All the King's Men (31 page)

Wing Commander Hugh Verity, who had been posted to SOE as Air Operations Manager, was informed by Buckmaster of these reports from MI6 and the decision to bring Déricourt out. Verity just couldn’t believe it, ‘I thought of Henri as my friend.’
⁹
F Section’s operations officer Gerry Morel was brought into the conversation and was equally incredulous, but offered to go to France himself to bring Déricourt back.

A proposal for Operation KNACKER was submitted to the Air Ministry as an attempt ‘…to remove Déricourt from one of his own fields, at the point of a gun if necessary’. The Air Ministry told them to forget it. They would
never countenance sending one of their aircraft on a mission where there was the distinct possibility of a shoot-out – and to kidnap someone who had an honorary commission in the RAF and had been recommended for the DSO! It took a good deal of reasoning from Air Intelligence before the operation was accepted and KNACKER was finally scheduled for the night of 4/5 February.

Déricourt already knew that he was coming out, he just didn’t know when. Jeannot was down in the Midi with a deposit to put on the plot of land. He daily waited for a signal that would tell him when to move. When it came, it took him completely by surprise. Baker Street had told Déricourt KNACKER would be a Hudson operation, with ten incoming passengers. On the evening of 4 February, Déricourt had nine outgoing passengers making their way down to the field at Angers.

When the Hudson came to a halt by the leading light, the door was flung open and out jumped Gerry Morel, dressed in full RAF uniform and a brand new peaked cap. Déricourt and Clément could barely believe their eyes; there he stood insignia and pips gleaming in the moonlight. This was to be a formal affair. Morel braced himself, but before he could utter a word, the Hudson’s slipstream tore his new cap off and sent it cartwheeling across the field. That was the end of the ceremonial aspects of the operation. Clément dashed off after the cap, which couldn’t be left in a French field, while Morel explained to Déricourt that he’d been ordered to return to London tonight.

‘Why tonight?’

‘Buckmaster wants to give you a medal.’

It couldn’t have become more ridiculous. Déricourt, doing his very best to keep a straight face, informed Morel that immediate departure was completely out of the question. Now Morel was unbelieving.

‘Why ever not?’

Déricourt simply repeated that it wasn’t possible.
Morel insisted. By this time Clément had returned with the cap and had caught the gist of the conversation. He began dancing around the two of them, waving his arms about and yelling at the top of his voice, ‘Don’t go. Don’t take him away and leave me here on my own!’ It had become farce. Morel, though armed with a pistol, was not really used to this sort of business and dreaded having to actually use the weapon. Déricourt, on the other hand, was all calm and good reason. He explained that Baker Street had told him to expect ten incoming passengers for which there were now ten redundant bicycles hidden in some bushes about 200 metres away that had to be disposed of. ‘Clément couldn’t do that on his own.’ Rémy had ceased his dance and was now nodding his head vigorously.

Déricourt told Morel that if they came for him in five days’ time, he would be waiting to be collected. To Morel, this seemed a solution preferable to the pistol and so, a little disappointed with himself, he climbed into the aircraft with the homeward-bound passengers. As if to mollify him, Déricourt climbed on board too, just to re-confirm the details. With Déricourt in the aircraft, Morel seriously considered taking out his pistol and ending the argument right there, but Déricourt was fully in command of the situation. ‘Five days!’ he said then leapt out, closed the door and left Morel to ponder on how he would write up his report.
¹⁰

On the train back to Paris, empty but for some rather under-occupied SD men, Déricourt mentioned the bit about the medal. Clément nodded. He had heard about it in October, ‘A DSO.’

‘A DSO? Is that very good?’

‘Oh yes. In London they think very well of you. You are the best.’

First things first. He telephoned and organized an emergency meeting with Boemelburg who was fortunately up on a visit from Vichy. Next he telephoned Jeannot and told her to return to Paris as quickly as possible.

At about eight o’clock on 5 February, Karl Braun pulled up by the kerb and Déricourt got into the black Citroën. Twenty minutes later the car crunched its way up the drive of the château in Neuilly and round to the side door. Boemelburg stood there to welcome him.

Dr Götz arrived a little later, was met at the front door and ushered into the hall. It was his first visit to the château. Off to the left was a large living room and a fire in the grate. In one of the armchairs sat GILBERT with a drink in his hand and an expression of calm familiarity. When everyone was comfortable Déricourt explained again for Götz’s benefit that he’d been recalled. Boemelburg was very distressed. He was absolutely certain Déricourt would be arrested. Frager had betrayed him, London was suspicious. ‘This was all Bleicher’s work.’

Déricourt disagreed. He was not suspected, it was just a new assignment and he offered to continue to work for Boemelburg from London. The idea had some appeal and Déricourt played on it, reassuring Boemelburg as he went. What Déricourt was searching for was a guarantee that Clément, JuJu and André Watt would not be harassed while he was away. When they said goodnight at the side door, Déricourt shaking Boemelburg’s hand for the second last time, he had his guarantees. Dr Götz arranged to meet with him again as soon as he knew the details of his departure.
¹¹

Two days later, Dr Götz received a telephone call asking him to meet Déricourt at the apartment. Götz, a little nervous about facing this last rendezvous on his own, asked Ernst Vogt, one of Kieffer’s interpreters, to come with him. They let themselves in first and then waited for GILBERT’s knock. When Déricourt arrived he confirmed that he was leaving for London in a day or two – he kept it vague. To satisfy everyone he offered to arrange a BBC message, a code which would signal that he was in London and safe. They agreed on ‘The Green lantern is still lit’ – and then Déricourt left.
¹²
On 8 February, he was collected
again by Karl Braun and taken for a drive in the Bois de Boulogne. Sitting in the back of the car with Déricourt was Boemelburg, who handed him an envelope full of cash.
¹³

Déricourt left the cash, two million francs, with Charles Besnard along with instructions to complete the purchase of the property down in the Midi. He hugged JuJu, shook hands with Charles and said his farewells to demi-Watt. Then he and Jeannot, clutching what they could carry in two suitcases, boarded the train for Tours. Jeannot was very unhappy about going to London, ‘there is bombing in London, it’s not safe’.
¹⁴
Dressed in her best fur, she and Déricourt tried to stay calm as they sat and drank coffee with Clément in a little café near the field.

Suddenly Déricourt’s nerve went, he was bathed in sweat and clearly tortured with anxiety. Clément had never seen him like that before; he found it quite infectious. Although Déricourt trusted his controller, he could not be completely certain what to expect in London. Clément didn’t ask, but had assumed that because Jeannot was going, there was trouble. The parting was particularly painful.
¹⁵
All depended on Boemelburg’s word.

At Tangmere, the escorting officers were a little surprised to see a woman with Déricourt. He introduced his wife to them and explained that ‘She is here to do some shopping and then later, we will parachute back together!’ Thankfully Jeannot had not understood a word of the conversation.
¹⁶

Jeannot was dropped at The Savoy, while Déricourt was driven to Orchard Court, a block of flats where SOE had an apartment used for briefing and de-briefing their agents. Colonel Buckmaster, Wing Commander Verity and Déricourt sat in a little semi-circle in comfortable armchairs. It was a setting not dissimilar from the one he had just left in Neuilly. They chatted about nothing for a few minutes and then Buckmaster finally confronted Déricourt with the accusation that he’d been working with the Germans. Déricourt didn’t bat an eye. With an absolutely
dead-pan expression he explained, ‘In order to do my work for you efficiently, I have to be on good terms with the German authorities in Paris. As a matter of fact, I sell them black-market oranges.’
¹⁷

It was a stunning performance and went some way towards easing the tension. However, Buckmaster made it clear that the security people were very suspicious and were conducting a special enquiry. Verity left Orchard Court utterly convinced ‘he was no double agent’. In fact he was so saddened by the way Henri had been treated that he arranged to treat Déricourt and his wife to a dinner dance that evening at The Savoy.

Déricourt and Buckmaster were driven directly to the Northumberland Hotel where the enquiry was being held, away from the corridors of Baker Street. It had been decided not to treat this as an ordinary security case but to entrust it to officers of the highest rank. A suspicion had crept into the minds of those familiar with the case, a suspicion that they might not be dealing with just an ordinary ‘double’. Air Commodore Archie Boyle, the head of SOE’s security and intelligence section, was accredited with being in charge of the enquiry, but in fact he was not involved with it at all. The proceedings were handled entirely by Gubbins’ deputy, Harry Sporborg.

As it had been a series of MI6 reports that had actually provoked the decision to recall Déricourt, Sporborg had sent a message to Dansey alerting him to the fact that they were about to interrogate Déricourt and might require MI6’s assistance. Sporborg was advised before the enquiry began to restrict himself just to Frager’s report and that the MI6 material was, for security purposes, completely inadmissible. Surprised and somewhat hamstrung, Sporborg went through all the reports they had ever received, starting from the very beginning and ending with Frager’s. Déricourt dealt with each one convincingly but left Sporborg certain they were not going to get anywhere near the truth through him.

Déricourt made a good impression during his interviews – but insisted on restricting his replies to the narrowest possible interpretation of the question. He gave nothing more than was asked of him.
¹⁸

Buckmaster sat in on the first day, presenting his opinion of Déricourt’s remarkable record (thanks to the SD): 17 successful operations involving 21 aircraft, which had brought in 43 people and taken out
67
. Buckmaster stressed again and again that throughout Déricourt’s mission, no casualties had occurred. Sporborg noted:

The fact that casualties do not appear to have occurred does not necessarily disprove his treachery, as the Germans might be waiting till nearer D-Day before they pounced.

Sporborg concluded:

…but if, in fact, he has been working for the enemy (as has been alleged), then he is a high grade and extremely skilful agent and no amount of interrogation will shake him.
¹⁹

That night at The Savoy, Hugh Verity and his wife tried to raise Déricourt’s spirits. Jeannot looked ‘rather brassy’ in her fur coat while Henri paraded in an RAF officer’s uniform, with the yet un-gazetted DSO ribbon on his breast. Despite the music and the good company, there was nothing that would cheer him up; Déricourt was feeling badly cornered. Then suddenly Jeannot piped up, having been peering at a woman in the crowd, ‘I have seen a dress just like that in Paris.’ You could have heard a velvet curtain drop. Paris, in February 1944, was on the other side of the moon.
²⁰
That night, the BBC broadcast Déricourt’s secret message to Dr Götz.
²¹
SOE knew nothing about it but the message ensured Watt’s, Clement’s, and JuJu’s continuing safety.

The following day, the 10th, Sporborg spent in closed session with John Sentor. They were far more hamstrung by the MI6 restrictions than they had originally presumed. Section V had advised them that if they chose to use Frager’s accusations as a basis for their enquiry, then they should not refer to any of the material that had come from the ‘Colonel Heinrich’ character. Section V’s explanation, which didn’t explain anything at all, was that this ‘Colonel Heinrich’ may in fact be a real German security officer genuinely seeking to collaborate with the Allies.
²²
‘All the more reason,’ argued Sporborg, ‘to use his material, for it would more likely be genuine.’
²³
No reply from Section V.

Suddenly all the internal dissent about Dansey had been submerged. MI6 was responding to a problem with a single voice. Even Section V, a department that despised Dansey, was co-operating to frustrate SOE’s enquiry. Each way Sporborg turned, someone from MI6 had an answer. Sporborg had managed to get hold of some very sensitive ‘intercepts’, decrypted German signals which were clear evidence that:

The Germans were making use of their connection with Déricourt in a way that went far beyond anything Déricourt had indicated to us in his story about being approached by pilots.

The signals also indicated that Déricourt ‘…had kept up these contacts for some time’.
²⁴

By that stage Sporborg was in no doubt that Déricourt had been working with the SD. Again he enquired with MI6 about the status of the ‘intercepts’ and was informed they were completely classified and consequently inadmissible. Sporborg asked to see Dansey personally, but received no reply. ‘Dansey knew about the Déricourt investigation but was singularly unhelpful and curiously uninterested in the proceedings.’
²⁵
Sporborg felt the organization was being humiliated by the way they were being
forced to conduct the proceedings. James Langley, Dansey’s man in MI9, once said, ‘What Dansey wanted done was done, and what he wanted undone was undone.’
²⁶