yet been created by the Germans; many groups of Belgian refugees were following the same route to England.
With Ostend closed, the British officers and men who still remained in the Mons area, and the Belgian friends who had nursed and hidden them and were now aiding them to rejoin their regiments, had to look to the Dutch frontier for a channel of escape. The problem was not the actual passage at the frontier, for the strict surveillance of 1916 and the electric wire had not as yet been installed, and the passeurs of the Campine and those to the north of Antwerp were finding it easy to pass refugees into Holland. The difficulty was to find hiding places in Brussels, mid-way to the frontier, where the men could wait until the moon was favourable and a sufficiently large group had been assembled in readiness for the passeurs, who often took as many as twenty men at a time. It was impossible for the passeurs to pick up the men in
the Mons area, for the journey to the frontier had to be made at night, and the distance was too great. Besides, most of the Flemish passeurs could not speak French, and for the same reason most of the men and officers had to keep out of sight as much as possible.
When Dr van Hassel, whom I have already mentioned, started looking around in Brussels for assistance, it was quite natural that he should address himself to Miss Cavell, who was known to him professionally as the director of a school for nurses in the rue de la Culture; besides, she herself had been nursing the wounded since the commencement of hostilities. Miss Cavell, realising that she had a patriotic duty to perform, readily consented. Sergeant Meachin of the Cheshire Regiment was the first to reach her, and others rapidly followed. As the number increased she gradually enlisted the help of her many friends in Brussels, who each agreed to hide one or two men in their homes. This was the start of the Cavell organisation, which ended so tragically a year later.
In the Mons area the work of collecting the men and dispatching them to Brussels was undertaken by Capiau, who from the commencement had been prominent in caring for the wounded left in the area. He did his work well. He enlisted the active help of Prince Reginald de Croy and his sister, Princess Marie, who undertook to shelter some of the fugitives in their chateau at Bellignies. Mlle Louise Thuliez, a noble Frenchwoman, collected men hidden in the forest of Mormal, and even penetrated as far as Cambrai. The Comtesse Jeanne de Belleville agreed to give refuge to some of the men in her chateau at Montignies-sur-Roc. Capiau himself undertook the procuring of false Belgian identity cards, and supplied the guides to conduct the fugitives to Brussels. Another group under Libiez sometimes worked with Miss Cavell, and sometimes worked independently.
In this way, a steady flow of men went from the Borinage, or Mons area, to Holland via Brussels. At the start they were mostly recovered British wounded, but later on, they were joined by young Belgians and Frenchmen who wished to enrol themselves in their respective armies. This proved the downfall of the organisation. It became so cumbersome that it was only a matter of time until it had to blow up. In addition, many of the members were engaged in other activities of a compromising nature, such as the publication and distribution of La Libre Belgique, an illicit newspaper which, together with Le Mot du Soldat, was circulated by patriotic Belgians to offset the propaganda and false news given out in the other Belgian papers, published under German supervision.
I know definitely that Miss Cavell and the leading members of the organisation were not engaged in espionage, but some of the passeurs may possibly have been approached by one or another of the Allied secret services in Holland, who were exploiting every possible channel to get information out of Belgium. As I looked over the situation, I realised these mistakes which led the noble associates to disaster. Perhaps the greatest was the very thing which proved their innocence of anything like spying: the Cavell organisation as a whole really had had no specific directing head, as would have been the case with our espionage services: it was made up of a number of loosely linked groups united only by a common ideal. I was surprised that it lasted as long as it did.
Whatever was the cause or whoever was the informer the Germans eventually got on the track of the organisation, and employed their usual tactics. They did not make an immediate arrest, but contented themselves with watching the suspected members for some time. It was on Baucq, one of Miss Cavell’s associates in Brussels, that the Germans focused their attention. He was intimately connected with La Libre Belgique. It is significant that they arrested him first and that it was not until 15 August, four days later, that the chain of evidence led them to Miss Cavell and Capiau. Were they tracking the illicit newspaper organisation or that of Miss Cavell? We can only conjecture that they first of all went off on one scent and then turned aside to investigate the more important one, which they ran across later by chance. My experience of the German Secret Police was that although they often watched an organisation for weeks to follow all the ramifications, once they made an arrest all the others followed with lightning rapidity to prevent escape. Had they known about Miss Cavell at the time, they would have arrested her simultaneously with Baucq.
Having watched Baucq closely, they knew that he was in the habit of taking out his dog before retiring for the night. To prevent his warning anyone inside the house, or signalling to the outside (as he might have done in the manner of signalling from a letter box) they cleverly waited for him in the street to make the arrest. Having secured their man, they surrounded the house and made a forced entry. There quite fortuitously they found the unfortunate Louise Thuliez, who had a few hours previously arrived from Mons. She at first gave them the false name of Lejeune, but luck was with the Germans; the indiscreet young woman had a note-book in her possession giving the names and addresses of many members of the Cavell organisation, and, in addition, from her false identity card, signed by Commissaire Toussaint of Paturages, they got an indication of what area to search for the others.
After the arrest of Capiau and Miss Cavell, that of the others followed quickly. Prince Reginald de Croy escaped. The prisoners, thirty-five in number, locked in separate cells, were each told in turn that the others had confessed, and so the Germans were quickly in possession of all the facts.
At the trial, the defenders were the three Belgian lawyers, Sadi Kirschen, Braun, and Braffort, and in addition two Germans; these attorneys divided up the defence of the thirty-five prisoners among themselves. Miss Cavell was in the Kirschen group. Stöber was the German military prosecuting attorney. Bergan and Pinkhoff, heads of the German Secret Police, were the witnesses for the prosecution. Philippe Baucq, Edith Cavell, Louise Thuliez, Louis Séverin, and the Comtesse Jeanne de Belleville were condemned to death. Eight were freed, and the rest got varying terms of from three to ten years’ hard labour. Of those condemned to death, Edith Cavell and Baucq were shot at dawn on 12 October 1915; the others had their sentence commuted to life imprisonment.
Knowing that the United States had been asked to intervene by the British government, the Germans passed sentence at 5 p.m. and set the execution for dawn of the next day. Brand Whitlock, the American minister, got wind of it, however, and took immediate action. From his sick-bed, where he was confined by a serious illness, he immediately addressed pleas for mercy to the German authorities, and instructed Gibson, the Secretary of the Legation, to call on them personally. Gibson, together with the Spanish ambassador, the Marquis de Villalobar, hunted up Baron von der Lancken, the chief of the political department. He appeared sympathetic, but said the matter rested entirely in the hands of Baron von Bissing, the governor-general; von Bissing was implacable, and the execution was carried out.
According to the strict letter of the law, the Germans had a right to execute Miss Cavell and Baucq. Both of them confessed that they realised the seriousness of what they were doing, and that they had received news from fugitives after they had successfully reached Holland. The Germans had fully warned the population by proclamation that all wounded had to be reported, and that aiding their escape was a capital offence. Furthermore, one must consider the very rational motive for this rigorous order: after the Belgian and British retreat, there were left behind hundreds of fugitives who, apart from the possibility of rejoining their units, were an actual menace to the Germans. Right up to a late date in 1915, there were groups of soldiers hidden in the woods on the French–Belgian border; in civilian clothes, armed with a false identity card, they were quickly turned from soldiers into all the appearance of civilians. Many Belgian soldiers in civilian clothes had been sent into Belgium from Holland to blow up bridges and other objectives, and the Germans had reason to believe that this was the work of soldiers wounded and unwounded, left in Belgium after the retreat. This, however, is all that can be said in defence of the Germans. Miss Cavell had nursed many wounded Germans, and in helping British soldiers to escape she was only doing her duty as a British woman.
Apart from the humane work in tending the
wounded, the Cavell organisation rendered the Allies the greatest service in helping to swell the ranks of their armies, not only through the 200-odd men who reached Holland through Miss Cavell’s hands alone, but through the wonderful stimulus to recruiting caused by her heroic death.
The decorations awarded the Cavell organisation were those of the Order of the British Empire, civil division, as opposed to the military division of the same order awarded to agents engaged in active espionage work. As I look back now, it seems unfair that this distinction should have been made. Certainly the Cavell group had run the constant risks of those in active service, and aside from the evidence of this fact in the death sentences, all of them suffered untold miseries in prison. Although Braffort, one of the defenders at the trial, was decorated, Sadi Kirschen, the defender of Miss Cavell, was not given an award. It was difficult to recommend him at the time, for he was severely criticised by some members of the organisation. The criticism was based on the fact that he had kept de Leval, the attorney of the American Legation, away from the trial on the plea that his presence would prejudice the Germans, and that before the trial when de Leval tried to get in touch with him on the two or three days preceding the 11th, he was not to be reached. Kirschen claimed that the Germans prevented his seeing Miss Cavell or examining the documents before the court opened session, and Brand Whitlock said that he had defended Miss Cavell well.
There is no question in my mind that this savage criticism of his part in the affair was entirely unjust. Nothing he could have done could have prevented the execution of Edith Cavell. She became in the short time between her arrest and her death less a human being than a pawn of principle; the German officials were determined to make an example of her, even though in all that she had done she was so eminently worthy of mercy.