Secret WW2

Sunday 6th July 2025 - Belgium Remembers. Our annual talk and walk on ‘secret war’ Belgians buried or commemorated in Brookwood Military Cemetery near Woking, Surrey was attended this year by the Assistant Belgian Defence Attaché, WO Sven Berg. Prior to the ceremony in the military cemetery, Sven was accompanied by Louisa Russell and Paul McCue to the civilian cemetery. Over the last 18 months, Secret WW2 have been involved with the Belgian Embassy’s Defence Team in London in arranging the restoration of the grave (see below) of Belgium’s ambassador to the UK during WW2 – Baron Emile-Ernest de Cartier de Marchienne. The Baron died in London in 1946 and lies alongside his wife, American-born Marie Dow, who predeceased him ten years earlier.

18th June 2025 - L’appel The annual ceremony, organised by the Defence Office of the French Embassy in London, marks the BBC appeal of General de Gaulle to France on 18th June 1940, a day that came to mark the beginning of French resistance to occupation. The ceremony took place in Carlton Gardens, London SW1Y 5AA, in front of a statue of the General. This is outside 4 Carlton Gardens, the wartime HQ of the Free French Forces and the offices of the government-in-exile being created by de Gaulle. SECRET WW2, in the person of Chair, Louisa Russell, were one of the wreath layers, commemorating the agents and teams of the BCRA; SIS; the SOE's F, RF, DF, EU/P and AMF sections and Jedburgh teams who served in occupied France. Thanks go to volunteer Meryl Jones for organising a lunch afterwards.

17th June 2025 – quarterly Zoom presentation. Marcus Bloom – cinema manager turned secret agent. Paul McCue re-assessed existing accounts of Bloom, an F Section radio operator for the PRUNUS circuit in and around Toulouse. The presentation attracted a strong audience of 57, including viewers from France, Australia, Israel and the USA.

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Join Colonel (retired) Nick Fox OBE, a veteran of the British Army's Intelligence Corps, as he takes you through the role of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) in the Second World War. Nick will be joined by Bill Steadman, also a former member of the Intelligence Corps. Bill is now the Curator of The Military Intelligence Museum in Bedfordshire, who will be telling the story of SOE Captain Pierre Le Chene MBE L d'h, CdG, with items from his collection.

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