RESISTANCE IN FRANCE

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28758, 2 December 1958, Page 11

RESISTANCE IN FRANCE

British Helpers Criticised (N-Z. Press- Association-Copyright) (Rec. 8 p.m.) LONDON, November 30. Captain Peter Churchill, wartime member of the French section of the special operations executive, today described French criticism of himself and his former wife Odette, as “a jest” when he arrived at Dover. But later in London he said he would ask for a public inquiry in France unless the former French Resistance workers retracted their allegations. Last week the “Sunday Dispatch” reported that six prominent members of the French wartime Resistance movement had. Challenged 4he • wsr-tinae bravery of Odette and Peter Churchill, and asked for proof of the couple’s exploits. Captain Churchill who had Just arrived from his villa at Nice, denied that his visit to Britain was connected with the recent demands for proof of his and Odette’s war-time achievements. “I have given plenty of proof of what we did during the war in my books. These have never been translated into French,” he told reporters. “It doesn’t matter what they say about Odette. They will never be able to take away the fine name she has after her bravery in the German prison camp.” His former wife Odette, was awarded the George Cross, Britain's highest civilian award, for her exploits in occupied France. Captain Churchill’s London comment was: “I am not going to get hot under the collar about these allegations, but I am very surprised at the whole thing. “I am not worried about fame. But I want to get this matter cleared, so that I can live in peace in my adopted country of France. Meanwhile the head of the French section of the S.O.E. — the British organisation which sent spies into occupied Europe —Colonel Maurice Buckmaster, today denied in London charges which have been made against his organisation but admitted that a German unit had penetrated one section of it.

The colonel emphasised that his denial was in “fairness to people who worked in the French section, both at headquarters and in the field, many of whom arc not alive today to speak for themselves.” Colonel Buckmaster said the over-all result of activities by the French resistance as a whole, in the words of General Eisenhower, shortened the war by nine months. “Post-war records have shown that the Germans attached a very high value to the organisation,” he said. The colonel admitted, however, that the German Abwehr anti-spy unit penetrated one cell of the French section. Such penetrations were thought by some to be inevitable in- an organisation which worked in enemy territory.