Belgium & France

Belgium and northern France gave birth to some of the best-known escape lines. From Comète’s safe houses in Brussels to the Pat O’Leary network in Marseille, helpers guided evaders through city streets, farms and train stations before tackling the Pyrenees or coastal pick-ups. Use the pages below to explore each line in depth and meet the people who kept them open.

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Burgundy

The countryside south of Paris became a critical staging ground for Allied evaders once German security tightened along the Channel ports. From Dijon across to the Morvan and down the Saône valley, fa…

Comète

The Comète Escape Line In May 1940 German forces attacked neutral Belgium and the Netherlands and in June went on to defeat the British and French armies. France, Belgium and the Netherlands were occu…

Marie Claire

The Marie Claire Line Mary Ghita Lindell was impeccably English in upbringing and manner, extremely resourceful, courageous, strong minded and used to getting her own way. Comptesse de Moncy, alias Ma…

Pat O’Leary Line

O’Leary Line Routes During the dark days of 1940, many evaders from the British Expeditionary Force, who had fought rearguard actions in Northern France in order to allow others to escape from many of…

Possum

The Possum Escape Line Dominique Edgard Potier On the night of the 15 th July 1943, two MI9 agents, Dominique Edgard Potier , a Belgian Air Force Officer who had reached England in 1942, and Conrad La…

Shelburn

The Shelburn Line The Shelburn Line operated from the Brittany coast in conjunction with the Royal Navy’s 15 th Motor Gun Boat Flotilla (established in 1942), operating mainly from Dartmouth and at ti…

Edith Cavell Helper

Edith Cavell, the British nurse executed in 1915, became a symbol of civilian courage that inspired later generations of helpers in Belgium during World War II. Though Cavell's story predates the esca…