Code Name Pauline: Memoirs of a World War II Special Agent
PREFACE BY HERVÉ LARROQUE This book is intended primarily for young adults It relates the authentic story of Pauline Pearl Witherington who enlisted in 1943 in a secret British service the SOE F to help the resistance in France After several months of intensive training she parachuted in the night of September 22 23 1943 She was 29 years old After that she lived an unusual life for seven months Most of the time traveling on night trains she went to deliver mes sages the content of which she rarely understood She accom panied people as a guide transported materials and communi cated back to London via coded radio messages She was what was called a courier This work done in solitary fashion was obviously dan gerous for she could have been arrested and exposed at any moment by the Gestapo or by the French police She had sev eral occasions to be quite afraid Pauline recounts her life at that time put up here and there at the homes of trustworthy friends and disguised with a false identity Marie Verges cosmetics representative xv
xvi PREFACE In May 1944 the head of her network was taken by the Ger mans she changed her location and her mode of life She found shelter in the guardhouse of an estate in the Cher River valley in central France where she organized a small resistance group with Henri Cornioley her fiancé On June 11 1944 they were very nearly taken and killed by the Germans In a few weeks the resistance group grew then was divided into four subgroups By July 1944 they had 1,500 effectives Their leader whom very few knew personally was called Pauline For Pearl and Henri the war ended that September They went to England and turned over all the money that remained from the parachute drops to the great astonishment of the military administration who had never seen such a thing A few weeks later they were married in great simplicity They had no money nor any employment In this book Pearl with Henri’s help on occasion recounts the good times the diverse aspects the amazing or funny stories of her life during the five years of the war She also recounts her youth not at all rosy four little English girls living in Paris with their mother without work and speaking French poorly while their father traveled the world and forgot to pay the rent The one who made up for the deficiencies of the absent father was Pearl It was she who went to the market to salvage half-rotten potatoes for the family to eat But she talks about these things without anger or bitterness I have no resentment against life for giving me this difficult childhood she confides given that it gave me the strength to fight the rest of my life Pearl had an open character curious about things and peo ple Lucky for us she had the memory of an elephant This book is also the history of a couple For Pearl and Henri that history was strewn with obstacles Their families prevented them from seeing each other the war separated them
PREFACE xvii for several years and liberation found them without resource or home After 10 years of struggles of patience and of joys life finally allowed them to be together They celebrated their 50-year wedding anniversary in 1994 What were their ages in fact at the time of my interviews Pearl was 80 and Henri 84 Their stories prove that age remains above all a matter of the soul and the heart Henri and Pearl were not sour or sad or withdrawn into themselves Quite the contrary This text makes no pretense to being elegant literature it is a real testimony told with everyday words My main guideline when transcribing notes and tape recordings was respect for the facts there was no thought of romanticizing anything Pearl and Henri didn’t agree about everything but they held in common some important traits traits you could call altru ism courage and youthfulness Their story can be no doubt a source of hope and strength to young people who are con fronted with a challenging life Up until the time of my interviews Pearl had refused to expose her personal history in such a manner it was only for its potential benefit to young people that she eventually agreed to do so
INTRODUCTION On October 21 1940 when the Blitz the German bombing of British cities was in full swing Winston Churchill gave the following speech over BBC British Broadcasting Corporation radio to any people in Nazi-occupied France who might be listening Frenchmen For more than 30 years in peace and war I marched with you and I am marching still along the same road Tonight I speak to you at your firesides wherever you may be or whatever your fortunes are Here at home in England under the fire of the Boche we do not forget the ties and links that unite us to France Here in London which Herr Hitler says he will reduce to ashes and which his airplanes are now bombarding our people are bearing up unflinchingly Our air force has more than held its own We are waiting for the long promised invasion So are the fishes Remember we shall never stop never weary and never give in and that our whole people and empire have xix
