Tag: Nancy Wake

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The Tartan Pimpernel

How many of you have read The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy? Probably not many. It’s the story of the wealthy but foppish Sir Percy Blakeney who leads a double life. He is an accomplished swordsman, master of disguises, escape artist and as the “Scarlet Pimpernel,” Sir Percy rescues French aristocrats from the guillotine blade during the French Revolution’s Reign of Terror.

Today, we are going to focus our attention on a Scottish pastor who led the Paris parish for the Church of Scotland. Rev. Dr. Donald Caskie’s wartime exploits for rescuing downed Allied airmen and leading them to safety through the Pat O’Leary escape line earned him the nickname, “The Tartan Pimpernel.”

I will be the guest speaker for Bonjour Paris on 6 December 2023 for a Zoom presentation to their members and others. The topic will be “Walking History: In the Footsteps of Marie Antoinette” and I will take you on a walk along the exact route in Paris that the queen’s tumbrel took to the guillotine. I invite you to join us for the discussion and slide show.

Bonjour Paris (click here to visit the web-site) is a digital website dedicated to bringing its members current news, travel tips, culture, and historical articles on Paris. I have been a member for more than ten years and have found its content to be quite interesting, practical, and entertaining.

 I will have a direct link to sign up for my presentation at a later date. There is no cost to Bonjour Paris members and €10,00 for non-members. The time of the live presentation on 6 December will be 11:30 AM, east coast time.

Did You Know?

Did you know I could probably write enough blogs on World War II traitors to fill an entire year? Today, I decided to call-out a particular British traitor who was quite dastardly and frankly, a lousy human being. Harold Cole (1906−1946) ⏤ a.k.a. Harry Cole, Paul Cole ⏤ began his criminal career as a teenager. Released from prison shortly after the war began, Cole enlisted in the British army and was stationed in France. Considered handsome with an appealing personality and sharp wits, Cole was never without female company. It didn’t take long before he was caught stealing from the army and jailed. Escaping, Cole was apprehended and thrown into jail once again. As the Germans overran France, Cole was released by the military but rather than returning to England, he remained in France. Read More The Tartan Pimpernel

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The Beautiful Enigma

One of our readers wrote to us about his research on a woman who was a German spy during World War II. Lionel points out that Vera von Schalburg’s story is long and quite complicated. However, it is shrouded in mystery based on circumstantial evidence, assumptions, theories, conflicting information, speculation, and a general lack of factual historical documentation to support her life before, during and especially after the war. The two overriding questions are why did the British release Vera (with no trial) after capturing her along with two other spies and what happened to Vera after the war (i.e., where did she live, did she have a family in the UK, was she given a new identity by MI5, did she return to Germany, when did she die, and where is she buried?).

Sorry Lionel, I hate to disappoint you, but we won’t be able to answer those two questions in this blog. As you pointed out, no one has yet solved those mysteries. While some documents have been declassified, many others are buried in the archives of MI5. Until those classified documents are released, I’m afraid many components of Vera’s story will remain a mystery. I will try and give an overview of Vera’s story and point out some of the inconsistencies (beginning with her date of birth) and unknowns (e.g., marriages and offspring).

Did You Know? 

Did you know that the Titanic was a very small ship? So, you ask, “What do you mean by ‘small’?” Yes, it’s a relative term as we shall see. Today, the world’s largest cruise ship is Royal Caribbean’s (RCCL) “Wonder of the Seas,” and I thought it might be interesting to compare the doomed ocean liner to this modern day RCCL cruise ship. (Some say a city.) I know this comparison is like putting a Ford Model-T next to a Rolls-Royce, but I think all you cruise fanatics, and Titanic students might like to see this.

Visual comparison between Titanic (right) and the Royal Caribbean cruise ship, Wonder of the Seas, an “Oasis”-class ship (left). Photo by anonymous (date unknown).
Visual comparison between Titanic (right) and the Royal Caribbean cruise ship, Wonder of the Seas, an “Oasis”-class ship (left). Photo by anonymous (date unknown).
  TITANIC WONDER OF THE SEAS
Maiden Voyage 1912 2022
Construction Time 4 years 6 years
Construction Cost $ 243 million4 $ 1.35 billion
Length 882 feet 1,188 feet
Width/Beam 92 feet 210 feet (maximum)
Height 9 decks 18 decks
Volume 46,328 g.r.t.1 228,081 g.t.2
Passengers 2,435 6,9883
Crew 892 2300
Lifeboats 20 (1,166) 18 (6,660)
Elevators 4 24
Cheapest Ticket $ 1,0754 $ 423
  1. Gross register tonnage is a historic measure of volume.
  2. Gross tonnage replaced g.r.t. in July 1982.
  3. Maximum number of passengers.
  4. Today’s dollars.

Essentially, the Wonder of the Seas is three-times as large as the Titanic and about five-times heavier. There’s another interesting statistic that I’m not going to tell you. You’ll have to do some basic arithmetic, but I will give you a clue. This statistic seems to be shared by both ships.

Statistical comparison of the Titanic to a modern cruise ship (Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Seas). Illustration by Visual Capitalist (date unknown).
Statistical comparison of the Titanic to a modern cruise ship (Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Seas). Illustration by Visual Capitalist (date unknown).

Vera Von Schalburg 

Vera von Schalburg (1907?−unknown) was born in Siberia, Russia to August Theodor Schalburg, a Dane and Jelena (Helene) von Siemanovska, a Polish-Ukrainian citizen. (Vera’s birthdate has been quoted as either November 1907 or December 1912). She had two other siblings of whom, Christian Frederik, would become a well-known Danish traitor during World War II (more on that later). Read More The Beautiful Enigma