Secret WW2

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Belgium Remembers - 7 July 2024 The first of two ceremonies relating to Belgium saw Belgian Defence Attaché, Colonel Bruno Plaetsier, attend the SECRET WW2 annual remembrance ceremony at Brookwood Military Cemetery in Surrey. This year, the Network's hosts were Colonel (ret'd) Nick Fox OBE (one of our Trustees) and volunteer Eddie Jones. Nick addressed the gathering on the life and death of Belgian-born Lt Henri Gaillot, nicknamed "Grandpère" because of his age, who was caught while serving F (French) Section of SOE in occupied France. He was executed at Buchenwald concentration camp in 1944 and he is listed on Brookwood's Memorial to the Missing 1939-45. Wreaths were placed by Colonel Plaetsier on behalf of the Belgian Embassy in London; by Rudy Peleman on behalf of the Fraternelle des Parachutistes, abd Nick Fox on behalf of SECRET WW2. Colonel Plaetsier continued on to the Belgian burial plot and then the monthly ceremony of the Brookwood Last Post Association. Photos courtesy of our volunteer Mile Hillman.

And now with some more prominence to the video......

Photographs from the recent 8-strong trip by members to the 80th anniversary commemorations in central France of Operation BULBASKET by B Sqn, 1st SAS Regt. Plus a video produced by our friends at https://soeexpeditions.com/home

From our friends at Libre Resistance comes this video of Noreen Riols, late of SOE at Baker Street and Beaulieu, at the recent 80th anniversary ceremonies.

Multiple commemorative events took place in France during the Bastille Day weekend to mark the 80th anniversary of Operation Cadillac. On July 14th 1944, many hundreds of maquisards had been waiting to receive arms, explosives and other supplies at seven dropping grounds across France. More than 300 B-17 Flying Fortresses of the American 8th Air Force flew from Britain to drop almost 4,000 containers, protected by more than 500 Thunderbolt and Mustang fighters fitted with long-range fuel tanks. This was the second, and largest, of four massive daylight supply drops during the summer of 1944 - the other operations were code-named Zebra, Buick and Grassy. Communications and the landing ground arrangements were handled by SOE F Section organisers, or RF and Inter-Allied personnel. All these air operations were undertaken by American bomber squadrons; and for its air crews to be flying so low for the dropping of containers by parachute was a significant change from what, by then, had become their relentless large-scale bombing of targets in occupied Europe and Germany itself. Operation Cadillac has frequently been commemorated by local community groups and associations near the various drop zones; but to appreciate how seriously its 80th anniversary was taken, it’s well worth checking out this selection of images and also the web links in the comments below - and these represent only a few of the commemorations which took place on July 13th & 14th, 2024. For anyone interested in the full details - all four of these daylight drops are the subject of Jean-Louis Perquin's latest (and superbly illustrated) book "Les parachutages de jour par la 8th Air Force - L'armement de la Résistance” which is currently only available in French - there's a link in the Comments below. NB: Not all SOE enthusiasts may be aware that during Operation Zebra, on June 25th 1944, one B-17 had carried an SAS intelligence officer as an observer. This was Michael Foot, who later became the first official SOE historian and better known as Prof MRD Foot - although he mistakenly referred to Operation Zebra as 'Cadillac' in at least three books. He reported having caught glimpses down below on the dropping ground of the F Section 'Scholar' network organiser, Gonzague de Saint-Geniès, and also his wireless operator Yvonne Baseden. Within days of the Zebra parachutage, Saint-Geniès was dead and Yvonne had been captured. Many years later, she would also misstate in interviews that she'd been present on the ground during 'Operation Cadillac' - perhaps as a result of the error in Foot's books. (Images courtesy of NARA, SHD, The National Archives, La Montagne, Baptiste Champ, Base de loisirs aériens des Chansèves, and the other local event organisers) https://www.facebook.com/share/p/PnGBuxF5e4u4Rr3f/