TV Gold

I first watched Secret Army as a 10 year old schoolboy in 1977 and enjoyed it so much that now, almost 30 years later, I have just completed watching all 3 series on DVD over a 2 week period! Well done to everyone who was involved in bringing this wonderful series back to our screens in DVD format.

Now, more mature, I would like to learn more about the real Lifeline's of Begium and the rest of Europe during World War 2. Are there any books that members would recommend reading, internet sites worth visiting or television documentry series worth watching about the subject?

Cheers Phil

<!--QuoteBegin-phildouglas+Sep 8 2005, 10:30 AM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(phildouglas @ Sep 8 2005, 10:30 AM)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteEBegin-->I first watched Secret Army as a 10 year old schoolboy in 1977 and enjoyed it so much that now, almost 30 years later, I have just completed watching all 3 series on DVD over a 2 week period! Well done to everyone who was involved in bringing this wonderful series back to our screens in DVD format.

Now, more mature, I would like to learn more about the real Lifeline's of Begium and the rest of Europe during World War 2. Are there any books that members would recommend reading, internet sites worth visiting or television documentry series worth watching about the subject?

Cheers Phil
[right][snapback]720[/snapback][/right]
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->



Great Idea Phil
Please share anything you find

Google it

Many fascinating links on this google result page

<a href='http://www.google.ie/search?hl=en&q=evasion+lines+belgium&meta=' target='_blank'>http://www.google.ie/search?hl=en&q=evasio...s+belgium&meta=</a>

Just starting to look at them but I think you will find much worth reading there

Niall

I'd strongly recommend Blue Skies and Dark Nights by series advisor Bill Randle (ISBN: 1872836402) and Airey Neave's Saturday at M.I.9. (ISBN: 1844150380). Both have a great deal of 'real' Lifeline content. I used them while writing the DVD booklets.

best,

Andy

I am a Belgian myself and have a number of books concerning Belgian Resistance during the last World War, most however have the entire spectrum of the Resistance as theme, there are very few books around with just the evasion lines as main theme, and fewer still in English,
but here are a few,

The Comet Connection - Escape from Hitler's Europe 1990, by George Wyatt / the University of Kentucky, Lexington Kentucky
George Wyatt was a B 17 crewman who evaded capture via the Comete Evasion Line 1943 - 1944
Escape and Evasion (Pow breakouts in World War Two) 1997, by Ian Dear, Cassell Military Paperbacks, Wellington House, 125 Strand, London WC2R 0BB

I have a number of others, some specific Evasion Lines but these are Belgian (Dutch Language) books, If anyone is interested, I can always give you the titles and/or other info

Ron Muny

I thought it was about time I updated this entry.

Since writing here some years ago, I've done a fare-bit of research, met real-life ‘Helpers’, joined the Escape Line Memorial Society (ELMS) and made numerous journeys overseas.

Having first found and bought a copy of ‘Little Cyclone’ by Airey Neave (now out of print, but available through Amazon, Ebay etc) which tells the story of Andree de Jongh and her friends who built the most successful evasion line of them all; Comète, and which I highly recommend to anyone interested in WWII Escape Lines, I made my first journey to Brussels and visited some of the locations mentioned in this book.

My second trip across happened to fall on Remembrance Weekend 2005. At the Basilica Koekelberg in Brussels I discovered there was an RAF chapel, which has a book of remembrance that names all Allied aircrew who lost their lives on Belgian territory and a stained glass window donated by Comète under which there is a plaque that’s dedicated to all the Escape Line Helpers who lost their lives or suffered as a result of their resistance to Nazi occupation.

A great help in my researching of Comète and other Escape Lines was joining the Escape Line Memorial Society (ELMS) at the beginning of 2006. The information contained on their web site (http://www.escapelines.com/) was very informative, but the opportunity of meeting and talking with real Escape Line members (Helpers) was priceless.

The annual reunion of ELMS occurs on the last weekend of April with a memorial service at Eden Camp, near Malton, North Yorkshire. Eden Camp (http://www.edencamp.co.uk/) is a former WWII prisoner of war camp which now houses a museum. Each of the camp huts contains a part of the story of the war and in Hut 9 there’s a very informative Escape Line display. Everyone is welcome to attend the ELMS memorial service (11:00 Saturday 25/04/09) which takes place in-front of the Helper Memorial. If you like Secret Army, the chance to pay your respects, take part and meet some of the Helpers and Allied Aircrew that inspired the Secret Army story-lines, is one that I can highly recommend. (If you can make it, and you’d like to meet-up, ask for Phil Douglas.)

Since joining ELMS, I’ve had the privilege of meeting, talking and becoming friends with many of the Helpers including the late Andree de Jongh (Dedee) and who was the inspiration for Lisa in Secret Army, and Andree Dumont (Nadine) who was a helper and guide between Brussels and Paris. When I met these people and listened to their stories it became apparent how many of the story-lines in Secret Army were inspired by real-life events, but also how stories had to be softened for ‘family viewing’. I have also made many good friends who share the same interest and in many cases have/had relatives who were involved in Escape Lines or were helped by them, although this isn’t necessary (I became a member through being interested and watching Secret Army!)

With these friends and other members of ELMS, I’ve also followed one of the routes used by Comète Guides and Allied Aircrews from Brussels to St Jean de Luz on the French/Spanish boarder. This journey was made by train, after which we made a memorial walk over the Pyrenees into Spain. To see some of the safe-houses used in Brussels and at various places along the route south is now one of the highlights of my year.

I know Secret Army is only a TV series (wonderful that it is!) and that you may think that I’ve taken things a little bit far, but the whole Escape Line subject now fascinates me. The strength and determination of regular Belgians, French, Dutch and many others (including some Germans) who believed in their countries freedom and the Allied cause never fails to amaze me. When you think that they weren’t just risking their own lives and liberty, but that of their families and friends who usually knew nothing off their activities, it takes a strong will to achieve what they did, and many of them suffered in the German concentration camp system or lost their lives in the cause of freedom.

If there is anyone who like me, wants to learn more here are a couple of websites worth looking at:

http://www.escapelines.com/ ELMS homepage
http://www.belgiumww2.info/ John Clinch’s personal web site
http://www.cometline.org/ Comète Kinship homepage

I, along with others have made an extensive study of the buildings and locations used by Comète during WWII. If you are making a trip to Brussels and plan to visit Secret Army filming locations, you may wish to take some time to visit these locations. A map along with a compressed history of Comète will be posted soon, and when it does I’ll post a link here too.

I hope this article is of interest to some of you. It's strange to think that a TV programme I watched at aged 10 years is still having an influence on me aged 42! The strength of a great story and acting. Why no-one has made a documentary about the Escape Lines story of a full length feature film based on the book ‘Little Cyclone’, I’ll never know.

Phil Douglas

Lovely post Phil. I only vaguely remember SA as a child, and had no interest in it whatsoever. Even at school I found the whole subject or war boring. Now, as an adult I am fascinated by it, and have visited many museums in the UK, and one in Crete. Eden Camp is a great place, although I didn't know they had a service each year to commemorate the work of the resistance groups. I also plan to venture further afield and explore the museums dedicated to WWII. Thanks also for the web links, further research coming up methinks! Cheers, Rebecca

Fascinating post, Phil. I, too, am a member of ELMS, but have only recently joined and was very upset that I couldn't make it to the recent weekend in York.
I am working on a documentary about airman John Evans who evaded capture with the help of the Comet Line. Nadine is one of the people I am interviewing.
As well as people linked to the Comet Line, I am also interviewing a Luftwaffe night-fighter ace, one of the guys who put so many RAF airmen into the hands of Dedee, Nadine, etc.
Greg