They Fought Alone: The True Story of the Starr Brothers, British Secret Agents in Nazi-Occupied France
Page 37
“I said I did not know”: BNA, HS 9/1407/1, “Court of Enquiry re Lt. Col. G.R. STARR (SOE), Feb. 1945.” Quotes from the following two pages are all drawn from this trial transcript.
George and his fourteen fellow officers: Ibid. The file, marked PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL, 20TH JANUARY 1945, provided this list of the officers who “dined in the Mess on the occasion of Colonel Starr’s visit on October 30th and listened to his talk afterwards”: Lt. Col. S.H.C. Woolrych, Intelligence Corps; Major P.L.A. Follis, Intelligence Corps; Major H. S. Hunt, King’s Royal Rifle Corps; Major R. H. Angelo, Intelligence Corps; Captain C. C. Howard, General List; Captain R.J.L. Steward, Intelligence Corps; Captain P. B. Whittaker, Royal Artillery; Captain J. H. Walker, East Lancashire Regiment; Captain J. D. Taylor, Royal Artillery; Captain J. M. Lonsdale, Intelligence Corps; Captain H.R.F. Burr, Intelligence Corps; Captain F. Lofts, General List; Captain F. W. Rhodes, Pioneer Corps; and Lt. V[iolet] Dundas, First Aid Nursing Yeomanry. The list does not include the Captain Harris to whom Starr referred.
“They didn’t know me”: George Starr, IWMSA, Reel 5.
“The thin man”: Alfred Starr, email to the author, August 22, 2016.
“I have formed the impression”: BNA, HS 9/1407/1.
“carefully investigated the charges”: BNA, HS 9/1407/1, letter from Colonel Buckmaster to AD/E, December 30, 1944.
“Unless this is done”: Ibid., letter, “Personal and Confidential, To: AD/E [Mockler-Ferryman] From: A/CD [Gubbins], 5 January 1945.”
“an unreliable witness”: Ibid., letter, “Personal and Confidential, To: AD/E [Mockler-Ferryman], From: Col. Buckmaster, 8 January 1945.”
“Well, I asked for it”: George Starr, IWMSA, Reel 3.
Major Frank Soskice: Frank Soskice, a career barrister, became solicitor general and home secretary in postwar British Labour Party governments.
“investigate the conduct”: BNA, HS 9/1407/1, “Court of Enquiry re Lt. Col. G.R. STARR (SOE), Feb. 1945.”
Monday morning, February 5, 1945: Ibid. The court of inquiry produced 213 handwritten pages of evidence and testimony, including Starr’s sworn statement, but pages 18 to 172 of the official transcript went missing from government files. Court testimony in the rest of this chapter is from the surviving pages in this file. The handwritten transcript, taken in haste while witnesses testified, contains spelling and punctuation errors. I have corrected these, but made no other changes to the original.
“Mary [sic] Walters came”: George Starr, IWMSA, Reel 20. Jeanne Robert, although she was in England during the events discussed in the court of inquiry, knew of the allegations. Seventy years later, she defended Starr: “Oh, no. I don’t believe it.”
“Fearing that summary justice”: Jeanne Robert to the author, January 24, 2014: “The principal collaborator was a notaire, Rizon, Maître Rizon. Collaborator at heart, he was the first to receive the Legion of Honor in Condom. His brother was with de Gaulle, so there you go.”
“On arriving at the camp”: BNA, WO 311/933, “Name of Source: J.A.R. STARR, Date of Capture: 18th July 1943.”
“During my 11 months there”: BNA, KV 6/29, “Rough Report by Capt. J.A.R. STARR, dictated to C.S.M. Goddard at Stn. XXVII, commencing 9 May 45.”
“I’m going to see Oncle George”: Ethel Starr Lagier, email to the author, November 8, 2016.
“some quite amusing things”: Jean Overton Fuller, The Starr Affair (London: Victor Gollancz, 1954), 136.
“NOTE ON CAPTAIN J.A. STARR’S”: BNA, HS 9/1406/8.
“When we got back”: Fuller, The Starr Affair, 135.
were “extremely critical”: BNA, HS 9/1406/8, “NOTE ON CAPTAIN J.A. STARR’S INTERROGATION.”
“The brothers had been operating”: Ibid., “Interrogation of the NEWTON Brothers dated 2nd May 1945.”
“Asked his opinion”: Ibid., “EVIDENCE OF ARRESTED AGENTS WHO SAW STARR AT AVENUE FOCH.”
“Devoted to the German cause”: BNA, HS 9/1406/8, “STATEMENT MADE BY PIERRE BONY OF THE RUE LAURISTON GANG IN PARIS.”
“When he [John Starr] got to Paris”: Ibid., “STATEMENT MADE BY MICHEL BOUILLON TO LT. COL. WARDEN IN PARIS.”
“She was particularly bitter”: Ibid., memo to Commander Senter, RNVR, London from Lt. Col. Warden Paris, April 21, 1945. See also BNA, KV 6/29, “NOTE OF INTERVIEW IN FRESNES PRISON WITH ROSE-MARIE HOLWEDTS, nee CORDONNIER.”
“Many thanks for your letter”: BNA, HS 9/1406/8, letter, E.J.P. Cussen to Lt. Col. T. G. Roche, July 4, 1945.
“he let the side down”: Fuller, The Starr Affair, 144.
“suffered appalling treatment”: Commons Sitting, June 5, 1967, Hansard, vol. 747, cc753–62, accessed online at Hansard, http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1967/jun/05/special-operations-executive-mr-alfred.
Krupp family, arms makers: William Manchester, The Arms of Krupp: The Rise and Fall of the Industrial Dynasty That Armed Germany at War (Boston: Little, Brown, 1964), 701.
“was responsible for running”: Yvette Pitt, email to the author, November 8, 2016.
“My Dear Georgina”: Letter provided to the author by Alfred Starr.
George wrote another letter: IWM, J. V. Overton Fuller Collection, Box 8, File 2, letter, John Starr to Jean Overton Fuller, September 29, 1953.
Special Operations Branch: Sanchia Berg, “Churchill’s Secret Army Lived On,” BBC, December 13, 2008, http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/today/hi/today/newsid_7780000/7780476.stm.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN: STARRS ON TRIAL
“In no other department of war”: Maurice Buckmaster, They Fought Alone: The True Story of SOE’s Agents in Wartime France (1958; repr., Biteback Publishing, 2014), 249.
“At Nuremberg the Defendants”: Anthony M. Webb, ed., Trial of Wolfgang Zeuss et al. (The Natzweiler Trial), foreword by Sir Hartley Shawcross (London: William Hodge, 1949), 13.
“I had to obey”: BNA, WO 235/560, “Statement of Hans Kieffer, 29 November 1946.”
attest to Kieffer’s humane treatment: IWM, J. V. Overton Fuller Collection, Box 8, File 2, letter, John Starr to Jean Overton Fuller, April 4, 1954.
where Allied bombardment: OSS Numbered Bulletins, MR 12, Section 2, June, July, August 1943, OSS Official Dispatch, Stockholm, “Germany: Air Bombardment and Morale,” Declassified, CIA 006687, April 3, 1975.
“I know the accused Kieffer”: BNA, WO 235/560, “SYNOPSIS OF CASE [Noailles Case] Being concerned near NOAILLES, OISE, FRANCE on or about 9 August 1944.”
“The court martial”: Serge Vaculik, Air Commando (New York: Dutton, 1955), 301.
The court commuted: BNA, WO 235/560, “SYNOPSIS OF CASE [Noailles Case] Being concerned near NOAILLES, OISE, FRANCE on or about 9 August 1944.” SD driver Fritz Hildemann, who had been unaware of the purpose of the operation until a moment before the firing squad fired, was sentenced to five years.
“was completely all right”: Tribunal Militaire, PROCES-VERBAL, Léon Jega, Inspecteur de Police à la Direction de la Surveillance Territoire, Paris, 13 rue des Saussaies. Interrogation of Josef Pierre Auguste Placke, age forty-nine, prisoner of war, April 1, 1966.
“It was he”: Ibid., PROCES-VERBAL, René GOUILLARD, Commissaire de Police à la Direction de la Service de la Surveillance Territoire, 13 rue des Saussaies. Josef Gotz [sic].
“I never worked for Goetz”: Ibid., PROCES-VERBAL, René GOUILLARD, Commissaire de Police à la Direction de la Service de la Surveillance Territoire, 13 rue des Saussaies. John Starr.
“a tour of inspection”: Ibid., PROCES-VERBAL, Werner Ruhl [sic], January 18, 1946.
“Following our retreat”: IWM, J. V. Overton Fuller Collection, Box 8, File 2, letter, Ernest Vogt to Jean Overton Fuller, September 12, 1954.
He was working in a dairy: Jean Overton Fuller, The German Penetration of SOE: France, 1941–1944 (Maidstone, UK: George Mann, 1975), 157. See also Tribunal Militaire, letter, A. P.
Le Man, Le Chef d’Escadrons, to Monsieur le Chef d’Escadrons de ROUGEMENT, London, April 13, 1948.
“As far as I know”: Tribunal Militaire, Testimony of Ernest Vogt, June 19, 1948.
“I, too, hope that the STARR case”: BNA, KV 6/29, “Letter, To: Miss J. Russell King, M.I.5., From: M.O.1 (S.P.) War Office, 73 Upper Berkeley Street, W.1., 28 September 1948.”
indicted Captain John Ashford Renshaw Starr: Tribunal Militaire, letter, Le Capitaine MERCIER, Juge d’Instruction près le Tribunal Militaire Permanent de Paris à Son Excellence Monsieur L’Ambassadeur de France à Londres, Paris, 23 novembre 1949.
maximum penalty was death: Henry Rousso, The Haunting Past: History, Memory, and Justice in Contemporary France (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002), xiii. See also Caroline Fournet, Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity: Misconceptions in French Law and Practice (London: Bloomsbury, 2013), 8.
“tall, blond, very smart”: Jean Overton Fuller, The Starr Affair (London: Victor Gollancz, 1954), 176.
“his conduct and morality”: Tribunal Militaire, RAPPORT, MDL Chef Commandant de Brigade, Issy-les-Moulineaux, December 23, 1948.
Fuller wrote to John: Fuller, The Starr Affair, 145.
“I never trusted him”: Ibid.
“I do not deem it necessary”: Tribunal Militaire, PROCES-VERBAL DE PREMIERE COMPARUTION, STARR, John Ashford, Alias “Bob,” November 15, 1949.
“VOGT confirms what I told you”: Ibid.
John’s cellmates from Fresnes: Ibid., PROCES-VERBAL, Jean-Claude Comert, November 22, 1949.
“He pretends that his services”: Ibid., letter, Le Capitaine MERCIER, Juge d’Instruction près le Tribunal Militaire Permanent de Paris à Son Excellence Monsieur l’Ambassadeur de France à Londres, Paris, 23 novembre 1949.
“If I were to leave”: Fuller, The Starr Affair, 164.
“to reconstruct in its location”: Tribunal Militaire, PROCES-VERBAL DE TRANSPORT, Captain Mercier, January 3, 1950.
“Captain STARR showed us”: Ibid.
“Starr took us into the guardroom”: Fuller, The Starr Affair, 178.
“Why, it was you”: Ibid., 179.
“did not recognize Captain STARR”: Tribunal Militaire, PROCES-VERBAL DE TRANSPORT, Captain Mercier, January 3, 1950.
“I do believe”: Fuller, The Starr Affair, 190.
“We could not afford”: Buckmaster, They Fought Alone, 68.
“You have quite enough”: IWM, J. V. Overton Fuller Collection J, Box 8, File 2, letter, John Starr to Jean Overton Fuller, September 29, 1953.
French government promoted: “Décret du 25 Mars 2016 portant promotion et nomination,” Journal Officiel de la République Française, 4, in which Jeanne Robert is nominated for the Legion of Honor, www.legiondhonneur.fr/sites/default/files/promotion/lh20160327.pdf.
She died fifteen months later: “Grande figure de la Résistance, Jeanne Robert n’est plus,” La Dépêche, September 8, 2017, www.ladepeche.fr/article/2017/09/08/2641446-grande-figure-de-la-resistance-jeanne-robert-n-est-plus.html.
CREDITS
1: Prime Minister Winston Churchill of Great Britain. 1942. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-USW33–019093-C
2: Charles de Gaulle, half-length portrait. 1942. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-USZ62–96046
3: Pétain shakes hand with Hitler. 1940. Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-J28036, via Wikimedia Commons
4, 5, 6, and 7: Courtesy of Alfred Starr
8 and 9: Courtesy of the author
10: Vera Atkins, WAAF squadron officer. 1946. United Kingdom Government, via Wikimedia Commons
11: Lieutenant Odette Marie-Céline Sansom, George Cross, MBE. 1939–1945. Imperial War Museum, HALLOWES G M (MR), HU 3213
12: All rights reserved, Musée départemental de la Résistance et de la Déportation de Lorris
13 and 14: Courtesy of Anne Whiteside
15: Yvonne Cormeau. 1941–1945. Imperial War Museum, CORMEAU Y (MRS), HU 47367
16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, and 22: Courtesy of Yvette Pitt
23: Courtesy of Jean-Pierre Comert
24, 25, and 26: Courtesy of Archives départementales du Gers
27 (left): Photograph of Denise Bloch, no known author, via Wikimedia Commons
28 (right): Retrieved from http://www.specialforcesroh.com/gallery.php?do=view_image&id=28453&gal=gallery
29: Captain Adolphe Rabinovitch, SOE. Imperial War Museum, SPECIAL FORCES CLUB COLLECTION, HU 98879
30: Diana Hope Rowden. 1942. Records of Women’s Auxiliary Air Force, United Kingdom Government
31: Produced by French government, no known source
32: Courtesy of Alain Geay
33 and 34: Courtesy of Ethel Starr Lagier
35: Hon. Assistant Section Officer Noor Inayat Khan (code name Madeleine), George Cross, MiD, Croix de Guerre avec Etoile de Vermeil. Imperial War Museum, DEPARTMENT OF DOCUMENTS VC-GC FILES/CARROLL F (WING COMMANDER), HU 74868
36: Retrieved from http://www.redcap70.net/A%20History%20of%20the%20SS%20Organisation%201924-1945.html/K/KIEFFER,%20Hans.html;
37: Paris, Avenue Foch, Siegesparade. 1940. German Federal Archives, via Wikimedia Commons
38 and 39: © Private Archives of Serge Ravanel, donation to AERI. Courtesy of Musée de la Resistance, via http://www.museedelaresistanceenligne.org
40: Courtesy of Archives départementales du Gers, 42 J 385, Fonds Guy Labédan
41 and 42: By Jean Dieuzaide, courtesy of Michel Dieuzaide
43: SOE memorial plaque at Beaulieu, Hampshire. 2014. By Ericoides, via Wikimedia Commons
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INDEX
The page numbers in this index refer to the printed version of this book. The link provided will take you to the beginning of that print page. You may need to scroll forward from that location to find the corresponding reference on your e-reader.
AAF (U.S. Army Air Forces), 167, 201
Abetz, Otto, 186
Abwehr, 67
ACROBAT circuit, 69, 88, 90, 107–8, 150, 151
Africa, 7, 28, 44, 55, 56, 85, 128, 152, 221
Agen, 29, 30, 32, 35–36, 43, 45–46, 52, 72, 79, 80, 92–93, 95–97, 99, 100, 115, 117, 129, 130, 146, 156, 178, 182, 184, 185
Agence Yves Alexandre Publicité, 17, 248, 253
Aire-sur-l’Adour, 214, 217
Albrecht, Berty, 211
Algeria, 28, 43, 44, 55, 81, 212–13, 218
ALLIANCE network, 124
Allies, 37, 55–56, 159, 167, 225
Casablanca conference of, 55–56, 86
D-Day and advance into France, 44, 84–86, 88, 133, 153, 154, 166–68, 169–75, 189, 190, 191, 197–98, 200, 210, 215
French provisional government and, 229, 230
North Africa and, 7, 28, 44, 55, 85, 128, 152
Riviera landing of, 215
Sicily and, 55, 88, 91, 128, 152
Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF), 171, 179, 201, 214, 215
U.S. entry into war, 37, 199
Alps, 69, 73
Antibes, 24
Argence, Jean, 104–5, 107, 264
Armagnac Battalion, 82, 200–202, 204–7, 212, 214, 216, 217, 220, 241
Arnault, Claude (“Néron”), 134–35, 141, 142, 144–46, 155–57, 167
Walters and, 134–35, 142, 144–46, 155, 156, 185
Aron, Robert, 230
Arx, 92, 115–16
Asher, Serge (“Serge Ravanel”), 210–11, 215, 226–27, 244
de Gaulle and, 226, 231
Astaffort, 184–85
Astor, Jakie, 20, 21
Atkins, Vera, 75–76, 97, 98, 101, 250, 253, 262, 267
Attlee, Clement, 255
Aubin, Raymond, 146, 147
Auch, 95, 99, 113, 131, 146, 192, 213, 216, 217, 228
Aventignan, 112
Avenue Foch, 105, 118–19, 157–58, 160, 163, 189, 209, 210, 221–22
Brossolette at, 157
evacuation of, 223–24
Faye at, 124, 126, 136–38, 140, 148, 252, 259, 263, 265–66
John Starr at, 105–11, 118–21, 123–27, 136–40, 148–52, 160–65, 190, 191, 210, 220–21, 224, 245, 249–52, 256–67
Khan at, 122–27, 136–40, 148, 252, 259, 262, 263, 265–66
Rabinovitch at, 157–58
uniforms and, 190
Avéron-Bergelle, 200, 207, 210, 215
Bagnères-de-Bigorre, 167
Balachowsky, Alfred Serge, 140
Balachowsky, Emily Morin, 140, 150, 151
Barbie, Klaus, 119
Bardet, Roger, 64
BBC, 11, 52, 77, 90, 94, 154, 163, 191, 248, 260
D-Day and, 170, 172, 174
Beaulieu, SOE training school at, 20, 232–35, 237–39, 244
Bégué, Georges, 3
Belgium, 18, 21
Bergen-Belsen, 130
Bergerac, 196–97
Berrito, Eva Odette, 228
Bertaux, Pierre, 229–30
Blasy, Paul, 96, 115
Bletchley Park, 173
Bloch, Denise, 46–48, 50, 52, 63, 65, 73–77, 83, 84
George Starr and, 46–48, 73–77
trip to Spain, 73–75
Bloch, Robert, 173
Bloom, Germaine Février, 49, 56–57
Bloom, Marcus Reginald (“Urbain”; “Bishop”), 10, 49–50, 52, 56–57, 62–64, 110–11
arrest of, 63, 66, 67–68, 73
Bodington, Nicholas, 23, 164
Boë, Abbé, 83, 187, 193
Bony, Pierre, 251, 252
Bouchou, Marius, 97, 231
Bouillon, Michel, 110, 252
Bourne-Patterson, R. A., 232
Boyle, Archibald “Archie” Robert, 235
Briault, Dr., 150