‘The Secret Army’

Press, 8 January 1980, Page 11

‘The Secret Army’

“The Secret Army,” a new 8.8. C. war drama series, begins on TV this evening. It is based on stories of heroism from the underground movements of occupied Europe, but is entirely fictional in characters and events.

Between 1941 and 1945 thousands of Allied air crews were shot down in bombing raids on the Third Reich. They were, mainly from the Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Force, but there were also Frenchmen, Poles and other nationalities.

Most were taken prisoner, but some evaded capture. Three and a half thousand of them were able to return to their bases in the United Kingdom. This was made possible by the ordinary people of the occupied .countries — the Netherlands. Belgium and France — who gave them refuge and help on their journeys back.

At first these people were not organised. Their actions were spontaneous and brave and reflected their urge to defy the enemy and find a way of fighting on. Every prisoner denied to the Germans, every combat soldier — but especially every high-ly-trained airman who could be hidden and then smuggled back to Britain to fight again — meant extra hope. It was a way of waging war by proxy but it was a hazardous one. As civilians, those who spirited

away the fighting men faced penalties beyond the reach of the Geneva Conventions. They were subjected to torture, concentration camps, execution. As time went on they became organised — they became a secret army. Led and inspired by spirited men and women — most of them young women — they set up escape lines through the Netherlands. Belgium and France. Some of these, lines ran to the Spanish border and over the Pyrenees into Spain; others to Marseilles through unoccupied France: others still to the Channel coast and to neutral Switzerland. There was an elaborate system of security checks to make sure that no German spies were planted as evaders. There were briefings. There were collecting points and safe houses. False papers were manufactured; passes were stolen and forged; money and aliases were supplied. Guides escorted groups of evaders, usually of three or four, down the lines across Europe. Each was responsible for one section of a route. The handovers were carried out in such secrecy that they never met each other. It was essential that. the loss of one guide to the Gestapo would not lead ■ to a wholesale series of arrests.

Many of the guides were attractive women in their early twenties. Some were caught by the Ges-

tapo or the French Secret Police. Now and again an entire line was lost. Those who were caught faced torture and interrogation. Some went to concentration camps; a number were maimed for life.

“The Secret Army” is not a documentary based op one or more of the evasion lines. It is a fictitious drama series, and the characters are not modelled on real people. The fact that such lines were organised and run in the occupied countries serves only as a background to the stories. But it is hoped that the courage and dedication of those real people can be repeated in their imaginary counter-parts.

The headquarters of the organisation running this particular line is set in Brussels because the main bomber routes to the Ruhr lay across Belgium, and it was over this country that many aircrews bailed out after raids on German industrial complexes. Bernard Hepton, whose many television appearances include his role of the German commandant of Colditz, plays Albert Foiret, one of the organisers of this particular escape route.

The series is produced by Gerard Glaister who was also responsible for “Colditz.” He also devised the series in collaboration with Wilfred Greatorex. creator of “The Power Game.”