Evasion lines in
Europe during World War 2 were constantly at risk from infiltration by the enemy posing as resistance fighters or Allied airmen. The airman featured in my book was told after his identity had been confirmed by radio transmission from that he would have been taken outside and shot if details had not been substantiated. London
In 1943, Comete evader Sergeant George Duffee 78 Squadron RAF was interrogated by the local Dutch resistance at gunpoint. ‘They asked me the sorts of questions that I couldn’t answer – like what’s the latest show in
London…I didn’t know, I was based in Yorkshire. ID tags? I left them at home…you can’t believe it now, but they did just actually take people outside and shoot them. So they took a vote. I won by one vote’ (the vote belonged to a Dutch school teacher he met after 5 days alone on the run) ‘He said lets give him a chance.’
The most dangerous and ruthless organisation was the Geheim Staat Polizei or Gestapo. Along with the Abwehr (former German army intelligence organisation) who adopted more humane interrogation practices, they battled constantly to break the escape lines.
As the war developed, both sides learned from their mistakes. The Germans used any means possible to try and infiltrate the lines or obtain intelligence. They also increased controls at border points, established Atlantic zone lines and restrictions in other key areas. An identity card and Ausweiss (work permit) were essential for personnel and specific travel documents were compulsory for certain areas. To counter this, the escape organisations looked for ways and diversions around these difficulties, forging papers and recruiting volunteers ‘on the inside’ in the gendarme and customs services to help them. It became a separate ‘war within a war’ with high stakes. One arrest could lead to a domino effect where information was surrendered under interrogation, more arrests were then made revealing further information and a major collapse of the line was under way.
Often the enemy would penetrate evasion lines with agents posing as airmen and using documents taken from captured aircrew. These infiltrators would usually be German, excellent English speakers with a background of living in
Britain or for a sustained period. This tactic resulted in escape organisations tightening their questioning to include more detailed personal information which would often be verified by radio transmission and also slang and specifics that only a genuine Allied airman would know. America
More difficult to detect were traitors from the Allied occupied countries, or even
Great Britain and . It is difficult to step back and view these individual’s actions without feeling revulsion and contempt as they were often motivated by money, although some did it under the loose umbrella of politics, others for extra food rations, or to be freed from prison sentences still being served when occupation began. A few were nobodies who craved for fame and attention, and some had been discovered working against the Nazis and were turned by the Gestapo with various levers being applied including threats and actions against family. USA
The most successful infiltrators all had the same strengths, a good memory, an ability to act a part, to lie with conviction and think on their feet. Arguably the most notorious traitor operating largely in
was Prosper Dezitter. Born in Paschendale, he fled to Belgium in May 1913 at age 19 after being convicted for rape and sentenced to three years imprisonment. He married an English girl in Canada Winnipeg but returned to at the end of 1926. More prison sentences followed for marriage fraud and embezzlement and it is possible that once Belgium was occupied by the Nazis in May 1940 he was released from prison by the Nazis and began working for them. Belgium
From the beginning he operated with his mistress Florie Dings and managed to infiltrate groups who were helping Allied soldiers and airmen. Dezitter would pass on information to the enemy leading to evaders and escape line personnel being arrested, only to show up again in another location using another alias or disguise.
Initially he posed as an English or Canadian airman ‘Jack Kilanine’ or ‘Jack the Canadian’, William Herbert Call (a Londoner), or ‘Williams.’ A number of evaders were warned about him by the resistance including the airman in my book. Dezitter may have been a master of aliases and bluff but he had one clear identifying feature, the top part of the little finger on his right hand was missing. He tried to mask this on occasions by wearing gloves.
In July and August 1943 Dezitter was running a "safe" house (an apartment at Avenue Slegers) and fake escape line in
. He had established connections with resistance/escape organizations in Brussels Holland and also other parts of Belgium outside of . Once he learned of an evader in hiding Florie Dings and an accomplice would drive out of Brussels to collect the airmen or they would meet them at Brussels Gare Midi station in a large black car. The evaders would then be driven to the ‘safe’ house. Dezitter often operated this deception under the name of ‘The Captain’ or ‘Captain Jackson’, with Dings introducing herself as ‘The Captain’s Secretary.’ Brussels
Evaders were later taken to Gare du Midi and travelled to
where they were arrested by the Gestapo as they left the station. Later the operation was moved to another apartment house but the sequence of events remained the same and numerous airmen were led into Gestapo traps in Paris Brussels and . Dezitter also operated in the Paris area in 1943 as ‘Captain Willy.’ Ghent
He had become such a problem to the Allies, that his description appeared in Belgian underground newspapers and in the summer of 1943 he was one of the top names on an assassination list drawn up by SOE Belgian Section’s Hardy Amies (the well known fashion designer.) Codenamed operation Rat Week the plan was to use agents to eliminate selected traitors with Welrod silenced pistols. The exiled Belgian government in
would not agree to it on grounds that any execution without trial was unacceptable and that if Dezitter was that bad, their own resistance would deal with him. The campaign was aborted allowing the deceptions to continue. Either the Belgian government had totally underestimated him or there was a more significant underlying reason. London
His time in the English speaking world gave Dezitter a good grasp of the language and as a native of
he was ideally placed. Constantly fooling the escape lines, resistance and evaders, he could disappear then resurface in another area to wreak havoc again. Many of the airmen would be easy prey; they were just young men desperate to get home where the opportunity of an organised journey to freedom was their only chance. Others were suspicious, but still went along with the plan. Belgium
Over 70 RAF aircrew along with numerous USAAF flyers were led into Gestapo traps from the safe houses in
. These figures exclude those evading aircrew from other areas of Brussels , British soldiers left in occupied territories after the fall of the Low Countries/France in 1940, plus the Belgian helpers and agents etc he betrayed. The total traced back to Dezitter’s handiwork runs into hundreds. Belgium
After the war ended, Dezitter and Dings were arrested in
Wurzburg Germany whilst being hidden by a German resistance movement and were brought back to . They were tried and found guilty. Dezitter was executed by firing squad on the 17th September 1948. Brussels
More next week on the traitors and the author’s views.
Factual Sources: Downed Allied Airmen and Evasion of Capture: The Role Herman Bodson
For a more detailed account of Prosper Dezitter a visit to http://home.clara.net/clinchy/neeb2a1.htm by John Clinch is highly recommended.
© Keith Morley