Famous Woman Spy

Manawatu Times, Volume 61, Issue 63, 16 March 1936, Page 12

Famous Woman Spy

“THE LARK” SEEKS PEACE Madame Marthe Richard, tho most famous of French women spies, will give effect to her decision to retire to a convent, there to end her days in peace. "The Lark” (the name by which she was known in tho service), she says, “only wants to find a cage in which she can live with her memories, forget what she has suffered, and await the end.” Of all the women who played the dangerous role of spy in the world war, Mme. Richard stands out as the one who has rendered most service not only to her own country but to the Allies in general. The manner in which this simple country girl became one of the most efficient members of the French Secret Service is one of the romances of espionage. Girl of Twenty. She was little more than twenty when her husband, an officer in tha French Army, was killed in the early days of the war. When the lirst shock of her grief had passed she had but one thought, to avenge his death. She consulted a friend, Major Roy, who at that time was at the head of the French counter-espionage service. He at once told her that the greatest service she could render Franco the great est blow she could strike at the slayers of her husband was to enlist in the counter-espionage service. Sho was prevailed oil to proceed to San Sebastian, then the headquarters of tho German propaganda and epionago services through neutral countries. She wormed herself into the confidence of Herr von Ivrimn, the German Embassy's naval attache, who had taken over the control of the more important branch of the service there. She played her cards so well that von Krimm did not hesitate to accept her as a mercenary Frenchwoman ready to sell her country for the means to live a luxurious life. Major Roy and his department saw that she was furnished with bogus "information” about the plans of the Allies sufficiently well prepared to pass for genuine. It was from San Sebastian that the majority of the agents sent out by Germany- to work in England came in the years 1915, 1916 and 1917. Caught in England. And tho fact that these agents were shadowed from tho moment of their ianding in England and ultimately arrested before they could do any harm was due to the fact that “The Lark” ("L’Alouette”), as Madame Richard had been named, had “tipped off” the French counter-espionage, and they in turn had advised the -British Intelligence Service. One of the most dangerous of tho G-ermau schemes for doing injury to the Allies unmasked by Mme. Richard was that of blowing up munition factories by means of a stick of dangerous explosive no larger than a fountain pen, and made up to pass for a pen. “It was by the merest chance,” Mme. Richard states, “that I learned of this device, which was the personal invention of von Krimm. “You can imagine my feelings when I say that when first I learned of it the first try-out was to be made on a munition factory in the south-west of France, and the man told off for the mission was due to cross the frontier within a few hours. I dare not go to the post office to send off a warning message in the code we used, and as a last resource I managed to pass the vital warning to an acquaintance in the British Secret Service, whom I was supposed to be cultivating in tho interest of the German service. “Unfortunately-, the warning sent in this roundabout way did not reach its destination in time. Later I found consolation in the fact that other disasters had been prevented. For example, tw-o of the agents of von Krimm were due to land in England with the object of throwing one of these deadly pens over the walls of Woolwich Arsenal at dangerous points. They never saw Woolw-ich. They were arrested as soon as they landed, and both were shot.”