Five years ago, I wrote a short blog entitled, The Last Train Out of Paris. I never heard from anyone about that blog until 19 June 2020 when Pat V. e-mailed me about her father, Squadron Leader (ret.) Stanley Booker, MBE. While my blog never mentioned any Allied airmen, it seems Stanley enjoyed reading it ⏤ he was one of 168 captured airmen on that last train out of Paris on 15 August 1944.
Flying Officer Stanley Booker. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). Courtesy of Stanley Booker.La Gare de Pantin. Original photo by anonymous. Photo scan by Poudou99 (postcard date prior to 1923). PD-Copyright Expired. Wikimedia Commons.Deportees inside cattle car. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). Courtesy of Stanley Booker.
This has led to a lot of discussions over the past several months with Pat about her father’s war experiences. They live in the UK and Stanley is ninety-eight years young. The reason the story about these men didn’t make it into the original blog was, frankly, I didn’t know about it ⏤ well, now I do. One of Pat’s questions in her original e-mail was whether I knew about Jacques Désoubrie and who his German superior might have been. Her last words in the e-mail were “Can you help please?” I couldn’t resist and quickly entered yet another rabbit hole. Once I came up for air, I had Désoubrie’s story, an idea who he reported to, and I knew I had to repost the 2015 blog albeit in an expanded manner with an abbreviated story about Stanley’s experiences. Stanley wrote a privately published version of his wartime escapades and Pat is completing the book as well as expanding on his post-war exploits ⏤ Stanley’s interesting life didn’t just end with his eventual retirement from the Royal Air Force.
Stanley Booker (left) and Paul McCue (right). Paul, historian and author of “SAS Operation Bulbasket,” is visiting Stanley in his home. Photo by Carol Brown (August 2020). Courtesy of Paul McCue.
What is the “Fifth Column”? It is a term that originated during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) to describe a group of people who undermine ⏤ from within ⏤ another larger group. Fifth Column activities can be visible to all or covert and clandestine in nature and typically result in sabotage, disinformation, and espionage. In Britain, its Fifth Column problem, in the form of the British Union of Fascists, was well-known to Churchill and others. However, below the surface, ordinary British citizens were willing to sell out their country to Hitler and the Nazis. They shared a common admiration for Hitler and his anti-Semitic philosophy and thought Britain would be better off under German rule.
Eric Arthur Roberts. Photo by anonymous (anonymous). PD-Fair Use. Wikimedia Commons.
It wouldn’t be until an unassuming low-level London bank clerk took a leave of absence and resurfaced as a Gestapo agent that the intelligence agencies became fully aware of the magnitude of the underground Fifth Column trying to pass secret military intelligence to the Nazis.
Did You Know?
Did you know that John F. Kennedy was not the only United States president to have been saved at sea during World War II? After turning eighteen, George H.W. Bush enlisted in U.S. Navy and served as a pilot of a Grumman Avenger Torpedo aircraft. Two years later, Lt. Bush flew one of his fifty-eight missions alongside three other Avenger bombers. Each plane carried three aviators. Their mission was to bomb the radio station located on the small island of Chichijima.
Despite the intense flak and anti-aircraft fire, Lt. Bush and the other planes managed to take out the radio station. His plane was hit and falling at a speed of one hundred ninety miles per hour when Lt. Bush bailed out hitting his head on the plane’s tail. He ended up in the water and was able to inflate a small raft which he floated in for four hours before the USS Finback, a submarine, picked him up. This was the second time Lt. Bush had to be plucked out of the water during a mission.
Lt. Bush in the cockpit of the “Barbara III.” Photo by anonymous (date unknown).
Unfortunately, the two airmen flying in his plane did not survive. The other planes went down and seven airmen were captured by the Japanese. They were tortured, beheaded, and their livers were cut out for their captors to eat.
Lt. George H.W. Bush was the only survivor of the mission. He would be awarded the Navy’s Distinguished Flying Cross for this mission in addition to three Air Medals, and the Presidential Unit Citation for his service during World War II.
Watch Lt. Bush being rescued at sea by the USS Finback. Click here.
British Military Intelligence
There are two primary intelligence departments in Britain: Security Service or MI5 (Military Intelligence Section 5) and Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) or MI6. While MI6 is responsible for foreign intelligence, it is MI5 that provides domestic counterintelligence. It is similar to the American intelligence structure of the CIA (foreign) and FBI (domestic).
MI5 was founded in 1909 and is under the authority of the Home Secretary within the cabinet of the prime minister. It had its troubles during the inter-war period (between the two world wars) due to weak leadership. However, its greatest accomplishments during World War II were Operation Double-Cross (click here to read the blog The Double Cross System) and Operation Fifth Column. Both of these initiatives were headed by MI5 spymaster Maxwell Knight.
Maxwell Knight (1900-1968) is generally considered to have been Ian Fleming’s model for the character of “M” in the James Bond series. In the mid-1920s, Knight was working undercover for MI5 by infiltrating early British fascist groups as well as communist cells in England. Knight became MI5’s director of intelligence and eventually head of Section B5(b) which was responsible for infiltrating agents into subversive organizations. Read More Agent Jack, “M” and the Fifth Column
Lavishly illustrated, gripping guide to the Paris that existed under Nazi rule.
This is a fantastic new book that provides extensive information for both those planning a trip and for armchair historians. While there are are walks that take you past famous places made infamous by Nazi rule, there is also a lot of detailed information. Stew Ross provides details about many topics that are not necessarily popular, including anti-semitism and collaboration. Photos add poignancy. Paris is haunted by its past, and these pages show you exactly why. The days of the Occupation and the Resistance are not that distant.
Jane Gabin, Amazon customer
“Informative and entertaining, Stew Ross’ newest work evokes a difficult and frightening time in the history of the City of Light. The detailed descriptions of sites such as the Vél’ d’hiv’ or Gestapo headquarters reminds us of the choices people made during those years.”
Cynthia Bisson, PhD, Professor of History, Belmont University, French Resistant Expert
