SECRET FORCE

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 94, 21 April 1945, Page 4

SECRET FORCE

MAQUIS IN BRITAIN

Watched For Invasion Which

Never Came

LONDON, April 15.

When German troops lined the coast of France, across the Channel 300 Englishmen and women watched and waited for the invasion which never came. They were members of the British "Maquis" and their task was to spy on enemy troops* who landed in Britain. Now for the first time, says the Daily Mail, it is possible to reveal the details of this underground movement. The names of the men and women are known only to the British Intelligence authorities. When the invasion was thought to be a certainty, these people went about their jobs in towns- and villages by. day, but stood by . for a signal at night. In one area, an attractive young blonde was the central figure in the movement. She was cipher clerk for a district covering nearly two counties, and had final responsibility for ensuring that military headquarters was supplied in code with all details coming to her from agents. Met to "Play Cards" Her secret radio transmitter was built into a dugout on a heath, and was so perfectly camouflaged that the members of the movement themselves often had trouble in findirfg it. The agents were without military status and faced death if caught by the enemy. They were known to one another only by numbers. While they waited for the invasion, these men and women had to make all sorts of excuses to their families, for nobody _ outside the movement could be let into the secret. * They met ostensibly to play cards, but actually to receive the latest information from their link with the War Office.

The same meeting place - was never used twice, and the members were not seen together in public unless they were old friends. The commandant of this "special duties" unit was a 47-year-old colonel whom the War Office mysteriously described officially as "employed."