в 867,016 18 June NUUT ARTES SCIENTIA LIBRARY VERITAS OF TH MUM VOF MICHIGA MU10101 UNIVERSITYOFM 0 na Alfinnin TCYBOR MANTATA Minninnnnnnimaliumininiainminmamintimni nini Seus PENINSULAM CIRCUMSPICE namun ING --- -- SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY PTAIN HENRY LANDAU All's Fair The Story of the British Secret Service Behind the German Lines Secrets of the White Lady DIEUDONNÉ LAMBRECHT .. Secrets of THE WHITE LADY CAPTAIN HENRY LANDAU O.B.E., CROIX DE GUERRE, CHEVALIER ORDER OF THE CROWN OF BELGIUM G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS NEW YORK CONTENTS ............... ....... .saIV L LLLL ................................ 141 XI. JEANNE DELWAIDE ...... XII. THE CONNEUX FLYING SQUAD XIII. THE AFFAIR OF THE VILLA DES HIRONDELLES .......... XIV. A DOUBLE ESCAPE FROM THE PRISON OF ST. LEONARD ..... ........ 152 XV. THE AFFAIR OF FRONTIER PASSAGE VI... 165 XVI. HOMAGE TO GOD ....... * PART III * ........ 193 An ........................... 200 ...... 220 XVII. THE DESERTION OF JOSEPH ZILLIOX ...... 183 XVIII. THE ALSATIAN'S FIRST MISSION XIX. JOSEPH ZILLIOX FALLS INTO THE HANDS OF THE ENEMY ............................... 200 XX. LÉON TRULIN, YOUNGEST SPY SHOT DURING THE WAR ... XXI. THE AFFAIR OF THE BELGIAN TELEGRAPHISTS ......... XXII. HIDDEN SOLDIERS OF THE ARDENNES.... 234 XXIII. LÉON PARENT GUIDES THEM THROUGH 243 XXIV. SIEGBURG, PRISON FOR WOMEN; TRAGIC EXECUTIONS XXV. THE BISCOPS SERVICE XXVI. LAST LETTERS APPENDIX ...... ............... ........ 301 ............... .......... INDEX LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Dieudonné Lambrecht ... ........ frontispiece PACING PAGE 142 Oscar Doublet .................................... 62 Juliette Delrualle ......... ...... One of the Hide-outs Where Compromised Agents Were Hidden ................. Louis and Antony Collard ........ ..... The Bastion of the Chartreuse ................ The Villa des Hirondelles ........ 143 The Prison Wall of St. Léonard along the Rue Mathieu Laensbergh .................... .......... 162 The Prison of St. Léonard ..... .............. 162 Franz Creusen ............... Emile Fauquenot and His Wife (Marie Birckel) Taken Shortly after the Armistice ...... ......... 163 Letter Sent by the War Office Service to “The White Lady” Two Days after the Maeseyck Arrests .................... 168 A Diagram Showing the Relays Used in Frontier Passage VI 169 A Typical Secret Document Stolen by an Allied Spy from German Troops in Rest in Occupied Belgium .............. 202 Members of the Secret Police Stationed at Liège ............ Joseph Zilliox ........ Léon Trulin 212 212 CONTENTS XI. JEANNE DELWAIDE ....... XII. THE CONNEUX FLYING SQUAD XIII. THE AFFAIR OF THE VILLA DES HIRONDELLES XIV. A DOUBLE ESCAPE FROM THE PR ST. LEONARD XV. THE AFFAIR OF FRONTIER PASS XVI. HOMAGE TO GOD ... * PART III * XVI. THE DESERTION OF JOSEPH XVI. THE ALSATIAN'S FIRST MIS XIX. JOSEPH ZILLIOX FALLS IN OF THE ENEMY...... XX. LÉON TRULIN, YOUNGES DURING THE WAR.. XXI. THE AFFAIR OF THE F TELEGRAPHISTS XXI. HIDDEN SOLDIERS OF XXIII. LÉON PARENT GUIT XXIV. SIEGBURG, PRISON I EXECUTIONS XIV. THE BISCOPS SER XXVI LAST LETTERS APPENDIX INDEX .rating imme- it were of Bel- ormation which but by far the imity of occupied · Holland. of the secret service behind the German directing organizations ir Office Service was by · spies and spy organiza- ; and, finally, that of the C, the duty of which was to y value from reaching the · first of the three stories; in : reader will find the remaining in our secret organizations, they sity; in most cases, the Allied secret had happened. Where had the indis- vii ILLUSTRATIONS PACING PAGE ........ 213 The Tree Trunk against Which Léon Trulin Was Shot at the Citadel of Lille ........ ........ The Last Letter of Léon Parent Written to His Parents on the Eve of His Execution at Antwerp ........ Final Page of Léon Parent's Last Letter ........ ...... French Soldiers in a Hide-out in the Ardennes 246 ..... viii PREFACE U cretion occurred? Who was responsible? Was it a betrayal? Who was the traitor? These were the questions we anxiously asked ourselves, and for years they remained unanswered. The German Counter-Espionage Service alone held the secret. Re- cently I have had access to secret records, which at last place the truth at our disposal; the authenticity of these records is unimpeachable. It can well be imagined with what tense in- terest and excitement I have examined them. All this material, without any attempt to dramatize it, has been incorporated in Secrets of the White Lady. For the first time, also, the complete story of German counter-espionage activities in occupied Bel- gium and France is told—its organization, its methods, the names of its principal agents, stool-pigeons, etc. Since “The White Lady” was the greatest secret service or- ganization of all times, half of the book has been devoted to it. Except for brief reference in All's Fair, its story has never before appeared in print. All quotations in Parts I and II, and many of those in Part III, have been taken from secret service records which have hitherto been unavailable for publication. Most of the agents whom I have mentioned worked di- rectly under my supervision-I was their immediate Chief in the field. From Holland I guided their activities-living their lives with them, following them through their dangers. I saw the whole espionage system in perspective, from the spy in the field to the coded telegram in the hands of British General Headquarters. Before writing this book, I revisited the scenes of my secret service activities, interviewed former agents, and collected from them a mass of data and information covering their individual rôles and their personal experiences. I have not attempted to disguise the names of Allied PREFACE ix re agents. My friends in Belgium and France assure me that if damage could be done by divulging them, it was done years ago, when a complete list of agents' names was published in the various decoration lists. As regards the methods of espion- age employed, the public alone has been kept in the dark: the German Secret Police caught enough spies to know how they operated H. L. August 4th, 1935 . CHAPTER I DIEUDONNÉ LAMBRECHT, HERO AND MARTYR OF LIÈGE O N a hillside which dominates the city of Liège, lies the suburb of Thier-à-Liège. Here in one of those small brick houses with low, violet-tinted, slate roof, and diminutive garden, so typical of the area, Dieudonné Lambrecht was born, May 4, 1882, and grew to manhood, watched over by his parents, devout Catholics. In addition to giving him the best education their meager purse could afford, they instilled the Christian qualities of that peaceful community. For a few years he worked in one of the Belgian adminis- trations, but his ardent nature revolted against the narrow, hide-bound, official routine of a government office. With his brother-in-law, he established an engineering workshop, which soon grew into a small factory, producing high grade precision machinery. Happily married, blessed with a small baby girl of four months, a permanent income assured, a keen partici- pator in all church activities, Lambrecht's life was fixed. The vista of a peaceful existence stretched before him. All this was suddenly changed by the War. Into the tur- moil of that conflict went all that he had built up. He resolved to consecrate his intelligence, his fortune, his influence, his life itself if necessary, to the task of freeing his 13 14 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY SO - - - - - country's soil from the German invader. Naturally, his first thought was to join the Belgian Army. But, as happened to so many Belgian refugees, as soon as they reached Dutch soil, he was approached by one of the Allied secret service agents who swarmed in Holland at that time. It was into the hands of Afchain, a Belgian in the employ of Major Cameron, chief of an intelligence service connected with British General Headquarters, that Lambrecht fell. Now a man of thirty-two, his sensitive mind keenly alert, Lambrecht listened attentively to Afchain, weighing how best he could serve his country. It needed little persuasion to get him to return to Belgium for the purpose of organizing an espionage service. In the Catholic circles of Liège, Lambrecht found support. Two Jesuit priests, Father Dupont, and Father Des Onays, and his brother-in-law, Oscar Donnay, helped him recruit a number of former railway employees. With this band of faithful followers, train-watching posts were soon established at Liège, Namur, and Jemelle, from which all troop move- ments by rail through these important centers could be ob- served. The most dangerous work Lambrecht reserved for himself. In spite of rigid surveillance by the Secret Police, he trav. eled around the country enrolling new agents and identify- ing German divisions in the various rest areas. As far afield as Belgian Flanders he went spying and recruiting; he even pene- trated into the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg. On one occasion, at Jemelle, a heavy westward movement of German troops was in progress for several days from the Eastern Front. Realizing that concentration for an offensive was probably under way, Lambrecht, without hesitation, jumped on the buffer of a - - DIEUDONNÉ LAMBRECHT 15 passing troop train, and accompanied it through the night, until he had definitely established its destination. The very boldness of his act outwitted the German Secret Police—a troop train was the last place to look for a spy, as Lambrecht cleverly realized. In addition to this hazardous work, he often acted as his own courier, the most dangerous rôle in war-time spying. Slip- ping past the frontier guards at night, and avoiding the reveal- ing rays of the searchlights, he carried the precious reports, written with a mapping pen on fine tissue paper, and sewed into the interior of the cloth buttons on his clothes, through to Holland. A friend manufactured these buttons in Liège, and it was an easy task to substitute the filling. Good as the con- cealment was, however, it only protected him in case of a casual search in Belgium itself. Caught at the frontier, his fate would have been sealed-the knives of the German Secret Police would soon have laid bare the compromising contents of those ingenious buttons. For eighteen months Lambrecht and his faithful assistants kept watch. Night and day, every train passing through the railway centers of Liège, Namur, and Jemelle, every troop movement through Belgium between the Eastern and Western Fronts, was reported to British General Headquarters. These reports definitely announced coming offensives, and were far more valuable than any information obtained from stolen or captured documents. The documents might be false, or the Germans might have changed their plans after the dispatches or orders had been written, but the troop movements were established facts which could not be altered. To Lambrecht also belongs the credit that he helped to devise these means of controlling troop movements. Train- 16 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY watching posts had never been used in any previous war, and it was the initial reports of such pioneers as Lambrecht which enabled Intelligence Officers at British General Headquarters to work out from the number of constituted units passing by a given train-watching post, their accurate system of gauging the exact volume of a troop movement. The mass of information transmitted by Lambrecht to British General Headquarters is astonishing In May, 1915, for example, his train-watching posts at Je- melle and Namur rapidly and accurately reported the transfer of several German divisions from the Serbian Front to Flan- ders. This was of vast importance because it was an indication that all the German divisions on the Serbian Front were being transferred to France. In August 1915, his posts caught a heavy movement of troops from the Eastern Front to Champagne. This concentration of troops was intended to parry the offen- sive which the Germans knew the French were preparing in this sector. As a result of this information, the French ad- vanced the date of their offensive several days. Lambrecht also accurately reported the German prepara- tions for their attack on Verdun. Much of the information he obtained through the indiscretions of a German major, billeted in his sister's home. But not satisfied with this, he sent agents into occupied France to determine the destination of the troops which were pouring past his train-watching posts in a west erly direction. The following letter from Afchain, Major Cameron's repre- sentative in Holland, dated January 26th, 1916, speaks elo- quently for the valuable services rendered by Lambrecht and of the high hopes entertained of him: DIEUDONNÉ LAMBRECHT 17 “I have just received a telegram of congratulations from our Chief at British General Headquarters. The 26th Division, which you reported passing through Jemelle, on December 15th, coming from the Eastern Front, has been contacted in the front line. “Do your best to establish train-watching posts in the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg, and in occupied France. I know how difficult this will be; but the merit will be all the greater, if you are success- ful. Knowing your great tenacity, I am sure if any one can succeed, you will." Events now began to move quickly. Eighteen months of experience had taught the German Counter-Espionage Service all the tricks used by refugees, and by the Allied secret services, and efficient means had been devised to seal the Belgian-Dutch frontier. In the interior, every Belgian, man and woman, was forced to carry an identity card, with photograph, name, and address attached; and special permission had to be obtained to travel from one town to an- other. At the frontier, a high-voltage electric wire, a cordon of sentries every hundred yards, mounted patrols, police dogs, and, finally, an army of plainclothes secret police, guarded its entire length. The Belgian refugees in Holland who had dabbled in secret service could well shut up shop. And it was good riddance- they had exploited the patriotism of their countrymen in the interior, and they had sold their information to the highest bidder among the Allied secret services, sometimes to several of them at the same time. The results cost the life of many a brave man or woman in the occupied territories. But the secret service game had become a problem even to the official services. After months of fruitless effort many of their representatives were recalled from Holland, to leave the 18 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY field clear for the few who still seemed to have the chance of success. There was a period in 1916 when no information of any kind was coming out of the occupied territory. The Allied secret services had lost their initiative. New methods had to be devised to penetrate the formidable barrier which the Germans had built up at the Belgian-Dutch border. It was not surprising, then, that Lambrecht found himself suddenly cut off from all communication with Holland. His precious information piled up only to become valueless as the days dragged by. Frantically, he waited for a courier from Holland to pick up his reports at the “letter-box," which he had established in Liège. In Holland, Afchain was working feverishly to find some means of reaching Liège. He could no longer pick a trusted courier from a dozen volunteers. He would be fortunate if he could find any one at all to undertake the dangerous mission. His chief at British General Headquarters wired him impa- tiently. He took a risk. Whether he handed a letter for Lam- brecht to an intermediary, who was duped, or whether he him- self was tricked, is not known exactly. The letter, however, fell into the hands of Keurvers, a Dutchman in the employ of the German Counter-Espionage Service. Lambrecht's “letter-box” in Liège was a small cigar store owned by one of his relatives, a man called Leclercq. While Leclercq was out Keurvers called at the store and introduced himself to Madame Leclercq as a Dutchman who had just ar- rived from Holland with an urgent letter for her husband. Madame Leclercq, fully aware of her husband's dangerous activities, was suspicious. This man with his red, bloated face, and small vicious eyes, repulsed her; besides, his accent seemed more German than Dutch. She refused to accept the letter. DIEUDONNÉ LAMBRECHT 19 But Keurvers, not to be put off, countered with the password: “The seven boxes of tricolor cigars have arrived safely." Madame Leclercq was nonplussed: she recognized the words, but still she could not bring herself to trust the man. After some hesitation she replied that her husband had told her nothing about the cigars, and that they were not expecting any letters from Holland. As soon as Keurvers was out of sight, she hastened to Lam- brecht with the news. To her surprise, instead of praising her discretion, he scolded her for being overcautious. “He gave the right password, didn't he? What more did you want?” Thoroughly dismayed, she hurried back to the store, where she found Keurvers had returned in her absence and left the letter with her servant together with a message that he would be back the next morning at ten o'clock. The message and the letter were quickly conveyed to Lambrecht. Lambrecht eagerly opened the small roll containing the letter, and found that it was in Afchain's familiar handwriting. It was dated February 24th, 1916, and contained the following message: “I confirm the long list of merchandise orders delivered to you, January 28th, care of our friend Dupont (Leclercq's service name), but regret having received no reply. “Our delivery man, who brought you the above orders, being unable to continue with his duties, I am using the present carrier, who will contact you once a week. I believe he is the only one who can do this at the present moment. I hope you will be able to pull us out of our present critical situation by giving him a report, as complete as possible, of all the merchandise in your store. It is absolutely necessary to make use of the present oppor- tunity, as none of our competitors are in a position to deliver." 20 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY If Madame Leclercq had sowed any doubts in his mind, they were quickly dispelled by Afchain's letter, which was undoubtedly genuine. Lambrecht was ready to welcome Keur- vers with open arms, so relieved was he that regular com- munications with Holland had once more been established. His thoughts immediately turned to the accumulation of six weeks' reports, which he had in his possession. He knew they would be too bulky as they were, and so the night was spent making a résumé of all but the most recent ones. At ten o'clock next morning, Lambrecht was at the Le- clercq cigar store, in the rue de Campine. As he entered, he saw a man in conversation with Leclercq. It was Keurvers. Leclercq immediately called Lambrecht aside into the small parlor at the back of the store. He, too, shared his wife's suspicions of this man. But Lambrecht could not be persuaded: there was Afchain's letter, and the man had given the right password. So Keurvers was called into the back room, and the reports were handed over to him. On his way home Lambrecht noticed that he was being followed. Such was his trust in Keurvers and his solicitude for his men that his immediate thoughts were not for his own safety, but for that of the courier, and the precious reports in his possession. By jumping on to a passing street car, he man- aged to get rid of the man who had been following him. Lambrecht knew that he had a chance of finding Keurvers in one of the cafés on the Grand Place, for most visitors in the city gravitated to this center. As he looked through the large windows of the Café du Marronnier, he saw Keurvers sitting with Landwerlen and Douhard, two of the German Secret Police, whom Lambrecht knew only too well by sight; they had figured in nearly every spy arrest in the city. S 1- DIEUDONNÉ LAMBRECHT 21 Instantly Lambrecht knew he was trapped, that the secret police were following him to discover his associates. He had a chance to get away. He had shaken off the man who had been on his trail. He had a number of friends who would gladly have hidden him until an opportunity presented itself to get across the frontier. But Lambrecht decided to recurn home to advise his wife, and to get her to warn Leclercq. He thought he could get there before the police. It was a fatal step. As Lambrecht walked in at the front door, the Secret Police were waiting for him on the inside- his wife had been arrested shortly after he had left for his rendezvous with Keurvers. It was known afterwards that the Secret Police had been watching the Leclercq cigar store for several days before Keurvers presented himself there, that they had photographed Afchain's note, and, of course, had under- stood its meaning. As usual, their object had been to track down associates, and above all to secure the reports—the evi- dence to convict. Lambrecht knew he could not save himself. He could, however, save the thirty odd agents who had been working for him. (The Leclercqs did not know their names.) His one care now was not to betray them. Every third degree method familiar to the Germans was employed to break down his resistance, but Lambrecht allowed no name to escape him. He even succeeded in proving to the Secret Police that his wife had no idea he was engaged in espionage activities, and that the Leclercqs did not know the purport of his correspondence with Holland. His friends did everything within their power to save him. Brand Whitlock, the Marquis de Villalobar, and van Vollen- hoven, the various neutral ministers to Belgium, were all per- A DIEUDONNÉ LAMBRECHT 23 only doing what so many have done before me, and will do again. “Life passes so quickly here below-it lasts but a moment. We will meet in a better world. It is in moments such as these, through which I have just passed, that one appreciates the inestimable good that parents do their children in giving them a Christian education, and faith in God. "Console my poor parents for whom the blow is going to be ter- rible. Draw from your love for me, the necessary force to show them an example of courage. “Take refuge in prayer, my beloved. I will leave you, as a last souvenir of me, the cross you sent me, and I will place on it kisses for you, Riette, and my parents. I will join to it my wedding ring. "Jeanne, in heaven we will meet again. For our darling little daughter, for my parents, and for you, receive on this letter, the last affectionate kisses of he, who was "Your Donné." Lambrecht was shot April 18th, 1916. After the Armistice, Lambrecht was posthumously deco rated with the O.B.E. by the British, and was mentioned in dispatches by Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig. King Albert bestowed on him the Chevalier of the Order of Leopold, with lisérés d'or; he was also mentioned in the order of the day of the nation, and was accorded the Civic Cross, first class. Valuable as his work had been during the eighteen months he had faithfully served the Allies, it was in death that he exerted his greatest force. His example was an inspiration to others to carry on his work; his friends swore to avenge him, and out of the scattered remnants of his espionage service emerged “The White Lady," the greatest spy organization of the War. CHAPTER II THE FOUNDING OF THE MICHELIN SERVICE am THE Germans lost no time in placarding the walls of I Liège with notices of Lambrecht's execution; but, as in the case of Edith Cavell, the psychological effect was the very reverse of what had been intended. Instead of cowing the peo ple, it moved them to defiance. In particular, Lambrecht's followers and friends felt that they had been challenged. It only required a leader to stir them into action, and, as hap- pened so often in history, he appeared from the most unex- pected quarter. The man was Walthère Dewé, one of Lambrecht's cousins. There was nothing in Dewé's appearance, temperament, or mode of living which could in any way have suggested the spy. At this period he was in his thirty-fifth year. He could look back on a life which had been wholly devoted to duty. Born in modest circumstances, the support of his family had fallen on his shoulders at an early age; shortly afterwards he had added the responsibility of a wife and then of two chil- dren. Like Lambrecht, he had entered one of the Belgian ad- ministrations—that of the Posts and Telegraph. Here, hard work, skill as an engineer, and brilliant executive ability had won for him rapid promotion, until, finally, just before the War, he had been nominated chief engineer of the Liège Tele- W 24 THE MICHELIN SERVICE 25 phone and Telegraph network. In spite of this success, how- ever, he remained a man of simple tastes, one who practiced extreme self-denial, and yet one who remained tolerant of all with whom he came into contact. His cousin's execution completely diverted Dewé from the ordered, peaceful routine of his life, and plunged him into the excitement and dangers of war-time spying. As Dewé read the execution notice, his duty, both to his country and to the memory of his cousin, came to him with a force which he could not resist. He would carry on Dieudonné's work. Yes, that is what Dieudonné would wish him to do. Dewé had a wide circle of friends, not only in the Posts and Telegraph administration and among the professional men in the city (most of whom had been his classmates at the University of Liège), but as a staunch Catholic who had participated keenly in all church activities, he also had con- siderable influence with the priests and religious orders in Belgium. In all these men Dewé inspired confidence. They did not refuse to listen to him, as they would have if some one else had dared to broach the dangerous topic of spying Today, so many years after the War, it is difficult to realize what was happening to Belgium in 1914. It was almost im- possible to escape from the country to join the Belgian Army. Spying was the only patriotic outlet that remained. Begging only for opportunity, there were many Belgian men and women who were willing to risk their lives, their families, everything they possessed to free their country from the Ger- man invader. There was no material reward, and many of the war-time spies, recruited in the occupied territories, were drawn from the noblest of the French and Belgian inhabit- ants. 26 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY Dewé's soliciting fell on eager ears. He soon rallied to his side a nucleus of patriotic men and women, willing to devote their lives to building up an espionage organization. Of these followers the most important was Chauvin, Professor of Physics at the Institut Montefiore, the well known Liège en- gineering school. With characteristic generosity Dewé chose Chauvin as his co-chief. The two formed a marked contrast. Dewé, tall, thin, dark, with a black scrubby beard, penetrating blue eyes, the stern features of an ascetic and the character as well as the appearance of a Jesuit priest. Chauvin, on the other hand, about forty years of age, a small man with light hair, a long beard, blue limpid eyes, a voice as soft as that of a woman, and a happy smiling disposition. Dewé commanded respect and admiration; Chauvin attracted affection. The two men were representative of the best brains in Liège. It required no actual experience in spying for Dewé and Chauvin to know exactly what they were up against. The German system of counter-espionage held few mysteries for them. For two years they had been silent witnesses of the struggle between spy and German Secret Police. In Liège alone, close on fifty spies had been shot, not to mention several hundred who had been sentenced to various terms of imprison- ment. Spy methods and the causes which led up to arrest were common knowledge in Liège. Dewé and Chauvin needed no special penetration to realize that if they were to succeed new methods must be devised. Their first step was the logical one of investigating the Lambrecht organization. Dewé had been fully aware of his cousin's activities-there had been no secrets between the two cousins, close companions since boyhood and Father Des Onays, Lambrecht's right-hand man, was one of Dewé's most THE MICHELIN SERVICE 27 intimate friends. Accordingly, Father Des Onays, and Donnay, another member of the Lambrecht organization, were called in for consultation. Systematically, step by step, the whole history of the Lambrecht Service was examined. It was immediately evident that Lambrecht had com- mitted two cardinal errors: first, he had courted arrest by undertaking the most dangerous work himself; and second, he had made known his identity to all his agents. Forthwith Dewé and Chauvin decided that agents, such as couriers, who would be continually exposed to arrest would be completely isolated from the main organization. They also decided to divide Belgium into four sectors, each of which was to be in charge of a head agent who was to organize an inde- pendent, separate unit in his area, linked to headquarters in such a way that if his unit became compromised it could be isolated immediately. Dewé and Chauvin undertook to enroll these four head agents through suitable intermediaries, and Father Des Onays was instructed to sound out all Lambrecht's agents and enlist as many as possible in the new organization. Not satisfied with these precautionary measures, Dewé and Chauvin also proceeded to create a counter-espionage service to watch the German Secret Police. Alexandre Neujean, the Belgian Chief of Police in Liège, was Chauvin's father-in-law; it was to him that they addressed themselves for assistance. During the occupation, the Belgian Civilian Police retained their functions, and, as in peace-time, were responsible for the prevention of crime. As the Belgian Police were under the control of the Ger- man Secret Police, Neujean naturally knew all their members by sight. Not only did he furnish Dewé and Chauvin with photographs of all the German Secret Police stationed in 28 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY nan eal ses were Liège, but, as we shall see later, again and again, his timely warnings warded off impending disaster. Above all, on many occasions Neujean helped them to keep clear of that band of stool-pigeons, recruited from the dregs of the Belgian popu- lation, on whom the Secret Police largely relied for their information, and who were responsible for most of the arrests. The Belgian spy-patriot could recognize the German by his features and his accent, but he was often thrown off his guard by the Belgian traitor in German pay. Finally, the new organization needed funds. Many of the agents would work without any pecuniary aid, but some had families to support, and they could not be expected to give up their means of livelihood unless their living expenses were taken care of. On June 22nd, 1916, Dewé, Chauvin, and Father Des Onays met again. Dewé was able to announce that the Liège banker, Marcel Nagelmackers, had agreed to advance all necessary funds for the time being. Father Des Onays reported that Lambrecht's old train-watching posts at Liège and Jemelle had started working. On this memorable day, the Service was for- mally founded. For want of a better name, they decided to call it the Service Michelin, a name probably taken from Michelin tires, advertisements for which flooded Belgium be- fore the War. Later, Dewé and Chauvin changed its name to B. 149, and, finally, to “The White Lady." Now the stage was set in the interior. The most difficult and most dangerous task still remained: to establish contact with the Allies. CHAPTER III ESTABLISHING COMMUNICATIONS WITH THE ALLIES TT was possible to lay down certain principles and follow them out in organizing the service in the interior, but in establishing contact with the exterior, Dewé and his associates were at the mercy of the Allied agents in Holland. For a year they were to endure discouragement in every form; some of their principal members were to be arrested, and it was only the bravery and dogged determination of its leaders which enabled the Service Michelin to remain in existence. Luck or divine protection was with it, for enough mistakes were com- mitted by the Allied secret services in Holland to have de- livered the Service Michelin into the hands of the German Secret Police many times over. The Service Michelin's first contact was with the French Secret Service. Father Des Onays, in addition to his espionage and other clandestine activities, had occupied himself with the distribution of letters from Belgian soldiers at the front. These letters were addressed to intermediaries in Holland, who then sent them into the occupied territory by means of the many barges which plied between Belgium and Holland for the American Relief. Such means of transmission was too slow for secret service reports—it often took a month for the round 29 30 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY trip between Rotterdam and Antwerp—but for these letters time was an unimportant factor, and the barges offered excel- lent means of concealment. One day Father Des Onays received, along with a bundle of letters, a message from Féchy, a French Secret Service agent in Maestricht, Holland, asking him to mount an espio nage service, and promising to arrange a courier service to pick up the reports. Here was an opportunity to establish contact with the exterior. Father Des Onays lost no time in communi- cating Féchy's offer to Dewé and Chauvin. Anxious as they were to transmit the Liège and Jemelle train-watching reports, which had already started accumulat- ing, Dewé and Chauvin hesitated. Neujean, who was now directing the Michelin Counter-Espionage Service, had in- formed them a few days previously that three French agents, Marie Birckel, Fauquenot, and Creusen, had just been arrested, betrayed by a Dutchman named Bertram, a German agent, who had managed to enroll himself in the French Secret Service at Maestricht. Dewé and Chauvin wisely refused to commit themselves, and the following reply was sent to Féchy: “Your request has not fallen on deaf ears. Have patience.” Their prudence was justified: shortly afterwards, Snyders, the bargee who had brought the message from Féchy, was arrested at the frontier. Although Dewé and Chauvin were not, at the time, aware of it, Féchy played no part in these arrests. The three French agents were not attached to him, and Snyders was betrayed by a refugee whom he had undertaken to bring across the frontier. Alarmed at these betrayals, the Service Michelin decided to send a delegate to Belgian General Headquarters, in France, to acquaint them with the situation, and to beg them to instruct ESTABLISHING COMMUNICATIONS 31 the Belgian Secret Service to place a trustworthy courier at its disposal for the transmission of its report to Holland. Father Des Onays was called upon to produce a suitable emissary; he presented Bihet, a Belgian engineer, who was anxious to cross the frontier to join the Belgian Army. After a preliminary interview, Dewé and Chauvin decided Bihet was trustworthy, and the details of his mission were communicated to him. It was agreed that at 11:30 A.M. every day except Sundays, a woman wearing a green felt hat would be in the interior of the St. Denis Church, in Liège. On being accosted with the password “Yser,” she would reply, “Lion d'Or.” The courier from Holland was then to hand her his message, and fix with her the time and place for the next rendezvous. Bihet was to insert an advertisement in the per- sonal column of the Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant announc- ing his arrival. A frontier guide was found, and on a moonless night, with the help of india-rubber socks and gloves, Bihet was safely taken through the high-voltage electric wire into Holland, in the Eindhoven sector. Two weeks later, the anxiously awaited announcement appeared in the July 23rd issue of the Dutch newspaper. Dewé and Chauvin sat back and waited. Ten days after Bihet had crossed the frontier, the woman in the green hat started keeping the rendezvous at the St. Denis Church. The days went by but no courier arrived. Hope gave way to despair, and the Michelin chiefs were already searching for other means of communication with Holland, when on the last Sunday in August, during Dewé's absence from home, a peasant pre- sented himself at the house with a letter from Holland. The 32 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY peasant refused to wait, but handed Dewe's wife the letter and at the same time left his name and address. On Dewe's return he was both dumbfounded and alarmed. Implicit instructions had been given Bihet that none of the Michelin names was to be mentioned, not even at Belgian General Headquarters, and yet here was a courier not only in possession of Dewe's name and address, but they were written out in full on the envelope of the letter for any German secret agent to see who accosted and searched him. The letter, too, as can be judged from its contents, was of the most compromising nature: "Attached you will find instructions and specimens of the kind of reports you are to furnish. To put you at your ease, I have been charged to collaborate with the head of the Belgian Service here, who will be known to you as Monsieur Constant. We have had to wait until now in order to find a reliable man to bring you these instructions, and to explain to you how your reports will reach us in future. To give you confidence in my identity, I have been to see the brother of 'Paatje.' ('Paatje' was the brother of Father de Jaegher, whose name and address in Holland, Father Des Onays had given Bihet verbally before his departure.) The military authorities have instructed me to communicate the following to you: "1) Hasten the dispatch of your first reports. “2) Let us know your expenditure each month. “3) Avoid contact with other Allied secret services, or their agents. "4) Don't try to find out anything about the courier, or how your reports are transmitted to us. This is to prevent either of you compromising the other. *5) Send us new passwords, in case we have to use another cou- rier, and let us know how he can contact you. "6) Send us, one at a time, the names of some of your agents, so ESTABLISHING COMMUNICATIONS 33 that in case anything happens to you, we shall have some one to contact. "7) We hope you will eventually be able to establish posts at Brussels, Namur, and Charleroi, and that they will be mounted as independent units. “8) If you do not recognize my handwriting, you can have it verified by one of my friends. Attached is my signature on a separate piece of paper. “BIHET.” The instructions and model reports mentioned in the letter were attached. The letter was in Bihet's handwriting, and was undoubt- edly genuine. This, however, was no proof that it had not fallen into the hands of a traitor. Dewé, as one of the Michelin chiefs, could not afford to take a risk. The fact that the courier had left his address behind, in spite of the instructions in the letter, was also suspect. And, above all, why had he neither given the password, nor had he gone to the St. Denis rendez- vous? Dewé and Chauvin, remembering the trap into which Lambrecht had fallen, were at a loss. They eventually decided to prepare for the worst, and it was agreed that should Dewé receive a visit from the German Secret Police, he was to deny all knowledge of a correspondent in Holland. A week later, again on a Sunday, the same courier pre- sented himself once more at Dewé's house. This time Dewé was at home, but he refused to talk with the courier. Although nothing further was heard from the courier, the man proved to be honest, for Dewé was not molested. But the whole procedure was typical of the careless and dangerous methods employed by the Allied secret services, during the earlier stages of the War. It is not known why Bihet so fla- Was ma ESTABLISHING COMMUNICATIONS 35 COUT. organization in the interior. In rapid succession, additional train-watching posts were established at Brussels, Namur, and Charleroi, controlling all the railway lines passing through these junctions. Twice a week, the reports were delivered to Snoeck for dispatch to Holland. Dewé and Chauvin eagerly waited for a reply from Hol- land. Father Des Onays had placed at their disposal his knowl- edge of military espionage gained in the Lambrecht Service, and the instructions sent in by Bihet had also given them valuable suggestions; but they awaited a criticism of their reports, and, besides, they expected—justifiably-some encour- agement from the exterior. They waited in vain. Their elation gave way to bitter disap. pointment. Were their reports reaching the Allies? They had no idea. Together with their agents, they were daily risking their lives gathering information, which perhaps never reached its destination. Repeatedly, they demanded that an answer be sent through the same channel by which their reports were passing out to the exterior, but neither they nor Snoeck could get any reply. Finally, after three months had elapsed, they decided to send an emissary once again to Belgian General Headquarters. Boseret volunteered for the mission, and on December 2nd, 1916, he was sent through the high-voltage electric wire, guided by the same frontier guide who had taken Bihet across. The action of the Michelin chiefs could not have been more opportune, for no sooner had Boseret crossed the frontier, than the whole Snoeck courier system blew up. It was only after the War that the situation became clear. From Snoeck, in Antwerp, the courier carried the reports to Delphine Alenus at Baelen-sur-Néthe, a small village near the 36 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY Dutch frontier. Delphine Alenus, acting as “letter-box,” handed them to a frontier courier, who, in turn, passed them to a peasant whose fields adjoined the high-voltage electric wire. The reports, written on fine tissue paper, and rolled into small cigarette-shaped tubes, were taken to the electric wire hidden in one of the farm implements. At an opportune moment, they were tossed over the wire to another peasant working on the Dutch side of the frontier. Unceasing vigilance on the part of the German sentries and the Secret Police made this operation exceedingly dangerous. On each side of the high-voltage electric wire, at a distance of about fifteen feet, there was a barbed wire fence to keep ani- mals off. The reports, generally encased in a clod of earth, had, therefore, to be thrown at least thirty feet in distance and ten feet in height to clear the three fences. If the Belgian peas- ant was caught throwing an object, out of reach of the Secret Police, he could plead that he was merely trying to attract the attention of his Dutch neighbor, and although he would prob- ably be expelled from the frontier, he would not be convicted of espionage. But if the object was seen thrown in the opposite direction, the Belgian peasant was lost; nothing could explain away the compromising evidence. At this particular frontier passage, the Belgian peasant refused to accept any messages from Holland; that was why no answers ever came back. The five agents who manipulated this frontier passage did their work faithfully and well. Had they been reserved solely for the Michelin Service, as they should have been, the life of the passage would have been lengthened considerably. But Delphine Alenus, without the knowledge of the Michelin Service, was acting as “letter-box” for several other espionage organizations in the interior, and when one of them, that of ESTABLISHING COMMUNICATIONS 37 Lesire, became compromised and its members were arrested, she was taken as well. There was no betrayal on her part. The Germans, however, had watched before they made her arrest. and by following the Antwerp courier, they caught Snoeck. Snoeck, knowing that none of the Michelin reports had fallen into the hands of the Secret Police, stuck to his defense that the messages he had handed the courier were financial reports connected with his bank. His clever defense saved his life, and threw the German Secret Police off the track of the Michelin Service. The organization remained intact, but once again it was without means of communication with Holland. Through Snoeck's banking agent at The Hague, Boseret traced the Michelin reports to Liévin, a representative of Major Cameron, who some time previously had replaced Abbé de Moor. He was stunned by the news of his father-in-law's arrest. Liévin, too, was in despair; he feared that the whole Michelin Service would be involved. But when Boseret learned that the arrests had come through the frontier passage, he quickly assured Liévin that the conflagration would not spread. He knew that Snoeck was the only link with the Michelin Service, and that Snoeck would not talk. Liévin, having a reserve frontier passage at his disposal, was all for getting into immediate contact with the Service in the interior, and pressed Boseret for an address to which his courier could be sent. Simple as the request seemed, it placed Boseret in a predicament. The frontier passage had been functioning when he left the interior, and so he had been given no special contact address. The only ones he knew were those of some of the principal members of the Service, and, as in the case of Bihet, he had been implicitly instructed not to mention them, 38 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY In spite of Liévin's repeated urging, Boseret refused to give the necessary information. If the Michelin chiefs had lacked foresight in not furnish- ing Boseret with a contact address, they were quick to repair the damage. They learned that a Mademoiselle Dossin, whom they knew they could trust, had received a passport from the Germans permitting her to leave the country for permanent residence abroad. To her they entrusted a verbal message for Boseret to the effect that a courier, answering to the name of Delforge, would be at the Cheval Blanc Inn, Antwerp, every Tuesday and Friday at 3 P.M., and that he should be contacted there. She was also given the necessary password and counter- sign. Boseret duly received the message, and passed it imme- diately to Liévin. Prompt action was taken. Within twenty- four hours, Liévin's courier was on his way to the inn. What happened at the Cheval Blanc, or which courier was to blame is not known. Each courier claimed that he kept the rendez- vous. Somehow they missed each other. Liévin's courier re- turned twice again, but in vain. In the meantime, Major Cameron was clamoring for the Michelin reports; their importance even at this period was apparent to British General Headquarters. Boseret was in tor- ment. Liévin was again demanding an address. Finally, yielding to Liévin's persuasion, he reluctantly handed over the name and address of Father Des Onays, and to him the courier was sent. In this way, February 14th, 1917, contact with the Michelin Service was once again established, but at a price dearly to be paid for. Boseret, having accomplished his mission, left for France to join the Belgian Army. Passing through England, he had ESTABLISHING COMMUNICATIONS 39 several interviews with Major Cameron, who emphasized the great services which the Michelin organization was rendering. Liévin's first letter definitely assured the Michelin chiefs that all their reports had reached headquarters. This put new life into them, and hoping that now at last permanent con- nections had been established with Holland, they commenced to extend the Service considerably. Additional train-watching posts were created at Arlon, Dinant, and Tongres, and a num- ber of itinerant agents were enrolled to report the movement of German Divisions in and out of the rest areas in Flanders, Luxemburg, and along the Franco-Belgian border. Letters passed regularly to and from Liévin. The Michelin Service were now in intimate contact with British General Head- quarters. Everything had run smoothly for three months, when once again the Michelin chiefs became disquieted. For close on a year, they had been borrowing money in the interior on which to run the Service; this could not go on indefinitely. Their repeated requests to Liévin that funds should be sent in to them, passed unheeded. He paid even less attention to their demand that they should be recognized as soldiers. To all this was added a warning from Neujean, the head of the Michelin Counter-Espionage Section, that Lechat, who had replaced Father Des Onays as “letter-box," was suspected by the German Secret Police. Dewé and Chauvin immediately decided to send an emissary across the border to warn Liévin that his courier system was compromised, and to settle, either with the British or the Belgian military authorities, the ques- tions of funds as well as the militarization of the Michelin Service. It was through Madame Scheidt, a patriotic Belgian O00 40 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY woman who occupied herself aiding young Belgians and Frenchmen of military age to escape across the Dutch border, that a suitable delegate was found. Gustave Lemaire, a Belgian engineer, undertook the mission. Hidden next to the keel, under the floor boards of a barge, Lemaire crossed the frontier on June 5th, 1917. History repeated itself, for no sooner had Lemaire arrived in Holland than the Germans arrested Father Des Onays, Lechat, Baron Fayen, and Montfort, those of the Michelin Service who had been directly in contact with Liévin's courier. The story of this betrayal, for a betrayal it was, remained for a long time an intriguing mystery. The courier who had contacted Father Des Onays with Liévin's first letter was a certain Georges Gylinck, to whom Liévin had given the name of St. George. Father Des Onays had immediately put him in touch with Lechat, who from then on had acted as the Miche- lin “letter-box” in Liège; it was here that the Liège and Jemelle reports had been deposited. Shortly afterwards, St. George was also put in contact with Baron Fayen, the “letter- box” for the Brussels, Mons, Charleroi, and Namur reports. Montfort was the Michelin courier who brought headquar- ters in Liège duplicates of the reports which Baron Fayen handed St. George in Brussels. This system had worked without a hitch for four months, when suddenly, on June 13th, 1917, the German Secret Police arrested Lechat, Baron Fayen, and Montfort; this was quickly followed up by the arrest of Father Des Onays a day later. Baron Fayen was caught with the Michelin reports on him, while he was waiting at a rendezvous for St. George. The Secret Police promptly installed themselves in his house; and although they searched it from top to bottom, they missed the ESTABLISHING COMMUNICATIONS 41 duplicates of the reports which they had seized on him. The duplicate reports were stuck by a thumb tack underneath the top of the dresser, above the highest drawer. * Montfort was seized shortly afterwards when he called to pick up these duplicate reports. On him they found, hidden in his sock, some spy reports which he had collected en route from another of the Michelin agents. Lechat, warned by Neujean, had nothing compromising on him when he was arrested at his house. Father Des Onays, who combined his spy activities with the duties of professor at the College St. Servais, was arrested while he was taking his Latin class. Caught unawares, he had several documents on his person. To gain time, somehow, he insisted that the Head of the College be called before he was taken off. While one of the Secret Police left the room to fetch the Head, Father Des Onays continued his class, and managed to slip the compromising documents into a Virgil book which he handed to one of his students. Father Des Onays and Lechat were taken to Brussels, and there the interrogation of the four prisoners commenced. To their utter amazement, the Secret Police produced photo- graphic copies of all the correspondence which had passed between Liévin and the Michelin Service. After the War, Liévin made the following statement: “St. George was one of my couriers. He rendered exceptional services in 1916, by penetrating into some of the most difficult re- gions, such as Lille, Courtrai, and Tournay, to collect reports. Tempted by money, he sold his services to the German Secret Police, in 1917, and through him eight of my agents were shot, and many were arrested. Before the War, he resided in Brussels. He is now a • They were still there when Baron Fayen returned home after the Armistice. 42 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY fugitive in Holland. I have handed his photograph over to the department of Justice." This was a confirmation of the following information which the British Counter-Espionage Service in Holland had secured about him just before the Armistice: “Gylinck, Georges, Belgian subject, works under the direction of Reitinger, German Secret Police Bureau 'C, Brussels. His service No. is 43, and he often uses the false name of 'Durant.' During 1915 he was employed by a Belgian organization to distribute in the occu- pied territory letters from Belgian soldiers at the front. He was eventually arrested in Antwerp by Reitinger who, sensing that he possibly had caught a man who would be useful to him, offered to let him off if he would work for the German Secret Police. Gylinck accepted the offer. He first of all was successful in procuring the arrest of several Belgians involved in helping refugees to escape across the Dutch frontier. He was then sent on a mission to Holland, where he managed to get himself enrolled in the service of Liévin. Although several men in his organizations were arrested (Lesire, Goedhuis, and others), Liévin continued to have confidence in him. Gylinck is undoubtedly one of the best of the German counter- espionage agents." There is no doubt of St. George's (Gylinck's) culpability, but one mystery still remains: how did the Secret Police get hold of the photographic copies of all the correspondence which passed between Liévin and the Michelin Service? If St. George had handed the Germans the letters for photograph- ing, before passing them on, surely they would have held back the Michelin reports, which were doing them incalculable harm. Furthermore, if the arrested members had been under surveillance for four months, many others of the Michelin Service would have been caught. ESTABLISHING COMMUNICATIONS 43 The opinion has been expressed that St. George was a "double agent," betraying both Liévin and the Germans in turn. His sole interest was money, which he was getting from both sides. If he had betrayed Father Des Onays as soon as Liévin had given him the first message, he would only have received a small bonus for the arrest of a single agent, and, in addition, he would have given himself away to Liévin. It was to his interest, therefore, to wait until he had contacted more members. In this way he received a bigger reward from the Germans, and, at the same time, drew considerable sums from Liévin for his services as courier. It has further been surmised that the Michelin correspondence did not reach the Secret Police through St. George, but was stolen from Liévin's files by some one else. If this is the case, the theft was without Lić- vin's knowledge, for his good faith has never been questioned; he had been one of the best of Major Cameron's representa- tives in Holland during the preceding year. At the trial both Father Des Onays and Lechat steadfastly denied any knowledge of espionage activities; and the Ger- mans, still hoping to use St. George as a stool-pigeon, never produced him as a witness. Baron Fayen and Montfort refused to give any information as to the source of the reports; besides, as “letter-box” and courier respectively, they had been kept isolated from the Michelin Service. Father Des Onays and Lechat received comparatively light sentences, and were sent to a prison camp in Germany. The Germans had no direct evidence against them, except the word of a traitor. Baron Fayen and Montfort were both condemned to twelve years hard labor. Father Des Onays could well afford to smile. He had not only been one of the most valued of the Allied agents in the 44 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY occupied territories, but since the commencement of the War, had participated in every conceivable patriotic activity: the distribution of La Libre Belgique, a clandestine newspaper; the delivery of letters from Belgian soldiers at the front; and, finally, he had helped many young men of military age to escape across the frontier. His experience had been invaluable to the Michelin Service. The Michelin Service had now definitely closed the first phase of its activity. It had functioned for a year, and during practically the whole of this time it had been sending out re- ports through Major Cameron which had proved indispensable to British General Headquarters; but it had been gravely com- promised on many occasions. In fairness to the Allied secret services, with which it had been in contact, the difficulties in Holland, and at the Belgian-Dutch frontier must again be stressed. Apart from the efficient German control at the fron- tier (high-voltage electric wire, sentries, Secret Police, mounted patrols, searchlights, police dogs, etc.), and the competition amongst the Allied secret services in Holland, caused by the lack of unity in the Allied High Command, there was another important factor. In order not to attract the attention of the Secret Police, those who occupied themselves with the passage of the reports at the frontier had to be recruited from the bor- der residents. These were either peasants, and men of inferior intelligence, or men who before the War had been engaged in smuggling or poaching. It meant that the Allied secret services were often at the mercy of men of the gangster type who were just as amenable to serving the Germans as they were the Allies. This, more than anything else, was responsible for the frequent betrayals. ES * II * CHAPTER IV THE BRITISH SECRET SERVICE TAKES CHARGE TT was now June, 1917, and considerable changes had taken I place among the Allied secret services in Holland. The French, realizing that competition among the different services was destructive, had curtailed their own activities in Holland; they were now using Switzerland as the main base for their operations. Lefebvre, who remained in charge of the much reduced French Service in Holland, was instructed by his chief, Colonel Wallner, to collaborate or step aside at the re- quest of the other Allied services. The British Admiralty, and British Aviation Services had recalled some of their represen- tatives, others had been placed at the disposal of the British Secret Service proper. The two services attached to British General Headquarters, the one directed by Major Cameron, the other by Major Wallinger, still continued to function, although they were existing to a great extent on the reputation gained during the 1915-1916 period, when they had led the field in obtaining results. Even they were eventually amalga- mated into one service, and had the War lasted a few months longer, they, too, would have been placed under the direction of the British Secret Service. Both Major Cameron, and Major Wallinger had their headquarters at Folkestone, England, and directed their organizations through head agents in Holland, 48 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY all of whom were either of French or Belgian nationality. The Belgian Secret Service, handicapped by lack of funds, had dwindled to the vanishing point. At this period, the British Secret Service—the old pre-War organization, which had been expanded for the purposes of the War-had by far the most successful organization in Hol- land. It was directed by Commander Tinsley-known in the Service as “T”—a naval reserve officer, who before the War was managing director of the Uranium Steamship Company, with offices on the Boompjes, Rotterdam. At the outbreak of the War, "C,” the Chief of the British Secret Service, in Eng- land, had wisely chosen him as his representative in Holland. "T" had lived in Holland for years, he was persona grata with the Dutch authorities, and the offices of the Uranium Steamship Company were excellent cover for secret service activities in a neutral country. Under “T,” were four divisions: Military, Naval, Counter-Espionage, and, finally, a press organization which made a digest of all information that could be gleaned from newspapers, magazines, and other periodicals published in the enemy countries. Each division was autonomous, and under its own chief. “T,” in addition to his executive duties, kept the Dutch pacified, attended to the transmission of all written reports to headquarters in England, and supplied the funds needed by these four divisions located in his offices. I was in charge of the Military Section, and directed all its military spy activities in Germany, and behind the German lines in occupied Belgium and France. The military activities of the British Secret Service were really controlled by the British War Office, for they supplied the funds, and the direct- ing officers; hence this military branch of the British Secret Service was often referred to as the War Office Service, ir THE BRITISH TAKE CHARGE 49 contrast to those directed by British General Headquarters. On my arrival in Holland, in 1916, I quickly realized that the main problem to be solved was getting the spy reports across the border, and that the formidable barrier which the Germans had built up could only be pierced by having a well- disciplined band of agents distributed along the Belgian- Dutch frontier, each responsible for the organization of a fron- tier passage in his sector. I also realized that it was even more important to watch and control those who were actually charged with the passage of the reports. I had been fortunate in securing the services of Moreau, the son of a former high official of the Belgian State Railways, and he it was to whom I entrusted the task of enrolling my frontier agents. There were a large number of Belgian railway- men, refugees, in Holland, and from among them Moreau recruited the necessary personnel. These men still looked upon Moreau's father as their Chief, and so it came natural to them to obey his son. Their greatest value lay in the fact that they constituted a class whose loyalty could be relied upon, and yet they would pass unnoticed among the peasants, smugglers, and other frontier types who frequented the border villages. To each agent a number was given, and Moreau assumed the name of “Oram.” It was agreed that Oram would be their immediate chief, that they were to obey him implicitly, that once located they were not to move from their prescribed areas, and that Oram would arrange couriers to pick up the reports. Each one swore not to divulge for whom he was working to any one-not even to members of the other Allied secret services-nor was he to try to discover the identity of any of Oram's other agents. Thus a frontier organization was built up in Holland which 50 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY gradually increased in efficiency. Eventually, during the last two years of the War, we had open continuously at least six frontier passages which were the means of communication with the interior of Belgium. When one broke down we had the other five in reserve, and others were continually being established. The discipline, faithfulness, and superior intelli- gence of Oram's frontier agents, as compared with those em- ployed by the other Allied secret services, was the keynote of the War Office Service's success at the frontier. This, then, was the situation, when Lemaire, the Michelin delegate, arrived in Holland on June 5th, 1917. He imme- diately set out in search of Liévin, but was unable to locate him. He addressed himself to the British Consul General in Rotterdam. Liévin's name was unknown at the Consulate, but as Lemaire insisted that Liévin was attached to a British service, he was sent along to me to make inquiries. As soon as Lemaire mentioned the name of the Michelin Service, I was all attention. A week previously, through one of our Maestricht agents, I had received a number of train- watching reports from posts at Liège and Jemelle. The nature of the reports showed that they emanated from a well organ- ized service in Belgium, but all that I had to guide me was the signature “M.M.,” and the information that they had been deposited at a "letter-box” in Liège, which was serving for one of our organizations in the interior. I had surmised that they came from a service whose communications had broken down. Organizations in the occupied territories often did not realize that there were several Allied secret services in Holland. A few minutes' conversation with Lemaire soon convinced me that I was right in my estimation of the Michelin Service. I knew who Liévin was, and could have sent Lemaire along C THE BRITISH TAKE CHARGE 51 to him, but I also knew how Liévin was struggling to keep communication open with the interior. On the other hand, the British Secret Service had half a dozen frontier passages which they could place at the disposal of the Michelin Service. To me, my duty was clear. Without hesitating, I offered to attach the Michelin Service to our organization. My enthusiasm had a marked effect on Lemaire. Already, I was visualizing the super-service of my dreams, and I was getting ready to dismiss him with instructions to meet me again in the afternoon, when he suddenly shot at me, "There are two conditions, however; suitable arrangements must be made to cover their financial expenditure; they also insist on being enrolled as soldiers.” I looked at him in blank amazement, even though I could understand the desire he expressed. Every agent in the in- terior was serving his country, incurring even greater risks than the soldiers in the front line; each was facing danger alone, without the beat of drums, without any means of self- defense, without uniforms, without the pageantry and excite- ment of war. And there were no leaves and no rest periods. Agents were continually in danger of being suspected, sur- prised, denounced, betrayed, put in prison, beaten, and put to death. But, for the moment, the demand seemed quite im- possible. How could the War Office make British soldiers out of Belgian subjects? How, even, could the Belgian authorities do it, when it would be far too dangerous to send the names out across the frontier? Above all, how could either of them make women soldiers ?-for there were many women enrolled in the Michelin Service. I was on the point of voicing my sentiments openly, when I noticed the look of expectation and determination on 52 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY C Lemaire's face. I parried by asking him how he thought it could be done, and how he thought the oath of allegiance could be administered. “I don't know," he replied. “You will have to solve the problem. My instructions are to take the matter up with the Belgian authorities in Havre, if I cannot get satisfaction from the British.” I knew that even if Belgian General Headquarters were to accede to the request, the Belgian Secret Service could not supply them with a safe means of communication at the frontier. I doubt whether the Belgian Service was getting any information at all out of Belgium at that time. There seemed only one solution, and that was to grant them their request, and hope that after the War, the British authori- ties would militarize them. I told Lemaire that I would com- municate with the Chief in England, and that within a day or two, I would give him a reply. It was useless for me to refer the matter to higher authori- ties; I knew that even if the War Office was willing to grant their request, it would be necessary to get the consent of the Belgian Government, and that many useful months would be lost. The next day, at peace with my conscience, I told Lemaire that the request had been granted, that he could write a letter to this effect, and that I would see that the letter was delivered to any address he indicated in Brussels or Liège. Lemaire, an engineer and executive in one of Belgium's biggest engineering works, was an intelligent man. There were many questions he could have asked me; he could have embarrassed me by demanding guarantees or an official letter from the War Office. I think he realized the audacity of their demands, however, and having obtained a favorable reply from me, he was glad to let the matter drop. as THE BRITISH TAKE CHARGE 53 The financial question was quickly settled. I promised Lemaire that we would send weekly in to the Michelin Service such sums as they required to cover their current expenditure, and that the money which had been advanced so far by Marcel Nagelmackers, and by Phillipart, another patriotic Belgian banker who had been assisting them financially, would be reimbursed after the War. These promises were kept. After the Armistice, the equivalent of $150,000 in Belgian francs was paid over to these two bankers. Not only did they render an inestimable service in advancing this money (they took no interest) but in doing it, they involved themselves in espionage. They would have been shot if they had been caught. Lemaire expressed himself fully satisfied. He wrote the letter I requested recommending that they should put them- selves unreservedly under our direction, informing them that their militarization had been accorded, and giving them details of the financial arrangement. Finally, he gave me the address of a “letter-box” at Neerpelt, through which we could contact the Michelin Service. His letter, together with one from me confirming Lemaire's statements and explaining that we were already receiving their reports marked “M.M.,” was immediately dispatched to the interior by way of a reserve frontier passage north of Liège. I waited anxiously, for I was not at all sure what the Michelin attitude would be. Keyed up with tense interest I set out three days later, on July 16th, to keep a rendezvous with Oram, who was expected back from Maestricht that night with an answer. As soon as I saw his face, I knew something had happened. “The 'letter- box' has been arrested,” were the words with which he greeted me. 54 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY “And the courier?” I asked in alarm. "He is at the frontier waiting for instructions,” I was re- lieved to hear. I immediately got in touch with Lemaire, who was stop- ping at the Hotel des Indes, in The Hague, and urged him to hurry to Rotterdam at once. It was nearly midnight when he reached me. Both of us were at a loss to understand the situa- tion-neither knew at that time about St. George, and the arrests of Father Des Onays and the others. My insistent de- mands for another address put Lemaire in the same dilemma that Boseret had been in: the only name he could give me was that of Chauvin, and he was naturally reluctant that it should be used. Had I then known the extraordinary rôle that the Michelin Service was destined to play, I certainly would have exhausted every other means before sending a frontier courier to one of its chiefs. But it had been a strict principle with me to keep the services in the interior completely isolated from each other, and, above all, I was anxious to open up commu- nications to find out what had happened. I knew our courier was trustworthy and I used that and every other argument to induce Lemaire to give me permission to contact Chauvin. It was a very worried Lemaire who finally gave his consent. That same night I gave Oram the new address; early the next morn- ing he was on his way to the frontier to give his frontier agent the necessary instructions. We were to receive still another alarm. Our courier in the interior, who bore the No. 101, stopped for the night by chance at a small hotel in Liège, the Hotel van Gaever, Place St. Lambert. Neujean, the head of the Michelin Counter- Espionage Section, happened that very day to warn the Michelin chiefs that there were two stool-pigeons stopping at THE BRITISH TAKE CHARGE 55 al this hotel who, under the pretense that they were escaped prisoners-of-war, were trying to get into touch with refugee organizations. The courier's presence at the hotel might have been passed over had not Neujean followed up his first warn- ing by a second, to the effect that our courier had been seen talking to these two men. Dewé and Chauvin, overwrought by the many arrests, immediately jumped to conclusions, and the result can well be imagined. Again I was on my toes waiting for a favorable answer, when through the same Maestricht agent who had brought me the "M.M.” reports, I received a message that courier 101 was suspect, that Chauvin had gone into hiding, and that communication for the time being should be exclusively through the present “M.M.” channel. My consternation can well be pictured. I was at a loss what to tell Lemaire. I was still wondering what to do, when, on the next day, a second message was relayed to me via the same route, with- drawing the accusation against our courier, acquainting us with the St. George affair, giving us the name and address of a "letter-box” in Liège, and requesting that our courier 101 should be sent to this new “letter-box.” It was only after the War that I was able to piece together all these alarming events which happened in such quick suc- cession during the tragic days between July 13th and July 22nd. After the War, too, I learned that the arrest of the “letter-box” at Neerpelt had nothing to do with St. George: the man had been caught assisting refugees to escape across the frontier. Out of all the confusion, order was restored; and from then on, the Michelin chiefs were able to concentrate on extending their Service in the interior. They never again had to worry about getting their reports across the border: the War Office 56 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY Service saw to it that the Michelin reports were brought into Holland at least twice a week. Lemaire remained in Holland long enough to satisfy him- self that the liaison between the Michelin Service and the War Office Service was working smoothly. His secret service mission having been successfully accomplished, he left for Havre to place his engineering experience at the disposal of the Belgian Government. He kept the promise I exacted from him; no word of the Michelin Service crossed his lips until after the War. One more member of the Michelin Service was to be a victim of St. George. Delhaize, whose name had been given to Liévin as a reserve “letter-box” to replace Lechat in case of necessity, was arrested September, 1917. Liévin, undoubtedly, had passed Delhaize's name on to St. George. The German Secret Police watched him for four months, boping through him to get on the track of the Michelin Service. But Dewé and Chauvin were on their guard, and were not to be caught. When the Secret Police saw that their surveillance was futile, they eventually arrested Delhaize. Third degree methods failed to tear from him the little information he could have given, and, finally, he was deported to Germany Liévin did not give up the Michelin Service without a struggle. He had been warned several days ahead to watch for Lemaire's arrival. When he learned through the Belgian Con- sulate that Lemaire was actually in Holland, and in touch with me, he sent into the interior, by way of Delhaize, a spirited letter of protest in which he fiercely attacked the War Office Service. He was also pulling strings through Major Cameron in Folkestone with a view to forcing us to relinquish the Michelin Service, when the details of St. George's treachery THE BRITISH TAKE CHARGE 57 see suddenly came to light. There was no need for further argu- ments. After the War, I happened to see some of Liévin's notes. Opposite the Michelin Service was written, “Stolen from me by the War Office Service.” I couldn't help but be amused. The Michelin Chiefs were masters of their own destiny—they chose to remain with the Service which could serve them best. The note of personal possession which Liévin sounded, typified one of the baneful effects of the competition among the Allied secret services in Holland. Each in its endeavor to get ahead of the other often, unintentionally, lost sight of the main objective—the defeat of the Germans. The Michelin Service was created by its Chiefs in the interior; the credit belongs to them and not to any of the Allied secret services. It has been shown that at different stages it had been in contact with the French and Belgian services, and with the British General Headquarters Service directed by Major Cameron through Liévin. It was fortunate for it that it eventually became attached to us, for, at this period, the War Office Service alone could absolutely guarantee the transmission of the Michelin reports across the Belgian-Dutch border. CHAPTER V THE MILITARIZATION OF THE WHITE LADY THE Michelin Service now entered upon a new phase of I its activity. One of its first steps was to change its name. From the reports which had been seized on Fayen and Mont- fort, at the time of the St. George arrests, and from the photographic copies of the correspondence which had passed between Liévin and the Michelin Service, the German Secret Service was fully aware of the name. It was important that they should be led into believing that they had broken up the Service completely. There was always the possibility that an- other report might fall into their hands, and the link between it and the chain of evidence which they had built up around the St. George arrests had to be destroyed. The Michelin Service, therefore, disappeared in name, and became first of all B. 149, and then “The White Lady”—the legendary phantom whose appearance to a ruling Hohenzollern would herald the downfall of the dynasty. Permission to militarize the Service gave new life to Dewé and Chauvin: abandoned projects were resuscitated, and the militarization was immediately put into effect. When the Service was first founded, they had tried to organize the dif- ferent sections, or sectors, as separate and independent nests, with centers at Liège, Brussels, Namur, and Charleroi; they MILITARIZATION 59 had even intended to create individual “letter-boxes” for each section, to enable their reports to be picked up by independent couriers from Holland, and passed through four distinct pas- sages at the frontier. They soon realized, however, that a single frontier passage was all Liévin could manage; in addition, lack of experience kept the heads of sections continually in consultation with Headquarters in Liège. The result was that though certain individual agents, more exposed than others, were isolated, yet as a whole the Service had remained closely knitted together. The militarization and increased experience gained by the heads of sections during the past year, at last gave Dewé and Chauvin an opportunity to attain, in a slightly modified form, what they had been striving for from the beginning. Three battalions were created with centers at Liège, Namur, and Charleroi. Each battalion was divided into companies, each company into platoons. Thus the Namur sector became Battalion II, with companies at Marche, Namur, and Chimay; and the Marche company had its platoons at Marche, Arlon, and Luxemburg; the Namur and Chimay companies were similarly divided up into platoons. Each unit covered the area designated by its name. Each fourth platoon in a company occupied itself exclu- sively with collecting the reports from the three other platoons, and depositing them at a “letter-box" allocated to the company. Each battalion also had a special unit, some of whose members collected the reports at the company “letter-boxes” and de- posited them at the battalion “letter-box," while a special member carried the reports from this "letter-box" to the Head- quarters' “letter-box" in Liège. In Liège there were three "letter-boxes," one for each battalion. These “letter-boxes," and 60 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY the couriers serving them, were kept as completely isolated as possible. They knew nothing about the Service except their own particular duties; it was forbidden them to try and dis- cover the identity of any member of the Service. Each battalion had a secretariat where the reports picked up at the battalion “letter-box” were typed out, after they had been scrutinized by the battalion commander. At Liège, the reports from the three battalions were examined and criticized by Dewé and Chauvin, and were then passed on to the Head- quarters' secretariat, where they were prepared for transmission to Holland. A special courier carried the reports from the Headquarters secretariat to the frontier "letter-box.” Here the duties of the War Office Service commenced. It was up to it to pick up the reports at this “letter-box” and convey them across the frontier into Holland. The rôle of frontier "letter-box” was the most dangerous in the organization, and so not only the agent occupying it, but every one coming into contact with him, was especially isolated. The typing of the reports served a twofold purpose: it diminished the bulk, and it removed the evidence which handwriting would have supplied, if the reports were seized. General Headquarters consisted of the two Chiefs; a Supreme Council of eight members; a chaplain; a counter- espionage section; a section to deal with finances; a courier section; the secretariat already mentioned; a section to attend to the hiding of compromised agents, and to make arrange- ments for their escape across the frontier into Holland; and, finally, a section to study all new extensions, and, if approved by the Supreme Council, to carry them into effect. ON MILITARIZATION 61 All members were required to take one of the following oaths of allegiance: (1) “I declare that I have engaged myself as a soldier in the Military Observation Corps of the Allies until the end of the War. "I swear before God to respect this engagement; to accomplish conscientiously the duties which are entrusted to me; to obey my superior officers; not to reveal to any one whomsoever, without for- mal permission, anything concerning the Service, not even if this should entail for me or mine the penalty of death; not to join any other espionage service, nor to undertake any work extraneous to the Service, which might either cause an inquiry or my arrest by the Germans." (2) The same oath of allegiance as above, but instead of the phrase "to accomplish conscientiously the duties which are entrusted to me,” it was allowed to substitute the following: “to accomplish conscientiously the duties which I have undertaken, or shall under- take in the future.” To each was given a lead identity disc, with his name, date and place of birth, and matriculation number engraved on it. This disc was to be buried immediately, and was not to be disinterred until after the War. In addition to the reorganization already mentioned, the militarization, and the oath of allegiance had other far-reaching effects. Hitherto, being civilians, Dewé and Chauvin had been forced to discuss all projects with agents before they would carry them out. This not only involved loss of time, but it forced them to disclose details of organization, which should have been kept secret. Now a subordinate agent could be ordered to do what was required. The oath of allegiance also put a stop, once and for all, to agents involving themselves in such subsidiary duties as the 62 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY distribution of letters from Belgian soldiers at the front; the circulation of La Libre Belgique, and other clandestine publi- cations; and the assisting of Belgians of military age to escape across the frontier. These extraneous activities not only often led to the arrest of agents, but invariably compromised the whole espionage organization to which they belonged. The militarization also eased the minds of the many Bel- gians of military age enrolled in “The White Lady.” These men, recruited from the most patriotic elements of the popula- tion, wanted to be sure that neither the Belgian authorities nor the public would criticize them after the War for not having crossed the frontier to join the Belgian Army. Finally, the fear of a post-War Military Court Martial acted as an additional deterrent to those who were arrested. Betrayal was the principal source of information of the German Secret Police-German third-degree methods, and the use of stool- pigeons in the prisons taxed the loyalty of the prisoners to the limit of their endurance. Not satisfied with the increased security which the mili- tarization had brought them, Dewé and Chauvin employed all their ingenuity and organizing ability to consolidate the Service, and to protect it still further against the German Secret Police. All members of “The White Lady” were instructed to use false names both in their reports, and in contacting other mem- bers of the Service. Dewé became in turn van den Bosch, Gauthier, and Muraille; Chauvin assumed successively the names of Beaumont, Valdor, Granito, Bouchon and Dumont; while Neujean was known as Petit. It will be seen later how these false names saved both Dewé and Neujean from certain arrest. Oscar DOUBLET One of the couriers of the Hirson Platoon. (See Chapter VI) Juliette DelruaLLE (See Chapter IX) 312 20 Breda ONE OF THE HIDE-OUTS WHERE COMPROMISED Agents Were HIDDEN MILITARIZATION To prevent discovery and arrest, the greatest ingenuity was employed in choosing and fitting out each of the two head. quarters. The main one was a perfect rabbit warren. It had five exits—one into the front street; one into a back garden, from which access could be gained to a side street, by way of an alley; one to the roof through a skylight; and finally two, one on each floor, leading through very ordinary looking wall closets into the adjoining house, where an apparently harmless old couple lived, who, as far as their neighbors were concerned, never held any communication with the inmates of the house next door. At the reserve headquarters, in addition to several exits, there was a blind room without windows, which was specially useful on occasions when the Council met late at night-the curfew laws, in operation in the occupied terri- tories, required all lights to be extinguished by a certain hour. "The White Lady” also had three houses in Liège which were used as hiding places for compromised agents. The arrest of Father Des Onays, and the danger to which both of them had been exposed in their contact with frontier couriers, had taught Dewé and Chauvin a lesson. They now systematically removed all connecting links between them- selves and their frontier posts. Frontier "letter-boxes" and couriers who knew their identity were retired, and new ones were recruited through suitable intermediaries. In doing this, they knew that they would still be exposed to many dangers, some unforeseen, others which they would have to face in the everyday execution of their duties; but, as chiefs of "The White Lady,” they realized that it was their duty not to incur unnecessary risks. On the other hand, they never shrank from undertaking a mission, however dangerous it might be, if they W emo 64 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY considered that they themselves were the best fitted to carry it out. As a final precaution, the names and addresses of the three battalion “letter-boxes” were sent through to me in Holland in code permitting me to make direct contact with the bat- talions in the event that “The White Lady” Headquarters should be seized. Notwithstanding all these precautionary measures, and in spite of the guiding genius of Dewé and Chauvin, “The White Lady” found itself engaged in a life and death struggle with the German Secret Police during the next eighteen months. CHAPTER VI THE HIRSON PLATOON THE experiences and adventures of the Hirson Platoon I were representative of the thirty-eight platoons of “The White Lady." True, each kept watch over different areas, but their problems, their duties, their spy-technique, and, finally, the dangers they encountered were the same. I have chosen to tell about this particular platoon, not because it provided more thrilling adventures than the others, but merely because, being one of the last units to be formed, its story can be told within the space of a single chapter. I refer those who would like more specific details as to the sort of information these valiant agents collected at the risk of their lives, to the appen- dix. There I have inserted a number of the questionnaires and "spy instructions” which were sent from Holland to our agents in the occupied territories. These questionnaires do not cover all the material obtained-much of that was left to the spy's own appreciation of the situation—but they do illustrate the systematic routine information required by Allied General Headquarters. I have already pointed out that many documents were faked, and many of them were planted on the Allies, but the evidence collected by the vigilant band of “White Lady” agents, who eventually covered the whole area behind 65 66 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY the German Western Front from Verdun to the Sea, was conclusive. It was towards the end of August, 1917, after we had been in touch with “The White Lady" about a month, that we received word of a young French refugee who was in hiding at the house of one of their agents in Liège. On the plea that they had given him important verbal information to commu- nicate to us about their organization, they requested that we make arrangements for his passage into Holland. We were not very enthusiastic. We had already placed several frontier passages at the disposal of “The White Lady.” We had provided them with a dictionary code which they could safely use. And we were anxious to abolish their system of sending delegates across the border into Holland. They were exposed to the danger of being caught, and the even greater danger-strange as it may seem-that they would divulge details of our organization to the other Allied secret services, whose prying curiosity was as likely to attract the attention of the German Secret Police as any slip on the part of our agents. “The White Lady" insisted, however; and so we sent in Charles Willekens, our most trusted frontier guide, to fetch him. I was attracted to Edmond Amiable as soon as I saw him- a young man of about twenty, of medium height, trimly athletic, his frank eyes blazing with enthusiasm. In a few words, he gave me his story. He had intended entering the priesthood, and had already completed part of his novitiate when he felt the urge to escape from occupied territory in order to join the Army and serve his country. He told of the 68 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY ordinary activities of business and of life continued even in the presence of the Germans; in occupied France, trade and industry had been completely crippled, a great part of the civilian population had been deported, and those who remained had to obtain special permits to travel even two or three miles. When I broached the subject to Amiable, he immediately consented. He insisted, however, that I get permission from the French authorities, so that on his return he could satisfy his father, a veteran of the Franco-German War, who had encouraged him to escape. General Bucabeille, the French mili- tary attaché at The Hague, readily complied with our wishes. He interviewed his young compatriot and returned him to us with an official blessing for the success of the undertaking. As much as I should have preferred getting Amiable to mount an independent service, with separate couriers right through to me in Holland, I knew this was impossible. In order to block off the area immediately behind their front line, the Germans had posted a cordon of sentries along the Franco-Belgian border, and were maintaining almost as strict surveillance there as they were along the Belgian-Dutch fron- tier. To penetrate this barrier, I knew it would require an organization on the spot. I decided, therefore, to return Amiable unreservedly to “The White Lady,” and leave it to them to mount this new service in conjunction with their own. Calling him No. A. 91, we placed him once again in the hands of our frontier guide, the trusted and undaunted Charles Willekens, and returned him to the address in Liège where we had picked him up. Dewé and Chauvin threw themselves enthusiastically into the creation of this new service. For some time they had envisaged the formation of a company in the Chimay area, THE HIRSON PLATOON 69 and Hirson would fit admirably into it as one of its four platoons. Since not only the mounting of the Hirson Platoon, but that of a whole company was involved, Chauvin decided to accompany A. 91 on his mission. On August 29th, 1917, Chauvin and A. 91 arrived at Bat- talion Headquarters in Namur. There Abbé Philippot, the Commander of the Second Battalion, to which the Chimay Company was to be attached after formation, gave them a letter of introduction to Ghislain Hanotier, a friend of his, whom he knew he could trust. Two days later, A. 91 and Chauvin, who had carefully hidden his identity under the name of Dumont, arrived in Chimay. While A. 91 left for Macon, a village some two miles from the Franco-Belgian border, Dumont went off to find Hanotier. This man, who had already served for two years in an old espionage service (the Service Biscops, which eventually had lost contact with Holland), received Dumont with open arms. With his aid, Dumont in addition to a "letter-box" for Chimay, soon recruited two couriers-one between Chimay and the French frontier, the other between Chimay and the Bat- talion “letter-box” in Namur. In the meantime, A. 91, after several fruitless endeavors to find a guide to take Dumont and himself across the fron- tier, eventually addressed himself to Anatole Gobeaux, a man whom he had known since boyhood. Gobeaux, who between teaching in the Macon village school found time to run a sabot syndicate, belonged to one of those old families of Sambre and-Meuse, whose patriotism and sense of honor are traditional. Brave, and determined, he had been a leader in every patriotic activity in the village from the first days of the occupation. 72 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY dinary inhabitants of the village. Their audacity and the casual air they assumed, worked; they were already about thirty yards past them, and had boldly entered a road leading to the village, when one of the soldiers, apparently as an after-thought, shouted, 'Halt!' “Dumont and A.91, pretending not to hear, hastened their steps. Again shouts of 'Halt!' 'Halt!' this time followed by the whiz of a bullet. As if by common accord, they threw themselves at the hedge bordering the road-A.91 to the left, Dumont to the right. Dumont, emerging on the other side of the hedge, was seen by one of the soldiers, who had followed his maneuver. As the soldier made a dash for him, Dumont took to his heels. He was rapidly losing breath, when he fell headlong into a ditch which he had failed to see in the dark. Completely exhausted, he lay where he was. The soldier passed by without seeing him. “In the distance, Dumont heard a struggle going on, terminating in a cry of triumph. Then silence. 'A.91 has been caught,' passed through his mind. For an hour Dumont did not stir. Then a heavy rain started falling, and he resolved to make a move. His first thoughts were to reach the house of A.gi's faiher, but so convinced was he that A.91 had been arrested that he dismissed the idea im- mediately—it would be the very spot where the Secret Police would be waiting for him. There seemed no alternative but to try and get back to Belgium. “Wandering through the night, aided by the obscurity and the rain, Dumont eventually reached Macon. It was in a pitiful condi- tion, his face and hands torn by the underbrush, wet to the skin, covered with mud, and completely exhausted, that I found him at my front door at dawn. After a change of clothes, and a few hours sleep, I drove him in a cart to Chimay, where together with Hano- tier, we went over the night's adventures, and lamented the fate of A.91. “What had happened to A.91 during this time? When he passed through the fence, instead of running away from it as Dumont had done, he ran along it for about fifty yards, and there finding an opening, he pushed his way into the center of the hedge. Here, afraid to move, he remained for at least three hours. At one time, THE HIRSON PLATOON 73 he heard a group of soldiers, not ten yards away from him, dis- cussing what had happened to the two of them. It was not until the rain came that he found it safe to move. Eventually, groping his way across the fields, he reached his father's home at midnight. "Quickly, he explained to the surprised old man, the crowded events of the evening. Anxiously, they waited for Dumont to ar- rive; and then as morning came, they gave up hope. Dumont had surely been arrested, was their only conclusion. “During the course of the day, A.91 explained his mission to his father, himself a rugged veteran of former wars. The father nobly undertook to organize the Hirson Platoon. Much as his family would have liked him to remain at least for a few days, they coun- seled A.91 to return to Belgium immediately-every one in the village knew that he had left to join the French Army, via Holland, several months previously; it would have been suicidal to remain. On the next night, therefore, once again guided by Moreau, he re- gained my home in Macon without any further adventures. Great was his surprise and joy, when he heard of Dumont's safe return. It was a still more surprised Dumont, who greeted him, when A.91 reached Chimay.” It was to the neighboring village of Fourmies that Amiable Senior, who had assumed the name of “Pierre," first went. Here lived Felix Latouche (“Dominique"), a former railway employee of the Campagnie du Nord, with whom A. 91, when still a boy, had made friends. Apart from his ardent patriotism, Dominique had a private score to settle with the Germans: during the earlier stages of the occupation, they had forced him to remain for several months at his post on the railway, threatening deportation of his family and himself if he refused. He joyfully entered the services of “The White Lady,” when solicited by Pierre. Dominique's cottage, right on the railway line, was admi- rably situated for watching the troop trains as they passed by, 74 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY night and day; and here, the dream of the Allied secret services was at last realized. Aided by his wife, and his two little sisters, aged 14 and 13 years, Dominique mounted a train- watching post on the Hirson-Mézières line. Every one in this humble household did their share of watching. By day it was the two small girls, who, through a narrow slit in the heavily curtained windows, scrutinized the trains as they went by; at night it was Dominique and his wife. The composition of the trains was jotted down in terms of comestibles: beans for soldiers, chicory for horses, coffee for cannons, and so on. The reports, in readiness for the courier, were hidden in the hollow handle of a kitchen broom, which was left innocently in its place in the corner. On September 23rd, the Fourmies post, No. 201 in the Service, started working, and from then on until the Armistice, not a single troop train was missed on this the most important railway artery behind the German front. Pierre continued the difficult task of recruiting agents. The danger he ran can only be estimated by one who has been in the service. Even after narrowing down his list to the chosen few whom he considered capable and trustworthy, there always remained the risk of refusal, and the fear, not so much of betrayal, but of gossip reaching the ears of one of the many German stool-pigeons to be found in every village. At Glageon, mid-way between Trélon and Fourmies, Pierre recruited his next agent, Crésillon, an employee at a sawmill forcibly kept in operation by the Germans. Adjoining the saw- mill was a German engineer park, where ladders to place over barbed wire entanglements, trench floor boards, mines to be used against tanks, and all kinds of trench material were manufactured. At this park there was a continual coming and m THE HIRSON PLATOON 75 going of detachments, sent by their divisions to fetch supplies; and here it was that Crésillon kept watch. To his competent eye, the noting of regimental numbers, and the gleaning of military information became a routine performance; he was one of the principal members of the Hirson Platoon, who, later on in February, 1918, sent us that sure indication that it was from the sector opposite this area that the Germans were to launch their great March offensive. In addition to this valuable work, Crésillon also undertook the duties of “letter-box” and courier. The reports from Fourmies, Avesnes, and other areas were deposited at his house, and from here, regularly twice a week, he carried them half way to Trélon to hand them over to Pierre. From Pierre, as we have already seen, Moreau carried them over the frontier to Gobeaux in Macon. Fearing that his constant meetings with Pierre, which generally took place during the luncheon hour, would attract attention, he eventually handed over his courier duties to his wife. In her profession as midwife, she had an excuse to travel. The Germans never suspected, as she hurried out on her frequent calls, that the delivery of deadly spy reports, cunningly wrapped around the whale bones of her corset, was her special vocation. In the face of danger, illness, rain, and snow, the Service went on night and day without a break. It was the couriers who had the most dangerous and the most arduous work. None showed a finer devotion to the patriotic cause they served than Eglantine Lefèvre. On the many occasions the Kaiser took up his quarters at the Château de Merode, near Trélon, and all the roads were ferociously guarded, and not even Crésillon's wife could circulate, it was Eglantine Lefèvre who carried the reports through at night by way of the fields 76 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY and the woods. Her name is written down in the annals of the Hirson Platoon as having sacrificed her life in the execu- tion of her duties. Stricken at the time of the Spanish influenza epidemic, she insisted on carrying the reports through to Trélon, even though she was running a high temperature and ached in every limb. She collapsed on reaching Pierre's house and died the next day. The Hirson Platoon had now grown to some fifty odd members. The Trélon-Glageon-Fourmies-Avesnes area was covered by an invisible network, which daily caught every German move; but in spite of Pierre's heroic efforts, Hirson itself still eluded his grasp. He had penetrated into the town; he had even succeeded in mounting train-watching posts there to control the important branch lines which converged at this center; but he had been unable to find a courier to surmount the difficulties of the Hirson-Trélon route. It was Gobeaux who came to the rescue. Knowing Pierre's problem, Gobeaux was naturally all attention when one day two Hirson workmen approached him with the object of planning an escape to join the French Army. Gobeaux was quick to suggest to them that they should join the Army of “The White Lady.” One of them, who took the service name of “José,” consented, and Gobeaux sent him back immediately to Hirson to mount a courier service between Hirson and Macon. José, in spite of his willingness, was unable to find any one to help him except his wife, and after making two journeys, covering the long distance alone, he gave up in despair. But Gobeaux, realizing the importance of the Hirson reports, was not to be discouraged. Accompanied by an intimate friend of his, Delchambre, he set out for Hirson, early in January, 1918, THE HIRSON PLATOON determined to solve the problem on the spot. Traversing the forest of St. Michel, they managed to reach their destination. There they put fresh courage into José, and after many set- backs succeeded in enrolling two agents to act in a relay with him. They remained long enough to assure themselves that the Hirson train-watching posts had been definitely linked up with Pierre through the Glageon “letter-box.” Jubilant at the success of their mission, the two of them started back on the return journey. They were approaching the frontier, when suddenly out of the night, they heard the traditional “Halt!” There was only one thing to do—they took to their heels. But the two German soldiers who composed the patrol were young, and even though the darkness and the trees prevented use of their rifles, they could run. Gobeaux and his companion realized their only chance was to hide. Crouched behind a bush, they anxiously waited for the soldiers to pass. The soldiers, however, hearing no noise, started searching around. Gobeaux whispered quick instructions to Delchambre. As the soldiers got within reach, the two jumped out on them, and made a grab for their rifles. Each grappled with his man; and, in the hand-to-hand struggle which followed, Gobeaux, in trying to grab his man by the throat, stuck his thumb into his mouth. The German bit into the bone; but Gobeaux was a powerful man—with his free fist he knocked him senseless. Springing to Delchambre's aid, he dealt the other soldier a blow over the head with the butt-end of his rifle. Taking to their heels again, they managed to regain Macon in safety. Gobeaux nursed a broken thumb for several weeks, but as he philosophically told me after the Armistice, “The Hirson posts were well worth it.” What annoyed him most of all was that he had to remain in hiding until his thumb healed: for 78 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY days, the Secret Police searched for a man with a lacerated thumb. Such a direct fight with Secret Police or German soldier was a rarity. It was confined to the frontier struggles at the two borders, where our agents, often poachers, or smugglers were quick with knife and gun. As a rule, it was hopeless to attempt physical resistance. The spy relied on his wits, and in this he was often more than a match for his German opponent. The Hirson Platoon functioned until the end of the War without a single arrest-a truly remarkable achievement in the face of the strict German surveillance. Its success was largely due to the paternal guidance of Pierre. Their fervent patriotism, their trust in God, and the affection they had for each other, these were the influences that inspired them. A remarkable feature not only of the Hirson Platoon, but of the whole "White Lady" organization was family coöpera- cion. Husband, wife, children, even the dog (watching at the door), and often the furniture (a hiding place for compro mising documents), cach played a part. Immediately after his return from Trélon, A. 91 went back to Liège with Chauvin. There for a period of six weeks, twice a week, he eagerly scanned the reports; he assisted Dewé and Chauvin in making the necessary criticisms, and watched with satisfaction the gradual extension of his father's platoon. He knew that it was supplying the Allies with the only infor- mation which came out of this vital area, and he was justly praard. A or's three months' leave of absence, which General Pinabeille had granted him, was about to expire. Dewé and Chauvin reminded us of our promise to fetch him, and once THE HIRSON PLATOON 79 again, on November 24th, 1917, it was Charles Willekens who brought him safely into Holland. He had crossed the high- voltage electric wire three times—twice as a spy-in itself a heroic achievement. After spending a day with him, plying him with eager questions, and listening to his detailed account of every inci- dent that had occurred during his last eventful three months in the interior, I said good-by and wished him good luck in his new adventure. Like Lawrence of Arabia, he was setting out as a seasoned veteran to become a cog in a machine-a recruit in the French Army. He was drafted into the 26th Battalion of the Chasseurs à Pied After the War, he entered one of the religious orders. CHAPTER VII COURIERS, FRONTIER PASSAGES, AND SECRET CODES THOSE small cigarette-shaped rolls of fine tissue paper I spelled life and death during the occupation. Vital to the Allies, they contained the information that had to be pushed through to Holland at all costs. And to the Secret Police they were precious, too: they represented the evidence necessary to convict. "The White Lady," at this time, had agents covering the whole of Belgium and most of occupied France. Dozens of couriers were daily traveling from one “letter-box” to another, facing discovery at any moment. The art was both to conceal the documents, and, if necessary, to be able to get rid of them quickly without detection. Dozens of devices and places of concealment were used, but the most favored was just an ordi- nary looking cane, similar in appearance to hundreds in daily use. There was a difference, however-it was hollow. Dewé and Chauvin had a man in Liège, who was an expert in con- structing these walking sticks. The hook screwed off under the metal initial band, exposing a cavity which could hold about six rolls, each containing at least twenty-five typewritten sheets of tissue paper. Strange to say, although many of these canes were used, the Germans never discovered one of them. Another 80 COURIERS, PASSAGES, AND CODES 81 device was a small heavy metal tube, dirty brown in color, just large enough to hold a single tube. It was chiefly used by local couriers, who only had a small volume of reports to transport. Carried in the sleeve, this tube could be dropped quickly with- out attracting attention. From a number of courier experiences, I picked out at random a report concerning a young girl, “The White Lady” courier between Liège and Namur. If her documents had been intercepted it would have meant death or life imprisonment. “Namur! Namur! 'At last!' sighs Juliette with relief, as she gets up to leave the train. In truth, Liège is a long distance off during the occupation, and when one is carrying compromising documents, and funds for 'The White Lady, one is not sorry to reach one's destination. "Thus absorbed in thought, Juliette arrives at the barrier—the place where tickets, and identity cards are inspected. "Instead of the wave of the hand signifying that she can pass on, she hears a vigorous 'Get over there!,' accompanied by a sig- nificant gesture. These three simple words have a terrible signifi- cance for her. It means being searched and having to furnish an explanation for her journey to Liège. She would like to slip her brother the small compromising roll sewed in a piece of black cloth. But no, it is impossible--the German has his eyes on her. “She goes into the room indicated by the German secret agent, her mind feverishly at work on how to get rid of the small black object. Victory! Her eye is focussed on the radiator, and with a slight movement of the hand, presto! the compromising roll has disappeared behind it. Ouf! They can come now-she is ready for them. "Here they are! A sick relative in Liège explains the object of her visit. Remains the search. She is taken into the adjoining room by a German woman, who completely strips her, goes through her hand bag, and examines her clothes, slitting a hem here and there. Nothing is found. She is free. 82 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY "She dresses slowly, and when she passes into the next room again, she finds it empty—the platform is clear, the railway pas- sengers have departed. She thinks of the little black object behind the radiator. She gives a hurried look—it is still there. She picks it up, and once again the Secret Police have been tricked.” If the couriers in the interior had dangers to face, our agents at the frontier had even greater ones to contend with. The Germans knew, as well as we did, that an espionage service in the interior had no utility unless it could commu- nicate with the outside; reports were valueless until they reached Allied General Headquarters. At the frontier every one in the espionage service prepared for a life and death struggle. A study of the Allied espionage organizations which functioned in the occupied territory during the War, discloses that nearly all of them were eventually broken up by either being betrayed or compromised by those who were responsible for the passage of their reports at the frontier. The War Office Service had undertaken to bring "The White Lady” reports out of the occupied territory, and an ex- amination of the following record of frontier passages, placed at the exclusive disposal of “The White Lady,” shows that it kept its word: Passage I: The “letter-box” was at Liège. It functioned from July, 1917, to December, 1917, at which period it had to be isolated owing to the arrest of some of its members who were involved in helping refugees to escape across the frontier. Passage II: The “letter-box” was first of all at Hasselt, and then was moved to Tongres. It functioned from December, 1917, to May, 1918, at which period it had to be isolated. Passage III: “Letter-box" at Liège. It functioned as a reserve pas- sage, through which duplicate reports were sent out from August, COURIERS, PASSAGES, AND CODES 83 1917, to January 12th, 1918, on which date one of the couriers was arrested on suspicion. He was released twenty-one days later. The passage was re-mounted, and functioned again from September, 1918, until the Armistice. Passage IV: This was a reserve passage through which dummy reports were sent out. It was never brought into active use by “The White Lady." Passage V: "Letter-box” at Antwerp. It functioned as a reserve passage with dummy reports from December, 1917, to April 12th, 1918, on which date one of the couriers was arrested, and the "letter-box” had to be isolated. Passage VI: "Letter-box" first of all at Maeseyck, and then at Hasselt. It functioned with dummy reports from July, 1917, until March, 1918, at which period it was switched into active service by “The White Lady.” For seven months the reports came out regu- larly twice a week, and then, suddenly, on October ist, 1918, all its members were arrested by the Secret Police and a whole batch of "White Lady” reports were seized at the same time. Passage VII: “Letter-box" first of all at Brussels, and then at Hasselt. It functioned from August, 1918, until the Armistice. ase. To keep the frontier passages open in the face of the cease- less German vigilance, required untold cunning, loyalty, and meticulous coöperation on the part of the five or six men and women, who were employed at each of them. Above all, the greatest credit is due to Oram and his band of frontier men strung out along the Dutch border; they were not only respon- sible for the mounting of these passages, but, night and day, they also watched the agents working them. One of the greatest difficulties which had to be overcome was to keep the reserve frontier passages in a state of readiness for active use. In contrast to the agents in the interior, most of the men and women who worked these frontier passages were mercenary—they had to be given an opportunity to earn 84 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY money. It is true we could have used them in connection with one of the several small espionage organizations which we kept going in the interior independently of “The White Lady," but in doing this we would have established that very contact between our separate services which we were determined to prevent. There was, therefore, no alternative but to send either duplicate or dummy reports through them. This was an ex- pensive procedure, but it achieved its purpose; and, at the time of the Maeseyck arrests, the occasion on which “The White Lady” reports were seized, the duplicate reports had a real utility. Border characters of every type were used at these frontier passages. For example, there were the smugglers "Tilman” and his son, who, on their smuggling trips across the Meuse, at Maeseyck, never forgot that extra package, “The White Lady” reports. Then there was that hardy band of frontier guides who frequented the scrub and brush of the Campine, the area to the north of Liège, bordering on the Dutch fron- tier. Strong, fleet of foot, fearless, quick with the knife and in the use of their guns, they were a terror to the German sentries and Secret Police detailed to watch them. Smugglers and poachers in peace-time, they knew every inch of the fron- tier, and the passing of refugees, soldiers' letters, and, finally, spy reports, came natural to them. They kept faith with their own gang rather than with any country. Among this band we were fortunate to find two of our most valued border agents. To Charles Willekens we owed a debt we could never repay- a spy to be taken into Belgium through the high-voltage electric wire, or a compromised agent to be brought out, it was he who never failed us. A worthy assistant was his companion, Leopold Toelen. To Toelen we owed the frontier passage at COURIERS, PASSAGES, AND CODES 85 Luiksgestel through which our first contact with “The White Lady” was made. In his courier system was a clever conductor on the inter-urban railway between Liège and Oostham who threw the reports off to one of Toelen's men hiding in the grass near a level crossing. Sometimes it was the remains of a meal, at other times it was an old newspaper, which the con- ductor casually discarded. But these passages at the frontier were the exception. It was generally a peasant at the frontier, who did the passing. Behind his mask of peasant stupidness, there lurked a cunning which often completely outwitted the Ger- mans. He was often arrested, but the job was to find the reports: he rarely had them on him. Sometimes they were hidden in a clod of earth; sometimes, if he was working in a potato field, it would be a big tuber that encased the precious roll; and often they were buried the day before near the high- voltage electric wire where, with one quick movement, they could be pulled out of their hiding place and thrown across the wire to the Dutch peasant—the confederate on the other side. To Dewé's and Chauvin's scientific minds, these frontier methods at first seemed crude. They were continually thinking in terms either of a secret telephone wire through to Holland, or of the use of wireless. In the wireless field, Chauvin carried out considerable ex- perimental work trying to evolve some scheme by which they could evade the German directional finders; but portability, which was essential, was impossible with the heavy sending sets of those days. When reminiscing, Chauvin likes to tell how at this period he forgot a package one day under the seat of a Liège street car. It contained his wireless receiving set. Suddenly realizing his loss, he chased after the car. A German JIS 86 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY ore officer who happened to be on the rear platform thoroughly enjoyed the schoolboy antics of the bearded middle-aged pro- fessor; he yelled encouragement, and, wishing to be useful, handed him the compromising package, adding, “Well done!" “Of course, I should have let it go," Chauvin admits, “but I had spent several days making it; and impulse overcame my prudence.” With the telephone, Dewé and Chauvin worked even more assiduously. Their first thought naturally was to run an under- ground wire through to Holland, and after considerable search, they found a house near the frontier, in the Hasselt sector, which could serve for their telephonists. But the difficulties involved in running the wire from the house to a point across the frontier proved unsurmountable. Finally, in a desperate attempt to achieve their objective, Dandrimont, one of their agents, was electrocuted. As a result of this, they reluctantly abandoned their efforts in this area. Chauvin still clung to the idea, however, and it was he who came forward with a new plan. It was based on the principle that if the earth is used as a return circuit in a field telephone installation, messages can be intercepted by another similar installation, with its connecting wire running parallel to that of the first. Once again, therefore, they started looking for a suitable emplacement. In his enthusiasm, Chauvin soon dis- covered, in the Maestricht sector of the Belgian-Dutch border, what he was looking for. Here the Meuse separates the two countries, and because of the water, there was little surveillance. He not only found in this area two cottages about a hundred yards apart between which they could run an underground telephone wire, but on the Dutch side opposite there was a big estate owned by a Dutchman who was reputed to be very COURIERS, PASSAGES, AND CODES 87 pro-Belgian. All this happened shortly before Lemaire was sent out on his mission to Holland, which resulted in “The White Lady” becoming attached to us. When he entered Holland he sounded the Dutchman out. He was completely successful not only in obtaining permission for us to install the second line on the man's property, but he was also promised that pry- ing eyes would be kept away. I am afraid I was responsible for not putting Chauvin's scheme into practice. I had no doubt in my mind that the- oretically it would work-we had intercepted German mes- sages in this way at the front—but “The White Lady” reports were coming through regularly at the frontier, and I dreaded making a change. Besides, it would have involved putting agents of “The White Lady" at the frontier—a radical depar- ture from our system, which called for complete isolation of frontier agents from the main organization in the interior, ex- cept, of course, for the necessary “letter-box.” So I stalled and though I did get over from England the necessary telephone apparatus, Dewé and Chauvin were still urging me to take action when the Armistice was declared. Fully realizing the dangers at the frontier and the in- stability of the best of frontier passages, we prepared ourselves for the worst. We knew “The White Lady” reports would eventually fall into the hands of the Secret Police. When this happened, both “The White Lady” and ourselves were de- termined that it should have no harmful effect. We had to see to it, therefore, that the reports contained no indication of source; and to do this, we had to resort to the use of codes. The first step was to give numbers to the various important centers in the occupied territory. Liège became o, Namur 40, Brussels 100, Chimay 80, Fourmies 200, and so on. Train-watch- 88 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY ing posts were indicated in a similar way; for example, the five posts at Namur, on the Liège, Charleroi, Arlon, Dinant, and Brussels lines, were numbered from 41 to 45 consecutively, and the directions were shown by the numbers allocated to the stations. Names, addresses, and details of organization were rarely committed to paper. When this had to be done, codes were similarly used. In the interior, the code system generally em- ployed was based on some passage or rhymed verse which was either universally known, or could be committed to memory. For some time “The White Lady” used the Lord's Prayer, the Pater noster. Each letter was indicated by two numbers sepa- rated by a comma. The first number gave the position of the word in the passage; while the second number gave the position of the letter in the word. Thus the letter “e” could be written, 1,4; 2,5; or by as many combinations as there were “e's” in the Prayer. Numbers were written as words and then coded. Let- ters such as “x,” not contained in the Prayer, were given spe- cial combination numbers which had to be memorized. The Pater only has six letters of the alphabet missing. To complicate the system, the parent passage was changed from time to time. On several occasions, “The White Lady” cleverly used the printed instructions on the back of their iden- tity cards. By German ordinance the inhabitants had to carry these cards on their person, and so a code was always available. The disadvantage of this system was that a single word of betrayal would have immediately given the Germans the key. Between “The White Lady” and the War Office Service in Holland a much more complicated code system was em- ployed. It was a combination of a pocket dictionary and a column of arbitrary numbers marked on a light cardboard COURIERS, PASSAGES, AND CODES 89 strip. This strip, the size of the dictionary page, was placed up against the column of words, and as the spacing was the same, a number fell opposite each word. To find the code number for a word such as "here,” the word would be turned up in the dictionary, say on page 434; the slip would now be placed in position, and opposite “here” we would see the number, say 495; the code number for "here” would then be 495434. This could be made more complicated by multiplying this number by a common factor, or adding or subtracting a fixed sum. As the numbers on the slip were changed continually, and as there are hundreds of dictionaries of all sizes, editions, and languages in existence, this dictionary code was undecipherable without a key. For letters of the alphabet, needed for spelling out a name or an address, and for military terms not given in the diction- ary, we used a grid of vertical and horizontal columns of squares. Thus if the letter “a” fell in the first row horizontally, and the third row vertically, its code number was 13 and four imaginary numbers were then added to make it a six figure number. A special six figure number was used as a prefix to indicate the transition from the dictionary to the grid code. By having several squares for each vowel, detection by the repetition system was avoided; besides, this grid code was changed at regular intervals. Having thus eliminated all possibility of the Secret Police gaining any knowledge of “The White Lady” organization from their reports, we still had to take the necessary measures to prevent arrests among the frontier passage agents spreading to “The White Lady” through their "letter-boxes.” To achieve this purpose, “The White Lady" made its Counter-Espionage Section under Neujean the liaison between the frontier "letter- boxes” and itself. No wiser step could have been taken, for 30 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY Neujean and other members of the sûreté who helped him not only had knowledge of German Secret Police activities but they alone understood the mentality of the border people. It was Neujean and his men, then, who watched over the "letter-boxes"; ever on the alert, they were quick to spot that preliminary surveillance which always preceded every arrest made by the Secret Police. In addition, there was only one man in Neujean's Counter-Espionage Section, who carried “The White Lady" reports from their secretariat to the “letter- boxes”; whenever there was the least hint of an arrest this man, who alone of "The White Lady” organization was known to the "letter-boxes," was immediately sent into hiding. Surle- mont, who passed under the name of “Léon," played this con- fidential rôle. For months nothing happened. Many arrests were made at the frontier, but they were either shots in the dark (agents seen approaching the high-voltage electric wire too often) or they were the result of passing soldiers' letters or aiding refugees to escape. These side activities, expressly forbidden by us, were ever a temptation to the cupidity of the frontier agents. The hours spent in coding and the Counter-Espionage Sec- tion's faithful watch were eventually justified. Shortly before the Armistice, as will be related in a subsequent chapter, the Secret Police seized the reports at the frontier. In the desperate investigation which ensued, it was only these precautions, so wisely and patiently undertaken, which saved "The White Lady" from certain destruction, CHAPTER VIII THE GERMAN SECRET POLICE: THEIR METHODS AND ORGANIZATION T ET us now look behind the scenes in the German camp to catch a glimpse of the forces arrayed against “The White Lady." The German counter-espionage activities in the occupied territories were directed by the military authorities. There were two distinct groups: The Geheimen Feld polizei, or Secret Field Police; and the Secret Police attached to the Zentral polizeistelle, or Central Police Bureau. The Secret Field Police were the police of the German armies in the field, but as each Army Headquarters remained fixed for the greater part of the War, the various Secret Field Police units had definite areas to watch. Thus, for example, the Secret Field Police of the IVth German Army covered the Ghent sector; while those of the Vlth Army had its sphere of action round Lille. In their aggregate these areas composed the Etappengebiet, or area immediately behind the German front; it also included most of Belgian Flanders. Although attached to their own Army Headquarters, the various Secret Field Police units really took their orders from a Central Bureau which cen- tralized their reports and insured coöperation. The head of this bureau, the big Chief of the whole Secret Field Police organiza- 92 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY tion, was Feld polizeidirektor Bauer. His bureau was attached to German General Headquarters in Charleville. The Zentral polizeistelle had its headquarters at Brussels, and was attached to the Staff of the German Governor-Gen- eral, von Bissing. The zone it covered was all that part of the occupied territory not controlled by the Secret Field Police, that is, all the back areas of Belgium, including the Belgian-Dutch border. This Central Police Bureau, outside of its local attach- ment to the Staff of the Governor-General, was controlled by Colonel Nicolai, the director of all German military secret service activities; his staff comprised Section IIIb, a section of the Great German General Headquarters Staff. The head of the Central Police Bureau in Belgium was Captain Imhoff, who occupied himself chiefly with administrative duties. The actual counter-espionage activities were directed by Captain Kohlmeier. Contrary to what might have been expected, it was this Central Police Bureau, and not the Secret Field Police, which was responsible for most of the spy arrests. The explana- tion of this is that both the border zone, and the headquarters of all the Allied spy organizations, fell within the area con- trolled by it. The territory under the supervision of the Central Police Bureau was divided into four districts: the provinces of Ant- werp, Limbourg, Namur, and Brabant, each in charge of a captain. These districts were in turn divided into a number of Polizeistelle, or Secret Police Posts. The Secret Police Posts at Liège, Brussels, and Antwerp were the ones with which “The White Lady" generally came into conflict. The Chief of the Polizeistelle Lüttich (Liège) was Lieu- tenant Landwerlen, whose name has already been mentioned des W THE GERMAN SECRET POLICE 93 in connection with the Lambrecht arrests, and about whom I shall have much to say later. At Brussels there were three of these Police Posts: Sections A, B, and C. Lieutenant Bergan, who together with Henri Pinkhoff was responsible for the arrest of Edith Cavell, was in charge of Section B. Section C is of interest to us, for it was directed part of the time by Charles Reitinger, the man who employed St. George. Of Section A I shall speak later. In their drive on spies, the German Secret Police directed their attack along four channels: surveillance at the frontier; control of the population through severe police laws; surveil- lance in the interior of the occupied territories; and, finally, use of traitors. By means of the high-voltage electric wire at the Belgian- Dutch frontier, and by the efficient surveillance which I have already described, spies were either caught at the border or were cut off from their base in Holland. In the interior, by making mandatory the carrying of iden- tity cards and the procuring of passes even for short journeys, the Secret Police not only hindered the transmission of reports, but acquired an effective means of controlling the inhabitants. Random search of houses, sudden raids at railway stations, at cafés, and on the street cars, and often the blocking off of entire streets, frequently left a spy in their net. It was not even neces- sary to seize reports. Often a false identity card or the lack of a traveling pass started an investigation which enmeshed the spy. A strict watch was kept at all military centers, and any one acting at all suspiciously was immediately arrested; above all, houses which could possibly harbor train watchers were kept under close observation. 94 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY But the Secret Police were clever enough to recognize that these measures alone would not suffice. The inhabitants soon learned to recognize even those agents who had been recruited from Germans who had lived for years in Belgium and France before the War, and who often passed for Belgians or French- men. To overcome this disadvantage, and to avail themselves of a source of information which has been used since time immemorial, the Germans resorted to the use of stool-pigeons. It was the employment of these traitors, recruited from the dregs of the French and Belgian population, which accounted for at least ninety per cent of the arrests made. However small it was, every Police Post had its five or six informers who spied on their neighbors and collected that idle gossip, not harmfully meant, which often spelled death for the victim. Arrests were, of course, always made by the Secret Police, and the identity of these traitors was concealed as much as possible. These stool-pigeons were successful in Belgium, but it was in Holland that they reaped their richest harvest. Here the Allied secret services, cut off from the interior and continually prodded by Headquarters in England or France, were often tricked by these traitors who came to them with every possible proof that they had means of bringing information out of Belgium. This proof often was the very report the Germans had seized on some frontier courier, and which the stool-pigeon now used in order to get himself enrolled as a substitute courier. The tragic results can well be imagined. Once the Secret Police had been given sufficient information to effect the arrest of a spy, they could carry on for themselves. They were past masters in the art of delayed arrest, that is, watching a suspect until all his contacts had been discovered. Not satisfied with arresting the spy, his house was also occupied, nans THE GERMAN SECRET POLICE 95 Was and any one having the misfortune to call had to prove his innocence before he was released. If these measures failed to enmesh the entire organization, third-degree methods were used on the prisoners: drugs, endless interrogation without sleep, and finally physical violence. Stool-pigeons were also frequently employed in the prisons. The unfortunate prisoner, worn out by mishandling, often fell an easy prey to these in- dividuals disguised as fellow prisoners, priests, or nuns. Since prison stool-pigeons were so frequently used by the Germans, it will be of interest to hear the story of one of them. Practically all were of French and Belgian nationality, but I cannot resist singling out the German, Hans Glimm, for he was the most notorious one of them all: One morning, towards the end of 1916, Lieutenant Bergan, in charge of the Police Post B in Brussels, handed his assistant, Pinkhoft, an informer's report to investigate. Pinkhoff was not especially interested. He knew all these reports had to be fol- lowed up, but he would have preferred being put in charge of a more important case. Daulne, the Belgian Chief of Police at Auderghem, was accused of assisting refugees to escape into Holland. Probably some ex-convict trying to get even with the Belgian Police, is what passed through Pinkhoff's mind; he handed the investigation on to one of his minor agents. Events, however, quickly took a surprising turn. The agent rushed back to Pinkhoff with the exciting information that not only was the report accurate, but that Daulne had in hiding in his house an escaped prisoner-of-war, a Russian officer, Count Jean Potoki. Pinkhoff immediately took charge, the house was put under observation, and Daulne and the Count were eventually arrested. At the interrogation which ensued, Count Potoki, to CCI THE GERMAN SECRET POLICE 97 prisoner. On these occasions, his passage to the cell would always be accompanied by the sound of blows, shrieks of pain, and by shouts of “dirty spy" and other German imprecations. The cell door would open, and he would be thrown in a heap at the feet of his victim. Some of the prisoners were taken in by him; others, ac- quainted with Secret Police methods, met his advances with insults, or simply refused to speak to him. His victims were many. So successful was he that there were times when he was even lent to the Secret Police in Antwerp. He was well paid. When he was instrumental in securing the arrest of a whole spy organization, his blood money often ran as high as a thou- sand marks. Most of the credit, however, for Glimm's work went to Pinkhoff. He was awarded the Iron Cross, and was eventually promoted to Chief of the Secret Police in Bucharest. What wouldn't his Parisian customers have said, if they had seen Pinkhoff now? In pre-War days, in a fashionable quarter of Paris, he had combined the rôle of butcher with that of spying for the Fatherland. It was not only stool-pigeons of the types I have already mentioned, who succeeded in tricking the Allied agents and secret services. There were many members of the Secret Police who, like Pinkhoff, could speak French Auently, and they too were often successful in passing themselves off as Frenchmen or Belgians. Jean Burtard was a typical representative of this class. An Alsatian by birth, Burtard had lived for many years in Paris. He spoke not only French but even the argot Auently. It is not surprising, then, to find him as M. 25 already enrolled before the War in the German Secret Service. It was he who, in 1913, stole from one of the forts of Verdun a new type of 98 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY shell of secret construction which had just been introduced into the French Army. It was a daring coup. While an ac- complice attracted the attention of the sentinel at the ammuni- tion magazine, Burtard made his entry and got away with the prize. At the commencement of the War, he was again sent on a mission to France, but, compromised in connection with it, he was transferred to Brussels in 1915, and was there attached to Police Section A under the direction of Lieutenant Schmitz. Working alternately under the assumed names of Paul Forster, and Paul Lefèvre he soon proved himself one of the best of the Secret Police in his section. Posing as a Belgian who had ex- tensive connections in Holland, he gained the confidence of the Mayor of one of the large towns in occupied France, and eventually received a mandate from him to make purchases in Holland for the municipality. Armed with an official letter from the Mayor, to which the seal of the municipality had been attached, and facilitated by a visa granted by the Germans, sup- posedly at the request of the Mayor, Burtard, alias Paul Lefèvre, set out for Holland. On arrival there his papers were an open sesame to several of the Allied secret services. Of the arrests he was responsible for, I shall tell in a later chapter. This then is a brief outline of the German Counter-Espio nage organization in the occupied territories, as well as a general description of their methods and of a few of the characteristic types employed by them. Since it is outside the scope of this book, I have made no reference to the German Secret Service branch in Antwerp, which they used both as a spy school and as a base for the recruiting of many of the agents whom they sent into the Allied countries. Between the two German Counter-Espionage Services, a network was spread over the whole of the occupied territories THE GERMAN SECRET POLICE 99 each village had its Police Post. In the aggregate there were several thousand secret agents attached to their pay roll. If one adds to this number, the sentries spread along the Belgian- Dutch frontier, one readily realizes the size of the German counter-espionage machine. It had to be large to watch and control several million inhabitants. The German Secret Police were often efficient in making arrests; at other times, they blundered hopelessly. They were handicapped by the competition, and consequent lack of co- operation, between the various Police Posts. Each, in its en- deavor to win credit for arrests, was inclined to keep clews to itself. This happened even among the three Secret Police Sections in Brussels. Then, they were often tricked by double agents who, working for both sides at the same time, betrayed the one to the other. Their strength, the stool-pigeon recruited from amongst the inhabitants, was on occasions their weakness; information purchased at a price could not always be relied on. In regard to the Secret Police methods, the types of agents they employed, and their treatment of prisoners, I offer no opinion. I have merely stated the facts. The reader can judge for himself. The Belgian and German points of view can never be reconciled, and I am not going to attempt the impossible. The Germans point out that the Allied spies had enmeshed the German Army in the rear. Stringent action had, therefore, to be taken; and in war, any means are justifiable where spies are concerned. They further add that they had a problem to face, which none of the Allies had: they were in a hostile coun- try, where each of the inhabitants was a potential spy; it would have been impossible for them to have exercised any form of spy control if their methods had not been harsh. The Belgians reply that the Germans had no right to invade a country which 100 100 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY had committed no act of war, and whose only offense was that it happened to lie between Germany and France. Further- more, they claim that on their own soil they had a perfect right to serve their country. The German tribunals on the whole were fair, if one takes into consideration that they were military courts operating in time of war. During the last two years of the War, I know of no case where an innocent person was shot as a spy. The- oretically, any one caught communicating with the enemy could have been shot; actually, many of the spies who were caught were given prison sentences. It is true that many were shot who did far less harm than some of those who received prison terms. But the Germans did not always know the whole truth; they could only judge the evidence in their possession, and this as we have already seen was often only a fraction of what they might have gathered if they could have looked be- hind the scenes. Those who suffered the unfairest treatment were the many thousands of inhabitants who were arrested on the Aimsiest suspicion, and then were often kept weeks, even months, in prison until they or their friends could prove their innocence. CHAPTER IX WALLS WHICH SPEAK It is now necessary to go back a stage in my narrative, for 1 events had occurred early in 1916 which were to play an important part in the history of “The White Lady.” I must in fact take up the story of Marie Birckel, Fauquenot, and Creusen, whom I mentioned quite casually several chapters back, when I told of the Service Michelin's contact with the French Secret Service. The names of Fauquenot and Creusen were already well known to the German Secret Police in the early stages of the War. Both of them had given a great deal of trouble not only as spies but as sabotage agents. At the head of a hardy band of followers they had blown up bridges, and had continually kept the German sentries on the jump as they guarded their lines of communication in Belgium. When several of their band had been caught, they slipped across the border into Holland. Here, as chiefs of a French Service, they had been sending spies into the occupied territories. These men formed a good team. A marked contrast in character and appearance, they supplemented each other. Fau- quenot, a Frenchman, short and dark, with a small mustache, was somewhat frail, but his clean-cut, calm, intelligent face was a sign of his absolute mastery of himself. Creusen, a Bel- 101 102 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY gian, was tall and powerfully built; his eyes immediately in. dicated the fanatic; he was a man with an iron determination, and a subtle mind. It was the time of the attack on Verdun, and General Joffre was preparing his Somme offensive. The Allies were getting scanty information from their spies: The Frankignoul organi- zation, on which the British relied, had broken down com- pletely, and I myself had just arrived in Holland to reorganize the War Office Service operating from this base. The French Secret Service was spurring Fauquenot and Creusen on to fresh efforts. At this moment, Marie Birckel, a young French school teacher, arrived in Holland as a refugee, and, according to routine, was sent to Fauquenot for questioning. As the two young compatriots sat facing one another, each was intensely stirred: she, by the enthusiasm of her interrogator, and his eager quest for information; he, by her earnestness, her sang froid, and the details of her daring escape from Hirson. Sud- denly she volunteered to return as a spy. For the moment, Fauquenot hesitated. In spite of her resourcefulness and ob- vious courage, he rebelled at sending a woman, really still a girl, back to face even greater dangers than those she had just escaped. But Marie dismissed the dangers lightly, and when Creusen joined her in her eager request, Fauquenot gave way. The temptation was too great. Marie had promised to mount a train-watching post on the Hirson-Mézières line, which every Allied secret service had in vain been trying to straddle. The enthusiasm of Fauquenot and Creusen which had fired Marie was also to prove their downfall. It moved them to haste, and a hasty move was what Kohlmeier, the director of WALLS WHICH SPEAK 103 the German Counter-Espionage Service in Brussels, and Schwermer, his head agent in Holland, were waiting for. The two French chiefs' own trusted guides were away on a mission in Belgium. But there was a Dutch guide, Bertram, they knew of, who operated as a smuggler along the frontier close to Maestricht, and who had just brought in a batch of refugees from Belgium. Their thoughts automatically turned to him; he was the only man available. They knew they shouldn't use a neutral subject for such confidential work when the Germans were offering large rewards to informers; but in two days the moon would be unfavorable again the passage at the frontier could only take place when there was no moon. Fnally, there were those urgent requests for information com- ing through from French General Headquarters. So Marie was rashly entrusted to the new and untried guide who undertook to pass her through the high-voltage electric wire, and to conduct her to Liège. He did pass her through the wire, but it was with the connivance of the German Secret Police. As soon as she got to Liège, Marie realized that she had been betrayed, and that German agents were following her. Imme- diately, she was on her guard. She had committed to memory the name and address of a “letter-box” in Liège where Fau- quenot had promised to pick up her reports; she was deter- mined not to betray this man. Followed constantly, she knew there was no hope of escape; so at the small hotel at which she stayed she calmly waited for her arrest. The Secret Police, realizing that they were keeping a fruitless vigil, soon arrested her, and confined her in the Prison of St. Léonard at Liège. Here, Landwerlen, who had been put in charge of the case, still hoped to get out of her the information he was look- 104 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY ing for; but in spite of his methods, no word of betrayal passed Marie's lips. Kohlmeier had just begun, however. He was really gun- ning for bigger game. A month had elapsed, the moon was favorable, and so Bertram, the Dutch guide, was brought into action again. Spurred by the large reward which had been offered him, Bertram boldly reported to Fauquenot that he had just returned from Belgium with an urgent message from Marie. The courier, linking up Fauquenot's "letter-box" with the frontier, had sent word that neither Marie, nor any one con- nected with her had put in an appearance at the “letter-box.” Fauquenot and Creusen could only assume that she had been arrested. Fauquenot felt sick at heart, he had sent many spies into the occupied territory, but somehow he felt different about Marie. He had it on his conscience, too, that he had entrusted her to the Dutch guide. He looked fiercely now at Bertram, as he stood facing him. “What did you do with the girl I sent with you?” he growled menacingly. “Did you take her through to Liège?” Bertram backed to the door. “If you don't trust me,” he muttered sullenly, “I am going.” Fauquenot, realizing that his only hope of learning Marie's fate rested with this man, beckoned him back. “We have heard nothing from her," he assured him, “I'm worried, that's all.” Bertram had a pat story. When he separated from Marie, he gave her the address of a small café in Liège, whose owner was his associate (guides demanded five hundred francs per head for a passage at the frontier, and they always had an intermediary in the interior who assembled refugees for them). Well, she had turned up at the café three nights ago, and had asked him to bring her back to the frontier. She had volun- WALLS WHICH SPEAK 105 teered no information, and he had asked no questions; it was no business of his. He reminded Fauquenot that he himself had instructed him when he took the girl into Belgium that he was not to ask any questions, nor was he to attempt to find out who she was. At Marie's request, he had hidden her in a house at the frontier, and that night she would be at the electric wire to talk to him and Creusen. Fauquenot and Creusen were by now thoroughly suspicious of Bertram, but they could not ignore his story. Besides, they assured themselves that they would be on Dutch soil, and that nothing could happen to them. On the night of June 30th, 1916, they started out on their fatal journey to the frontier. The meeting was to take place near the village of Eysden, in a small wood bordering on the wire. As they entered the wood, the isolation of the spot, the blackness of the night, and the proximity of the electric wire set their nerves on edge. Each gripped his revolver. They would gladly have turned back, but before they could translate their thoughts into action, they were hit over the head with a blunt instrument, and a dozen German Secret Police, hidden in the bushes, jumped on them, dragging them from the safety of Dutch soil into occupied Belgium. It was a gross breach of Dutch neutrality, but what did it matter to the German Counter-Espionage Service? There were no witnesses other than German agents. To all intents and purposes, Fauquenot and Creusen had vanished into thin air. Kohlmeier was undoubtedly delighted with the night's work; little did he realize that in the prison of St. Léonard, where Fauquenot and Creusen were confined, they were to do far more damage than they possibly could have done in Hol- 106 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY land. The two prisoners were now on their mettle; they swore they would get even. Their first step was to get word to the Dutch Government that their arrest was an infringement of Dutch neutrality. But how was this to be done from the interior of a prison? The prison of St. Léonard was divided into two sections, one for the confinement of those arrested by the Belgian Police for criminal offenses; the other for spies and other political prisoners arrested by the Secret Police. Meals for both sections were prepared in a common kitchen. Here was a loophole, and Creusen was quick to make use of it. Joseph HM, sentenced to five years imprisonment for stealing fowls, was one of the cooks; together with a German guard, he also made a round of the cells, passing food in to the prisoners through a grille in the individual cell doors, and in the same way collecting the scraps afterwards. Days of patient waiting re- warded Creusen. A furtive sign, which escaped the warder's attention, indicated to Joseph H—, that a message would be concealed in a left-over morsel of bread. Joseph may have been light of finger when it came to his neighbor's poultry, but still he was a good patriot. The message found its way into the hands of Sæur Mélanie (Mademoiselle Boonen), a Belgian nun, who had access to the women prisoners as spiritual adviser. This noble sister, a member of the Order of the Daughters of the Cross, had the message delivered to the Dutch Consul General in Brussels. In the meantime, Fauquenot and Creusen were speedily placed on trial for their earlier sabotage and spy activities in Belgium; they were condemned to death. Creusen was trans- ported to the Chartreuse, a fort, the citadel of Liège, where all spies condemned to death and confined in the city were WALLS WHICH SPEAK 107 taken to be shot. Here he went through the agony of preparing himself for death, wrote his last letters of farewell, and even saw through his cell window the arrival of the coffin in which his body was to be placed. At midnight, six hours before the time set for his execution, a command from the Governor- General reached the Chartreuse; it ordered a stay of execution and the return of Creusen to the prison of St. Léonard. The Dutch Government had protested. Sæur Mélanie had reached them in time. Having been snatched from the very jaws of death, the average man would have become a model prisoner, patiently awaiting release at the end of the War. But two years of con- tinuous excitement, danger, and adventure only served to whet the patriotism of Fauquenot and Creusen. They set about de- vising the means by which they could help their country. Dis- covery would have meant forfeiture of Dutch protection and instant death. Among the warders was a soldier of Polish parentage, but German nationality. The Germans were on their guard against such men of foreign extraction; they kept them on duty far behind the firing line for fear that they would prove treacher- ous. Their attitude was amply justified in the case of the Polish warder, Maryan Szeszycki, for though on the surface he was servile he resented his forced conscription in the German Army. It didn't take Fauquenot and Creusen long to discover that here was a ready tool. Soon regular communication was estab- lished with two maiden ladies, the Mademoiselles Weimers- kirch, who owned a Catholic bookstore in the rue Neuvice, where prayer books, sacred images, and every article used in connection with the church were sold. One of the sisters had just been released from the Prison of St. Léonard, where, on a 108 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY charge of disseminating anti-German propaganda, she had been confined for a period of six months. It was in prison that she had come in contact with Sæur Mélanie, Marie Birckel, and Maryan Szeszycki. The people of Liège are the staunchest of Catholics, and “The White Lady,” the greatest of the Allied war-time secret service organizations, functioned almost as a religious order. It was inevitable, therefore, that Fauquenot and Creusen should come into contact with “The White Lady” through the medium of this bookstore, even were it not for the fact that these two devout ladies were themselves enrolled as members of the organization. To the layman such a contact between an active spy or- ganization and two prisoners detained in the hands of the Germans, would appear to have been the height of folly. And yet, Fauquenot and Creusen, as will be seen later, became an almost indispensable part of “The White Lady” organization. As “The White Lady" grew in size and spread its web over Belgium and occupied France, it eventually numbered over a thousand members. In their struggle with the German Counter- Espionage Services, there were many arrests. Two of their members were shot, three were condemned to death and re- prieved, eight were sentenced to hard labor for life, and five were deported; a number of prisoners were awaiting trial when the Armistice came to their rescue. Most of these men and women passed through the prison of St. Léonard, and Fau- quenot and Creusen were there to bolster up their courage. What was infinitely more important, Fauquenot and Creusen could report to “The White Lady” outside, the circumstances which had led up to each agent's arrest, and what compromis- ing documents, if any, had been seized. WALLS WHICH SPEAK 109 CO This information enabled “The White Lady” to isolate those sections of the Service, which had been compromised- measures which saved the organization as a whole from certain destruction. Just to quote one example, it was Fauquenot and Creusen who gave “The White Lady” full details of St. George's treachery. The Secret Police would certainly never have shown to Father Des Onays, and the other prisoners ar- rested at the time, photographic copies of the Michelin-Liévin correspondence if they had known this vital information would be immediately transmitted to the Michelin Service outside. Often in the future, I shall again have occasion to show the important role which Fauquenot and Creusen assumed. The large percentage of prison terms compared to death sentences, speaks eloquently for the defense which the prisoners were able to put up. Through the clandestine prison letters which passed back and forth via Fauquenot and Creusen, the prisoners had the advantage of help from cool and collected minds outside. Knowing exactly what the Secret Police knew, “The White Lady” was able to supply the prisoners with framed stories which, because each one was told exactly what to say, often baffled the Germans completely. It was not only with “The White Lady” that Fauquenot and Creusen carried on their clandestine correspondence. Their thoughts often turned to Marie, their gallant companion, con- fined in the women's section of the prison. Sæur Mélanie, and Maryan, the Polish warder, proved willing accomplices. Twice a week Sæur Mélanie was permitted to visit the prison cells, and though she was always accompanied by a warder, the faithful sister and Marie soon became adepts in slipping messages to each other. Soon Marie was playing the same rôle among the women prisoners which Fauquenot and Creusen on 110 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY had taken upon themselves in their own section. Through Sæur Mélanie, and through Juliette Delrualle, the daughter of the Belgian director in charge of the civil section of the prison, direct communication was established with “The White Lady,” via the Mademoiselles Weimerskirch, without passing through Fauquenot and Creusen. Often within twenty-four hours of a woman prisoner entering Marie's section, a detailed report was in the hands of “The White Lady.” On urgent occasions, it was a string let out at night from Marie's cell window on the first floor, which permitted Juliette Delrualle, conveniently taking the air in the prison garden, to get the message. Sæur Mélanie carried letters at the risk of her life; she smuggled food; and she gave the prisoners that spiritual help which enabled them to face suffering, privation, and their long confinement, with patience, courage, and faith. Compromised eventually, she had to go into hiding. It was "The White Lady” which arranged her escape into Holland. Hidden next to the keel, under the floorboards of a barge, she courageously crossed the frontier into safety. In her sanctuary in France, her thoughts still remained with her grateful friends—the women prisoners in St. Léonard. CHAPTER X RANDOM EXPLOITS OF THE CHIMAY COMPANY AMID the conflicts with the Secret Police, the work of A spying went on night and day. And in case the reader should lose sight of this, I must occasionally give him a glimpse of the spy at work. I shall, therefore, tell a few anecdotes about the Chimay Company, which was the last of the nine “White Lady” companies to be formed. It was just before the time of the Hirson Platoon. The Allies were still without a train-watching post on the Hirson- Mézières line, and the French General Headquarters were desperately anxious to have reports on the German troop move- ments along this strategic artery. The Allied secret services in Holland had failed after many attempts. There was only one other possibility, and that was to drop a spy by parachute. Perhaps, by starting from the other end, working towards Holland, and linking up with the French Secret Service there, this difficult objective could be achieved. Two men volunteered for the dangerous mission: a young non-commissioned officer, Maréchal des logis Pierre Aubijoux, who was to be the pilot, and the soldier Valtier, the man to be dropped. It was in the early hours of the morning, when it was still dark, that Aubijoux and Valtier took off from a flying field IN 112 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY vas near Jonchery. Valtier was to be dropped at Signy-l'Abbaye, near Rethel, his home village, where he would be immediately among friends whom he proposed to enroll as train-watchers and couriers in the projected spy organization. But night flying in those days, without beacons and direc- tional beams as guides, was at the best a risky undertaking. After flying for several hours, Aubijoux had to admit that he was completely lost; with a gasoline tank nearly empty, it was impossible to regain the French lines. There was no alternative but to make a forced landing. To add to their difficulties, dawn was just breaking and a heavy ground fog had come up. But luck was with them. They landed in a field, and though their plane crashed into a barbed wire fence, they were un- harmed. Dazed with their sudden landing, they were still re- covering themselves when through the mist they saw two German soldiers rushing at them. In a flash Aubijoux had turned his machine gun against them. To set fire to the plane, and to make a dash for a wood that bordered the field, was the work of a few minutes. They did not look to see the effect of their fire, or if any more soldiers were coming The two men had no idea where they were. The wood, overgrown with bushes and underbrush, covered several acres. They realized that even if the two soldiers had been killed, there would probably be others who had heard the noise of their motors, and in any event the remains of the plane would shortly be discovered. The hunt would soon be on. A decision had to be taken. Wisely, they decided to remain where they were, within a hundred yards of their plane. Their audacity saved them; for after a hurried search of the wood, during which some of the men came within a few yards of where THE CHIMAY COMPANY 113 they lay hid among the bushes, they saw the soldiers hurry away. For two days and a night, without food and water, Aubijoux and Valtier remained in the wood. Just after dark on the second day, worn out and desperate, they decided to investigate a farmhouse they saw in the distance. Peering through one of the windows into a dimly lit room, they saw the farmer and his family at their evening meal. Their sympathetic faces gave them courage to knock. The farmer came to the door. “We are the French aviators the Boches are looking for. Can you hide us?" Aubijoux anxiously asked. One look convinced the farmer that they were genuine- their hunted hungry appearance could not be simulated. And then, as Aubijoux had rightly surmised, the Germans had already searched the house for them, the day before. The farmer stood aside, and allowed the two men to enter. Their immediate inquiry brought the information that they were at Bourlers, close to Chimay, at the farm of Gaston Lafontaine. Lafontaine and his wife, courageous Belgians, had already helped many French soldiers. They had hidden several during the retreat in 1914. For more than two years of the occupation, they had received visits from the German Secret Police. They knew the risk they were running in hiding the two men. Plans were immediately discussed, and Valtier, realizing that they were among patriots, disclosed his secret mission. Lafon- taine, anxious to help, promised to hide them in his loft, while he went off to consult with the nuns of the Congrégation Nancéenne de la Doctrine Chrétienne, at Chimay. Even though the Germans had installed a hospital in the convent, these 114 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY 1 W nuns were taking an active part in every form of patriotic activity, and it was to them that every one in the region turned to for guidance and assistance. Rose Lebrun, known in her order as Sæur Marie-Mélanie, understood the importance of Valtier's mission. “The White Lady" was busy at this very moment mounting the Chimay Company, and Sæur Marie-Mélanie had just been enrolled as a member of the Service. She, therefore, sent Lafontaine off to consult with Grislain Hanotier, the Sergeant in charge of her section. Hanotier took quick action. He returned with Lafontaine to the farm. To him the solution was obvious. Valtier should leave the mounting of the train-watching posts at Hirson to him, and he and his companion should get across the border into Holland as soon as possible. Valtier and Aubijoux demurred. Hanotier countered with, “What's the use? The Germans are still searching for you; and as long as you are in hiding, you cannot do any useful work.” The two Frenchmen were eventually persuaded; and, hav- ing furnished them with a guide, Hanotier duly started them on their way to the Dutch frontier. But on the way, Valtier suddenly saw matters in a different light. He had been given orders to mount a post on the Hirson- Mézières line; and it was his duty to remain until this had been done, even if it should cost him his life. The two of them, therefore, retraced their steps, and five days later to Lafontaine's astonishment they were again at his house. With resignation he accepted their argument, and bravely undertook to guide them through to Hirson. ICICI. 116 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY The Congrégation Nancéenne de la Doctrine Chrétienne was a French Order, one of the many that had been expelled from France. The patriotism of these French nuns was the more intense because they were exiles. Established in Belgium, at Chimay just across the French border, they gladly and lovingly gave succor to their refugee compatriots fleeing from the fight- ing zone, or deported by the Germans. The German military hospital, which I have already mentioned, had been installed by force in their convent, with German doctors, nurses, and orderlies to care for the wounded. The nuns were, therefore, at liberty to serve their country, and to make full use of the fertile field which the German hospital placed in their midst presented for spying. Gobeaux, the captain of the Chimay Company, and Hanotier, the sergeant of the section in whose area the convent fell, were quick to realize the value of the information that could be gathered by these patriotic sisters, and so with the consent of Marie-Hippolyte, the Mother Superior, they enrolled in “The White Lady” two of the nuns -Sæur Marie-Mélanie, and Sæur Marie-Caroline. There were no keener agents in “The White Lady” than these two sisters of charity. Intelligent and resourceful, they knew how to make full use of their opportunities. It is true they were not called on to nurse the wounded, but the con- valescing officers and soldiers, wandering around in the convent grounds, frequently tried to get into communication with them. They also had a small shop where they were permitted to sell postcards and other articles, and here the Germans were wont to gather. These men all came from divisions in the front line, and the identification of these divisions in some definite sector of the front was of enormous importance to British General THE CHIMAY COMPANY 117 Headquarters. One has only to examine the daily Intelligence Bulletins issued both by the French and British General Head- quarters to realize this. It was solely to gather information of this kind that lives were sacrificed almost daily in raids on the enemy's front line trenches; and yet, these two sisters, quietly and unsuspected, achieved the same objective. Rarely did a report reach me from Chimay without one or two of these important identifications. This was not the only utility of these two daring nuns. Their reports, picked up by the section courier, contained in- formation covering every phase of German military activity. For example, there was the case of the officer of Prince Eitel Frederich's Staff, who was in the hospital with a broken leg, received from the fall of his horse. It was while lamenting that he was laid up for “the big push” that he gave away that the Great German offensive of March, 1918, was to be launched in the Albert Sector. He did not give the information in a sentence, nor even in a single day; but it was by carefully piecing together scraps of conversation spread over several days that the two astute nuns were able to arrive at a definite con- clusion. This information was valuable corroborative evidence of what we had already deduced from our train-watching posts, and from the reports of the Hirson Platoon. It was not only from the Germans that Sæur Marie-Mélanie, and Sæur Marie-Caroline garnered information; sometimes it was also from the refugees; and then, on many occasions, as will be seen from the following account, they often arrived at important deductions by combining information from both sources: It was at the time that the German big gun had just started shelling Paris, and the Germans had been careful to fill their 118 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY communiqués with the news. A gunner, wounded in the hand, was in the hospital, and was boasting about what the Germans would soon be doing when they had several hundred of these guns. Sæur Marie-Mélanie was immediately all attention. “It hardly seems possible that they can shoot so far" was her quiet reply. The gunner seeing no possible harm in this peaceful nun, quickly retorted that he himself had seen the gun in the Laon sector. This was a vague enough indication for the emplacement of a gun, but it was sufficient for the nimble- minded sister. It happened that three weeks previously, a French refugee from the village of Crépy-en-Laonnois had been given food and shelter at the convent. Eagerly questioned about the wholesale deportation of his village, he had attributed it to the fact the Germans were about to move artillery into the area. "How do you know this?” Sæur Marie-Mélanie had asked him, knowing the importance of distinguishing fact from rumor. "Well, they have laid down concrete gun-platforms and ammunition pits at Dandry's farm at least that's what every one thinks they are,” the refugee had replied. Cleverly putting the two pieces of information together, Sæur Marie-Mélanie communicated her views to Hanotier; he passed it on to the captain of his company. Gobeaux, as we have already seen, was a man of quick decision. He decided to send a man to Dandry's farm. It was a dangerous under- taking—all the inhabitants had been deported. But it was pre- cisely one of these deportees whom he persuaded to return. Traveling at night and hiding by day, the man was back on the third day. He had seen the monster gun. Three days later, I had the information in Holland. THE CHIMAY COMPANY 119 From a spy in Germany, several weeks previously, we had already received full details of the trials on the coast of Heligo- land which had been carried out with this high-angle-fire gun; and it was with exultation that I passed the report on to Colonel Oppenheim, the British Military Attaché at The Hague, whose duty it was to telegraph to British General Headquarters a daily résumé of all our reports. There are many stories I might relate about Gobeaux. As captain of the Chimay Company, he should really have pro- tected himself as much as possible; but this was impossible for a man of his temperament. I might tell how he himself pene- trated the cordon of sentries at the Bourlers aviation field, and was satisfied with nothing less than cutting off and sending me a sliver from one of the wooden tanks assembled there-be- cause I had disbelieved his report that the Germans were using these tanks for camouflage purposes; or again I might relate how, at the Hotel Godeau in Chimay, he stole the map case of a German aviator-the case yielded several priceless maps on which were marked all the aviation fields behind a large section of the German Western Front. (To mark them in this fashion was contrary to German Army regulations, but the aviator had transgressed for his own safety and conven- ience.) The story, however, that I am going to tell about Go- beaux is just a short one, but one which epitomizes the coolness and resourcefulness of the man: In the Chimay Company there were four platoons: Hirson, Chimay, Charleroi, and one composed of couriers. Gobeaux was too well versed in spying to contact personally any but his principal agents. But, imbued with the military spirit of 120 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY “The White Lady,” he felt it his duty to pass on a continual round of inspection, checking up, without their knowing it, the reports of the train-watchers, the itinerant spies, and other agents in his area. As head of a syndicate of sabot makers, he had an excuse to travel around in his sector, visiting the mem- bers of this quaint industry—the manufacture of wooden shoes for the peasants of the countryside. (Most of the members made the shoes in their own homes, delivering them to Syndi- cate Headquarters in Chimay, where their sale was attended to.) But this excuse only held for occupied Belgium. Somehow he had to reach the area covered by the Hirson Platoon in France. Gobeaux knew that if he kept slipping across the frontier, he would eventually be caught; so he cleverly bought a small strip of the Neumont Woods, just across the border, and there installed some of his sabot makers. He then had an excuse to get a pass. This was duly obtained from the Kommandantur, or German Police Post, at Trélon. The pass only read for the Neumont Woods, but getting across the frontier was half the battle-he could use his ingenuity to reach the rest of the Hirson area. One day, while on a visit to Pierre in Trélon, less sly than usual, he was arrested by one of the local Secret Police. “Where are you going?” asked the plainclothes man. “Your pass ?” Gobeaux, who had already thought up a plan of action, showed his pass. “This is no good—you are in Trélon. It's only valid for Neumont,” said the Secret Agent, holding the pass in his hand. "You'll have to come along with me to the Kommandantur.” “That's exactly where I was headed,” Gobeaux assured him. The plainclothes man accompanied Gobeaux to the Kom- CHAPTER XI JEANNE DELWAIDE SEVERAL months had elapsed since the St. George be- U trayal, and there had been no further arrests. It is true each move still had to be studied not to attract the attention of the Secret Police, but a much needed respite had been gained. It permitted Dewé and Chauvin to reorganize the Service com- pletely on the basis of the militarization, and, having already covered Belgium with their network, to concentrate on estab- lishing “The White Lady” in occupied France, particularly in those areas close up behind the German front line. This was the situation when trouble suddenly started brewing once again. As had happened so often before, it came, at least in its initial stages, from a source which had nothing to do with espionage. Jeanne Delwaide and her younger sister-members of a patriotic Belgian bourgeois family-had, since 1915, been helping young Belgians of military age to escape across the border to join the Belgian Army. This work required con- siderable organization. The men had to be concentrated at a town close to the frontier. There they had to be hidden some- times several weeks before suitable means could be found either to send them with a guide through the electric wire, or to hide them under the floorboards of some barge on its way through SOUrce SOC 122 JEANNE DELWAIDE 123 to Holland, or occasionally even to send them through a strip of Germany to enable them to reach Holland via the German- Dutch border, where there was no electric wire and the sur- veillance was less strict. When Jeanne had been enrolled as a member of "The White Lady,” she had given up this patriotic side activity; but unfortunately several members of the organi- zation to which she had formerly belonged were suddenly arrested, and she was compromised. Her sister had already been arrested. There was no time to lose. “The White Lady” had to isolate her immediately, and the best way to do this was to send her across the frontier into Holland. Normally, they would have hidden her, and asked us to make the necessary arrangements for Charles Willekens to take her through the electric wire; but this required time, and so Jeanne, who had found so many frontier passages for others, undertook to arrange her own escape. Jeanne's home was at Pepinster, near Verviers. Here she had mounted a train-watching post for “The White Lady” on the important Aachen-Herbesthal-Liège line, the main railway artery between Germany and Belgium. In Verviers, independ- ently of “The White Lady," through Lagasse de Locht, an influential Belgian residing in Holland, the War Office Service had been in touch with Siquet, the proprietor of a small inn. Siquet had been persuaded to organize a duplicate train-watch- ing post on this same strategic line. Our object in organizing these independent nests in the interior was to have reserves in case something happened to “The White Lady"; but all our endeavors to keep Siquet isolated had been in vain-somehow, without our knowledge, Jeanne knew of his activities. For what happened next, Jeanne Dalwaide was not to 124 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY blame. “The White Lady” had been warned by us not to enter into relationship with any other spy group in the interior; and no one realized the danger of such contacts better than Dewé and Chauvin. But as surveillance at the frontier became more severe each day, spy organizations attached to the other Allied secret services were continually being cut off from their base in Holland, and with "The White Lady's" extensive ramifications, they were continually crossing their paths. Dewé and Chauvin had hitherto skillfully steered “The White Lady” clear of en- tanglements, but now they were to become involved. Through Abbé Anceaux of Namur, “The White Lady” received via one of their Namur agents an appeal to transmit the reports of the Biscops Service, a British General Headquarters' organization, whose frontier passage had broken down. Dewé and Neujean, under the assumed names of "Gauthier” and “Petit,” met a delegate of the Biscops Service, and though they refused to accept the reports for transmission to us, they promised to do their best to find an independent frontier passage to place at its disposal. In their search, they addressed themselves to Jeanne Delwaide; and it was she who gave them the password “Balafré” with which to contact Siquet. In this way Siquet was put in touch with the Biscops Service, and the reports started coming to him for transmission to Holland. Shortly after this, Jeanne found herself forced to flee; naturally she turned to Siquet for a means of escape. Siquet had good news for Jeanne. A band of refugees was being collected; the guide would be ready to take them into Holland on the following night; the man was absolutely trust- worthy. Through Manguette, a friend of his at the border town of Welkenraedt, he would put her in touch with the guide who would take the group of refugees into Germany JEANNE DELWAIDE 125 for a few miles, and would then head north for the German- Dutch frontier. On the next night, promptly at eight o'clock, Jeanne was at Siquet's inn. There she found three other refugees waiting. Under Siquet's guidance the group made its way to Manguette's house a few miles distant. Here they were joined by another band of refugees: Mariette, a Belgian woman; two Belgian civilians; and four escaped prisoners-of-war-three Frenchmen, and a Russian. Taken across country by Manguette, they found the guide waiting for them behind a hedge, about a hundred yards from the frontier. The guide, a man of about thirty who spoke both French and German Auently, inspired confidence. Jeanne had hesitated at first about this frontier passage via Germany; but now she was at ease. Keyed up with tense ex- citement, they were anxious to make a start; the guide, how- ever, cautioned them to wait. He had a companion who had gone off to locate the exact position of the sentry. After what seemed like an interminable time, the man returned. They moved off along the fence. The adventure had begun. Creeping stealthily under cover, they had progressed about fifty yards when suddenly four or five Secret Police, with drawn guns, jumped out from behind the hedge. The onslaught was so unexpected that no one made a move. Helpless as sheep, they were conducted to the Herbesthal station-the German border station and there, at midnight, they were put on a train for Namur, where they arrived in the early hours of the morning. Jeanne was kept in solitary confinement in the prison of Namur. No one was allowed to communicate with her either by letter or in person. The Secret Police intended her to be completely cut off from the exterior. But “The White Lady," 126 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY through their Counter-Espionage Section, had learned of her arrest, and means were quickly found to communicate with her through the prison chaplain. One morning, to her surprise, furtively from under his robe, he passed her the following message: “Learn by heart the following sentence: Il y a deux choses pour lesquelles tout fidèle doit vivre et combattre jusqu'au sang: c'est la justice et c'est la liberté. [In all twenty-five words.] It will permit us to correspond with you in code in the following manner: Letters of the alphabet will be indicated by the position of the words in the above sentence, and by the position of the letters in each word. For example: 4,3 equals u; 13,4 equals b; 18,0 equals est; 19,4 signifies nothing-la does not contain four letters; 27,3 also means nothing -the sentence does not contain twenty-seven words. Acknowledge receipt, and send us a message in code through the present channel to show us that you understand. We will then communicate fur- ther with you. In our hearts we are with you." Jeanne replied as requested. She then received the following message in code: “Remember you are a soldier. Remember your oath. Deny every- thing. Refuse to use the German language; you can defend your- self better in French. I congratulate you on your heroic attitude. Be calm. No bravado. We have taken our precautions here; none of us has been arrested. I am with you with all my heart. I will pray for you. I have advised your parents. “THEO” The Secret Police allowed three weeks to elapse before questioning Jeanne. When she did appear before them, she was prepared. She not only denied belonging to any espionage organization, but anxious not to compromise the guides, she JEANNE DELWAIDE 127 even denied having tried to escape out of Belgium. Her story was that she had gone off to buy some butter at a farm near Welkenraedt, but had been unsuccessful. On her way back, she had fallen in with a group of young men, and being afraid of the dark and the lateness of the hour, she had kept close behind them, thinking that they were headed for Verviers. No one could have been more surprised than she was when she was arrested. Her interrogator, looking at her with a smile on his face, whispered a few words to an orderly. The orderly left the room. There was a pause during which nothing was said. Expectantly, Jeanne waited. A door suddenly opened, and there stood the guide she had been trying to protect. It was Rosen- berg, a member of the Secret Police at Namur. Let us now see what was happening elsewhere. Each of the refugees and the prisoners-of-war who had been caught in the trap with Jeanne, had been mercilessly questioned to determine the threads of the organization which had brought them to gether at Welkenraedt. On the whole they had revealed little. But now the old trick of the stool-pigeon disguised as a priest was played on “X,” one of the three refugees whom Jeanne had found waiting when she arrived at Siquet's inn. This wretched man was completely taken in, and in telling his story to the supposed priest he betrayed Siquet. Siquet was promptly arrested, and, what was fatal, spy reports together with compromising correspondence were found in his pos- session. The Secret Police installed themselves in his inn, and on the next day arrested the Biscops courier who, all unsus- pectingly, walked into the small hotel and asked for Siquet. It was no use this woman courier protesting that she had 128 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY dropped in on a casual visit; the reports were found sewn into the hem of her skirt. The unfortunate Siquet faced with evidence that could not be disputed was soon hopelessly entangled, and it only required the same false priest, in whom he also had faith, for the Ger- mans to learn everything he knew. Later he sorrowfully con- fided to a fellow prisoner that in the corridor, on his way to one of his examinations, he had seen this pseudo-priest being beaten by some German soldiers. So he had complete con- fidence in the priest when he was introduced into his cell a few days later. Jeanne Delwaide, whom the Germans had considered as a simple refugee caught in an attempt to cross the border, and whom for a period of three weeks they had even neglected to examine, then became the center of a fierce investigation. The Secret Police wanted to know the identity of the man whom Jeanne had sent to Siquet with the password, “Balafré,” and whom Siquet had confided to the stool-pigeon was the man who had brought him the first batch of Biscops reports. They believed Siquet was speaking the truth when he said that he did not know who this man was. The woman courier couldn't or wouldn't help them. Her story was that the reports seized on her had been given her by an unknown man in whom she had confidence because he had shown her a letter from the Belgian Government in Havre, written on official notepaper, and stamped with an official seal. The Secret Police knew if they could establish the identity of this man, it would lead them to an espionage organization, and they were convinced that Jeanne Delwaide held the secret. They also believed that she could tell them who Gauthier and ex an JEANNE DELWAIDE 129 vas Petit were, names which had been mentioned in the Biscops reports, seized on the courier. Jeanne was one of the first members of “The White Lady” to be enrolled. Her matriculation number was 20. Since most of the earlier members had become leaders in the organization, she was acquainted with the identity of many of them. She knew that “Gauthier" was Dewé, and that “Petit” was Neu- jean. “The White Lady's” Counter-Espionage Section was keep- ing it posted with every detail of the investigation, as it proceeded. No wonder, then, Dewé, under the name of “Theo" wrote her those prison letters, urging her to remember her oath as a soldier. The girl with the wind-blown hair, frank hazel eyes, and trimly athletic figure, whom every one around Pepinster had known by sight, would not have been easily recognized. Dirty, and bedraggled, weeks of confinement without change of cloth- ing had changed her outward appearance. But within she maintained the same ardent spirit. She faced her inquisitors like a soldier. Flatly she denied everything except her refugee activities. These had been her instructions from “The White Lady," and these she wisely followed out. For seven months Jeanne resisted every maneuver of the Secret Police until finally they had to admit that there was no evidence to be obtained from her. And so at last she was brought to trial. Dr. Gerlof, the German Military prosecuting attorney, demanded the death sentence. But having no direct proof of espionage against her, except the word of Siquet's stool-pigeon, she was sentenced to life imprisonment plus a fine of a thousand marks. She was first imprisoned at Bonn, and then transferred to Siegburg, the prison for women in Germany. She remained at Siegburg until the Armistice. The 130 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY fine was never paid. With characteristic spirit, she had written in code from her prison in Namur: “Tell my parents, I am of age, and am amply responsible for my actions. Not one sou for the Germans, if they inflict a fine on me." Jeanne Delwaide proved herself a noble and worthy soldier of “The White Lady.” She had held the life of Dewé and several other principal members in her hands, and she had not been found wanting. The rôles of Rosenberg, and the woman, Mariette, were established later. Rosenberg, who had lived in Brussels before the War and spoke French Auently, had gained the confidence of Manguette in an ingenious manner. Coming on the track of a French officer, an escaped prisoner-of-war, he had de- liberately, with the consent of the Secret Police, helped him to escape into Holland. Grateful for what he took to be the plucky conduct of his guide, the French officer, no doubt prompted by Rosenberg, not only gave him a letter recommending him as a guide, but introduced him to a member of the French Legation in The Hague. Armed with these credentials, Rosen- berg returned to Belgium. His reputation as a guide had been established, and hereafter it was simple to trick some one, such as Manguette, into giving the "come on” signal to those who wished to escape across the frontier. Mariette was Rosenberg's mistress. This sinister woman, a traitor to her country, not only played the part of stool-pigeon in the prison of Namur, but was an active member of the German Counter-Espionage Service. She was responsible for the arrest of the Hemptinne Service, an organization attached to the Belgian Secret Service. The Secret Police never discovered who “Gauthier” and “Petit” were, even though from their interrogation of Jeanne Delwaide it was established that they knew somehow that JEANNE DELWAIDE 131 "Gauthier” was an engineer, and that “Petit,” in spite of his name, was a large man. It was a lucky escape for Dewé and Neujean, and brilliantly demonstrated “The White Lady's" wisdom in using assumed names. In a later chapter, I shall tell the story of the Biscops Service. Most of its members were eventually arrested. A few survived, however, and during the last stages of the War, enrolled as members of “The White Lady,” they furnished us with valu- able train-watching posts in the Valenciennes area of occupied France. Dewé and Chauvin took extreme precautions in estab- lishing this contact with members of a compromised service, and, of course, did it through a “letter-box”; even so they were breaking a fundamental secret service principle, and no one was more conscious of it than they. I will confess that though I trembled, I was glad to get the Valenciennes reports; they were the only ones the Allies were getting from this extremely important area. Poor Siquet was shot at Namur, April 25th, 1918. Had he kept clear of refugees and espionage services extraneous to his own, perhaps he might never have been caught. But imbued with an intense love of his country, he could not resist par- ticipating in every patriotic activity which came his way. was CHAPTER XII THE CONNEUX FLYING SQUAD "THE White Lady" was always extending itself. And with I each step further afield the safeguarding of the organiza- tion as a whole became more difficult. It was only by strictly adhering to the principle of independent nests that it was possible to keep the Service intact. Even though plans for new extensions were often submitted to Headquarters in Liège for examination and action, their execution was never entrusted to existing units. A special and separate “Aying squad” was created in the area from which the development was to take place, and the flying squad was charged with organizing the new platoon. Only after this new platoon had been working for some time, and had deposited its reports regularly at its "letter-box," was this "letter-box” connected up to one of the existing courier platoons of “The White Lady." At this time there were three of these flying squads in existence-one at Tournai, one at Arlon, and the other at Con- neux. From Tournai, Lille and Douai, in the northern part of occupied France, were reached. From Arlon, the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg was penetrated. Here a train- watching post was mounted on the vitally important Trier- Luxemburg line, which together with “The White Lady's” post on the Aachen-Herbesthal-Liège line enabled us to control all 132 THE CONNEUX FLYING SQUAD 133 DU traffic westward out of Germany to points on the Western Front between Verdun and the sea. Finally, it was intended that the Conneux Flying Squad should push down into occu- pied France in the direction of Charleville and Sedan. It was two young girls who planted “The White Lady's” flag in Charleville, and because I have their modest report before me, I am going to let them tell the story, after I have made a few introductory remarks. To the south of Namur, in the provinces of Namur and Luxemburg, there stretches the château country of Belgium. Here, living on their estates abounding in fish and game, one finds chiefly the families that compose the aristocracy of Bel- gium. Among these families, “The White Lady” had many staunch supporters, notably the de Moffarts, the de Villermonts, the de Radiguès de Chennevières, and the de l'Epines. It was here that the Conneux Flying Squad was organized. Its objec- tive, Charleville, was not only the Headquarters of the German Crown Prince, but it was also an important railway center. It was on the strategic line Trier-Luxemburg-Sedan-Charleville- Mezières-Hirson; and, in addition, leading from it were the branch lines to Rethel, and Givet. The families I have mentioned had friends in Charleville, but they had been out of touch since the War; even so a friend was not always one who was willing to risk his life as a spy. It was only by sounding them out personally that a suitable chief could be found to organize the Charleville platoon. A delegate had, therefore, to be sent across the border. Two young girls, Baroness Clémie de l'Epine, and Marie-Antoinette, the daughter of the Marquise de Radiguès de Chennevière, volun- teered for the job. “The White Lady” wisely allowed them to undertake the mission: they knew that because of their age ve 134 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY they would have a better chance of getting through than the older agents; and if they were caught, they might escape with a less severe sentence. They also had the advantage of being per- sonally known to the people they intended to solicit; there would be no need for them to carry any incriminating written messages. Although considerably worried, the families of the two girls patriotically gave their consent. Clémie de l'Epine's family had an estate at Gedinne on the French border. Using this as a base the two young girls started to organize their expedition. It was no simple matter to get across the frontier. A barbed wire fence, ten feet high, a relic of pre-War days, separated Belgium from France in the Gedinne area, and along this fence, with the help of sentries and Secret Police, the Germans kept a strict surveillance-to prevent the passage of spy re- ports, all circulation between occupied France and Belgium was forbidden. It was necessary, therefore, to find an experi- enced guide to take them through to Charleville; in their search for one, they naturally addressed themselves to some of the many potato smugglers in the area. I will now let Clémie de l'Epine continue the story. With true modesty, she has confined her youthful report to a bare recitation of the facts, and has not attempted in any way to stress the importance of her mission, or the value of the results achieved. These two young girls were, however, completely successful; and the Charleville platoon, which grew out of their efforts, sent us the first reports that the Allies had received from this area since the early stages of the War. "It was necessary to find a trustworthy guide. After a search of several days during which we received several set-backs, the one THE CONNEUX FLYING SQUAD 137 grass. Finally, almost presentable, we prepared to make our entry into the town. But gone were our smiling faces. Down there, fifty yards ahead of us were two soldiers. Rouf! we were through the door of the nearest house, nearly upsetting a woman holding a baby. We apologized profusely, and explained our sudden entry; but evidently she was used to this kind of irruption, for she didn't seem at all surprised. "We promptly realized how foolish we had been our sudden bolt might have attracted the attention we wished to avoid. Charle- ville was full of soldiers, and the only chance of escaping detection was to put on a bold face, and pass as one of the inhabitants. But our unannounced entry had its utility; we borrowed a small girl, who had entered from an adjoining room to see what the commo- tion was about, and under her guidance we set out to find the house of Abbé Bierry, the friend on whom all our hopes were pinned. At his house, on hearing that he was at home, we dismissed Georges, fixing a rendezvous for eight o'clock, the same evening. It was now nine o'clock, and we had a whole day in which to ac- complish our plans. “The venerable Abbé was surprised at our visit. He anxiously inquired after our families; and then, adjusting his spectacles, he gave us a look as much as to say, 'Well, what's it all about?' Glad of the opening, we immediately plunged into our plans. Instead of showing us the door, which he might well have done for broaching such a compromising subject, to our relief, he immediately under- stood the situation, and the importance of our mission. He re- gretted that owing to his duties he could not play an active rôle himself, but Monsieur Dommelier, the editor of the local news- paper, certainly would-he had often expressed a desire for just such an opportunity. He would go and fetch Monsieur Dommelier. "Monsieur Dommelier was all that he had been described. His only regret was that we had not got in touch with him sooner. He thought that we should call into consultation Monsieur Grafetiaux and his wife, proprietors of a large pharmacy; they were patriots, intimate friends of his, and he knew they would wish to participate. "Thanking the Abbé for having started us off on the right road, gave us a look as mucmediately plunged into our ne for broaching 138 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY we adjourned to the pharmacy, and there in the back sitting room, after Madame Grafetiaux had kindly provided us with a change of clothing, we held a council of war. After spending several hours discussing plans, and going over instructions for the train-watchers, and the itinerant agents, we finally settled on the following or. ganization: Monsieur Dommelier was to be the Chief of the Charleville Platoon, and Madame Grafetiaux was to be his as- sistant. Between them they were to find the necessary agents to mount four train-watching posts at Charleville to control all troop movements passing through in the directions of Sedan, Rethel, Hirson, and Givet. In addition, they were to enroll itinerant agents to report on all German divisions moving in and out of the region. For courier from Charleville to Gedinne, it was decided that a cer- tain Paul Martin was the man indicated for the job to their knowl- edge he had guided several refugees across the frontier, and was a man with the necessary determination and courage. It was arranged that Martin, or whomever they could find as courier, should carry the first batch of reports through to Lucien Voltèche, our forester at Gedinne; and that he would indicate some hiding place in the woods between Gedinne and Monthermé, where thereafter the re- ports could be deposited and picked up. On our return, we would arrange for a courier from Gedinne to Conneux. "By this time, it was already six o'clock. Madame Grafetiaux prepared a good dinner to fortify us for the road, and at eight o'clock we met Georges outside the Abbé's house. Our new found friends accompanied us to the outskirts of the town, and there, after many fervent handshakes, and mutual wishes of 'Good Luck!,' we took leave of them. Once again we were en route. We were tired, but we had the satisfaction of knowing that our mission had been entirely successful." The first part of the return journey, as far as Breaus, was over a different route; to avoid the woods outside of Charle- ville, through which Georges was afraid he would not find his way in the dark, they followed the course of the Meuse instead, THE CONNEUX FLYING SQUAD 139 and passed through Nouzon. Georges brought his two young charges back in safety, though not without several exciting moments (one when they waded into the Meuse to escape the notice of a detachment of troops; another, when Georges failed to locate immediately the place where he had hidden the boat). The sixty odd miles from Gedinne to Charleville and back, was accomplished in forty-seven hours an incredible feat for two young girls traveling on foot across country, and through thick woods. It was some time before the first reports came through. The recruiting of agents took longer than Dommelier and Madame Grafetiaux had expected. But eventually we received them in Holland. There could have been no better proof of their value than the telegram of congratulations which came back immediately from British General Headquarters. The reports came through regularly for a month, and then the same old trouble, the courier service broke down. Lucien Voltèche had gone twice to the cache in the woods, and had found no reports. This was all “The White Lady” knew. Clémie and Marie-Antoinette immediately volunteered to make a second expedition to Charleville, and once again they set out for Gedinne to secure the services of Georges. Chance modified their plans. On arrival at the family estate, they found an aviation unit installed there. Ever anxious to obtain military information, they made friends with one of the non-commissioned officers. Details of the latest German fighting plane was their objective, but their thoughts were quickly diverted when they discovered that he was leaving for Charleville the next day to bring back supplies with one of his unit's covered motor trucks. The opportunity was too good to lose, and so with all the guile they could summon up, and 140 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY using the pretext that they wished to visit a relative, they begged him to hide them in the truck. Thinking that it was merely a youthful escapade, and, no doubt, not insensible to their charms, the good fellow—as Clémie herself described him—took them up on their dare. It was rash of the non-commissioned officer, if he had been caught it would have meant a court martial; but he knew, as well as did our valiant young friends, that the interior of a military vehicle was the very last place the Secret Police would search for them. He dropped them off at a secluded spot outside of Charleville, and it was there that they met him again the next day. The journey was safely accomplished and so was their mission. Monsieur Crépel, the Mayor of Nouzon, was a friend of the Grafetiauxs, and as he had to come to Charleville fre- quently on business for his commune, he was persuaded to act as courier from Charleville to Nouzon. The courier service from Nouzon to Gedinne was undertaken by Lucien Voltèche, and so communications were once again established. They remained intact from then until the Armistice. CHAPTER XIII THE AFFAIR OF THE VILLA DES HIRONDELLES BOUT this time a serious catastrophe befell “The White Lady”; the best of planning could not have averted it. Chance, which cannot be gauged in advance, put the Secret Police on their track. An anonymous letter, written by a jealous relative who had never even heard of “The White Lady," started the train of events which ended so tragically. Marcelle, the girl denounced in the letter, had left occupied France without a passport, and had entered domestic service in Liège. Thus far her planning was not at fault; but when she set her cap at a rich man, who had money to leave, decidedly she took a false step. Landwerlen, the lieutenant in charge of the Secret Police at Liège, was daily receiving such letters, and he did not attach special importance to this particular one; but he had two men who happened to be free, Wilhelm Muller and another agent, and so he sent them off to bring the girl in for questioning. On their arrival at Wandre, where Reyman, Marcelle's em- ployer, was living, Muller and his companion found no one at home. Inquiries among the neighbors brought them the in- formation that Reyman might be at the Villa des Hirondelles, a house which he had rented to some tenants. The villa hap- pened to be the secretariat of "The White Lady”-the place 142 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY US where all their reports were typed out and prepared for trans- mission to Holland. "The White Lady” was prepared for a raid. The villa stood in its own grounds on the banks of the Meuse, and in the rear, out of sight of the front door, a boat was moored, furnished with oars all set for an escape down the river. In the villa there were twenty-eight guns, and ten thousand rounds of ammunition; the front windows were heavily shuttered, and a strong oak door barred the front entrance. One person, fore- warned, could have held a dozen Secret Police at bay until all compromising documents had been destroyed, and the other inmates of the villa had escaped. But luck for once was against “The White Lady.” The two plainclothes men had just reached the thick hedge which enclosed the villa, when they met, face to face, two of "The White Lady” couriers coming out-they had just de- posited their reports at the villa. Muller gruffly demanded “Who lives here?" Completely taken aback, the couriers, Franchimont, and van den Berg, made no reply. Muller, immediately sensing there was something wrong, pulled out his gun, and ordered : them to follow him. In the interior of the villa there were four persons: Madame Goessels, who was in charge of the secretariat; Rosa, a servant who worked by the day, and who cleaned up the villa twice a week; and in a back room, from whose windows they could easily have escaped to the boat, there were two “White Lady” agents, Louis and Antony Collard, who had just arrived from Belgian Luxemburg and were stopping for the night. The stenographers happened to be away. Of the whole group, Madame Goessels, a buxom woman of about thirty-five years val Louis And Antony COLLARD Arrested at the Villa des Hirondelles, and shot by the Germans. The Bastion of the CHARTREUSE Showing the grave of the two Collard brothers, together with those of Wathelet, Lelarge, and Richter mentioned in a subsequent chapter. These agents were buried where they were shot. The Villa DES HIRONDELLES MADAME RANNK Cionnels THE VILLA DES HIRONDELLES 143 of age, endowed with extraordinary vitality, was the dominant character. Engaged in every form of patriotic activity since the beginning of the War, she was experienced in Secret Police methods, and so far had proved more than a match for them. Muller knocked at the door. The voice of Madame Goessels was heard asking "Who's there?” Muller, experienced at his work, stuck his gun into Franchimont's side, and in a whisper ordered him to reply. Madame Goessels, hearing the voice of one whom she had just let out of the villa, was completely disarmed. She opened the door. In a glance, she took in the situation. The reports which Franchimont, and van den Berg had brought, had been hidden in a sofa, forced down between the seat and one of the sides; but Madame Goessels knew that the two Collards were in their room, copying out some information which they had just brought back from Luxemburg. She had just left their room and had seen the reports spread out on a table. Her one thought was to warn them. But how? Their door was closed. To gain time, she stood in the doorway, and from there, in as loud a voice as possible, she answered Muller's questions: “Does Monsieur Reyman live here?” "No. You are at the house of Madame Goessels.” "Have you ever been arrested?” "No. Neither by you, nor by the Belgians.” "You are Mademoiselle Marcelle??" “No, I am Madame Goessels.” "You are French?” “No, I am a Belgian.” But Muller was suspicious. Franchimont, and van den Berg were young men. Perhaps, she was hiding refugees here, and 144 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY so pushing her aside, he and his companion entered to search the villa. Unfortunately, the two Collard brothers heard nothing of this dialogue, so engrossed were they in their work; it was only when they heard footsteps outside their door that they realized something was wrong. Both of them had pocketbooks on their person containing incriminating papers. Antony had the presence of mind to throw his out of the window; but Louis was caught unawares. In any case, spread on the table were the reports, and these the Germans immediately seized. While this was going on, Madame Goessels slipped upstairs -she had a plan. Quickly grasping a gun, she stuck it in her blouse, and waited on the landing for one of the Secret Police to mount; she knew the other would remain below to guard the prisoners. It was Muller who appeared. “Trying to hide something?” he said as he went into her bedroom to make a search. This was the opportunity she was waiting for. Quickly she closed the door from the outside, and tried to turn the key. But Muller was too quick for her; he wrenched the door open, covering her with his gun. The search of the villa was now continued, and with the additional discovery of the guns and the ammunition the Secret Police thought they had all the evidence they needed. Handcuffed and tied together with some rope which they found in the villa, the prisoners were taken to the Police Post at Wandre; from there Muller telephoned for reënforcements. These were not long in coming, and the prisoners were taken off to the Liège Police Post for questioning. While Muller and his companion were away making their report, the prisoners were confined in a room under the guard of a German soldier. Madame Goessels was quick to seize her opportunity. Already, THE VILLA DES HIRONDELLES 145 she had a defense planned, and to each in a few short sentences, she whispered their part. To Franchimont: “I am your mistress. You have often visited me at the villa. You know nothing about my activities.” To van den Berg: "You are Franchimont's friend. You dropped in on a casual visit.” To the two Collards: “You are two of my lodgers. I don't know who you are, nor anything about your activities. Remem- ber your oath as a soldier. Reveal nothing." Her own defense had also been decided on. She would explain the guns and ammunition by claiming that she had planned on aiding refugees to cross the frontier, and that the guns were intended for them. After they had waited for an hour, Landwerlen was ready to put them through a preliminary interrogation. Each told the story they had agreed on. In addition, the two Collards ex- plained the reports in their possession by stating that having decided to cross the frontier, they had compiled the reports with the intention of selling them to an espionage service in Holland. They had a twofold reason for putting up this defense. First of all, it would divert attention away from "The White Lady"; secondly, according to German law at that time, a spy could not be executed unless it had definitely been proved that he had either directly or indirectly communicated with the enemy—the intention to do so was not sufficient. The first interrogation completed, the prisoners were removed to the prison of St. Léonard. The Secret Police believed Franchimont's and van den Berg's story, and released them shortly afterwards. But the two Collards were doomed from the start. Many of the reports were in code, which in itself was evidence of a spy organization, 146 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY and, in addition, the information contained in Louis' pocket- book hopelessly compromised them. As regards Madame Goessels, Landwerlen was convinced she was culpable of espionage, and although he had no direct proof, he was deter- mined to trap her in some way. Through their Counter-Espionage Section, “The White Lady” had immediately been informed of the arrests; two days later, on March 10th, 1918, through Fauquenot and Creusen, they were already in touch with two of the prisoners. The two Collards were in solitary confinement and could not be reached. Fauquenot's first message, written in code, warned them of the reports hidden in the sofa: "Have spoken to Franchimont. He was arrested on the 8th. He says one can count on him. He is accused of espionage. The affair is complicated on account of the false identity cards; the Germans want to know where they come from. He speaks of documents in the sofa. Do you know what he is talking about? They found noth- ing on van den Berg. Muller is doing the interrogating. They un- dressed one of the Collard brothers yesterday and thrashed him with a cane. Let us know what you want us to ask them.” Reymen had an excuse to enter the villa, he was the owner; and it was he who not only rescued the reports from the sofa, but found Anthony Collard's pocketbook still lying where he had thrown it. The two Collards, young men, twenty-one and twenty years of age, were born in the beautiful little village of Tintigny, in the valley of the Semois, at the southern tip of Belgian Luxem- burg. Here, far from large towns, they had lived a peaceful life THE VILLA DES HIRONDELLES 147 in a happy home of seven children. Stirred by the call of their country, they had come to Liège in September, 1917, to escape across the border to join the Belgian Army, and it was here that “The White Lady” contacted them. It was not difficult to persuade these two young patriots to return to Tintigny to organize an espionage group in their area. They were completely successful, and at the time of their arrest they had not only covered the whole of the Virton section with a spy network and had mounted a train-watching post at Longuyon on the important Longuyon-Sedan line just across the border in occupied France, but they had also started a pene- tration into the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg. In addition to this rôle as organizers, they had also acted as couriers linking up the Virton section with Liège. It was for this reason that their arrest immediately severed all connection between “The White Lady” and the Virton section. Not only were there no means of collecting the reports, but it was impossible for "The White Lady” to warn the mem- bers of the group what had happened. The situation was all the more tragic because several of their names were written down in the papers contained in Louis Collard's pocketbook. The Germans were quick to act, and the arrest of Collard Senior, the young men's father, Monsieur and Madame Bastin, and Abbé Arnould-all of the Virton area-followed in quick succession. The Secret Police now had a group of seven prisoners in St. Léonard. They were sure they could tear sufficient information out of them to put them on the track of the main organization. But as the weeks went by, they had to admit defeat. The four newly arrested members knew nothing about “The White 148 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY nove Lady” organization. Madame Goessels kept repeating the same refugee story, until they got tired of questioning her; and the Collard brothers remained heroic in their silence. Every third- degree method was tried; and not even Vérin, the most suc- cessful stool-pigeon in St. Léonard, who after the War was condemned by the French to Devil's Island, was able to move the two martyred brothers to betrayal. With the arrests of Collard Senior, a widower, and of the Bastins, two families of small children were left at home with- out parents. Marie-Thérèse, a girl of eighteen, the oldest of the five remaining Collard children, not knowing what had hap- pened to her father and brothers, was left in a state of torment. Franticly, she ran to the German Police Post at Florenville. There they refused to give her any information. Eventually, in despair she set out to see her cousin Duchesnes in Namur, accompanied by Irene Bastin, a girl of the same age. Perhaps, he could give her some news. Duchesnes sent the two young girls to Liège, and there, through mutual friends, they managed to get into touch with a member of “The White Lady." “The White Lady” gave the two young girls what comfort it could, and immediately took steps to care for the children of the two families. At the same time, through Marie-Thérèse, they received enough indications to reëstablish connections with the unarrested members of the Virton section, and to set them working again. Marie-Thérèse and Irene Bastin were enrolled as members of “The White Lady," and themselves undertook to make the necessary contact between “The White Lady” courier and the agents in their area. The following is the letter which “The White Lady's” courier brought back on returning from his first trip: SOC es 150 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY Joseph Bastin, ten years hard labor; against Madame Bastin, two years hard labor. Two German lawyers represented the prisoners. They confined themselves chiefly to pleading for a diminution of the penalties demanded. Judgment was rendered on July 2nd, 1918. Louis and Antony Collard, Abbé Arnould, and Madame Goessels were condemned to death; the others to various terms of hard labor. The sentences of Madame Goessels, and Abbé Arnould were eventually changed by the Governor-General to hard labor for life. Louis and Antony Collard were shot at the Citadel of the Chartreuse at Liège, on July 18th, 1918. Nothing can be sadder than the last farewell visit to their father. They were brought together in the office of the Director of the prison. The father subsequently wrote: “My children pronounced with affection the names of each one of the family. It seemed as if they were more preoccupied with the lot of the others than they were with their own. With precision they made known to me their last wishes. “At the end of the room, near a table, were seated the Director of the prison, and some German officers. Two doors opened out on to the corridor. Soldiers stood posted at them, immobile, and re- spectful. “At the signal for the separation, my children threw themselves on their knees: 'Father, give us your last blessing.' “I blessed them, and then prostrated myself in turn: 'You also, my children, before you die, bless your old father.' "We were all three on our knees. “Another signal was given. I embraced my sons. They went off, without shedding a tear, holding their heads high, and leaving me a last word of consolation and affection. “They had already left me, when I realized my cruel situation: I would never see them again. I precipitated myself out of the room. THE VILLA DES HIRONDELLES 151 The soldiers allowed me to pass. I saw Louis and Antony about to turn the corner of the corridor. They saw me, and with a cry 'We'll meet in heaven,' they disappeared from sight.” But the cup of grief of the aged father had not yet been filled: two years later, Marie-Thérèse followed her brothers to the grave. After the War, both the British and the Belgian Govern- ments bestowed on Louis and Antony Collard, posthumously, the same high decorations which they had conferred on Dieudonné Lambrecht. In rendering homage to the two Collard brothers, we must remember Madame Goessels. Her nimble mind had saved the lives of two members of the Service; in doing it, she had not hesitated to pretend a relationship with Franchimont which was completely at variance with her character. She could have revealed more about “The White Lady” than any of those who had been arrested; she, too, remained heroic in her silence. "The White Lady” had weathered the storm, but Dewé and Chauvin had had many anxious moments. The Secret Police never knew how close they came to arresting them. Following up the clew that Rosa, the maid, also did part time work for a Mademoiselle Weimerskirch, the Secret Police decided to search her house. When they arrived, Dewé and Chauvin were in a back room. As the Secret Police came in at the front door, Dewé and Chauvin left precipitately at the rear. CHAPTER XIV A DOUBLE ESCAPE FROM THE PRISON OF ST. LÉONARD FAUQUENOT and Creusen had now been nearly two I years in the prison of St. Léonard; confinement and the severe German prison régime began to tell on them. The War dragged on, and it took all their courage and optimism to keep their spirits up. Since their first day of incarceration, they had worked at plans of escape, but St. Léonard, a modern prison with its high walls and numerous prison guards, presented difficulties which could not be surmounted without outside help. They urged “The White Lady” to assist them. Dewé and Chauvin were quite willing to participate in a rescue, and laboriously, through many coded messages, they worked out a scheme with them. However, they rightly felt it their duty to consult with us in Holland before making the attempt. It can be imagined what effect their report had on me. The scheme seemed so foolhardy that I turned it down on the spot. “The White Lady," at this time, was supplying the Allies with at least seventy-five per cent of the information coming out of occupied Belgium and France; at all costs their organization had to be kept intact. Besides, I knew that Fauquenot and Creusen were more valuable to us in St. Léonard than out. No 152 A DOUBLE ESCAPE FROM PRISON 153 one could duplicate the astounding services which the two of them, together with Marie Birckel, were rendering within its gray walls. Matters were soon to reach a climax, however. The Germans were preparing their great offensive of March, 1918, and every available man was being mustered for service at the front. Maryan, the Polish warder, learned that he, too, would be called up soon. News of his impending departure threw despair into the hearts of Fauquenot and Creusen. They saw not only their sole means of escape disappearing, but also their contact with their friends outside. An ultimatum was sent “The White Lady” to the effect that even if they refused assistance, the escape would be attempted anyhow. Dewé and Chauvin found themselves in an extremely diffi- cult position. On the one side, they had received definite instructions from me not to participate; on the other hand, they felt that they should not abandon to their fate two men who had rendered “The White Lady” such valiant assistance. In their dilemma, they turned to God for guidance, and at a meeting of their Council, the matter was weighed up according to the laws of the Church. The decision was unanimously in favor of assisting the two prisoners. Dewé and Chauvin now took an astounding step. They decided to carry out the rescue themselves. What prompted them to do this, I cannot tell. I can only surmise that knowing how dangerous the undertaking was, they did not feel justified in delegating any one else to carry it out; and then, both of them had the greatest affection and admiration for Fauquenot and Creusen. No one realized better than they the bravery of these two men who, in spite of having already been condemned 154 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY to death once, were still continuing their spy activities within their prison walls. The die having been cast, they made arrangements, in the event of their arrest, for their replacement as chiefs of "The White Lady.” They determined that the maximum sacrifice would be their lives, and that there must be no possibility of anything happening to the Service; in this respect at least they would be carrying out our instructions. This done, they speeded up the plans for the escape. The lay-out of the prison was examined from the top of a hill which overlooked it; a model of the building was carefully constructed with the aid of Maryan. The minutest details were gone into, and the following plan was evolved: On a night to be fixed, Maryan, the Polish warder, would be hidden in a refuge, especially prepared for the purpose, at No. 6 tournant St. Paul, a house owned by a member of "The White Lady.” Before his departure, Maryan would open the locks on the cells of the two prisoners. Fauquenot and Creusen would make their way into the prison chapel; from there they would reach the loft by means of a spiral staircase; then they would hoist themselves through a skylight onto the roof. In the loft they would find a hammer, two ropes, and an iron hook left there by Maryan. This would enable them to lower themselves on to that part of the prison wall facing the rue Mathieu Laensbergh. The second rope would be used to reach the street from the wall, a drop of about forty feet. At the corner of the rue Mathieu Laensbergh and the rue Regnier, Dewé and Chauvin would be stationed. They would be smok- ing cigars if the streets were clear. All that remained was to fix the night for the escape, when, without warning, Dewe's and Chauvin's minds were diverted A DOUBLE ESCAPE FROM PRISON 155 by a calamity—the arrests at the Villa des Hirondelles. The blow was paralyzing for at that time Dewé and Chauvin did not know the story of Mademoiselle Marcelle, and they had no idea how the Secret Police had obtained their information. Other arrests had followed in Belgian Luxemburg and it looked very much like a betrayal. The services of Fauquenot and Creusen were absolutely necessary to clear up the situation. The two prisoners faithfully remained at their posts, though the postponement of their escape must have been heartrending. Once again, they bravely carried out what was required of them, and over fifty coded messages were sent out, giving practically a verbatim report of each of the prison interroga- tions. In this way, Dewé and Chauvin were not only able to determine the cause of the arrests, but they knew exactly what information the Secret Police had obtained. This made it possible for them to take the necessary isolation measures to protect the rest of the Service. Now, more so than ever, Dewé and Chauvin were deter- mined to proceed with the rescue. The date was definitely fixed for Holy Thursday, March 28th, 1918. A religious festival day was chosen deliberately, as it was known that many of the German prison staff would obtain leave to go into the city during the evening. The day started off unpropitiously. The walls of Liège were placarded with bulletins announcing one German victory after another. Their great March offensive had broken loose. Contact had been severed between the French and the British troops; Noyon, Albert, and Montdidier had fallen. Early that evening Dewé met Chauvin in his study at the Institut Montefiore to go over again each step of the escape. The model of the prison was on the green baize table before 156 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY them; each sentry was in his place; Dewé's and Chauvin's stations were marked, and on it they traced the exact course Fauquenot and Creusen would follow. From time to time one of them would get up, pace the floor feverishly, and make some suggestion which both of them would then dissect analytically. Suddenly, Dewé pulled out his watch. “It's eight o'clock,” he said, "we have no time to lose.” They hid the model in a secret cupboard and went out. Silently they made their way along the empty marble corridors to the porter's lodge. It was occupied by a woman who had been on the look-out during the whole time they had been in the building, and near whose foot was concealed an electric alarm which would have sounded in Chauvin's study if anything suspicious had occurred. As they passed by, she crossed herself. Their objective was the prison; they had to reach it by nine o'clock. Arriving at the rue Pont d'Avroy, filled with people, they entered and stopped before a cigar store next to the Hotel Verlac. While Dewé went in to buy the cigars which were to be used as a signal, Chauvin remained outside. No one would have thought that this gentle looking man was anxiously watching for German plainclothes men, most of whom were known to him either by sight or from photographs. To a passer-by, he looked the professor that he was; he certainly did not have the appearance of a man who was about to partic- ipate in a desperate jail break. Dewé emerged from the cigar store. The two men continued on their way without exchanging a word. At the place Cathédrale, they took a street car, which brought them to the vicinity of the prison. Soon they were in the shadow of the great building, its massive walls towering above them. A DOUBLE ESCAPE FROM PRISON 157 A light rain started to fall; this pleased them—it would tend to keep the sentries in their boxes. It was then about eight forty-five. Under the German régime the streets were badly lit. The shutters of most of the houses were closed and the reverberating footsteps of the occasional pedestrian were more lugubrious than the silence itself. After they had examined the small alley, ruelle Roland, running from the rue Regnier to the rue Jonruelle, through which they would have to beat their retreat, they took up their position at the corner of the rue Regnier and the rue Mathieu Laensbergh. They anxiously scanned the length of both streets and then each lit his cigar—the signal that the coast was clear. The eyes of the two watchers wandered in turn to the wall on which the two prisoners were to appear, to a German sentry box in the distance, and then up and down the two streets; but the hour had not yet arrived. In the distance they heard the sound of the street cars and every now and then a troop train which they knew was being observed by their faithful band of train-watchers. Suddenly, the bells of St. Barthélemy started chiming nine o'clock. Scarcely had the echoes died away, when a whistle was heard and a figure was seen on the roof of the chapel, up against the skyline. It disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared. "Did you see him?” whispered Chauvin excitedly; but Dewé had seen nothing. They strained their eyes into the dark- ness. The phantom, if phantom it was, did not reappear. Suddenly they saw a woman approaching them rapidly. They started in alarm. A quick whisper reassured them. It was Juliette Duricu, a woman member of “The White Lady," who had come to report that Maryan, the Polish warder, had safely reached the refuge prepared for him. 158 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY Let us now see what was happening to Fauquenot and Creusen within the prison. This is the account as related by Fauquenot himself: “During the afternoon, with the utmost precaution, for the eye of a warder might at any time be peering at me through the trap in the cell door, I tore my sheets into strips and knotted them firmly together. As evening approached, I paced my cell. I was covered with perspiration--such was my nervousness and impa- tience. A little before eight o'clock, the prison time for retiring, I opened my bed, and with my pillow I fixed up a dummy to make the bed appear occupied. I placed some of my clothes on the chair, as if I had just taken them off. At eight o'clock, Maryan opened my cell. He was trembling. He was a German soldier and would have been shot like a dog even if caught doing this much. "I could hear the heavy boots of the sentry pacing on the floor below. I slid along the wall of the corridor behind Maryan until we came to cell 156, which I knew was a storeroom for spare sheets and straw mattresses. Here I found Creusen already waiting for me. He brandished in his hand a small hammer and an iron spike, which Maryan had given him. Maryan grasped our hands, whis- pered 'Good luck,' and hurried away. We were left to our own devices. "Creusen looked askance at the white cord slung over my arm. I knew he was thinking of the ropes Maryan had promised to leave in the chapel loft. 'We may need them,' I whispered reassuringly. “We got going immediately. As we skirted the wall of the courtyard, on our way to the chapel, we listened intently to the tread of the sentry at the far end. Just when we thought we were clear, the footsteps started coming nearer and nearer until the sentry's form showed up clearly. Had he seen us? No. He had com- menced his beat in the opposite direction. The chapel door was not more than twenty feet away. We slid into it. Up the spiral staircase we went, and it was not until we were in the loft that we breathed freely again. "After a few seconds, we started feeling for Maryan's ropes, 160 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY prison wall. Straining their eyes in the darkness in the direction of the sound, they saw a broad ribbon-like cord show up against the wall. Then a figure appeared and slid swiftly to the ground. It was Fauquenot. They ran rapidly towards him, giving him the password “Jeanne d'Arc.” He replied, “Jeanne,” the word agreed upon. Anxiously, they inquired after Creusen. At the same moment, a head peered over the wall. Willing hands held the rope away from it to save his knuckles. In an instant, he was at their side. “The two Collards ?” Dewé and Chauvin asked simultaneously. But they had hoped for the impossible. They mournfully learned that they were confined in an entirely different wing of the prison. No time was lost in getting away from the grim prison walls. It was dangerous mounting a street car, but this had to be done to throw the police dogs off the scent; they knew the dogs would be turned loose as soon as the escape was dis- covered. At the rue de la Cité they boarded a car, which took them as far as the place Cathédrale. There they separated into two groups, to meet once again at 6 tournant St. Paul, where they found Maryan waiting for them. As they stood facing each other, they all, as if by common consent, went down on their knees and thanked God. According to Marie, the alarm at the prison was given about an hour after the escape. It was the knotted sheet, left hanging from the prison wall in the rue Mathieu Laensbergh, which first attracted the attention of the German guards. A hurried inspection of the cells soon showed that Fauquenot and Creusen were missing. The hunt was on. An indescribable noise broke loose in the prison, feet were heard scurrying in every direction, lanterns darted hither and thither while a rapid search was made of the prison itself. Then a number of cars were heard CO A DOUBLE ESCAPE FROM PRISON 161 we driving swiftly away. It was 2.30 A.m. before quiet reigned again. In the morning, Marie was brought up for interrogation. She was faced by Becker, Douhard, and a third member of the Secret Police. “Do you know," said Becker, “that Fauquenot and Creusen tried to escape last night? Faquenot was shot dead and Creusen was badly wounded." They looked at her closely to see what effect this announcement would have on her. They were anxious to discover if she knew anything about the escape. Marie was visibly moved. She knew the exact details of the escape plans, for, through Maryan and Juliette Delrualle, Fauquenot and Creusen had consulted with her in the hopes that a plan could be devised to take her along with them. Marie had gallantly refused to join in their plans, not wishing to diminish their chance of success. For the moment she feared the worst. But the next remark, which came from Douhard, reassured her. "Creusen confessed before he died that it was planned that you were to escape with them.” It was a stupid contradiction of Becker's statement that Creusen was only wounded. Marie felt a surge of joy. She felt they were safe. She regained her poise. All attempts to get her to admit com- plicity in the escape proved futile, and she was soon returned to her cell. A few weeks later, Marie was transferred to a prison camp in Germany; no doubt, the Secret Police thought she would be safer there. Weissbarth, the German Director of the prison, must have been glad to see the last of the trio. It was impossible to keep two men of Fauquenot's and Creusen's temperament confined in a house indefinitely, and three months had already elapsed since their escape. The end of the War seemed as far off to them as ever. Their thoughts The Prison WALL of St. LÉONARD ALONG THE RUE MATHIEU LAENSBERGH. The man marks the spot where Fauquenot and Creusen scaled it. The Prison of Sr. LÉONARD Franz CREUSEN As he appeared when he was ar- rested at the frontier. Franz CREUSEN As he appeared at the time of the escape. Emile FAUQUENOT AND His Wife (Marie BIRCKEL), TAKEN SHORTLY AFTER THE ARMISTICE. A DOUBLE ESCAPE FROM PRISON 163 H . Creusen fared even worse. His guide had brought him to within about two hundred yards of the frontier, and since of necessity it was a moonless night, he left Creusen hidden in the grass, while he crawled away into the darkness to find out the position of the sentries and the exact distance to the wire. Creusen, worn out by two years of imprisonment, and the long march on foot across the Campine, was utterly exhausted. During the absence of the guide, he fell asleep. His man was unable to locate him on his return, and when Creusen awoke it was dawn. A sentry was standing over him prodding him with a bayonet. Creusen's usual quick wit came to his rescue. On interroga- tion, he gave his name as Desmet, and his abode a village in Flanders, close behind the front line, which he knew had been evacuated by the inhabitants. His story passed muster, but still he could not deny that he had tried to escape across the frontier. This was a prison offense, and to prison he was sent. But as luck would have it, he was sent to prison in Hasselt instead of to St. Léonard. The beard and mustache, which he had grown since his escape, were sufficient to guard the secret of his iden- tity in his new prison, and the Germans never suspected that the Desmet in Hasselt was the Creusen they were hunting for. This failure to identify Creusen, in spite of his fingerprints which had been taken in St. Léonard, is proof of the lack of coöperation which existed between the various Secret Police Posts. Thus although the rescue from the prison of St. Léonard was a glorious achievement—the only case on record where a secret service organization planned and accomplished such a feat in war-time—yet, even if Fauquenot's lot was somewhat lightened, the escape served no useful purpose. On the contrary, CHAPTER XV THE AFFAIR OF FRONTIER PASSAGE VI THE arrests of Father Des Onays, Jeanne Delwaide, and I the group at the Villa des Hirondelles, were major spy affairs in which reports were seized, and yet the Secret Police failed to connect them. How can one explain this apparent ineptitude? It is simple. Even though the Allied secret services interfered with each other in the mounting of spy organizations in the interior, the very multiplicity of their activities baffled the Secret Police. The more inefficient the secret service, the greater were the number of arrests, and behind this smoke screen of spy activity which drew the Secret Police away from the main issue, “The White Lady” either passed unnoticed, or, when arrests were made, they were hopelessly confused in the general maze. Finally, the nature of the reports seized in the three “White Lady” affairs completely threw the Secret Police off the track. In the Des Onays affair, they were train-watching reports, typewritten on tabulated forms supplied by the Cam- eron Service; in the Delwaide affair, the reports belonged to the Biscops Service, and were written in invisible ink on brown wrapping paper; those seized on the Collards came from an entirely different area, the south of Belgian Luxemburg, and were in a special form demanded by the War Office Service. In fact, the reports were destined for three distinct services in 165 166 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY Holland, and belonged to two different secret organizations in the interior. Yet all the agents arrested belonged to "The White Lady" organization. The affairs just mentioned were by far the gravest in the history of “The White Lady”; each of them, but for the heroic conduct of the prisoners, could have crippled the Service very seriously; in each case the names of Dewé and Chauvin were known to some of the arrested members. “The White Lady" was still to pass, however, through another crisis: the affair of frontier passage VI. But before telling of this, I must mention a few minor casualties which occurred in between. On January 26th, 1918, “The White Lady” was startled by the sudden arrest of Neujean, the Chief of the Belgian Police in Liège, and head of their Counter-Espionage Section. Com- munication with him by code in the prison of Namur, soon established that they had nothing to fear. Madame Bidlot, a courier of "The White Lady,” had assisted some French prisoners-of-war to escape in 1915; somehow, the Secret Police discovered the fact at this late date and arrested her. Subsequent investigation disclosed that she had frequently visited Neujean, and on this flimsy evidence he was arrested. Repeated interro- gation of Madame Bidlot and Neujean was unproductive of any spy evidence; but Madame Bidlot's refugee activities brought her a prison sentence. As for Neujean, he was de- ported to Germany as an undesirable, probably because the Secret Police had some outside grievance against him. It was a lucky shot in the dark for them. The loss of Neujean was a heavy blow to “The White Lady”; and Madame Bidlot was not only a courier, but also the owner of a house in Nivelles where they were experimenting with a wireless sending set. Win FRONTIER PASSAGE VI 167 The arrest of the courier van Houdenhuyse was more serious. On July 18th, 1918, while traveling on foot from Brussels to Ghent with some instructions in code intended for the Chief of the Ghent Platoon, two Secret Police, whom he had not noticed riding behind a hay cart, suddenly stopped him. A search revealed the compromising roll in his possession. Things looked bad for van Houdenhuyse. But he had his story ready, and although it earned him a punch on the chin and infuriated the Secret Police, they could not disprove it. With well feigned simplicity he told them how an unknown lady had accosted him outside the Hôtel de Ville in Brussels, and had paid him twenty marks to deliver the message to a man in Alost. “What man?” was the impatient demand. "A tall dark man, with a long beard, and a red handkerchief in his pocket. I was to meet him outside the Alost church at eleven o'clock the next morning,” was the reply he gave them in all seriousness. When the spy message was shown him in triumph, he countered, still continuing the same line of defense: “I didn't know what was in the message. How could I? It was sealed.” Of course, his explanation was an obvious fabrication, but it brought him all that he could hope for—a reduced sentence- and it was a good story on which to base complete ignorance of any one connected with the Service. He was condemned to ten years hard labor. Actually, van Houdenhuyse was on his way to "The White Lady's" "letter-box," an old coachman, who worked at a livery stable. The establishment was fre- quented by German officers who kept their chargers there. It was a spot that would be least suspected. 168 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY The affair of Post 191 (Hasselt) was brought on by “The White Lady” contacting an organization in the interior con- nected with one of the other Allied secret services in Holland. In June, 1918, van Weddingen, one of “The White Lady". agents in the Hasselt area, reported that the Vicar of Curange had installed a train-watching post at Hasselt, and that after functioning for several weeks, it had become cut off from its base in Holland. He asked permission to include the reports with his own. As soon as I received these reports, I recognized from their form to whom they belonged; and as we already had a train-watching post at Hasselt, and I knew sooner or later the Service in Holland would try to contact it, and thereby perhaps compromise it, I instructed “The White Lady” to sever all connections immediately. Unfortunately, the warning did not come in time; the Vicar of Curange was arrested and van Weddingen with him. Van Weddingen was immediately iso- lated, and there were no further arrests in the Hasselt Platoon. The affair was just coming up for trial when the Armistice intervened. By April, 1918, “The White Lady” had recovered from the Villa des Hirondelles affair, and except for the unimportant incidents I have just mentioned, they had enjoyed nearly six months of comparative tranquillity. This respite could not have come at a better time, for it coincided with the period of Germany's final effort on the Western front, and it permitted "The White Lady” to function at maximum efficiency just when information from behind the German lines was most needed. During this period, vast troop movements were taking place night and day through the occupied territories, and not 10.4 E. Lers octobre 191%. 322906 125265 (1 rouleau cacheté cire dorée) DECODBZ D'URGENCE 209954 066007 322153 165223 337201 047626 047048 049721 213381 112547 117364 009026 134002 229656 165878 12641 214322 251776 083364 563008 130625 126241 249820 117646 337081 110694 210011 132743 191168 185265 249820 223502 210011 047048 245302 170880 708260 i12172 0001 AFON Orinoco Rin 00 AM O 250818 Lino T ulo more 20249 11082 12684 EdHHឡានមង្គសាល 064776 2 OKO see the 222082 Omm 295248 0 251632 2413 179461 082972 663852 217172 105162 126880 165878 162632 010010 105026 216552 169450 115721 203450 242446 322009 250898 322087 Juoqu'à nouvel ordre, 527771 126906 622800 046570 643611 051920 105162 115721 191168 083364 250878 331110 047546 322087. TRANSCRIPTION OF CODE: No.4 2. 19 3 00tobre 1918. 8.A. à 8.0.A. Nous vous accusons récopion de vos onvois No.2 B du 26/9 de No.4 P da 25/9. VOIF 6. Le dernier envoi reçu de vouo par cette voie est votre envoi No.26 . Le dernier onvoi que nous vouð avons expédié par cette voie est notre No.28 $.11 semble que quelque choso oot arrivé à un des courriers à l'intérieur, mais nous ne savons pas encore tous les détaile. Intre temps, vu que cette voie ne fonctionne pas, voici non instructions pour la tranani asion de vos documente. VOIE 3. Le porteur de la présente a pour instructions d'attendre une réponse. Remettez à ce portour les duplica ta& dos documents qui. composaient votre dernier envoi par la voie 6 ainsi que tout autres docuients en votre pouc466ion, au moment de la visite du nor tour.co dernier se présentera de nouveau Au rendez-vous habitual avec votre envoyé le jand1 TO octobre,& à partir de cette date, vous lui ramettrez cha que Jeudi vos docudents pour tranfitrion. VOIE 7. Jusqua nouvel ordre, envoyez-nous duplintas de tous vos documents par cette voie, 8.4. LETTER SENT BY THE WAR OFFICE SERVICE TO “THE WHITE LADY" Two DAYS AFTER THE MAESEYCK ARRESTS A transcription of the coded message is shown. A previous warning message had already been dispatched. Vore vi . VERS ROTTERDAM TOERMOND Maeso Buite av lettre Rbos TEREN Rb v LIMBOURG HOLLANDE HASSELT MAESTRICHT TONNES LIEGE 1 yea A Diagram SHOWING THE RELAYS USED IN FRON- tier Passage VI. The river Meuse running along the frontier at Maeseyck is not shown. FRONTIER PASSAGE VI 169 one of these, except those right in the fighting zone, escaped the invisible net which “The White Lady" had spun. There was, however, still to be one more serious clash with the Secret Police; and this time it came where we had been expecting it for the last eighteen months. It occurred right on the frontier. At Maeseyck, Belgium is separated from Holland by the Meuse. Here, during the last two years of the War, two Dutch- men, “Tilman” and his son, earned large sums as smugglers. In Holland, the inhabitants had already been put on bread cards, and the export of food was strictly prohibited; but if it was scarce in Holland, it was even more so in Belgium. This was Tilman's opportunity; he took full advantage of it. Every night, without a break, he and his son rowed his heavily laden boat across the Meuse. In Maeseyck, he had an accomplice, "van Osselaer," who received the smuggled food, and sold it in the interior. The German officer in charge of the frontier guard was not averse to getting a few choice titbits for himself -his rations left much that was to be desired—and so we had the ideal arrangement of a frontier passage functioning under German protection. Although he was a Dutchman, Tilman, like many of the inhabitants of Dutch Limburg, was extremely pro-Belgian; it was not difficult to persuade him to carry our reports across the river. Besides, Oram, the man in charge of all our frontier agents, promised him a goodly sum for this side activity, quite as much as he was making out of his smuggling. Van Osselaer, his accomplice, was a Belgian patriot; he readily fell in with Tilman's plan, and when a courier had been found to connect him up with a "letter-box” in Hasselt, all was set to start this frontier passage working. When Oram announced this set up to me, I was somewhat 170 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY nervous. There was a Dutchman in the combination-a neutral subject. I remembered the fate of Lambrecht, and so in spite of the temptation, I kept this passage in reserve, and for the time being only used it with dummy reports. But as time went on, “The White Lady's” reports became more and more bulky until eventually they were filling ten big rolls, each the size of a large carrot, and containing in the aggregate about two hundred and fifty typed sheets of fine tissue paper. At this stage our frontier passages at the electric wire started complaining at the volume. With a boat, size made no difference; the Maeseyck passage was the one indicated to switch to. In March, 1918, it became frontier passage VI, and was placed at the disposal of “The White Lady." For nearly seven months, until October ist, 1918, “The White Lady's” reports came out through this channel regu- larly twice a week. But every frontier passage had its span of life, and this one was no exception. It suddenly blew up. The Secret Police had sent a plainclothes man into the area without the German officer's knowledge. He had noticed the passage of the boat, and his plans were quickly made. While the Tilmans and van Osselaer were making their transfer of con- traband under the appraising eye of the German officer, to their surprise the plainclothes man stepped in and arrested them. A prompt search revealed “The White Lady's” reports. The trio had been caught red-handed. One can well imagine what effect the reports had on the Secret Agent, and the speed with which he rushed to head- quarters. The Secret Police had never seen such a collection before. Now for the first time, they realized that a master spy organization was functioning throughout the whole of the occupied territories. But their disappointment must have been FRONTIER PASSAGE VI 171 intense when they discovered that the reports contained not a single indication of source. With fury they turned on the Tilmans and on van Osselaer. They were beaten unmercifully. Eventually, after four days of this treatment, they told all they knew. In the meantime we had not been idle in Holland. When dawn came and the Tilmans had not returned, Oram's frontier man realized what had happened. A telephone call to Oram brought him posthaste to me, and that same night, through a reserve frontier passage, instructions were on their way to “The White Lady” to isolate themselves immediately from the Hasselt “letter-box.” But Dewé and Chauvin, knowing no more than we did as to whether their reports had actually been seized, and anxious to find out what had happened to them, kept their Hasselt agents at their posts. Two days later, the whole group of seven men and women were arrested. So many agents should not have known each other's identity, but in a small town it was almost impossible to prevent this. If Dewé and Chauvin had been slow to act on our warning, they now lost no time in safeguarding the rest of the organization. There was only one link between the Hasselt group and “The White Lady's” secretariat; this was the Belgian Police Inspector Surlemont, a member of the Counter-Espionage Section. He was the bridge that had to be destroyed, and Dewé and Chauvin removed him with lightning rapidity. Within twenty-four hours, under the floorboards of a barge, he was on his way to Holland and safety. It was done in the nick of time. The next day the Secret Police were at his house inquiring for him. His wife and daughter were arrested, but they knew 172 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY nothing about his activities, and were released shortly after- wards. "The White Lady" had successfully withstood this final onslaught of the Secret Police. From now on, however, the attention of the Secret Police was focused on Liège. The city swarmed with Secret Agents. “The White Lady” had to be broken up at all costs. But this concentrated effort had come too late. Even if Dewé and Chauvin were caught now, the organization would still go on working. It had become a hydra which would have taken months or even years to destroy. Dewé and Chauvin were prepared, however, for all eventualities, and “The White Lady” continued to function until the Armistice without a single additional arrest. Through frontier passage VII their reports reached us twice a week, just as regularly as before. Fortunately for the prisoners, the Armistice was at hand. It was this alone that saved them from the firing squad. 174 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY I realized immediately why “The White Lady" had been such a success; here were gathered together some of the most brilliant brains in Belgium, men filled with the highest ideals of patriotism. By the respect which they showed towards their two chiefs, I sensed the discipline which they had imposed upon themselves. I realized that their militarization was not a fantasy. These were the officers of a military organization. After a luncheon in my honor, I was closeted with Dewé and Chauvin, and during a conference which lasted until the evening, I listened in rapt attention to details of organization, causes which had led up to arrest, hair-breadth escapes, and to the mass of intensely interesting detail they were able to give me. I discovered that the organization was even larger than I had surmised. A week later, Dewé supplied me with the following statistics: 180*1,084 324 206 (1) Number of train-watching posts ......... 51 (2) Number of secretariats for the typing of reports ................... ....... 12 (3) Members sworn in and enrolled as soldiers 9047, Auxiliaries ....... ................. 180 (4) Classification of members (a) Direction and organizing staff ...... (b) Train watchers .. (c) Itinerant agents ... (d) Couriers and "letter-boxes” 233 (e) Counter-espionage (f) Auxiliaries (5) Men Women .......... (6) Belgians.. 792 French Other nationalities ...... 368 ...... 278 17 HOMAGE TO GOD 175 (7) Priests and nuns. Members with university degrees Civil servants (8) Members arrested ....... Condemned to death Members shot .... Died in the execution of their duty , nu The large Direction and organizing staff is explained by the fact that in addition to Liège Headquarters, it included the staffs, and commanders of the various battalions, compa- nies, platoons, and sections of “The White Lady.” All these members in the course of their duties did active spy work as well-there was many a Gobeaux among them. The number of couriers and “letter-boxes” is striking proof that the transmission of the reports was the main difficulty in the interior. It is not surprising to find that a large percentage of the organization were priests and nuns. We have met them throughout the story. Inspired by Cardinal Mercier's noble and heroic resistance to the German invader, the clergy throughout the occupied territories never failed to respond to the call of their country. Though they were to be found engaged in every form of spy activity, it was in the recruiting of agents that they were most useful. They knew who could be trusted, and what was more important, those whom they approached knew that they could be trusted in turn. It was religious faith, patriotism, and the militarization which welded “The White Lady” together, and exerted that inspiring influence on its members which enabled them even when imprisoned and fac- ing death to remain steadfast and loyal. The women were just as active as the men. Most of the 176 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY couriers were women, and this was the most dangerous work in the interior. They carried on their persons the evidence to convict; if caught, ten years hard labor was the minimum sentence imposed. Towards the end of the War, the Germans often threatened to deport the whole of the male population. To safeguard against this, "The White Lady” was so organized that the women members could immediately take over the running of the Service. Juliette Durieu, who assisted Dewé and Chauvin in rescuing Fauquenot and Creusen, was the woman chosen to take their place in case this necessity arose. In size "The White Lady” was twelve times larger than either the Frankignoul, or Biscops Services which came next to it in importance. On the other hand its casualty list was one of the smallest of all the Allied secret organizations. The dura- tion of its activities was at least a year longer than that of any of the other Allied services; and during the last eighteen months of the War, it was supplying the Allies with more than seventy-five per cent of the total information coming out of the occupied territories. There were periods when it alone was sending out reports. Its field of activity covered the whole of Belgium, and the areas of Hirson, Fourmies, Avesnes, Charle- ville, Longuyon, Douai, Valenciennes, and Lille in occupied France. Its itinerant agents covered all of this vast region, iden- tifying divisions in rest, watching aviation fields, reporting troop movements by road, and procuring every kind of military information they could collect. In addition to a network of train-watching posts in the areas mentioned, it also had posts in the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg, and, just before the Armistice, had succeeded in penetrating into Alsace. In fact, every strategical railway line behind the German Western HOMAGE TO GOD 177 Front between Verdun and the sea was covered by its train watchers. "The White Lady's" brilliant record of service won for it immediate recognition after the War. All its members were decorated by the British, and many of them by the French and Belgian Governments as well. Dewé and Chauvin received the highest awards of any agent in the occupied territories. “The White Lady,” which had changed its name to the British Observation Corps (Corps d'Observation Anglais or C.O.A.) during the final stages of the War, had its military status recognized to this extent by the British that all its members were mentioned in military dispatches, and were awarded mili- tary decorations, including the British War Medal. Those of French nationality were recognized as French soldiers by the French Government. And as a final honor, Dewé and Chauvin, together with other “White Lady” leaders, were personally congratulated by Field-Marshal Sir Douglas Haig after the Armistice. That an organization of the size of “The White Lady" could have existed in the occupied territories in the face of German vigilance is a tribute to the organizing genius and inspiring guidance of Dewé and Chauvin, as well as to the loyal and intelligent coöperation of their followers. “The White Lady” was as perfect a spy organization as could be devised. Rules had often to be broken, but on broad lines the principles they laid down for themselves were strictly adhered to. As to their preservation, Dewé attributes it to the following factors: "The protection of God which never failed us; the oath taken by our agents as soldiers; the precise instructions given to our agents as to their conduct in case of arrest; the vigilance and 178 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY sagacity of the War Office Service, who only sent us trustworthy couriers, and who warned us repeatedly against getting into con- tact with other Allied secret organizations; these were the prin- cipal factors which contributed to our preservation." "The White Lady" functioned almost as a religious order. They constantly resorted to prayer. The religious influence can be gauged from the following address in which they rendered thanks to God: "In final homage we wish to render thanks to God as a token of our gratitude "We placed under His aegis, and vowed to His glory the work which we undertook to avenge forgotten justice. He is the supreme Justice, and to work to establish the reign of justice on earth, is to work for the glory of God. "But what could we do, if He himself did not enlighten us, and second us? Our views are often too short, and our combinations fail before insignificant obstacles. It is for Him to show the way, and to remove the stone from our path. "This aid He never withheld from us. “We attained it by prayer, and by imposing on ourselves the strictest moral principles in our actions, and by desiring that the members of the Service follow the same line of conduct. "We do not claim that we never committed a fault of this or- der; but betrayal, debauchery, the appetite of gain, and the thou- sand and one detestable stratagems which often accompany spying were never permitted among us. From this point of view, we fought the enemy with the loyalty of soldiers, and with the conscience of honest people. "It was on these high sentiments of duty towards God and towards the country that our corps was founded, and it was by them, and for them that it existed and developed. “Our first act after the creation of the corps was to constitute a service of prayer; this was developed side by side with our main 178 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY sagacity of the War Office Service, who only sent us trustworthy couriers, and who warned us repeatedly against getting into con- tact with other Allied secret organizations; these were the prin- cipal factors which contributed to our preservation.” “The White Lady” functioned almost as a religious order. They constantly resorted to prayer. The religious influence can be gauged from the following address in which they rendered thanks to God: “In final homage we wish to render thanks to God as a token of our gratitude. “We placed under His aegis, and vowed to His glory the work which we undertook to avenge forgotten justice. He is the supreme Justice, and to work to establish the reign of justice on earth, is to work for the glory of God. “But what could we do, if He himself did not enlighten us, and second us? Our views are often too short, and our combinations fail before insignificant obstacles. It is for Him to show the way, and to remove the stone from our path. “This aid He never withheld from us. “We attained it by prayer, and by imposing on ourselves the strictest moral principles in our actions, and by desiring that the members of the Service follow the same line of conduct. "We do not claim that we never committed a fault of this or- der; but betrayal, debauchery, the appetite of gain, and the thou- sand and one detestable stratagems which often accompany spying were never permitted among us. From this point of view, we fought the enemy with the loyalty of soldiers, and with the conscience of honest people. “It was on these high sentiments of duty towards God and towards the country that our corps was founded, and it was by them, and for them that it existed and developed. “Our first act after the creation of the corps was to constitute a service of prayer; this was developed side by side with our main CHAPTER XVII THE DESERTION OF JOSEPH ZILLIOX TIKE thousands of other Alsatians, Joseph Zilliox was con- L scripted into the German Army. And, like the thousands of other Alsatians, he was drawn by instinct to the country of his fathers; under their German overlords they often found themselves pointing their guns at blood relations. But Zilliox, who was enterprising as well as fearless and determined, rose superior to his lot. In the end it led to the sacrifice of his life to prove his love for France. We find him facing the French at the Verdun Front during the opening stages of the War. In his Company were seven other Alsatians from Offendorf, the small village where Joseph was born, June 25th, 1888. It was in Offendorf that he had grown up and where his father still lived. The rapid march of events had surprised him on a visit to his home. In spite of the many rumors of war, he had imprudently tarried. In Paris he had left his bride, a young Alsatian girl; they had been mar- ried ten months previously. There, also, his two brothers had remained. Cut off from his bride, his brothers, and the country to which he gave his allegiance Zilliox was forced to join the German Army. A letter, addressed on October 31st, 1914, to friends in Sentheim, reveals the unhappy bitterness which agitated him: 183 184 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY . "MY DEAR ONES: "Since September roth, I have been in a forest in front of Verdun, facing the French. It is horrible here. Conditions surpass the imagination. Blood flows in streams; men are dying like flies. We have had a great number of wounded, and many of our com- rades have been buried in the forest. At the present moment bullets are flying everywhere. A dead man and two wounded are lying next to me. “This is what we have been through for days and nights. There is no water to drink. The destruction is indescribable: buildings razed to the ground, and under the heaps of stone and brick, the dead lay buried. "My brother, one of my cousins, and five other comrades of Offendorf are with me in my Company; it is a miracle that we are still alive. "My heart is near breaking when I think of “A.” (His wife.] How time changes everything! Three days ago was our first wed- ding anniversary. A year ago, I considered myself the luckiest person on earth. One year, it is so little, and yet we have been sepa- rated so long, and so far from one another. By a cruel decision of fate, we are as if dead to each other. I dare not think of it, and yet each hour, each minute, my thoughts are with her and with you. In my dreams, even though I can snatch but a single hour of sleep in this cold and damp forest, I am happily united to her; then, all the thunder of the cannonade cannot chase her image from me. What wouldn't I give to be in communication with her, even if it were only by letter! But alas, even this consolation is refused me. Life is indeed sad. "From my two brothers also no news. They were with their boat in France. They are probably enrolled as soldiers in the French Army. "On Sundays, the sky is our church; and for organ and chants, we have the thunder of the guns, and the whistling of the bullets. However, we all want to have confidence in God; we all hope He will have pity on us, and that He will soon bring us back home. ..." DESERTION OF JOSEPH ZILLIOX 185 The letter is signed Joseph Zilliox, Engineer, 4th Field Company, Field Post 27, 1oth Division, 3rd Army Corps. Zilliox did not remain on the Verdun Front for long. Six days after he wrote the letter just quoted, he was shot in the foot. He was transferred to a hospital in Strasbourg, and there he remained for six months, until his wound healed and he regained the use of his leg. To his joy, on reporting back to his depot at Trier, he was detailed for duty in Liège. Here at least he would not be en- gaged in active fighting against the country he considered his fatherland. The Zilliox family were river men. Each of the brothers owned his own barge with which, before the War, he had navigated the canals and rivers of Alsace, Belgium, and France. It was his knowledge of the Belgian waterways, and his perfect command of the French language, which had won for Joseph Zilliox this transfer. The Germans had installed on the Meuse at Renory, close to Liège, a Hafenamt, or Port Administration, whose function it was to regulate traffic on the waterways of the area. In addi- tion, it superintended the requisitioning of tug-boats and barges, most of which were used for the transport of gravel to parts close behind the German front. The gravel helped construct concrete trenches and other defense works. The Hafenamt had but a small staff. Besides Zilliox, it com- prised an officer, a chief of bureau, a feldwebel, and a few other men. About twenty soldiers were attached to the port as guards, but they were not permanent; they were furnished by the troops passing through. The officer, a bon viveur, left most of the work to his subordinates. Soon Zilliox, who knew more about boats than any of them, found himself virtually in charge. He paid the bargees, and tug-boat captains; handed out DESERTION OF JOSEPH ZILLIOX 187 Each studied the problem. Could it best be done by passing through the electric wire? No, it was preferable to make use of the facilities which Zilliox's post at the Hafenamt afforded him. But how? Under che floorboards of a barge? This was out of the question. The method was known to the Germans, and as soon as Zilliox was reported missing all the barges as they crossed into Holland at Petit Lanaye would be rigorously searched. Then one of them produced a novel idea. Why not break the boom across the Meuse at the frontier? A tug-boat sent full speed against it would do the work. It was a desperate undertaking; but just because it was, there was a reasonable chance of success: the frontier guard would be taken com- pletely by surprise. “We can take a band of refugees with us,” Hentjens sug- gested. Zilliox's eyes shone at the idea. Future Belgian soldiers! Here was a chance to help his beloved France. "Could we collect many together?” he asked excitedly. “As many as the boat will hold,” Hentjens assured him. The two immediately set about to plan details. A refugee organization in Liège undertook to assemble fifty young men of military age. Hentjens and Zilliox finally decided to carry out the daring coup with the tug-boat Anna, a German boat which for months had been engaged in towing gravel barges back and forth between Visé and occupied France. The Anna was about sixty feet in length and fifteen in width-large enough for a good number of refugees. The crew consisted of three German soldiers: the Captain, an engineer, and a boat hand. These men always took their orders from Zilliox. This time he would have some special ones for them! 188 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY At the last minute, Hentjens found himself forced to back out of the adventure: his wife was about to have a baby, and she insisted on his postponing his departure until after the event. Zilliox was unwilling to wait. Everything was ready. The refugees had been assembled. He boldly decided to take the tug through himself, even though all his experience had been on barges and he had counted on Hentjens to do the piloting. The departure was set for the early hours of the morning of December 5th, 1916. Zilliox had instructed the Captain of the Anna to proceed to Visé, close to the Dutch border, and to wait there until the barges loading in the neighborhood with gravel were ready for towing. This had been done. In the rue de Tongres, the refugees were assembling in a small café. Its complacent owner had closed the front door and lowered the blind. Zilliox was entertaining the German crew in a café op- posite. On the excuse that it was his birthday, he had started a drinking party at nine o'clock that evening; by three o'clock the liquor had had such an effect on the three Germans that it was with difficulty that Zilliox got them on board the Anna. Once on board, Zilliox produced another bottle for a final round of drinks. This time the liquor was drugged, and within a few minutes the men were in a comatose state. Zilliox, leaving the three men in the Captain's cabin, quickly made his way to the café where the refugees had been impatiently waiting since six o'clock that evening. The signal was given. In three successive groups, they stealthily headed for the Anna, about fifty yards away, and as soon as they reached it they were quickly packed into the coal bunkers. The uniforms were then removed from the Germans, to be donned by the three Belgians picked by Zilliox to help him Olalc. DESERTION OF JOSEPH ZILLIOX 191 the erratic course of the boat confirmed their opinion that probably the steering gear had given way. It was not until, at a distance of some two hundred yards, they saw a group of figures in civilian clothes jump overboard into the shallow water and wade ashore, that they realized it was a well-planned escape across the frontier. A fusillade then broke loose, but it was too late. The short distance to the frontier was covered in record time without any casualties. When they had confiscated their guns, the surprised Dutch frontier post allowed the refugees to pass. The group was counted: there were two women, a few escaped French prison- ers-of-war, and the rest were young men on their way to join the Belgian Army. From Eysden, the Dutch frontier village, they made their way in a band to the Belgian Consulate in Maestricht. The Dutch inhabitants looked on with astonish- ment. They saw a group of refugees, wet through, covered with mud, wildly singing the Brabançonne and the Marseillaise, and in their midst, what appeared to be a massive German soldier in field gray uniform. A few hours later, while the inhabitants of Liège were cele- brating the news, a swarm of Secret Police descended on the village of Visé. Raids were made on private houses and cafés, but they somehow missed the café in the rue de Tongres where the refugees had assembled. With the help of two tugs, the Anna had been dragged off the mud bank, and, con- spicuously Aying the German flag, brought to Liège as if in triumph. The inhabitants knew better, however. And in the German bureaus of the city there was great commotion. The Hafenamt was the focal point of a special inquiry, and its com- manding officer was summarily removed from his post. The Secret Police, determined to find out how the refugees CHAPTER XVIII THE ALSATIAN'S FIRST MISSION H APPY to be free, full of assurance, and justly proud of his 11 brave deed, Joseph Zilliox presented himself at the French Consulate in Maestricht. “An Alsatian deserter desiring to enlist in the French Army," were the words with which he naïvely announced himself. Enlist! He was unaware of the strict instructions about Alsatian deserters which had been issued to all French consulates. The Germans had been sending spies into France in this guise, and the strictest inquiry into the authenticity of each deserter had been imposed by the French authorities. Zilliox was sympathetically received, but he was told to secure an attestation from the Belgian Con- sulate. The young official who received him at the Belgian Con- sulate greeted him warmly. The refugees on the Anna had praised Zilliox's devotion and bravery. What could he do for him? Zilliox explained the object of his visit. The official ex- pressed regret that he could not accommodate him immediately. The question of an attestation of this kind had never arisen before. He would consult Headquarters. Would Zilliox please return in a week's time. Zilliox did return, several times, but the precious piece of paper was not forthcoming. Eventually, discouraged at the 193 194 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY delay, he decided to try the consulates at The Hague and at Rotterdam. Here he had even less success. What information they had about Zilliox had been gleaned from the newspapers. The French officials evidenced a certain curiosity in him, but when it came to the question of granting him a passport to proceed to France, regulations were pro- duced, he was required to fill out forms, and he was told that he would have to await a decision from France. Some were kinder than others, but no one was willing to risk his reputa- tion or chances of promotion by offering to give a liberal inter- pretation to the regulations. He was even reminded that he was an Alsatian, that that was not exactly the same as being a Frenchman; and that if he were allowed to enlist in the French Army, he would certainly be detailed for duty in the Colonies. To add to Zilliox's misery, the numerous letters he had writ- ten to his wife in Paris immediately on his arrival in Holland, were held up by the French censor. As a final misfortune, a letter entrusted to a Belgian refugee, to post in France, was destroyed before landing; the man feared he would get himself into trouble with the French authorities. Without news of his wife, cut off from Germany and his family in Offendorf, and distrusted by the country for which he had risked so much, Zilliox was in despair. It seemed as if he would have to remain in Holland. He secured a job as valet at the Hotel Coomans in Rotterdam in order to earn his living. While at the hotel, he heard of Hentjens' arrival on the Atlas from a Belgian refugee. Zilliox lost no time in getting in touch with his friend, and he told him his bitter tale. Hentjens, filled with indignation, cheered him up by promising to take the matter up personally with the French authorities as soon as he arrived in France. THE ALSATIAN'S FIRST MISSION 195 Zilliox had not long to wait for news. To his surprise, a week later, Hentjens was back in Holland. The story of his daring exploit on the Atlas had reached England, and on his arrival there he had been persuaded by one of the British Serv- ices to mount an espionage organization in Belgium, using as couriers the bargemen plying between Belgium and Holland. In Holland Zilliox could have remained in security until the end of the War. But, in spite of his previous experience, he still hoped to gain the confidence of the French and be ad- mitted into active service. Listening to the details of his friend's confidential mission, the way seemed indicated to him. He would demonstrate once and for all his devotion to France by returning to Belgium as a spy. Hentjens offered the objection that he was known in Liège, and that it would be suicidal to return. But Zilliox would have none of his arguments; the more dangerous the mission, the better it would serve his purpose; besides, he reasoned, he could disguise himself, and he would remain in hiding most of the time. When Hentjens saw that Zilliox was determined, he finally agreed. Having found two other volunteers (the Bel- gians, Henrot and Lecoco), Hentjens put the three men in touch with each other. Together they worked out a scheme: Hentjens would remain in Holland to insure the courier serv- ice; the other three would find a means of penetrating into the occupied territory as soon as possible. Zilliox and Lecocq arrived in Liège on February 25th, after a continuous march of thirty-six hours. A woman smuggler had helped them pass the Dutch-German frontier; and by way of Aachen, they had eventually crossed the German-Belgian fron- tier at Welkenraedt. It was a roundabout route, but on account of Zilliox's knowledge of German, it was less dangerous than 196 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY passing through the electric wire. Zilliox had found it easy to disguise himself: the heavy black beard, which he had worn in Liège, had disappeared and so had his uniform; he wore spectacles and his hair was dyed a reddish tint. Zilliox's first step was to call on Lejeune, the assistant chief of the Belgian police, whose son-in-law was one of the refugees whom Hentjens had taken through to Holland on the Atlas. Armed with a photograph and a letter from the son-in-law, Zilliox received not only a warm welcome, but a promise of active assistance in the carrying out of his mission. Lejeune was immediately helpful in furnishing him with a false identity card under the name of van Hoven, and in indicating to him a house in the rue de Chênée, at Angleur, from which the railway traffic on the Liège-Herbesthal-Aachen line could be controlled. The owner of the house, Madame Delporte, a friend of Lejeune, gladly rented Zilliox a room, and within twenty- four hours of his arrival in Liège, aided by Madame Delporte's son, a young man of twenty, a train-watching post had been installed on this important line. Three days later, Henrot arrived in Liège. He had come by way of the electric wire, and had taken another route so as not to risk the three of them being caught at the same time. During the next two weeks, the three men were busy mounting the service; at the end of this period, they had the satisfaction of knowing that two train-watching posts were functioning regu- larly on a twenty-four hour basis. They were new at the game, however. They had still to experience the bitter disappointment of many a spy patriot who had gone before them: each day Henrot visited the “letter- box” which had been indicated to them in Liège, but no courier arrived to pick up their reports. As days went by they realized sei 198 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY ham, and a packet of sausages were produced as evidence. For the moment the situation was not serious; they were taken at their word, and if they could keep up the rôle, they might hope to escape with a fine, or a few days in prison. It was only fear of spying which prevented food smugglers from being received with open arms in half-starved Germany. On their arrival at the guardroom, however, things took on a different aspect. The non-commissioned officer in charge quickly discovered the nationality of the three refugees. "You will pass the night here; tomorrow, you will be taken to Aachen," was his curt decision. About thirty German soldiers were gathered in the room which served as a guardroom. Some were grouped around tables in the center of the room, near a stove, eating and play- ing cards; others were asleep on some straw mattresses placed along the walls. The prisoners were stretched in a corner, pre- paring to snatch a few hours sleep if possible. Every four hours the soldiers relieved each other at the frontier. One remained on guard over the prisoners. Zilliox, knowing what discovery of his identity would mean, whispered to his companions that he was going to make a dash for liberty, and invited them to join him. But the Belgians, realizing that his case was infinitely worse than theirs, gener- ously refused to act as an encumbrance, and instead made plans to assist him. Towards nine o'clock, one of them asked permission to go to the toilet. The soldier on guard, making signs to one of his comrades to keep an eye on the other three prisoners, accom- panied him. No sooner had they left the room than the other two Belgians got up and carried their boots over to the stove to dry; in doing this, one of them intentionally tripped over the coal scuttle. The noise drew the eyes of all. At this moment, THE ALSATIAN'S FIRST MISSION 199 Zilliox, half undressed, took a Aying leap at one of the windows and disappeared through the shattered panes. When the soldiers had recovered from their stupefaction, a dash was made for the door. But Zilliox had vanished; he was making a beeline for the frontier. The general commotion disturbed the sentries; they saw figures darting about, and in the obscurity not being able to distinguish between their com- rades and the person or persons they were supposed to pursue, they did not dare open fire. In the confusion, Zilliox slipped across the border. 202 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY "I cannot express here why I love France so much, and hate Germany so intensely. Today, I hate Germany more than I love my life. "My dear A., this is perhaps the last time I shall be writing to you. Send me a reply so that I can receive it while still alive, if God so wills it. "I must stop, for my heart bursts when I think of my past life.... “Greet and embrace every one for me. “My sincerest kisses for the last time. "Your JOSEPH.” Together with another French agent, who was to mount a train-watching post at Verviers, Zilliox, under his old assumed name of Auguste van Hoven, set out for Belgium. Although not working for Hentjens, he took with him a sum of money to hand Henrot and Lecocq, and also a message of encourage- ment to the effect that a frontier passage would soon be placed at their disposal. Once again he followed the same route through Germany. He arrived safely in Liège three days later. Madame Delporte and her son welcomed him with open arms at his old lodgings at Angleur. After contacting Henrot, Lecocq and Lejeune, Zilliox's next care was to start the functioning of his train-watching post. As before, he himself took turns with young Delporte, watch- ing from a window at the back of the house. On April 6th, his first reports were on their way to Holland. But things were not to continue so smoothly. Only a week had elapsed, when one morning a man presented himself at the door, and asked if Auguste van Hoven lived there. “Who are you?” asked Madame Delporte, perfectly aware of Zilliox's activities, and knowing that she had to be careful. SLiceerude sidus. Koolipaagic.zug Gamiff - Beispieb- 2. Zug (Sronike s grupped) 1. Zug (stapke 2 gruppeal. 2 gruppe a lng snuppe i gruppe i gruppe slag. Gruppe * Errocar o x I'M Pobedonis hot Sala de 1 for 77212 Screens 2 cup 2.4 .lr. Heidelinden! a 2uq Sinuke sgrupper 2115 1956 • 4790 ZITI to So ? A TYPICAL SECRET DOCUMENT STOLEN BY AN ALLIED SPY FROM GERMAN TROOPS IN REST IN OCCUPIED BELGIU'M. 202 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY "I cannot express here why I love France so much, and hate Germany so intensely. Today, I hate Germany more than I love my life. "My dear A., this is perhaps the last time I shall be writing to you. Send me a reply so that I can receive it while still alive, if God so wills it. “I must stop, for my heart bursts when I think of my past life.... “Greet and embrace every one for me. “My sincerest kisses for the last time. "Your JOSEPH." Together with another French agent, who was to mount a train-watching post at Verviers, Zilliox, under his old assumed name of Auguste van Hoven, set out for Belgium. Although not working for Hentjens, he took with him a sum of money to hand Henrot and Lecocq, and also a message of encourage- ment to the effect that a frontier passage would soon be placed at their disposal. Once again he followed the same route through Germany. He arrived safely in Liège three days later. Madame Delporte and her son welcomed him with open arms at his old lodgings at Angleur. After contacting Henrot, Lecocq and Lejeune, Zilliox's next care was to start the functioning of his train-watching post. As before, he himself took turns with young Delporte, watch- ing from a window at the back of the house. On April 6th, his first reports were on their way to Holland. But things were not to continue so smoothly. Only a week had elapsed, when one morning a man presented himself at the door, and asked if Auguste van Hoven lived there. “Who are you?” asked Madame Delporte, perfectly aware of Zilliox's activities, and knowing that she had to be careful. SLiceRude cids Roopaagic.zuq_Galriff - Beispieb- 2. Lug (Srinke s grupped 1. Zug (Siatka 2 Gruppool. 2 grúppe 2.1.0.9.gruppe 1 g poppe 11.7.g. 4 puppa 2-5-.---..-... 1 Gruppe Exkugder YA ples dones wi Gelande Tiefgesl 1 Welle 100 10 . - 6.-.-. -- - --- --- 2 Wile Gruppe lecke 2 Gruppe . Zug zugetes) Zugrillo Aus durtidsdes, poblades! 21 06 3 2uq (Scomptes Gruppeo] 1 Gruppe • Grabe my 3 GRUP • 2 Gruppe offeries Gelat Zeichen Erke Lerung I forbom Gefacht Paüfer i Zug forbune. - Spielanoma B Grupen fahner • Enzelner Siche o f Gtuppa fiebre x pakaian dan dos .N bag trayez 0 is em War had •Sp mom Tog. Perojdliche aprilerie fewer A TYPICAL SECRET DOCUMENT STOLEN BY AN ALLIED SPY FROM GERMAN TROOPS IN REST IN OCCUPIED BELGIUM. ANDNERLEN ELSNER BECKER MÜLLER MEMBERS OF THE SECRET POLICE STATIONED AT LIÈGE 204 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY Exactly what had led up to the arrest, I do not pretend to know. I can only make the guess that Henrot and Lecoca were betrayed by a courier from Holland, and that from them the trail led to Zilliox. The dates of the arrests give the clew: Henrot, Lecocq and three of their men (Wathelet, Richter, and Lelarge) were arrested on April 1oth; Zilliox on April Tith; Wiertz on April 17th. Lejeune went into hiding, but was trapped at his home on June 26th; he had returned for a few hours to be at the bedside of his young daughter who was dying of tuberculosis. The military information which these men had been able to send out was negligible—it was confined to a few isolated reports. And yet the Germans proceeded against them with a ferocity unparalleled in their other spy trials. This can only be explained by the fact that the prisoners were associated with Zilliox, a German deserter, who had so impudently flouted German authority, and that the local Secret Police had been severely reprimanded because of the exploits of the Anna, and the Atlas. Of the ten persons arrested, eight were shot; Madame Delporte and her son were given prison sentences. Zilliox was executed July 23rd, 1917; Henrot, Lejeune and Wiertz on September 4th, 1917; and Wathelet, Richter, Le- large and Lecocq on September 11th, 1917. Zilliox spent his last days in the prison of St. Léonard. Fauquenot and Creusen kept in communication with him and it is to Fauquenot that we owe most of the details contained in this account of the brave Alsatian. The Germans, determined to humiliate Zilliox and to make him an example, forced on him the rôle of deserter. A few hours before his execution, he was ordered to don the uniform 206 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY itself contributed. And in the manner in which they celebrated yes- terday this great patriot, they honored themselves. “The cortège formed at the station of Herlisheim. A special train from Strasbourg had brought the numerous participants, among whom were the highest civil and military authorities. We have expressly omitted to mention their names and titles. There, where each and every one contributed with all his heart to honor the dead, where so many people wished to prove that a noble ex- ploit still finds recognition, personalities should disappear; sentiment is sufficient to honor what is good and noble.... “The cavalry on their superb horses, the cyclists, blue-white- red-this is the only way to describe them-formed the advance guard, then the generals and the Prefect and, in an interminable cortège, all the other guests and participants; it is thus that the pro- cession, which lasted half an hour, passed from the station to Offendorf. It was certainly a democratic spectacle. 'Pardieu, the generals are marching pell-mell with us,' said an authentic Riedi * next to me, as he removed his pipe from his mouth, and took his place in the column.... “After the ceremony had been opened by a clarion of trumpets, General Humbert, Governor of Strasbourg, announced that the President of the Council of Ministers had conferred on Joseph Zilliox, the decoration of the Legion of Honor. With a metallic voice, which dominated the noise of the crowd, he exalted in a few eloquent sentences the virtues of the Alsatian who had fallen under the Prussian bullets: "'It is the rarest and most striking homage which France can render the memory of those who have sacrificed themselves for her. “'In this fashion she has wished to show that among all her children, her Alsatian sons are particularly dear to her, because in spite of the brutalities of the long and harsh oppression to which they have been subjected, they remained faithful to her. “'In honoring in this way, today, a special act of courage, she wishes to tell them that she is proud of their valor, that she is happy to see them once again in the ranks of her soldiers, and that she • A name used in Alsace to designate the peasants of the region. INTO THE HANDS OF THE ENEMY 207 counts on them, should the necessity arise again, to assure her defense and liberty. "I am happy to hand over to the family of the brave Joseph Zilliox the glorious insignia of the Chevalier of the Legion of Honor, a souvenir of the gratitude of France.' “This day of honor for Zilliox, and for Offendort, was also a day of honor for the whole of Alsace." CHAPTER XX LÉON TRULIN, YOUNGEST SPY SHOT DURING THE WAR T ILLE was not only occupied by the enemy but it was right in the firing line. From the British lines the outskirts of the town were plainly visible, and buildings occupied by the Germans were a constant target for the British heavy bat- teries. But the British shells often missed their mark, and although the center of the town was not bombarded whole sections of the suburbs lay in ruins. Had the town been smaller, it would have been evacuated; with two hundred thousand inhabitants this was not possible. So the civilian population of Lille remained as eye wit- nesses to the busy German military activities in this important center. Heavy batteries were dotted around in the area; troops destined for the various sectors of the front detrained there daily; several aviation fields were located close by; and, finally, warehouses filled with shells and other war material were to be found in various parts of the town. In short, it was a field where even the most amateur spy would have had no difficulty in preparing a daily report of intense interest to the Allies. If the Allied secret services were intent on recruiting spies in the area, the Germans were equally determined to prevent them. In addition to having an army of Secret Police patrolling es 1 208 LÉON TRULIN 209 the region, the Germans did everything within their power to intimidate the inhabitants. No person was allowed out of doors between 6 P.M. and 6 A.M.; passes were required to travel from one commune to another; the Mayor was forced to deposit a sum of five million francs, and to hand over five hostages interchangeable every three days, as guarantees against hostile acts undertaken by the population; the severest sentences were imposed for the most minor offenses. And, finally, since the town was in occupied France, it was blocked off from Belgium by an efficient frontier patrol and a cordon of sentries. It was in this town that Léon Trulin, a young Belgian, seventeen years of age, found himself at the outbreak of the War. His family, consisting of a widowed mother and nine young children, had moved there from Ath, in Belgium, four years previously. One can imagine what effect the thunder of the guns night and day, and the ceaseless excitement and turmoil of the War had on a boy of his age. Keenly alert to the bustling activity, Léon and his friends among the boys of the neighborhood watched with youthful curiosity the heavy guns as they rumbled through the town; and, just because it was forbidden, it became their special game to discover the eventual emplacements. With a cunning superior to that of any adult, they found means to avoid the vigilance of the German sentries. The aviation fields, too, were special centers of attraction. But it was the ridge to the east of the town, looking down on the British lines, hat was their favorite objective. Here, crouched among the ruins, they eagerly discussed means of escaping across the border to join their respective armies. Léon had already sounded out his mother; he knew it was useless trying to argue further with her. He was the oldest LÉON TRULIN 211 en route, and requested to be put in touch with a secret service organization. Major Cameron's headquarters happened to be conveniently near, and so it was there that Léon was sent. Handing over his report to Monthaye, a Belgian attached to Major Cameron's staff, Léon eagerly offered his services. Rapidly glancing at the report, Monthaye found it of interest, but it only dealt with those parts of Belgium through which Léon had passed, and this area was already covered by other spies. Of far greater importance was the fact that the boy had come from Lille, from which the service had been cut off for weeks. Pulling out a large scale map of the town, Monthaye beckoned Léon to his side. Quick to orient himself, the young Belgian pointed out all he knew. It was difficult to discern who was the more excited: Monthaye, because of the priceless information he was jotting down; or Léon, because he realized from the interest evidenced that his services would be accepted. Léon spent a week in Folkestone, during which time he was rapidly put through a course of training. He was taught how to distinguish between German units by the marks on their uniforms; photographs and sketches of different caliber guns were shown him; and, finally, he was given additional objectives to those on which he had already concentrated. A sum of money was handed to him for expenses, and he was promised that if he came back with a good report he would be put in touch with Major Cameron's organization in Hol- land, and would be enrolled as a permanent agent. It was as a proscript that Léon returned to Lille. Unfortu- nately, he had sent his mother a letter from Holland to an- nounce his safe arrival; this no doubt had been read by the German censor, and Monthaye had warned him not to go JOSEPH Zilliox LÉON TRULIN om THE TREE TRUNK AGAINST Which Léon Trulin Was SHOT AT THE CITADEL OF LILLE. LÉON TRULIN 213 "He will report on the troops in the different areas; their identi- fication, the condition they are in, and their depots. He will estab- lish a chain of couriers between Menin, Courtrai, Deurne, and St. Laurent in such a way that a report from Menin will reach Flushing in two days. "Train-watching reports will be sent at least twice a week. Léon 143 will be paid for his reports on the troops of occupation from 10 to 40 francs, according to the value of the information; a bonus of 100 francs will be allotted him for the creation of each new train- watching post, to be paid after it has functioned two weeks; an additional bonus of from 25 to 50 francs every two weeks, according to the importance of the line, will be paid him for each post during the period it functions. "Train-watchers will receive from 8 to io francs per day of twenty-four hours; as for the couriers, they will be paid 110 francs for each batch of reports if they reach Flushing within two days, 100 francs for three days, and after that 5% less for each day late. “The payments will be made to Léon 143 on his return to Hol- land, or to any delegate he may appoint, but only on results ob- tained. He will furnish us with receipts from his agents for each sum paid them. “On his return to Holland, Léon 143 will give us the name, and description of each agent, and if possible their photographs. In addition, he will indicate the function of each in the service, and the payments each is getting; he will procure from each a declara- tion that he or she will work exclusively for our service." These notes should at once dispel all ideas that the Allied agents in the occupied territories received large sums of money for their services. On the basis of 5 francs to the dollar, Léon was authorized to pay his train-watchers from $1.60 to $2.00 per day for twenty-four hours' service; actually, this meant .80 to $1.00, for a train-watcher could not possibly work efficiently more than twelve hours per day. In addition, it must be borne 214 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY in mind that these agents had to live. The salaries they ob- tained, it can be seen, barely covered their living expenses. The instructions about receipts, names of agents, and photo graphs are typical of the methods employed by some of the Allied agents in Holland. In their endeavor to prove their own honesty in the distribution of funds, they entirely lost sight of the dangers to which they were exposing the agents in the interior. A report containing this information, falling into the hands of the Germans, would have meant a death warrant for the agents involved. The accuracy of a report, and the dangers incurred in securing the information contained in it, should have been a sufficient guarantee of honesty—not only of the agents in the interior, but of those in Holland. Looking at a map, and taking into consideration that all the areas mentioned were in the Etappengebiet, the most strictly controlled part of the occupied territories, one realizes immediately what an enormous task had been assigned to Léon. Even for a man of mature years with large resources at his disposal, and a wide circle of friends, the undertaking would have presented infinite difficulties and dangers. How could a young boy of eighteen possibly overcome them? Too young to win the confidence of older people, Léon turned to his youthful companions. On his return to Lille, he called them together; some were only fourteen years of age, the oldest was eighteen. Meeting in one of the many abandoned houses of the quarter, one can see him impressing on his youth- ful followers the importance of his mission, and one can pic- ture the enthusiasm with which each one undertook to carry out the duties assigned to him. The young band, with the limited means at their disposal, 10 LÉON TRULIN 215 A did their bit as patriotically and as bravely as any soldier in the firing line. Often their ruses, their tricks, and their camouflages were carried to boyish extremes—but were successful, and for two months, regularly twice a week, Major Cameron received a report covering everything of military importance occurring in the Lille region. Sometimes it was Léon himself who carried the reports through to Holland, each time braving the electric and the perils at the frontier; on other occasions, i Camille, a friend of Léon's residing at Tournai. The train-watching posts had not yet been mounted. This part of the program, outlined by Carlot, had been beyond the boy's power. Realizing this, Léon had wisely confined himself to making the reports from the Lille area as complete as pos- sible. But the inevitable happened. One day, on approaching too near a new gun emplacement, one of his companions was arrested by the Secret Police. Léon was not greatly disturbed. He thought the boy would be able to find a satisfactory excuse. But on the next day events took an alarming turn. Raymond Derain, greatly agitated, sought Léon out in his hiding place. Raymond's sister had fortunately been able to reach him before he returned home: the Secret Police were in their house; they had inquired after both him and Léon Trulin; she had overheard the conversation, and had slipped out of the back door to warn him. There was only one thing to do, and that was to flee. Re- maining in hiding for the rest of the day and night, Raymond and Léon set out for the Dutch frontier at dawn the next morn- ing, carrying with them the last batch of reports which they had just collected Léon realized that he had to get across the border at all LÉON TRULIN 217 (1) Military espionage. (2) The recruitment of five members. (3) Possessing a pocketbook which contained: (a) The reports of the five members from September 20th to September 27th. (b) Thirty-three photographs of trenches. (c) Plans of aviation fields, munitions depots, and trenches. (4) Attempting to cross the Dutch frontier. (5) Having made several illegal journeys to Holland and Eng- land. On November 7th, the following judgment was rendered by the Court Martial: Léon Trulin, eighteen years of age, was condemned to death; Raymond Derain (eighteen years of age), and Marcel G. (fifteen years of age) were both condemned to hard labor for life; Lucien D., Marcel L., and André H., all under eighteen, were sentenced to fifteen years hard labor; Marcel D., who betrayed them, was acquitted. Léon's mother was prostrated with grief. Too ill to leave her bed, she was unable to be present at the one and only interview which the Germans permitted, the day before the execution. It was Léon's three little sisters who came to say farewell to him. He received them with calmness and dignity. It was he who extended comfort and tried to dry their tears. Returning to his cell, he wrote the following letter-touching in its simplicity: "I am dying for my country without regret. I grieve for my dear mother, my sisters, and my brothers, who are suffering for what they are not to blame. “I embrace my poor mother with all my heart. I hope God will preserve her to watch over her other children who are so dear to “三率三三二二 ​日 ​urn 引用日韓劇 ​其言​!日 ​T Dear Thr 特日日日日 ​”家 ​tarnis irmy 10 VII TITRE SI " TE" wigs 1 LIHKT 日皆得封片 ​會員日常對日對 ​P昌r节日 ​特創节计 ​自育員昌寫得 ​THEIH用目​、月1, r in圳封鎖 ​x Murm 員每月​,肯其言日 ​月月月月月月月月月 ​員 ​MIT F片自自身​, 月节目旨​; H若​,八知 ​將目当日皆可 ​日日好日T自 ​为H划 ​謝Fuun特别是 ​CHI IwThumI can ve 4 SUD" DET TE , Z g LÉON TRULIN 217 (1) Military espionage. (2) The recruitment of five members. G) Possessing a pocketbook which contained: (2) The reports of the five members from September 20th September 27th. (6) Thirty-three photographs of trenches. () Plans of aviation fields, munitions depots, and trenches. (+) Ampting to cross the Dutch frontier. Hariag made several illegal journeys to Holland and Eng- Or Novedber 7th, the following judgment was rendered by the Cour: Martial: Léon Trulin, eighteen years of age, was condemnes death; Raymond Derain (eighteen years of age), and Ward G (Efteen years of age) were both condemned to hard w e ; Lucien D., Marcel L., and André H., all under eines, were sentenced to fifteen years hard labor; Marce2. ho betrayed them, was acquitted. Léac's more was prostrated with grief. Too ill to leave her be sie w2s unable to be present at the one and only interview winch the Germans permitted, the day before the Exco I was Léon's three little sisters who came to say far e un He received them with calmness and dignity. It wz be wis entended comfort and tried to dry their tears. Returning is buis cell, he wrote the following letter-touching in its simplicity: I am dung íor my country without regret I grieve for my dear mother, my sisters, and my brorbers, who are suffering for what they are so ti piame. 1 embrze m pour mother with a my heart. I hope God will preserve ber to watch over her orber chüdren who are so dear to LÉON TRULIN 219 secret services during the War, but the service Léon 143, or Léon Turpin as it was sometimes called, was the only secret service organization composed entirely of minors. There were many Allied spies, but none was braver than Léon Trulin. CHAPTER XXI THE AFFAIR OF THE BELGIAN TELEGRAPHISTS AT dawn, June 6th, 1915, a formidable explosion awoke the 11 inhabitants of Brussels. Pouring out into the street, they anxiously inquired the cause. It was not long before the news was on every one's lips: the Zeppelin at the Evere flying field had been blown up. In spite of German wrath, the city gave itself up to celebrating the occasion. The whole population had witnessed the Zeppelin's arrival from Germany the day before; and they knew from previous experience that it meant a raid on England had been scheduled within the next forty-eight hours. The speed with which the news had reached England con- vinced the Germans that a well organized spy group was func- tioning in the interior. And when they guessed that a carrier pigeon had carried the report announcing the arrival of the Zeppelin, they conjectured correctly. The Secret Police were called to task. Put on their mettle, they had to run the organiza- tion to earth. Secret Police Bureau “A,” in Brussels, was as- signed to the job, and Lieutenant Schwermer, from this bureau, was put in charge of the investigation. Schwermer, from past experience, knew that the best point from which to start an investigation was Holland. He knew that Count de Lesdain was at the head of the British Aviation 220 THE BELGIAN TELEGRAPHISTS 221 - VICC. Service, and that Tilmant was his right hand man. Tilmant would be in direct contact with all aviation spies in Belgium; he was the man upon whom to concentrate. Calling together Jean Burtard, Georges Borgers and Antoine Borgers—Bureau “A's" three best stool-pigeons-he instructed them to leave for Holland immediately, and by some means or other to enroll in Tilmant's service. Tilmant, a former official of the Belgian Posts and Tele- graph, was well versed in spying. At the commencement of the War, as soon as the Belgian Government had been trans- ferred from Antwerp to Havre, he had left the occupied terri- tory and had reported for duty to Segers, the Belgian Minister of Posts and Telegraphs. Segers had instructed Tilmant to return to Belgium to mount an economic service with the aid of other former em- ployees of the Administration. The object of this service was to keep the Belgian Government posted by courier as to the food supplies in Belgium; how the population was reacting to German rule; the régime that was being followed out in the Belgian schools; the German proclamations that were being posted; the names of Government employees who were aiding the Germans; and so on. Tilmant had no difficulty in getting a band of some fifty men together, distributed in different parts of Belgium. Apart from patriotic motives, these men were glad to find themselves once again on the Government pay roll from which they had been so abruptly cut off shortly after the outbreak of the War. This economic service functioned smoothly for several months. The electric wire had not yet been erected, and it was comparatively easy to send couriers from time to time through the cordon of sentrics at the frontier. The information 222 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY was not urgent; it still retained its value even if it took two or three weeks to reach Havre. With the tightening up of the frontier control, conditions changed. Tilmant now found it necessary to mount a frontier passage. To do this, he had to have assistance in Holland. A delegate was duly dispatched across the frontier to secure this aid. In searching around, he inevitably fell into the hands of one of the Allied secret services, the service which collected aviation information for the British. One can imagine with what delight Count de Lesdain, the head of this service, sat down to discuss the problem with Tilmant's delegate. As the Count pointed out, it was perfectly simple: he would supply the frontier passage, and additional funds; while Tilmant, on his part, would run an espionage service side by side with the economic one. If caught, they would have an excellent alibi: they were engaged in sending harmless economic information out of the country. Tilmant agreed to the proposition. Gradually, he acquainted his agents with their new duties, and distributed to them the aviation questionnaires which the Count had sent him. With- out exception, all of the agents patriotically accepted their new and dangerous rôles. An agent was posted to every important aviation field in Belgium; and at some of the aerodromes—such as Evere, near Brussels, and St. Denis, at Ghent, from which raids on England were frequent-the agents were supplied with carrier pigeons. Shortly after the service had taken on its new duties, Til- mant became compromised in an affair exterior to it. Madame Carton de Wiart, the wife of one of the Belgian Cabinet Ministers, was arrested for clandestine correspondence with the Belgian Government in Havre; somehow Tilmant was impli- 224 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY Belgium, he would conscientiously return with an answer; and even if he was put in contact with a minor espionage group in the interior, he would bring the reports out, provided he thought that later it would be a means of catching bigger fish. The two Borgers brothers apparently passed the acid test, for they were enrolled as couriers by Tilmant, and were sent to collect the reports at the Brussels “letter-box," 32 rue du Pont-a cigar store owned by Pierre Menalda, a Dutchman. The reports were, of course, taken to Schwermer. They were carefully examined and photographed. Some were signed by the name, “Witte"; but in all the others, the agents were in- dicated by numbers. Schwermer was reluctant to allow all this information to go through to Tilmant, but he knew it would spoil his game if he acted too hastily. And so, while Schwermer discreetly searched for a man called Witte and kept watch on the cigar store, the Borgers continued in their rôle as couriers. At the end of two weeks, Schwermer's patience was re- warded. Tilmant not only gave Georges Borgers the name and address of Yakata, one of Parenté's agents, but he also gave him the passwords with which he could get in touch with Parenté himself by asking for him at the cigar store. He requested Borgers to discuss certain service questions with them. This afforded Schwermer his opportunity to discover who Witte was: Parenté, instead of signing his reports by No. 8, had written it out, giving it the same phonetic spelling as "huit.” The passwords were quite simple: “Is Monsieur Witte at home?" was the question that had to be put to Menalda. (Menalda had expressed complete ignorance of the name when one of Schwermer's agents had inquired for Witte, using another combination of words.) THE BELGIAN TELEGRAPHISTS 225 With these passwords, Borgers presented himself at Menalda's cigar store. Menalda informed him that Monsieur Witte would be in shortly. Parenté arrived, and Borgers was introduced to him. On learning that he was the courier from Holland, Parenté took him upstairs to an office which he had rented above the cigar store. Parenté had confidence in Borgers, discussed with him certain courier problems which had arisen, but mentioned no names. Schwermer now had three spies in his net, but still he de- layed making an arrest, he wanted to catch the others. Fol. lowing Parenté, however, proved fruitless; two days later, on November ist, 1915, he was arrested at the Gare du Midi by Coulon, another of Schwermer's agents. The arrests of Yakata and Menalda quickly followed. Burtard took charge of the cigar store. Madame Menalda was arrested as soon as she re- turned, and their little girl was handed over to the care of a Convent. Schwermer's disappointment at the negative results obtained in trailing Parenté quickly vanished when a search was made of the office above the cigar store. With a cry of triumph he pounced on a small memorandum book, discovered in one of the drawers of the writing desk. Here was all the evidence he required. Careful as Parenté had been in running the service, he had foolishly kept in his notebook not only copies of all letters received from Holland, with his replies to them, but also an account of all sums of money paid out to the different agents. Burtard, posing as the brother-in-law of Menalda, remained for three weeks behind the counter of the store. As the agents whose names were mentioned in the notebook came in to see Parenté, they were arrested one by one. Lefèvre was one of 226 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY the first placed under arrest. He had on him two fountain pens filled with invisible ink; in his presence, and before witnesses, this incriminating evidence was immediately established. A trap was also opened up in Yakata's house, but no arrests were made. In all thirty-eight agents had fallen into the hands of the Secret Police, many of them with spy reports in their possession, either written in invisible ink, or concealed in hollow keys and pencils which Tilmant had sent from Holland. Schwermer was justly pleased with the results. Before describing the trial, it might be well to explain the procedure and constitution of the German Courts Martial which functioned in Belgium. After the Secret Police had completed their investigation of the prisoners and had collected all the evidence, the files were passed on to the Military Prosecuting Attorney for examination. After he had studied them and had prepared his case, it was he who convened the Court Martial, which consisted of five military officers in uniform, the senior in rank becoming automatically the President. In some of the centers, such as Brussels, a patriotic group of Belgian lawyers, acquainted with the German language, formed themselves into a committee which placed its services gratuitously at the disposal of the prisoners. Although many restrictions were imposed on these lawyers—such as not being able to consult with the prisoners either before or during the trial, or at any time being able to examine the files containing the evi- dence—they were undoubtedly of great service to their country- men. As the cross examination of the prisoners proceeded, they were able to pick up the facts of the case and, in their own exami- nation of them, they were able by adroit questioning to suggest lines of defense; they could see that the prisoners' replies were THE BELGIAN TELEGRAPHISTS 227 correctly translated by the interpreters; in their speech for the defense, they could not only bring out points of evidence in favor of the prisoner, and could plead for acquittal, or a diminution of the penalty demanded, but they could also ex- plain to the German judges the Belgian mentality; and, finally, they were a means of moral support to the prisoners. The trials were held behind closed doors. They opened with a solemn swearing in of the judges and the interpreter; every one in the room stood while this took place. Then the German law relative to espionage in territory occupied by the Germans was read aloud. After the Prosecuting Attorney had briefly explained the nature of the case before the Court Martial, he rapidly proceeded to a cross examination of the prisoners, one by one. They were allowed to reply in French, Flemish, or German as they chose, an interpreter being at their disposal. The translating took a long time, and while this was going on, the Belgian lawyers were able to take notes and prepare their defense. After the prisoners had been examined by their lawyers, the Prosecuting Attorney summed up against each of them sepa- rately, finishing by naming the penalty demanded. With the exception of the penalty, this summing up was in German and was not translated, and so in most cases the prisoners were unable to follow its meaning. The Belgian lawyers then made their speeches for the defense. They were allowed to speak either in French or in German, but as many of the judges had no knowledge of French, the lawyers invariably chose German. The Court was then cleared, and the prisoners were returned to prison to await judgment. It was only after conclusion of the trial that the prisoners were allowed to communicate with their relatives; then, too, 228 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY were they for the first time permitted to receive visits. In prison the sentence was communicated to them; they were then requested to sign a petition for pardon. This petition, together with the complete files of the case were subsequently sent to the Governor General's office, where they were first of all studied by his legal department, presided over by the Military Attorney, Sager. Sager affixed his recommendations to them and passed them on to the Governor for final decision. The interval between the passing of judgment and the de- cision of the Governor varied from two to three weeks. When the sentence was death, the prisoners were shot at dawn the following day; those sentenced to terms of imprisonment were sent off to Germany, the men to the prison of Rheinbach, the woman to the prison of Siegburg. On May 2nd, 1916, the trial of the telegraphists opened up in the Belgian Senate House at Brussels. Major Frederichs was the President of the Court Martial, Dr. Stöber was the Military Prosecuting Attorney, and various Belgian lawyers, notably Senator Braun, Sadi Kirschen, and Braffort represented the prisoners. The mass of evidence which had been produced in the form of Parenté's notebook, the photographic copies of the material handed to the Borgers brothers, the reports seized on the agents themselves, and, finally, the statements torn from some of the prisoners in the Prison of St. Gilles was so overwhelming that it was difficult to see how any of them was going to evade a severe sentence. The best that most could hope for was that, by some miracle of defense, they would escape the firing squad, and would get off with life imprisonment. Dr. Stöber had studied the files in every detail. This was his first great spy trial, and as brilliant in his cross examination 230 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY and named him in a farewell letter as the man who had en- rolled him in the Service. As a result of his stoic silence, how- ever, several members of the service whom he had enrolled as train-watchers in the Namur, Charleroi, and Mons areas es- caped arrest. His muteness which stirred the admiration of the Belgian defense, aroused the wrath of Stöber; against Lefèvre, too, he invoked the death penalty Devaleriola—a giant of a fellow, a Fleming, with keen in- telligent eyes—denied belonging to anything but the economic service. When asked to explain a report in his handwriting on submarines under construction at the Cockerill works in Ant- werp, he claimed that one day he had arrived in Parenté's office to deposit his economic reports and Parenté handed him the submarine report, asking him to copy it out; as a favor, he had complied. In spite of his denials, Stöber rightly assumed that Devaleriola was one of the principal members of the espionage service, and against him he also demanded the death penalty. Prosper Krické, head agent at Ghent, chose the worst pos- sible line of defense. He claimed that severe illness in his family, which had culminated in the death of his two young daughters, had run him into debt. Being without means of support for his family at the time he was solicited to join the espionage service, he had succumbed to the temptation. In spite of his obvious sincerity, Stöber seized on this admission, branded him as a mercenary spy, and demanded the death penalty. Finally, I must mention Gustave d'Allemagne. He was one of the last recruits to the service. A civil engineer in the employ of the Belgian Government, he had been attached to the Belgian Army before the War, and had drawn the plans for the for- tifications of Liège. These forts, completely destroyed during the first days of the War, had been reconstructed; at the re- THE BELGIAN TELEGRAPHISTS 231 quest of Materne, one of Parenté's agents, d'Allemagne had secured the necessary information to draw up plans showing in detail the new fortifications constructed by the Germans. Unfortunately, these plans were included among the reports handed to the Borgers brothers. Georges Borgers finding out that they had come through Materne as intermediary, paid him a visit, and from him was able to trace the plans to d'Allemagne. At the trial, d'Allemagne, an old man of sixty-two, won the respect of all by his martial bearing, his courage, and his frank defense. He stated in a few simple words that his sole objective was to render service to his country and that his services had been given gratuitously. He thought that the request for the plans had come from his government; it was his duty to obey. Stöber expressed reluctance at having to demand the death penalty in his case as well. During the trial there were many heated clashes between the Belgian lawyers and the members of the prosecution. On one of these occasions, Senator Braun accused the Secret Police of provoking Yakata to espionage by using a stool-pigeon to enroll him in the service. Schwermer, who had been waiting for an opportunity to intervene, jumped up in a rage demand- ing that the Senator retract his words. Although the Senator was wrong in his contention-Yakata had been a member of the service long before Georges Borgers visited him-he refused to comply with the request, and was excluded from the Court. Yakata proved a menace to every one who had been in contact with him; intent on saving his own skin, he did not hesitate to involve his companions whenever he thought he could secure an advantage for himself. Stöber skillfully encouraged Yakata's lengthy and tortuous explanations. 232 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY OCIS The five defense pleas I have cited were typical of those brought forward by the remaining thirty-three prisoners. Against thirteen of them, Stöber asked the death penalty, and against ten he demanded hard labor for life. The splendid defense put up by the Belgian lawyers and by the prisoners themselves had its effect, however, on the judges: those con- demned to death were reduced to nine. And then the Governor General commuted the sentences of all, except those of Parenté, Krické, and Lefèvre, to hard labor for life. Desperate efforts were made to save Parenté. His attitude at the trial had stirred even the sympathy of his enemies. Schwermer, when he heard that Devaleriola's sentence had been commuted, personally called on the Governor General, and pointing out that both Davaleriola and Parenté were equally culpable, urged that the one should not be dealt with more severely than the other. His efforts were, however, in vain. Parenté, Krické, and Lefèvre were shot on May 15th, 1916, at the Tir National, in Brussels. In this trial, as in many others where a number of agents were equally culpable, intelligent methods of defense played a more important rôle in saving prisoners from the firing squad than the actual extent of their guilt. Krické was paid on no higher a scale than the others. During the three months he participated in the Service, he received, in all, the equivalent of nine bundred dollars; out of this he probably had to pay some of his agents. The Allied spies in the occupied territories were in government employ; they had as much right to a salary as any government employee; and yet those who received any- thing at all only got their bare living expenses. If one admits that the Germans had the right to shoot those inhabitants of the occupied territories who were convicted of me wert THE BELGIAN TELEGRAPHISTS 233 spying, then one must concede that the telegraphists who es- caped the death penalty were leniently dealt with. Individually, each of them had sent out military and aviation information far in excess of that gathered by Zilliox and his companions, and yet eight out of the ten agents involved in the Zilliox affair were shot. As a reward for his success in arresting the Belgian tele- graphists Schwermer was put in charge of the German Counter- Espionage Service in Holland. CHAPTER XXII HIDDEN SOLDIERS OF THE ARDENNES TIEGE and Namur had fallen. The French were in hurried retreat, hard pressed by the Germans. Many French sol- diers, even whole battalions, were cut off from the main army. In flat northern Belgium, these men were rapidly gathered in as prisoners, but in the south, along the French-Belgian border, the thick forests of the Ardennes offered a friendly hiding place. Hundreds of French soldiers were quick to take advan- tage of it. To them their duty was clear: escape the enemy, rejoin their unit, and fight again for France. The Germans knew of their existence and hunted them day and night; but the hundreds of square miles of woods, with their dense underbrush, their caves, and their hollows, offered an abundance of hiding places which refused to yield up their secrets. The main difficulty was to find food. Like hungry wolves, the poilus crept out of their lairs at night, and the hospitable people of the Ardennes came to their aid. Here it was a family who fed one or two; there it was a village which adopted a whole group. Avoiding the center of the village where the German post iay, the soldiers jumped over garden walls, ap- peared at the kitchen doors, or even climbed through windows --they did not miscalculate their welcome. 234 HIDDEN SOLDIERS 239 rades, who were worn out and demoralized. We know that some of you are disguised as civilians, that the remainder are in uniform, that you are armed with rifles and ammunition, and that you have maps, and compasses to guide you. “We have a general description of each of you, and especially of your commanding officer. "We warn you that we have strictly forbidden the communes, the mills, the farms, and isolated dwellings to give you informa- tion, food, or lodging, under pain of having their dwellings burnt down, being imprisoned, or even being shot. We are beating the fields, and the woods with three companies of infantry and a squadron of Uhlans, and we are being aided by police dogs in our search for you. “We recognize your energy and your courage in defending your country. "In particular, we recognize the intelligence, and bravery of the officer commanding the group; we admire him loyally for his devotion to his men and to his country. "We ask him not to sacrifice uselessly the life of his brothers in arms, nor that of the hospitable Belgian inhabitants. “We are counting on him to come as a civilian and without arms, as a parliamentary with the white fag, to the Mayor of Beauraing, and we swear that if we do not reach an agreement at this interview that we will permit him to return in freedom to his men. "Signed BIRNBAUM, Commander of the detachment in pursuit of the French soldiers scattered in the woods. "P.S. The burgomasters of all the communes are hereby ordered to aid in the execution of this proclamation, and must send to the Burgomaster of Beauraing all information they possess concerning these soldiers. The burgomasters are requested to give passports to the cyclists who are to bring this information to Beauraing. The communes who aid loyally in carrying out these measures will be recompensed by being exempted for a considerable period from requisitions in food and lodgings." 240 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY Promises and threats obtained the same success: the poilus continued to defy the Germans. A few days later, a patrol of German soldiers coming within fifty yards of them, shouted: “Rendezvous, we won't do you any harm.” But the poilus as with one voice replied: "Never!” Immediately there was a fusillade. The German officer in command was wounded in the hand, and the patrol beat a hasty retreat. On the next day, however, the Germans, as they had threatened, started a systematic search of the woods. There was nothing to do but for the “120” to break up into small groups and scatter. This was the last of the armed bands of French soldiers in the Ardennes; from then on, they all got rid of their weapons and their uniforms, and in small groups of five and six, they fended for themselves in the way which I have already described. The Germans continued to bring every pressure to bear on the inhabitants in order to force them to deliver up the poilus. Shortly after the fusillade in the woods, they published the following proclamation, which was even more menacing than the first: "VERY IMPORTANT NOTICE "During the last few days, German soldiers have been shot at in the neighborhood. “Each commune is hereby ordered to search in its area for any French or Belgian soldiers who may be hidden there. “All arms must be delivered up to the nearest German sentry. “The commune is warned that it will be forced to pay a heavy war fine, and will run the risk of having its houses burned down, if either a French or Belgian soldier, or armed civilians, or arms capable of harming the German Army, are found in its area. “We also warn the inhabitants that if any help in the form of CHAPTER XXIII LÉON PARENT GUIDES THEM THROUGH TO the south of the province of Namur, in a lost corner 1 of the Ardennes, bordering on the French frontier, the small village of Vonèche lies hidden among the woods. In one of the houses scattered in picturesque disorder against the hillside, Léon Parent was born. At the outbreak of the War he was nineteen years of age. Fair-haired, tall, well developed, his frank open face and his generous ardent nature attracted everyone's friendship. Anxious to render service to his country, Léon eagerly searched for means to do so. When the first patrol of Uhlans appeared in the neighborhood, it was he who warned the Bel- gian post at Beauraing; the promptitude and accuracy of his indications enabled them to capture these ten Germans. A few days later, when the French were advancing from Gedinne towards Beauraing, he slipped through the German lines to give the French Commander a report on the strength of the German forces opposing him. To this young patriot the presence of French soldiers in the Ardennes meant the opportunity for which he had been look- ing. Knowing every corner of his native woods, he eagerly led those of the poilus who were in his immediate neighborhood to the many hiding places he knew of. This accomplished, he 243 244 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY became a friend they depended upon-warning them of the presence of German patrols and daily carrying them food. But food and shelter were only immediate needs; he soon dis- covered that to the last man, each was burning with a desire to reach the Dutch frontier. Léon Parent, whose entire nineteen years had been spent in his native Ardennes, realized that without help he could not hope to get the soldiers safely across the Dutch border. But he knew there must be some way to facilitate their escape. He decided to speak to Mademoiselle de M. at her château at Ohey. It was a lucky strike. She had been following the same line of thought, and had already made a start at repatriating the French soldiers in her neighborhood. She herself had just con- ducted five poilus into Holland. The French Consulate had warmly congratulated her and encouraged her to continue. Léon provided the means by which she could carry out the scheme already formed in her head. She had numerous friends in Liège. She would take up her headquarters there, organize hiding places for the soldiers, and procure the necessary fron- tier guides. Léon Parent could guide them on to Liège in small groups, as fast as she could handle them. The two young patriots, both inspired by the same purpose, sat down with enthusiasm to work out plans for their hazard- ous undertaking. On the first trip, Mademoiselle de M. accom- panied Léon Parent to show him the road and, at the end of each stage, to introduce him to the friends who had helped her feed and lodge her charges during her previous trip. Arriving safely in Liège, she remained there to supervise the extensive organization which had to be built up. Léon returned to Vonèche post haste to announce to the poilus the good news: underground repatriation had commenced. 246 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY wounded who had escaped from the hospitals—were worn out by privation; often they were soaked to the skin by the wintry rain, half frozen by the cold, fearful that at any moment all their hopes might be dashed to the ground by a sudden arrest. Even to a man in good condition, and on good roads, a march of a hundred miles would have been a test of endurance. Léon, as he circulated back and forth on his bicycle, cheered the tired poilus on. He found one limping, another lying on the bank of a stream, still another seated at the side of a ditch. There was always some one who wearily demanded as he rode up: “Have we got much further to go?” In spite of everything, however, they all finally reached Liège. As a rule, they waited until nightfall before entering the Walloon city. Fortunately, the local Secret Police rarely paid attention to these detached pedestrians, although their ema- ciated faces, their long hair, and ill fitting clothes were easily recognized by the initiated. For some, Mademoiselle M. found lodging in private houses; others were put up at small inns. Liège hospitality was never found wanting. One of the inns was a veritable recruiting bureau. Here Mademoiselle M. gave to each one a small slip of paper on which she stamped a special seal, given her by the French Consulate in Holland. As soon as the happy fugitive arrived in Holland, he handed the slip to his guide; this was a receipt which enabled the guide to receive his payment at the Consulate. Valleye, of Herstal, who was eventually electrocuted at the frontier, was the chief of the guides. Ten men assisted him in his dangerous work. Unlike the other frontier guides, most of whom were mercenary, Valleye accepted only the bare minimum for himself and his men. As for the innkeepers, they VCI chere mgruan et cher papa a bous bien su fois ela papa relit free et petite Voeur aussi, le brave au revoir Kelu aimed huu aina of lachs de moiw conme a moi au revon cher pelit run Me dois mourir l'auhati se. et petite Marie, nous noure not he had attacel to od Agine o ufete magazeti ye rom for u leup ang repps por poin loa hbilquerdote wenbratelo ponie en bon Melice m eie aumentar Tech em for beet on ani, ulam come leu Lauit powme bon papo, for ef o toun comme bosſ Mana thuile pour le supplice au revo THE LAST LETTER OF Léon Parent WRITTEN to His Parents ON THE Eve of His EXECUTION AT ANTWERP. (See other side for final page.) Maman el papa Coufouns bew'heur Киши: гинши (и - зимли je suis most au revoir topa et еднаш да ги ва да ги Кнни та 2 и Ко. FINAL PAGE OF LEON PARENT's LAST LETTER. FRENCH SOLDIERS IN A HIDE-OUT IN THE ARDENNES LÉON PARENT 247 did not even demand reimbursement for the money they had paid out in food. While Mademoiselle M. supervised the organization in Liège, Léon Parent continued to guide the poilus to the city. During the first month, he brought in sixty-two men, making five trips in all. From November, 1914, to August, 1915, he worked unceasingly. When he returned to Vonèche, he always found a group waiting for him, rounded up by his father and his friends. Word was secretly passed from mouth to mouth until eventually all the soldiers hidden in the Belgian and French Ardennes knew of him. Gradually, they found their way to Vonèche-since all its bridges were guarded some ac- tually had to swim the Semois in order to reach Belgian soil, others waited until nightfall and then used a bark hidden at Bohan. The daily dangers Léon met with courage and prudence; his unceasing energy and devotion, and his refusal to accept any pecuniary remuneration, not only revealed his high moral character, but won for him the confidence of everyone with whom he came into contact. No wonder, then, that he attracted the attention of those engaged in spying. Once approached by the espionage service Léon willingly plunged into this new activity, in spite of the fact that his hands were already full with his work of repatriation. During the retreat, the French Intelligence Service had left some carrier pigeons with Paulin Jacquemin, of Monthermé, and had instructed him to report on the enemy's movements. Jacquemin carried out this mission faithfully until his last pigeon had been sent out. He then occupied himself in aiding the French soldiers hidden in his neighborhood; in the course 248 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY of his activities on their behalf, he inevitably came into contact with Léon Parent. The safe hiding places which the French soldiers had found in the Ardennes soon attracted the attention of the French Intelligence Service. It was an excellent area into which spies could be dropped by aeroplane. They also remembered Jac- quemin-he could be relied on to render assistance. In May, 1915, one of these French spies, armed with two baskets of carrier pigeons, successfully reached Jacquemin. At regular intervals others, who had come by way of the air, also found their way to his house. Except that he was in touch with Jacquemin, and that he made two trips to Charleville for him, one of which permitted Jacquemin to report to the French the exact location of the Crown Prince's Headquarters, no one knows exactly what rôle it was that Léon Parent played in Jacquemin's espionage serv- ice. All the participants perished at the hands of the Germans, -and even Léon's parents were kept in the dark concerning his spy activities. Eventually, the attention of the Germans was attracted by the number of spies who were being dropped in the Ardennes. Towards the middle of June, getting on the trail of the French soldier Robert, one of the aeroplane spies, they tracked him to his hide-out at the house of Tutiaux, a peasant, who owned a small farm at Vieux-Moulins de Thilay. The farmhouse was surrounded, but Robert managed to escape into the woods. His reports were found, however. Either by their means, or through the admissions of Tutiaux, other arrests promptly followed. Paulin Jacquemin was caught and shot down in a street of Monthermé while he was attempting to break away from his escort. The farmer Baijeot, one of his agents, was arrested, WO once CHAPTER XXIV SIEGBURG, PRISON FOR WOMEN; TRAGIC EXECUTIONS THE reader who has followed these pages with me will agree that the Allied women spies were just as brave and efficient as the men, but he may not be quite sure in his mind as to whether they had to face the same penalties, and whether they suffered as much at the hands of the Germans. To dispel all possible doubt, I intend to trace the history of three of the four Belgian woman spies who were shot; and, finally, I shall show what those who were incarcerated had to endure in the grim German prison for women at Siegburg. I shall omit telling of Gabrielle Petit, the national heroine of Belgium, the brave young orphan girl of twenty-two, who showed the world that a Belgian girl knew how to die. Her story has been told many times by others. Instead I shall pass on to Elise Grandprez, Emilie Schatteman, and Léonie Ram- meloo, who, though more obscure, rendered just as much serv- ice, and were equally heroic. In the small town of Stavelot, hidden away in the Belgian Ardennes, we find Elise Grandprez at the commencement of the War. Already forty-seven years of age, unmarried, living with her mother in a home where every comfort was to be found, she was not the type of person one would associate 252 254 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY themselves compromised, wisely decided to abandon their espionage activities, and remained firm in their resolution even when solicited by Father Des Onays at the time he was enroll- ing in "The White Lady" the remnants of the Lambrecht Service. Ten months had gone by in inactivity when one morning, towards the end of January, 1917, an individual who gave his name as Delacour presented himself at their house in Stavelot. He was received by Constant Grandprez. Giving himself out to be a Frenchman, a former resident of Roubaix, Delacour claimed that he had just crossed the electric wire from Hol- land, and that he had come on a mission from the French Secret Service. On the plea that several soldiers had given his name to the French authorities as being a patriot who could be counted upon, he pressed Constant to mount a train-watching service in the area. Constant Grandprez courteously listened to the man but gave nothing away. Delacour stayed a while, gave him the latest news from Paris, and told him about several French successes on the Western Front, which both agreed the German communiqués had carefully concealed. As soon as the man had left, Constant Grandprez told the rest of the family about the visit. Elise was keenly disappointed that her brother had dismissed him. She appreciated his pru- dence, but she was anxious to restart their organization, and expressed the opinion that any suspicions which the Secret Police might have had against them because of the Lambrecht affair had been dissipated by now. Delacour had not disappeared, however. A few days later, he repeated his visit; he presented such proofs of the genuine- ness of his mission that constant eventually revealed to him 256 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY Becker had many other victims. Having lived for years in France before the War, he spoke French without trace of an accent. A professional secret service agent, cunning and un- scrupulous, aided by an organization which could supply him with any kind of false documents, he was often more than a match for honest patriots of the Grandprez type. On March 29th, 1916, the six prisoners appeared before the Court Martial in Liège. Constant Grandprez, his sister Elise, and Grégoire were condemned to death; François Grandprez and Madame Grégoire were sentenced to fifteen years' hard labor; Marie Grandprez for want of proof was acquitted, but was deported to a camp in Germany as an undesirable. In prison, the three prisoners calmly prepared themselves for death. Elise found time to make three small Belgian flags out of material contained in a workbasket which friends had sent her. When the hour came to face the firing squad, she pulled the three flags out of her blouse and handed two of them to her companions. It was with the flag pressed to her heart that she fell pierced by a dozen bullets. We must now turn to an entirely different part of Belgium, the small village of Bouchaute, situated in eastern Belgian Flanders, right on the Dutch frontier. Here in their humble homes where poverty stalked, lived Emilie Schatteman and Léonie Rammeloo, two young Flemish peasant girls, respectively twenty-one and twenty-two years of age. Patriotism knows no class distinction, age, or sex. These young peasants, too, wished to serve their country, and since knowledge of the frontier was all they had to offer, it was to this field that they devoted themselves. SIEGBURG, PRISON FOR WOMEN 259 is locked, the color of your clothing indicates that you have lost your liberty. God has not wished that you continue to abuse it for the purpose of sinning against His laws and those of man. He has brought you here to expiate your crimes. Therefore, bow down under the all powerful hand of God, bow down under the iron regulations of this prison. If you do not obey willingly, your spirit will be broken. But if you accept humbly the punishment which has been inflicted upon you, the fruit of your submission will be a humbled heart, and a tranquil conscience. God wishes this to be so." That was his creed and he carried it into effect. He was universally hated by every one, even by the German personnel, who felt that they, too, were being watched as Dürr limped round on his daily tour of inspection. He was arrested by the British when the army of occupation reached the Rhine, but, fortunately for him, he managed to escape. Frau Ruge, the Directress of the female section of the prison, had secured her appointment through influence in higher quarters. The widow of a former army officer, and a woman of some refinement, she seemed at times to have some com- passion for the tragic lot of the women under her charge; but any generous impulse by which she might have been motivated was never put into effect, for she was completely under the domination of Dürr, of whom she was in mortal fear. The prisoner on arrival was taken to the office for an examination of her commitment papers and the establishing of her identity. After this she was taken to the bath house where, in the presence of the Housemother, she was forced to undress and take a bath. Her clothing was then removed, and she was given her prison outfit. SIEGBURG, PRISON FOR WOMEN 261 rise. The doors were opened by the wardesses, and the pris- oners put out their water jugs and their sanitary buckets. Fifteen minutes later, these were ready to be taken in again. At eight o'clock, a hundred grams of black bread and a cup of hot black unsweetened liquid, which passed for coffee, were handed in. Except for two promenade periods in the court- yard, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, each of forty-five minutes duration, the prisoners were kept busy in their cells from the morning until the evening meal. Those who were expert with the needle were allowed to make gar- ments; the others were provided with machines with which they stamped out men's trouser buttons. Sunday was a day of rest. Mass was celebrated at nine o'clock, vespers at one-thirty. The principal meal of the day was a vegetable soup, served at 11:30 A.M. This was nourishing, but the vegetables were so badly washed that insects often floated on the liquid; hence the name “bug soup” by which it came to be known. Before 1917, a few pieces of meat were occasionally discovered in this soup; but after this period, meat was never seen again. At four o'clock, the prisoners received another cup of black coffee, together with seventy-five grams of black bread. The final meal, consisting of a bowl of thin gruel, was passed in at six o'clock. The cell doors were then locked, and under no circumstances were they opened again until seven o'clock the next morning. The food was entirely insufficient to sustain the prisoners, and as food became scarce in Germany, what was offered the prisoners became worse and worse. In the bread, potato meal was used; and in the soup, beetroot became the exclusive vege- table. On March 17th, 1917, packets of food started reaching the prisoners from France. It was a Godsend. They were 262 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY allowed to receive four pounds of biscuits a week. It was time, for many of the younger prisoners, some of whom were only fifteen years of age, were suffering terribly from hunger. The most pitiful cases, however, were the unfortunate mothers who had given birth to children in the prison, and were not getting enough nourishment to nurse them. If births occurred at night, they often took place without any assistance. Mothers were permitted to keep their babies for nine months. After this, the infants were either put in a home in Siegburg, or were given out to some German nurse. On one Sunday a month, the mother was allowed to have the child brought to her; the leave-taking was heartrending, and it was especially sad to the mother to perceive that her baby was gradually forgetting her. Bad as the food was, it was the lack of medical care, and the unsanitary conditions in the prison, which caused the great- est suffering. I have already mentioned the buckets; one can imagine the nauseating odors when they were put out each morning. Those who became ill were required to report sick to the prison doctor. In a long file, outside his office, they could be viewed each morning waiting to see him. The care they received, however, was almost nil. Doctor “Get out,” for this is what the prisoners called him, either prescribed nothing, or gave the same pills for a dozen varied ailments. Some of the prisoners had such little faith in the prison doctor that they were discovered dead in their cells without having approached him. Dysentery, typhoid, and tuberculosis ravaged the prison. A large percentage of the three hundred prisoners died within its walls. Prisoners were not even spared the sad task of having to carry the coffins out of the cells. The number of victims would have been even greater had 264 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY eventually granted permission for her to be transferred to a hospital in Cologne. There she died September 17th, 1918. After the Armistice, with full military ceremonial her re- mains, draped with the French flag and placed on a gun carriage, were escorted through the streets of Cologne to the railway station, en route to her last resting place in Lille. Gen- eral Degoutte and General Simon, representatives of the French and British Armies of the Rhine, marched in the funeral pro- cession. This was Louise de Bettignies, the valiant patriot, whom Dürr had treated as a criminal. No one can adequately portray the tragic lives of these women prisoners. Even worse than the prison treatment was the mental agony they had to endure not knowing what was happening to those who were dear to them. Some had left small children at home; some had members of their family in other prisons. Then there were those, such as Helen Javaux and the small fifteen-year-old Kerf girl, whose fathers had been shot. Finally, there were several cases where whole fami- lies were confined at Siegburg without being able to see each other. Madame Ramet, whose son had been shot, had two daughters in the prison, and yet they were not allowed to attend her funeral. Augustine Ramet, the oldest daughter, also died shortly afterwards. In spite of all their suffering, not one of these brave women, from the Princess de Croy down to the humblest peasant, regretted having served her country. Those who survived re- turned home at the Armistice, happy that their sacrifice had not been in vain. OX CHAPTER XXV THE BISCOPS SERVICE SIO W HAT I have already written must have indicated that some of the spy's greatest dangers came from note- books and stool-pigeons. Those who employed notebooks often thought they were safe in using codes, false names or abbrevia- tions, but they forgot that these secret notes would call for an immediate explanation if they fell into the hands of the Secret Police, and that German third-degree methods, if given a definite objective, had been known to break the strongest will. Not only did the guilty suffer, but the innocent were often involved. Any person whose name was found in the possession of a spy was immediately arrested; they remained in prison until they had proved their innocence. To illustrate my point, even though it may be a digression from the main objective of this chapter, I shall tell, very briefly, the tragic story of Sister Xavéria. Sister Xavéria's brother was Alexandre Franck, the friend and companion of Backelmans (both of these men were eventually arrested by the Germans and shot as spies). One day, quite by accident, she met Backelmans on the street car. Surprised to see him, for she knew that together with her brother he had left for England at the beginning of the War, she had a hundred and one questions to ask; but she had 265 266 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY arrived at her destination and had to take leave without all the information she wanted. When she got back to the convent, she decided to get into touch with Backelmans again. She sent him a note asking him to call on her, and not being sure that he knew her convent name, she signed the message “Sister of Alex.” In the meantime, Backelmans had been arrested, and his tell-tale memorandum book was in the possession of the Secret Police. In it Backelmans had noted down the name of Sister Xavéria as a reminder to tell Franck about the encounter. To make matters worse, the innocent Sister's note fell into the hands of the Secret Police. Here was a person whose name not only figured in Backel- mans' notebook, but who used a false name. Sister Xavéria was promptly arrested and, in spite of her protests, was con- fined for weeks in prison. At the trial, the German Prosecuting Attorney demanded a sentence of ten years hard labor; it was only the skill of her Belgian lawyer which eventually secured her acquittal. But it was the guilty for whom these notebooks had the most fatal consequences. (If the innocent were often arrested, the Germans generally discovered their error in the course of time.) We saw what happened in the Parenté affair; we will now see how a foolish entry in a memorandum book led to the break- ing up of the Biscops Service, which, although in no way to be compared with “The White Lady” in size or importance, ranked next to it. An Antwerp oculist, Dr. “X,” a member of the Biscops Service, was arrested as a suspect in an affair which had nothing to do with his espionage activities; in fact, the worthy Doctor was entirely innocent of the charges which had been leveled THE BISCOPS SERVICE 269 Germans for espionage. To save her own skin, she proceeded to betray her fellow prisoners. Having won the confidence of one of the principal mem- bers arrested-whom I shall call “Spelier," for although crim- inally indiscreet he acted in good faith-the woman “Z” cunningly laid her trap. She volunteered the information that she had means of communicating with the outside through her daughter, who had permission to come and see her once a week. “Spelier,” anxious to warn Léon Deboucq, the Chief of the Biscops Service, as to what had happened in Brussels, wrote a letter to him, and communicated his address in Charleroi to the woman. The letter, of course, was handed over to Goldschmidt who, after photographing it, sent three members of the Secret Police off to Charleroi to arrest Léon Deboucq. When they arrived at Deboucq's house, in the early hours of the morning of Sep- tember 16th, 1917, the whole family was away at Mass. The governess, Emilie Fenasse, was the only one at home. Declaring themselves as members of the Secret Police, the three agents took possession of the house, and sat down to wait for the return of the family. They did not notice, however, that Emilie Fenasse had turned on the porch light. This was a warning signal which Deboucq had arranged. When Deboucq turned the corner into the street where his house was located, he immediately noticed the light. Sending his family home, he precipitously fled to Brussels. By allowing Deboucq to slip through their fingers, the Secret Police had momentarily lost the thread of the organiza- tion. Marguerite Walraevens, “Spelier,” and the other members of the Biscops Service who had been arrested in Brussels only represented a small section of it. Deboucq had been clever 270 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY enough to organize his service on the basis of separate and independent nests; the sections at Malines, Namur, Charleroi, Mons, Maubeuge, Valenciennes, Tournai and in Belgian Luxemburg still remained intact. Deboucq, a man of about forty, an engineer by profession, extremely intelligent and resourceful, was neither a coward nor a man who would give in easily. Although his wife and one of his daughters had been arrested, he was determined to get his service working again, and to reëstablish the connections with Holland, which had been severed by the arrest of Mar- guerite Walraevens. From his hiding place in Brussels, at the house of his aunt, Anna Verhegge, an old lady of seventy, he started spinning the thread again. He found a new “letter- box" in Brussels, in the person of Madame Descamps, another lady well advanced in years; and at Turnhout, close to the Dutch frontier, he enrolled Abbé Dierckx as a relay "letter- box.” All that now remained was to connect up these "letter- boxes” with a trans-frontier courier. In his search for a frontier passage, one of his agents, Abbé Anceaux, of Namur, put him in touch with Dewé, Chauvin, and Neujean, of whom Abbé Anceaux had heard through a Namur priest, one of “The White Lady's” agents. Deboucq traveled to Liège and there met the three men, who were presented to him under the false names of Gauthier, Bouchon, and Petit. I have already described how, through Jeanne Delwaide, “The White Lady" put him in touch with Siquet's frontier passage, and the tragic results which followed. "The White Lady," which was hiding Deboucq at this time, realized that he was now compromised from two distinct direc- tions—the Walraevens group, and through Siquet. Wisely the organization decided, for its own safety as well as his, that 272 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY man soldiers smuggling at the frontier were caught; it was then that the soldier in question told the Secret Police about the shaving stick which he had buried. It was dug up. In it were found two rolls, each the size of a cigarette, one was marked Turnhout, the other Brussels. In the Turnhout roll, Abbé Dierckx was requested to get in touch with the man whom Deboucq had nominated to succeed him as Chief of the Biscops Service; this man was referred to as “The White Negro," and Abbé Dierckx was informed that he could contact him by presenting himself at the house of Anna Verhegge, 44 rue Philippe de Champagne, in Brussels. The Brussels roll was addressed to “The White Negro.” In it he was told to start the Biscops Service functioning again, and that he could communicate with Holland through Abbé Dierckx, whom the Cameron representative had obviously in- tended connecting up to the frontier passage by way of Verschueren. Goldschmidt of the Secret Police Bureau "A," once again took the investigation in hand. Abbé Dierckx was immediately arrested. The German Secret Agent Coulon (the man who had arrested Parenté), armed with the Brussels roll, which Gold- schmidt had previously photographed, and disguised as Abbé Dierckx, was sent to call on Anna Verhegge. The old lady could not help but have confidence in him, for she had never seen the real Abbé Dierckx; besides, on the roll which Coulon showed her, she recognized the handwriting of her nephew. She confessed that she could not put Coulon in touch with “The White Negro"; but she knew some one who probably could, and so she sent him to Madame Descamps, the Brussels “letter-box.” Coulon was a French subject, and so was Madame THE BISCOPS SERVICE 273 Descamps. The old lady, whose hearing and eyesight were already impaired by age, had complete confidence in him; in fact, she took quite a liking to this priest who hailed from her own country. She regretted, however, that she did not know the identity of "The White Negro,” but she assured Coulon that he could get in touch with him through her nephew, Father Bormans, at Charleroi, to whom she hastened to give him a letter of introduction. Immediately after Coulon's visit, a friend of Father Bormans happened to call at the house, and as he was returning to Charleroi that same evening, Madame Descamps gave him a verbal message for her nephew to the effect that a priest with a communication from Holland was on his way to see him. When, therefore, Coulon arrived in the guise of an ordinary civilian, instead of that of a priest, Father Bormans was im- mediately suspicious; as soon as Coulon broached the subject of espionage, he showed him the door. Coulon, who probably had not felt sufficiently sure of him- self to parade in clerical dress before a real priest, returned to Brussels somewhat crestfallen. However, he soon devised a suitable story to tell Madame Descamps: he explained that having come from a town so close to the frontier he was a natural object of suspicion to the Secret Police, and having no excuse to go to Charleroi, he had gone there in disguise. The old lady apologized for her nephew's lack of faith, and promised to take the matter in hand herself. Post haste, she sent Bormans a letter explaining matters, and asking him to arrange a meeting in Brussels between “The White Negro" and Abbé Dierckx; to the letter she joined the Brussels roll, which Coulon had brought back with him. "The White Negro,” impressed by the undoubted authen- 274 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY ticity of Deboucq's message from Holland, lightly dismissed Father Bormans' suspicions; and accompanied by his daughter, proceeded to keep the appointment which in the meantime had been arranged at Madame Descamps' house. Coulon was the first to arrive at her house. Chatting amiably with the old lady, he waited for his victim to arrive. The bell rang. Madame Descamps hastened to the door to usher in “The White Negro" of whom she had heard so much, and who by now had thoroughly aroused her curiosity and interest. In triumph she returned with him and his daughter to intro- duce them to Abbé Dierckx. No sooner had “The White Negro” acknowledged his identity, when to her blank amaze- ment, Coulon pulled out his gun, and arrested the three of them. On searching Madame Descamps' house, the Secret Police had a surprise in store for them. They discovered a number of spy reports belonging to an entirely different service, one at- tached to the Cereal Company in Holland (the cover used by the second of the British General Headquarters Services), the one directed by Major Wallinger. This patriotic old lady, in spite of her age, had for over a year been an active member of the Wallinger Service. For this service, she had also been playing the rôle of “letter-box.” The usual traps were mounted in the houses of Anna Verhegge, Madame Descamps, and in that of “The White Negro," whose real name was François Peyenasse, a druggist at Charleroi. One arrest led to another until about forty mem- bers of the Biscops Service, including Abbé Anceaux of Namur, were arrested. A number of Wallinger agents were also caught in the net. Once again Stöber had a major spy trial on his hands. With THE BISCOPS SERVICE 275 elaborate detail a chart was displayed in the Court Room; it looked like a transcription of a page of Ancient History. The different Biscops train-watching posts, couriers, “letter-boxes," and head agents were shown in a diagram, and opposite each name, the service name was shown. Doboucq was Diogenes; Pevenasse had two service names, “The White Negro" and Demosthenes; Abbé Anceaux was Horace; and so on. The trial took its normal course; the Secret Police were in possession of all the evidence, and it was easy for them to reconstruct the rôle of each agent. Stöber demanded seven sentences of death and secured five: Marguerite Walraevens, Abbé Anceaux, and three others. The Governor General commuted all these death sentences, how- ever, to hard labor for life. The other prisoners were also given long prison sentences with hard labor. On the whole, all the prisoners were lucky-scores of spies had been executed in Belgium on far less evidence. This was practically the end of the Biscops Service, or the Service of the Sacré Cæur as it was sometimes known. It had functioned for more than a year before the Brussels arrests, and with its twenty-odd train-watching posts, it had rendered the Allies inestimable services. Deboucq was both a brave and a clever organizer. He was not to blame for the downfall of the service. The arrest of Marguerite Walraevens was due to pure chance; and it was the Cameron Service, and not he, who was responsible for the choosing of the Turnhout frontier passage that proved so disastrous. Had Deboucq been given a safe mcans of communicating across the frontier, his service would probably have continued until the Armistice. The Biscops Service is also of special interest, because on several occasions, it crossed the path of “The White Lady." 276 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY The explanation of this is perfectly simple. Both services had a large number of priests enrolled in it, and both of them largely recruited their members from the Belgian intelligentsia. Un- selfishly, and at a great risk to themselves, “The White Lady” helped the Biscops Service in ways which I have already indi- cated. Fortunately, in doing so, Dewé, Chauvin and Neujean hid their identities under false names. During the Biscops trial, the names of the mysterious Gauthier, Bouchon, and Petit cropped up repeatedly. Not that there was any betrayal, but the names had fallen into the hands of the Secret Police at the time of the Siquet trial, and they were continually trying to pin the identity on some one. During the final stages of the War, when the whole Biscops affair had blown over, “The White Lady” incorporated into its organization some of the remnants of Deboucq's service which still remained in the Valenciennes area, LAST LETTERS 279 The forty-eight who were shot at Liège all died bravely; some no doubt more stoically than others, but all without falter- ing. Some died with a prayer on their lips; some, such as Elise Grandprez, cried, "Vive le Roi! Vive la Belgique!"; others uttered words of pardon for their executioners. After the War, all the bodies, except those of the Collard brothers, were removed to the military cemetery, at Robermont. It is a pity that this was done, for the soil of the Bastion of the Chartreuse, bathed in their blood, would have been a more fitting Pantheon. Each town in Belgium had its list of martyrs: fifty-seven were shot for espionage at Ghent; thirty-one at Brussels; twenty-three at Antwerp; twenty at Hasselt; and smaller groups in the other centers. The last letters of those who were shot need no comment; they speak for themselves. No one can read them without being deeply moved. Facing eternity, these men and women, with remarkable self-possession, wrote of the things which were dear to them; their family, their God, and their country. We cannot mistake the sincerity of their thoughts. Some of these letters have a greater literary value than others; many of them were written by men of little education. But they all speak from the heart, revealing the philosophy and conduct of life which enabled these men to face death heroically and with resignation. I can only present a translation of a few of these letters, but those that I have chosen are in the aggregate typical of the whole collection. Germain Bury, an employee of the Belgian State Railways, was the first to be shot at the Chartreuse. We do not know much LAST LETTERS 279 The forty-eight who were shot at Liège all died bravely; some no doubt more stoically than others, but all without falter- ing. Some died with a prayer on their lips; some, such as Elise Grandprez, cried, "Vive le Roi! Vive la Belgique!"; others uttered words of pardon for their executioners. After the War, all the bodies, except those of the Collard brothers, were removed to the military cemetery, at Robermont. It is a pity that this was done, for the soil of the Bastion of the Chartreuse, bathed in their blood, would have been a more fitting Pantheon. Each town in Belgium had its list of martyrs: fifty-seven were shot for espionage at Ghent; thirty-one at Brussels; twenty-three at Antwerp; twenty at Hasselt; and smaller groups in the other centers. The last letters of those who were shot need no comment; they speak for themselves. No one can read them without being deeply moved. Facing eternity, these men and women, with remarkable self-possession, wrote of the things which were dear to them; their family, their God, and their country. We cannot mistake the sincerity of their thoughts. Some of these letters have a greater literary value than others; many of them were written by men of little education. But they all speak from the heart, revealing the philosophy and conduct of life which enabled these men to face death heroically and with resignation. I can only present a translation of a few of these letters, but those that I have chosen are in the aggregate typical of the whole collection. Germain Bury, an employee of the Belgian State Railways, was the first to be shot at the Chartreuse. We do not know much LAST LETTERS 283 His main achievement was tapping the private telephone line which connected the Kaiser's Headquarters, at the Château des Amerois, with the Great General Headquarters of the German Army. For the valuable information obtained through this source, his chiefs in Holland received repeated congratulations from Belgian General Headquarters. But, like Lambrecht, Gilkinet fell a victim to the treachery of Keurvers. Arrested, he heroically refused to name a single one of his agents. He went to his death with a smile on his face. Lightly remarking, “All the same, I don't want to catch cold before dying,” he asked one of his escort to go back to his cell for his raincoat as he was being led off to face the firing squad. In addition to letters to his wife, and relatives, he ad- dressed the following last letter to his four young children: "Liège (Chartreuse), June 15, 1916 “MY WELL BELOVED JULIETTE, MARCELLE, MARIE-JOSÉ, “MY DARLING LITTLE GEORGES: “The good Sisters of Providence and of the Holy Conception, to whom I have entrusted the care of your education, have no doubt spoken to you of the Sermon on the Mount. They will have ex- plained to you the meaning of the words of the Divine Master; they will have told you of the consolation that is to be found in the beatitudes. "Addressing himself to his disciples, Jesus told them: Happy are they who weep, for they will be consoled. Happy are they who suffer persecution in the pursuit of justice, because the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to them. "When these few words reach you, my dear little angels, you will have shed, and you will have seen shed many tears. One will tell you: papa is gone, his poor body will have no other resting place than an unknown tomb, on which, perhaps, you will never be able to deposit the perfume of your prayers. "Don't believe any of this. Console your darling mother, and LAST LETTERS 285 "It is three years ago since I left Amand now I must depart from this life in such circumstances. I beg of you, forgive me. No mercy was shown me by my earthly judge. May God be all the more clement. "I beg of you to consider A as your daughter, and your beloved sister. I hope and wish that Al. is still at home, and that you are not suffering from the need of anything. "I could have curbed my ardent impulses, but I am satisfied with my lot. “Let God's will be done. Sooner or later, we have got to pass, and I could not be better prepared than I am now. Keep of me a good souvenir, and pray for me. Soon I shall be with my dear mother and sister; and then together we will pray to God for your well being. “Dear father, don't take things too much to heart. Think that God is all powerful, and that perhaps by my sacrifice, He will protect my brother and bring him back safely to you. “I must end now, for it will soon be time, and I still want to write to A. In the hope of seeing you soon again in the realms of eternal happiness, I embrace you with all my heart for the last time. "Your very dear son, brother-in-law, and uncle, "Joseph Zilliox.” Louis Somers belonged to the French Secret Service. He was betrayed by a traitor, sent to him as a courier from Holland. He was arrested at a rendezvous which he had fixed with this man. From his prison, with a nail as pen, and with his own blood as ink, he was able to write a message of warning, which he smuggled out to his associates. Warned in time, they all managed to escape. Tragedy had already marked his family; he had seen his brother-in-law shot as a franc-tireur, during the early stages of the War. He wrote to his little daughter, Micheline, who had lost her mother several years previously: LAST LETTERS 287 of imprisonment (twelve years of hard labor for the mother and three years for her daughter). Kerf wrote to Victoire, his fifteen-year-old daughter, confined in the prison of Siegburg. "MY WELL BELOVED DAUGHTER, "I inform you, my poor child, that tomorrow morning, August 29th, I shall undertake the long voyage you know of towards God, who, dear daughter, awaits my arrival. He knows about it, for during the last six months and a half, I have prayed to Him either to spare me the penalty of death, or to receive me into heaven near His angels. Now He has said to Himself, it is better that I call him to heaven; perhaps later, he will again forget God. “You must not weep much for me, my dear child, the good Lord wishes it thus; He wishes to make me happy. But pray a lot for me, say a small prayer for your father every day. You can do nothing else for me, my little one; I do not order it, because I know you; I am only expressing a desire from the depth of my heart.... "When you return home, you will have care of everything, and you will watch over everything with economy, like a true mother. You will say to yourself: 'I am now the mother of Xavier, and Lucien.' You must be good and gentle with them; if they are naughty, tell them that they are paining their father, who is watch- ing from heaven. Do as you have done until now, be obliging to people; be just without deceit; don't listen to light advice; work hard; and keep a good account of everything. Watch well over your brothers, so that they don't get spoiled; tell them what I desire of them, that they go to church, and to Communion, also to Vespers on Sunday.... “For the last time, my very dearest little one, I salute you and embrace you with all my heart. As a remembrance, I leave you my ring; I have nothing else that I can leave you. "Farewell, dear little Victoire, until we see each other again in Eternity. "Your father who loves you, "JOSEPH." 288 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY Henri Defechereux, a railroad watchman at a level crossing in Liège, like so many other employees of the Belgian State Railways, heroically responded when asked to serve his country. A member of the Legrand-Lugen organization, he was shot at the same time as Félix van den Snoeck. He wrote to his fiancée. “Liège, October 25th, 1915 "DEAR WELL BELOVED FIANCÉE, "Be courageous, dear Adèle, when you receive this letter, justice will have been done. The tribunal condemned me for espionage, for the crime of high treason. I have done my duty, and they have done theirs. I forgive them, it is justice. “My mission was there; I had to accomplish it. I must pay for it with my future, but I am happy at having done my duty. I die con- tented, I accept everything, and I pardon everything. To you, dear Adèle, I said that you would be my wife, but I always had a pre- sentiment that misfortune would soon befall me. During our trip to Hamoir I was sad at heart— I thought of the consequences of my mission which had to be accomplished. Yes, Adèle, I am going to die, but courageously, with honor and as an honest man. As I have done with mother, so also I ask your pardon, dear well beloved Adèle. Grant it to me to save me, so that I can find God who awaits me to love Him, and to pray for you, and the whole family. “Be good to mother, and my sister. Transfer to mother the great love you have shown me. Do just as if you were still my little fiancée, later you will be happy. I will pray for your happiness, and that you may find a good husband, but think often of your dear friend, and of his mother, and sister.... "I did my duty for God, King, and Country. My Mother, my Sister, Adèle, pardon. Farewell. "Your beloved son, brother, and fiancée, "HENRI DEFECHEREUX." 290 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY “Au revoir, dear nephews and nieces, be courageous, and pray a lot for me. “Your uncle, "CONSTANT." Emile Stévigny, Belgian Customs Inspector at Maeseyck, on the Belgian-Dutch border, was a member of the Wallinger Service. In addition to his espionage activities, he occupied him- self actively with the passage of recruits for the Belgian Army. His master stroke was when, together with one of his asso- ciates, at a spot between two German sentries, placed a hundred yards apart, he cut through all seven strands of the high-voltage electric fence, and triumphantly sent through the gap seventy young Belgians of military age. For the purpose, special wire cutters with insulated arms, also a supply of india rubber gloves and socks had been smuggled to him from Holland. An army of Secret Police were sent into the area, who soon got on the track of Stévigny and arrested him. They had no idea, however, that he was engaged in espionage, and he would have escaped with a prison sentence had he not foolishly re- vealed his activities to the prison stool-pigeon, Jeuniaux. Stévigny was condemned to death, and was shot at Brussels, December 13th, 1917. He wrote to his mother: "Brussels, St. Gilles Prison “December 12th, 1917 “MY TENDER MOTHER, "I was rejoicing at the prospect of seeing you again after a sepa- ration of so many months, but the good Lord, Whose designs are impenetrable, has willed it otherwise. In a few hours, I shall leave this earth for ever. "After so much sadness, my dear mother, the Lord still wishes to put you to a new trial, but, as always, you will say again this time: 'Good Lord, let Thy will be done.' 292 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY Belgian-Dutch border-the passengers, after their examination, had to walk across the frontier to a car waiting on the other side of the border. Javaux wrote to his oldest son, a Belgian soldier at the Front. At the time, he was still in doubt about his fate, for the Governor General had not yet given a decision on the petitions for clemency, which had been sent him. “September 4th, 1916 "FOR MY SON ALBERT “MY WELL BELOVED SON, "I write to you from my prison with horrible uncertainty as to the future. Am I to live or die? In either event I am resigned to the will of God, and I shall try to abandon my life with the same self denial which you and your companions have done in devoting yourselves to the country. I embrace you, my dear son, in a special manner, and as my first born, the most beloved of all. Your brothers and sisters will not be jealous of this distinction, for if I do this, it is because I am entrusting them to you, I am giving them to you, in the event of my dying. “My Albert, remember your father with love. First among all, I ask your pardon if I have not shown you quite the example or have not been the exact model I should have been. I cannot tell you how much your thoughts have been alive in me since your departure, and what a suffering it has been to me to know how continually exposed to death you have been. "But listen well, the best years of my life are spent; you, on your part, still have yours ahead of you. I offer, therefore, my life to God, so that He can preserve yours, so that He can bring you back to your mother, and so that you can be near your brothers and sisters. Bring to them all your affection. With the judgment of a man, ripened by present events, and with your natural honesty make a home for them in the spirit, in the choice, and in the conditions of a Christian. Promise me this, my Albert, and I will depart tranquilly. “If, on the other hand, the grace of God preserves my life, it will 296 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY were both from Louvain, and van Bergen had been a parishioner of the valiant priest. Abbé Moons' experience was invaluable to van Bergen in the creation of his service, an or- ganization which functioned for five months at a critical period just before the War Office Service had entered into contact with “The White Lady.” The service was well organized, and would have continued to work for a long time had not van Bergen, anxious to create an espionage section to protect his couriers and “letter-boxes,” enrolled in his organization a German stool-pigeon, a former Belgian policeman. This traitor was admitted to the inner councils of the service with tragic consequences: the arrest of most of van Bergen's agents promptly followed. The trial at Antwerp was marked by patriotic outbursts from several of the prisoners. When Dietz, the Military Prose- cuting Attorney, asked van Bergen at the opening of the trial, why he had returned to Belgium, van Bergen, in a vibrant voice which rang through the court room, replied “Why? Why? For my King and country.” After this he refused to reply to any further questions. Abbé Moons was removed from the court for adopting a similar attitude. Henri van Bergen, and Abbé Moons, together with four of their associates, were condemned to death, and were executed at Antwerp, March 16th, 1918. Van Bergen wrote to his father, an old man, eighty years of age; Abbé Moons addressed himself to his sister, his only surviving relative. was ren "MY VERY DEAR AND BELOVED FATHER, “I do not wish to leave this earth without addressing to you my last thoughts which are all for you. Your courage and resignation are a great comfort. I am happy to sacrifice myself for the noblest of you. You courage and resignation * APPENDIX * APPENDIX 303 that we wish you to pay particular attention. Distinguish carefully between the following: Coaches containing officers Closed wagons transporting soldiers Closed wagons transporting horses Flat trucks with guns Flat trucks with ammunition wagons Flat trucks with carts, and field kitchens If a train is composed solely of wagons transporting soldiers, we know that it is either a leave train, or one conveying drafts to replace losses in some unit at the Front. But if wagons with horses, and fat trucks with guns, ammunition wagons, or carts are present in addi- tion to wagons with soldiers, then we know that the train is trans- porting a constituted unit; that is, it is a complete military unit which is being conveyed from one sector of the Front to the other. If guns and ammunition wagons are present, we know it is a battery of artillery; otherwise, it is either a battalion of infantry, a squad- ron of cavalry, or a sapper company, depending on the relative number of wagons containing soldiers, horses, and carts. In the case of troop trains, if the fastness of the train, or a mist, prevents accurate observation, concentrate on giving a general classi- fication, rather than the exact number of trucks and wagons of cach kind. For example, if in the composition of a train you gave eighteen wagons of soldiers, instead of twenty-four, your information would not lose in value; but if you omitted to mention the presence of guns, we would be led to make a wrong deduction. Instead of a battery of artillery, our expert would report the train as conveying either an infantry battalion, or a squadron of cavalry. (G) Day and night observation is essential. It may be that you will only be able to report day traffic at the commencement; but as soon as possible, you must work up to day and night observation. Number your hours from o to 24. (H) Conclusion. Once a post is mounted, and it has won our confidence, we rely absolutely on the accuracy of its reports. A grave responsibility will, therefore, rest on your shoulders. 304 SECRETS OF THE WHITE LADY (I) Model report. In making your reports, please conform as closely as possible to the following model: Post SERAING (333) July 1, 1917 6.00 18 closed wagons soldiers, direction Namur 6.10 i coach officers, 10 wagons soldiers, 20 wagons horses, 4 guns, 12 ammunition wagons, 4 carts, 1 field kitchen, direction Liège 6.20 28 Alat trucks empty, direction Liège 6.25 10 wagons wood, 20 wagons planks, 10 wagons barbed wire, direction Namur 6.30 35 wagons munitions, direction Namur 6.40 35 Red Cross coaches filled with wounded, direction Liège 6.54 i coach officers, 20 wagons soldiers, 10 wagons horses, 15 carts, 1 field kitchen, direction Namur 7.00 8 coaches civilians, direction Liège 7.10 25 wagons coal, direction Liège 7.25 2 coaches officers, 10 wagons soldiers, 25 wagons horses, 4 auto- mobiles, 10 carts, 2 field kitchens, direction Namur 7.40 25 wagons munitions, direction Namur 7.50 5 wagons soldiers, 20 motor trucks, I coach officers, direction Liège 8.00 30 wagons empty, 10 trucks empty, direction Liège 8.17 10 wagons iron, 6 wagons hay, 4 wagons planks, 10 wagons barbed wire, direction Namur 8.24 35 wagons soldiers, direction Namur 8.30 2 coaches officers, 15 wagons soldiers, 25 wagons horses, 4 guns, 15 ammunition wagons, 6 carts, 2 field kitchens, direction Liège. bachedd (1) Abbreviations. To save space, use the abbreviations employed on the Belgian State Railways before the War: w.f. for closed wagons; v. for coaches; w.pl. for flat trucks; w.h. for high open trucks, etc. Any abbreviations that are perfectly clear, such as off. for officer, are permissible. (K) Identification of units. In most cases it will be impossible APPENDIX 307 that in its raw state it is yellowish in color. In its polished state we are told it is speckled and has the appearance of rosewood. Can you tell us what this wood is, or can you procure us a sample? (F) Haven't the Germans lately received a new aeroplane with four motors? What are the special features of this aeroplane? How many planes has it? What does its tail look like? (G) From what aerodromes are raids made on England? Questionnaire II In order of importance, the following are the three subjects which interest us the most: (A) The most important is the location, and the movements of the different squadrons. In the German aviation there are six types of squadrons: (a) The Bombenstafjel, or bombing squadron. (b) The Riesen Flugzeug Abteilungen, or squadrons of giant aeroplanes. (c) The Jagdstaffeln, or attacking squadrons. (d) The Kampfeinsitzer Staffeln, or squadrons to protect impor- tant points behind the German lines against attack. (e) The Schlacht Staffeln, or defensive pursuit squadrons. (f) The Flieger Abteilungen, or reconnaissance squadrons. In your area we wish to know which aerodromes have been evacuated (hangars removed), which ones have been abandoned (the hangars remain, but are not being used), and which ones are in active use. For those that are in use, we wish to know how many squadrons there are at each field, the type of squadron, its squadron number, the number of aeroplanes, and the type of the aeroplanes. You will find marked in small letters on the aeroplane, the name of the factory, and the type of the machine. For example: Albatros D III. In reporting on the movements of a squadron, you must indicate the number of the squadron, the name and location of the acro drome it has left, and, if possible, the name and location of the acrodrome to which it is moving. INDEX 313 Phillipart, Belgian banker, 53 Sepaix, French agent, 249 Phillipot, Abbé, British agent, 69 Serbian Front, 16 Pinkhoff, Henri, member of the German | Siegburg, prison for women, Germany, Secret Police, Section B, Brussels, 93, 129, 252-264 95-97 Simon, General, British Army of the Rhine, 264 Siquet, British agent shot by the Ger- Ramct, Augustine, French agent, 264 mans, 123, 127-129 Ramet, Madame, French agent, 264 Rammeloo, Léonie, British agent shot by Snoeck, Gustave, British agent, 24, 37 Somers, Louis, French agent shot by the the Germans, 252, 256, 257 Reitinger, Charles, Chief of Section C, Germans, 285, 286 German Secret Police, Brussels, 42, 93 Stévigny, Emile, British agent shot by Renier, member of the French Secret the Germans, 290, 291 Service in Holland, 200 | Stöber, Dr., German Military Prosecut- ing Attorncy, Brussels, 228, 230, 231, Reyman, owner of the Villa des Hiron- 274 delles, 141, 146 Rheinbach, prison, 228 Surlemont, Léon, British agent, 90, 171 Szeszycki, Maryan, German warder at Richter, British agent shot by the Ger. St. Léonard, 107-109, 154, 157, 158, mans, 293 Robert, French aeroplane spy, 248 161, 164 Rosenberg, member of the German Se- cret Police, Namur, 127, 130 Ruge, Frau, Directress, Siegburg Prison, Tilman, British frontier agent, 84, 169- 259 171 Tilmant, British agent, 220, 222, 223, 226 Sacré Coeur Service (sce Biscops Serv. | Tinsley ("T"), Commander, Adminis- ice), 275 trative Head of the British Secret Serv- Sagan, German prison, 258 ice in Holland, 48 Sager, German Military Prosecuting At- Tir National, Brussels, 232 torney, 228 Toelen, Leopold, frontier guide, 84, 85 St. Denis, German flying field, Ghent, Trulin, Léon, British agent shot by the 222 Germans, 208-219 St. Gilles Prison, Brussels, 96, 228 St. Léonard Prison, Liège, 103 et seq. Schatteran, Emilie, British agent shot | Uranium Steamship Company, 48 by the Germans, 252, 256, 257 Scheidt, Madame, refugee intermediary, 39 Schmitz, Lieutenant, member of German Valleye, frontier guide, 246 Secret Police, Section A, Brussels, 98 Valtier, French acroplane spy, 111-115 Schwermer, Licutenant, member of Ger. van Bergen, Henri, British agent shot by man Secret Police, Section A, Brussels, the Germans, 295-297 220, 224-226, 232, 233 van den Berg, British agent, 142, 143, Secret Service, Belgian, 31 et seq. 145 Secret Service, British G.H.Q. (Major van den Snoeck, Félix, French agent Cameron), 14 et seq. shot by the Germans, 281, 282 Secret Service, British G.H.Q. (Major van Houdenhuyse, British agent, 167 Wallinger), 47 et seq. "van Hoven" (see Zilliox), 183 ct seq. Secret Service, British War Office, 48 et Vanhutte, Léonie, British agent, 257, 263 seq. van Ossclaer, British frontier agent, 169- Secret Service, French, 30 et seq. 171 Segers, Belgian Minister of Posts and van Vlanderen, Isidore, British agent Telegraph, 221 shot by the Germans, 256, 257