Free The Secret Ministry of Ag. & Fish by Noreen Riols Page B

cooperative. Over a drink she would slip in the news that the first message had been broadcast. And when the local
résistants dropped in on their way home from work for their
coup de rouge,
the barman would pass on the message. The courier would then cycle to the outskirts of the town or
village, often with the message hidden in the rubber band on the handlebars of her bicycle, and leave it in a prearranged ‘dead letter box’, which could be under a certain stone or
hidden in a wall behind a loose brick for résistants living or working outside the town to collect. But on the night when the drop was to take place, there would be a subtle change in the
message: a colour would be introduced. For example, ‘The goat next door has eaten grandpa’s vest’, or ‘There’s a cow asleep on the duchess’s sofa’ would
become ‘The goat next door has eaten grandpa’s blue vest’ or ‘There’s a brown cow asleep on the duchess’s sofa’. No wonder the Germans were puzzled. Then
the courier would send out the warnings. The résistants would gather for the rendezvous before nightfall in an isolated building or farmhouse outside the village or town: not all leaving
together, and taking different routes, in order not to alert the Germans as to what was going on.
    When it was dark, after the curfew, taking lorries, farm carts, bicycles, anything with which to transport the material to be dropped, they would head for the landing site, where, hiding in the
shelter of the surrounding trees and bushes, they would wait for the sound of the approaching plane’s engine. Sometimes they waited all night in vain because the plane had been shot down en
route. But more than half the planes managed to get through the German flak and ward off the fighter planes sent up to intercept them. They would usually arrive at around one o’clock in the
morning, depending on the season and the distance they had to cover. Since the pilot flew without lights, and as soon as he crossed the Channel was subject to enemy gunfire, he could not take off
before dark.
    Once he heard the drone of the approaching aircraft, the organizer would leave the shelter of the trees and flash a prearranged signal with his torch pointing upwards. The code was always a
letter of the alphabet which changed every night and was known only to the pilot and the organizer. The pilot would reply giving the same signal, then make a U-turn, while two résistants
would leave the shelter of the trees to join the organizer. The three of them would form an L with their torches flashing to indicate a corridor into which the pilot, now returning after his
U-turn, would drop his cargo. The planes used for these drops were massive Whitleys, Halifaxes or Hudsons, with a pilot and co-pilot, an observer, a navigator and one or two rear gunners. There
must have been a crew of seven or eight.
    At the plane’s approach, should the person on the ground give the wrong signal – flashing ‘P’ or ‘H’, or any other letter of the alphabet instead of the
prearranged letter for that night – the pilot would turn around and fly home immediately. He didn’t hesitate. If it was a trap, he and his crew, as well as his precious cargo, would
have fallen into German hands. It was in the organizer’s interest to get the letter right!
    Ideally, the
messages personnels
announcing these drops were broadcast for three nights in succession, five if possible, in order to give the
chef de réseau
time to
organize his reception committee and be at the chosen landing ground, waiting to receive the drop. Not all the résistants lived in the mountains and forests. That was only the
maquis,
which was composed for the most part of former soldiers or Army officers who were disillusioned by France’s capitulation and wanted to continue the fight against the invader.
There were also young men who had taken refuge with a
maquis
group in order to escape being sent to Germany as forced labour.