Read Online Churchill's White Rabbit by Sophie Jackson - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Sophie Jackson
Ads: Link
alone in being unnerved by the prospect of the fall and it was some comfort to know that his fellow jumpers were equally scared. He summoned his courage and made his first descent without a hitch; he landed so elated that he was instantly ready to try again. Over the next few days he had plenty of opportunities. The training school had their pupils jumping from planes and balloons day and night. His only real disaster happened during a water jump, when he was dropped over a lake at Tatton Park into freezing water. His waterproof suit quickly began to leak and the inflatable dinghy he had been provided with turned out to have a tear in the bottom. He was supposed to inflate it using a CO2 gas canister, but this proved to be almost empty and he had to resort to using a hand pump that, in the freezing conditions, would not connect properly to the valve on the dinghy. After a fraught 15 minutes the dinghy had enough air inside it to be usable, but when Forest climbed in his added weight caused the tear to worsen and water flooded in. By desperately bailing out the dinghy he was just able to reach the shore before it sunk completely.
Despite these accidents Forest enjoyed his training and returned to Barbara in high spirits and full of hope that soon he would be descending into action.
The resistance groups within France were not operating as well as de Gaulle and SOE had originally hoped. They were constantly harassed by the Gestapo, the Vichy Police, the Group Mobile and Darnand’s Milice 3 and were still trying to operate independently of each other. SOE knew the only way to make the resistance efficient was somehow to unite them under one organisational body, preferably something operated by the British. In particular the paramilitary divisions of the movements needed to be brought together under a single commander if they were to be any use when the Allies invaded France. In the background there were also the communists, who out of all the groups proved most adept at keeping their activities secret and even SOE wasn’t certain of the extent of their work or what combat units they had created.
To try and resolve the situation it was decided that the BCRA would send in two representatives to assess the problem and work to combat it. One of these men would be Colonel Passy and the other was Commandant Pierre Brossolette.
Brossolette was to become a name synonymous with French resistance. A history student and left-wing journalist, before the war he had evolved from being a pacifist to an ardent denouncer of fascism and communism. At the outbreak of war Brossolette had joined the army as a lieutenant and reached the rank of captain before France fell. He was awarded medals for the orderly manner in which he evacuated his troops from the area. After the armistice Brossolette hoped to teach but was banned by the Vichy government who knew his past lectures on Hitler’s regime in the 1930s had caused a good deal of controversy and didn’t want to displease their new occupiers. Instead Brossolette opened a bookshop with his wife, Gilberte, which rapidly became the hub for Parisian resistance movements, and plans for potential sabotage targets were exchanged on the premises.
Inevitably these activities drew negative attention and Brossolette’s efforts to develop one of the first French resistance movements brought him dangerously close to capture. He narrowly escaped the dismantlement of his network and headed to London in 1942 to meet de Gaulle. The meeting went so well that he was hired by the general to help bring credibility to the Free French movement among the various resistance groups and to discredit de Gaulle’s main political rival, Henri Giraud. Brossolette created a civilian intelligence arm for the BCRA and closely liaised with RF Section and in particular, Forest Yeo-Thomas.
Brossolette was not quite 40 when he met Forest. Small and thin, always immaculately dressed, and with a distinctive white forelock in
Despite these accidents Forest enjoyed his training and returned to Barbara in high spirits and full of hope that soon he would be descending into action.
The resistance groups within France were not operating as well as de Gaulle and SOE had originally hoped. They were constantly harassed by the Gestapo, the Vichy Police, the Group Mobile and Darnand’s Milice 3 and were still trying to operate independently of each other. SOE knew the only way to make the resistance efficient was somehow to unite them under one organisational body, preferably something operated by the British. In particular the paramilitary divisions of the movements needed to be brought together under a single commander if they were to be any use when the Allies invaded France. In the background there were also the communists, who out of all the groups proved most adept at keeping their activities secret and even SOE wasn’t certain of the extent of their work or what combat units they had created.
To try and resolve the situation it was decided that the BCRA would send in two representatives to assess the problem and work to combat it. One of these men would be Colonel Passy and the other was Commandant Pierre Brossolette.
Brossolette was to become a name synonymous with French resistance. A history student and left-wing journalist, before the war he had evolved from being a pacifist to an ardent denouncer of fascism and communism. At the outbreak of war Brossolette had joined the army as a lieutenant and reached the rank of captain before France fell. He was awarded medals for the orderly manner in which he evacuated his troops from the area. After the armistice Brossolette hoped to teach but was banned by the Vichy government who knew his past lectures on Hitler’s regime in the 1930s had caused a good deal of controversy and didn’t want to displease their new occupiers. Instead Brossolette opened a bookshop with his wife, Gilberte, which rapidly became the hub for Parisian resistance movements, and plans for potential sabotage targets were exchanged on the premises.
Inevitably these activities drew negative attention and Brossolette’s efforts to develop one of the first French resistance movements brought him dangerously close to capture. He narrowly escaped the dismantlement of his network and headed to London in 1942 to meet de Gaulle. The meeting went so well that he was hired by the general to help bring credibility to the Free French movement among the various resistance groups and to discredit de Gaulle’s main political rival, Henri Giraud. Brossolette created a civilian intelligence arm for the BCRA and closely liaised with RF Section and in particular, Forest Yeo-Thomas.
Brossolette was not quite 40 when he met Forest. Small and thin, always immaculately dressed, and with a distinctive white forelock in
Similar Books
