Posted by Alan
In October I had the pleasure of spending three days with the family of Sergeant H. Blackett, an RAF airman with the 138th Squadron based at Tempsford who had been looked after by various families and the Résistance at Châlus in the Haute-Vienne and Saint-Saud in the Dordogne for three months of 1944.
Sergeant Blackett and the crew of a Halifax MA-W had parachuted from their plane south of Rochechouart whilst returning from a successful mission to drop arms and supplies to the maquis at Brive in the Corrèze in May 1944 under the code name "Operation Percy 3.
Photo taken of the crew before their mission
The four Canadian Flight Officers F/O D. Lennie, F/O R. Evans, F/O H. Medland and F/O A Coldridge are at the back and the three English Sergeants at the front are from left to right : Sgt H. Blackett, Sgt R. Clarke and Sgt E. Jones.
Their plane had been hit by enemy fire and with the loss of two of its engines it had started to lose altitude and the orders were given for all to bale out. The plane continued without a pilot and crashed in a field at La Groslaud near Chabanais in the Charente.
Log book for the crew of the Halifax Bomber
Of the seven man crew, one was taken prisoner, Sgt R. Clark who had broken his hip on landing and was taken prisoner. A photo was found in his pocket of himself and Sgt Blackett but under interrogation he would not give any information on the photo. He was made a prisoner of war and sent to the camps in Germany. He was liberated in May 1945 and returned to England. The other six airmen all made it back to England with help from various résistance groups in the Charente, Haute-Vienne and the Dordogne.
F/O D. Lennie came accross a Résistance group who took him in but on May 2Oth, while travelling with the leader of the group and two others, they came accross a German roadblock and were all taken prisoner. Lennie was interrogated and tortured and the Germans did not believe his story that he was a Canadian airmen. They were transported to Cahors via Frayssinet-le-Gelat where the convoy came under attack by the maquis. Severe reprisals were unleashed on the village with eleven innocent inhabitants executed. (link)
F/O Lennie stayed for eight days in the basement of the German HQ at Cahors and was then taken with his three maquis comrades to Toulouse where they were interrogated and thrown in to a cell with hardly enough room to stand or lie down. The Germans wanted to know the whereabouts of their maquis group and their mission the day were captured. All four were tortured but refused to talk and had to witness the execution of other Résistance members. F/O Lennie was then made to witness the execution of his three comrades.
He was then taken to a prison camp at St. Michel just outside of Toulouse. He remained there from 9th June until 19th August and had been scheduled to be executed on 21st August. On 19th August word went around the prison to be ready to escape. The Résistance had begun to liberate Toulouse and opened the gates of the Prison. F/O Lennie made a run for his freedom as the fighting all around ensued. He made it to a café where the owner hid him in a back room. He was taken out of the town and kept with a family for two weeks before his return by plane back to England.
F/O A. Coldridge and F/O H. Medland were picked up by the Résistance at Pressignac and with the help of an Escape Line they were taken up to Paris, then down to the Pyrénées, through Spain to Gibraltar and successfully got back to England in the beginning of September 1944.
F/O R. Evans landed in the woods to the south of Rochechouart and headed south where he met the Résistance at Cussac in the Haute-Vienne. He stayed with them for a week and was joined by Sgt Blackett and Sgt Jones a few days after he'd arrived there.
Log book for the crew of the Halifax Bomber
Of the seven man crew, one was taken prisoner, Sgt R. Clark who had broken his hip on landing and was taken prisoner. A photo was found in his pocket of himself and Sgt Blackett but under interrogation he would not give any information on the photo. He was made a prisoner of war and sent to the camps in Germany. He was liberated in May 1945 and returned to England. The other six airmen all made it back to England with help from various résistance groups in the Charente, Haute-Vienne and the Dordogne.
Copy of photo of Sgt Clark and Sgt Blackett found in the pocket of Sgt Clark
F/O D. Lennie came accross a Résistance group who took him in but on May 2Oth, while travelling with the leader of the group and two others, they came accross a German roadblock and were all taken prisoner. Lennie was interrogated and tortured and the Germans did not believe his story that he was a Canadian airmen. They were transported to Cahors via Frayssinet-le-Gelat where the convoy came under attack by the maquis. Severe reprisals were unleashed on the village with eleven innocent inhabitants executed. (link)
F/O Lennie stayed for eight days in the basement of the German HQ at Cahors and was then taken with his three maquis comrades to Toulouse where they were interrogated and thrown in to a cell with hardly enough room to stand or lie down. The Germans wanted to know the whereabouts of their maquis group and their mission the day were captured. All four were tortured but refused to talk and had to witness the execution of other Résistance members. F/O Lennie was then made to witness the execution of his three comrades.
He was then taken to a prison camp at St. Michel just outside of Toulouse. He remained there from 9th June until 19th August and had been scheduled to be executed on 21st August. On 19th August word went around the prison to be ready to escape. The Résistance had begun to liberate Toulouse and opened the gates of the Prison. F/O Lennie made a run for his freedom as the fighting all around ensued. He made it to a café where the owner hid him in a back room. He was taken out of the town and kept with a family for two weeks before his return by plane back to England.
Article in the Canadian newspaper The Star Weekly re-telling F/O Lennie's terrible ordeal in France
Published 3Oth December 1944
F/O A. Coldridge and F/O H. Medland were picked up by the Résistance at Pressignac and with the help of an Escape Line they were taken up to Paris, then down to the Pyrénées, through Spain to Gibraltar and successfully got back to England in the beginning of September 1944.
F/O R. Evans landed in the woods to the south of Rochechouart and headed south where he met the Résistance at Cussac in the Haute-Vienne. He stayed with them for a week and was joined by Sgt Blackett and Sgt Jones a few days after he'd arrived there.
As Sergeant Blackett parachuted out over a moonlit France he thought to himself how beautiful it looked. He landed in the same field as Sergeant Jones and together they decided to head south following a river. Blackett had injured his hip badly on landing so going was slow. They walked at night and rested hidden during the day. After three days and nights without food they decided to try to get some help and stopped behind a well in front of a farmhouse with two neighbours. As they rested there a young lady of around 17 or 18 came out to fetch some water. They quickly explained that they were English airmen and they needed help. She replied "Attendez" and went back into the house. A few moments later she returned with what looked like her father. He told the two airmen to come inside.
The two airmen had chanced upon a maquis HQ and inside were several men who were suspicious that they were a German trap. They interrogated them and searched their clothing where they found a crumpled Bishop Auckland Eden Bus Company bus ticket in Blackett's jacket. They sent a message by radio to London who confirmed the ticket was real and the two airmen were not working for the Germans.
The farmhouse was to the North East of Chalûs in the Haute-Vienne and the HQ of the local Résistance. The man who had taken them in was Augustin Legay "Max" and with him were his two sons Pierre and Jean, both part of the same maquis group. The young lady that had found them by the well was called Jeannine and was Jean's fiancé. Her name was the only name the two airmen had discovered during their stay there that night. Sgt Blackett felt that this young lady had saved their life and twenty years later named his daughter Janine in her memory.
The Résistance at Chalûs - photo taken 14th July 1944
The following day Augustin Legay took Blackett and Jones over to a maquis camp at Cussac where they met up with F/O R. Evans. They remained there a few days and then according to their evasion reports they headed East to Champagnac-la-Rivière where they joined another maquis group. They did not stay with them long as the group came under attack by the Germans.
The three airmen went South staying for a short while at Chalûs before they were picked up by the Brigade Rac at Saint-Saud in the north of the Dordogne. They remained with them for three months until the end of August 1944 also staying with various families in the area, the Ribeireix family at La Bûcherie and the Leroy family who had hidden the airmen in their cellar at Saint-Saud. With la Brigade Rac they took part in the sabotage of a railway line and a bridge and the collection of arms parachuted to the group.
Stuart and Dave Blackett in the cellar where Sgt Blackett, Sgt Jones and F/O Evans were hidden by the Leroy family at Saint-Saud
"Could you please let the wives and families of the following know that they are well : Forcevan, S.J. 27154, RCAF ; Sgt E. Jonel, 999682, RAF ; Sgt H. Blackett, RAF They have been with the Maquis since 9th May".
At the end of August the three airmen were contacted by SOE agent Jacques Poirier who began to organise their return home to England. They were taken to an aerodrome near Limoges and on 9th September boarded a Lysander and a few hours later they landed back in England, exactly four months after they had left on their fateful mission.
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| Dave Blackett with his sister Janine |
The two airmen had chanced upon a maquis HQ and inside were several men who were suspicious that they were a German trap. They interrogated them and searched their clothing where they found a crumpled Bishop Auckland Eden Bus Company bus ticket in Blackett's jacket. They sent a message by radio to London who confirmed the ticket was real and the two airmen were not working for the Germans.
The farmhouse was to the North East of Chalûs in the Haute-Vienne and the HQ of the local Résistance. The man who had taken them in was Augustin Legay "Max" and with him were his two sons Pierre and Jean, both part of the same maquis group. The young lady that had found them by the well was called Jeannine and was Jean's fiancé. Her name was the only name the two airmen had discovered during their stay there that night. Sgt Blackett felt that this young lady had saved their life and twenty years later named his daughter Janine in her memory.
The Résistance at Chalûs - photo taken 14th July 1944
Augustin Legay is on one knee in front of the Union Jack. His two sons, Pierre and Jean are standing behind him either side of the French flag.
The following day Augustin Legay took Blackett and Jones over to a maquis camp at Cussac where they met up with F/O R. Evans. They remained there a few days and then according to their evasion reports they headed East to Champagnac-la-Rivière where they joined another maquis group. They did not stay with them long as the group came under attack by the Germans.
Extract from Escape and Evasion report made out by Sgt Blackett, Sgt Jones and F/O Evans
The three airmen went South staying for a short while at Chalûs before they were picked up by the Brigade Rac at Saint-Saud in the north of the Dordogne. They remained with them for three months until the end of August 1944 also staying with various families in the area, the Ribeireix family at La Bûcherie and the Leroy family who had hidden the airmen in their cellar at Saint-Saud. With la Brigade Rac they took part in the sabotage of a railway line and a bridge and the collection of arms parachuted to the group.
Stuart and Dave Blackett in the cellar where Sgt Blackett, Sgt Jones and F/O Evans were hidden by the Leroy family at Saint-Saud
Radio message sent to London by Jedburgh team "Alexander" on 24th August 1944
"Could you please let the wives and families of the following know that they are well : Forcevan, S.J. 27154, RCAF ; Sgt E. Jonel, 999682, RAF ; Sgt H. Blackett, RAF They have been with the Maquis since 9th May".
Radio message sent to London by Jedburgh team "Ian"
At the end of August the three airmen were contacted by SOE agent Jacques Poirier who began to organise their return home to England. They were taken to an aerodrome near Limoges and on 9th September boarded a Lysander and a few hours later they landed back in England, exactly four months after they had left on their fateful mission.
Photo taken in 1942 of the Ribeireix family in the garden of their house at La Bûcherie where they had looked after, with incredible courage, Sgt Blackett and Sgt Jones
The house at La Bûcherie where Sgt Blackett and Jones stayed with the Ribeireix family
Photo of the cherry tree in the back garden of the house at La Bûcherie
Sgt Blackett and Sgt Jones hid occasionally in the tree when they thought some Germans were nearby
Ten years ago Dave Blackett, the son of Sergeant Blackett, had visited the area to find out more on his Dad's story but had only been able to find the house at La Bûcherie where his Dad and Sergeant Jones had stayed. Having many photos of la Brigade Rac at one of their camps near Saint-Jean-de-Côle, I had come across Sergeant Blackett's story and managed to contact his son and send him some copies of the photos. He replied immediately with the news that his Dad and Sergeant Jones were in five of the photos. Possibly also a third member of the crew Canadian Flight Officer R. Evans.
Photo taken at the end of May 1944 by André Léonard, photographer with la Brigade Rac
Back of photo
Back of photo
The camp was in the woods at Boudeau near Saint-Jean-de-Côle in the Dordogne. The group of around thirty men were from Thiviers and part of the A.S. Dordogne-Nord / la Brigade Rac. Two, possibly three of the airmen are in the photo, Sgt Blackett is sitting on the right of the table behind the guy wearing the vest and beret. Sgt Jones is sitting on the left of the table raising his glass. I believe F/O Evans is sitting on the left two places along next to the guy in the white shirt.
With the help of André Bernard, a historian who lives near the crash site of the crew's Halifax, the Ribeireix family, the Legay family and the local Saint-Saud historical group Association Georges Rocal, we were able to find out the full story. In October I joined the son and grandson of Sergeant Blackett at Saint-Saud where we received a superb welcome on par with the welcome given seventy four years earlier to the allied airmen.
Photo taken at la Groslaud where the plane came down, narrowly missing a farmhouse to the left. The small monument was laid in 2O12 by the ANACR at Chabanais
Les Chemins de la Mémoire
Chute d'un avion anglais touché par la DCA nazis
(Crash site of an English plane hit by enemy fire)
(Crash site of an English plane hit by enemy fire)
I have posted five articles on our visits to Saint-Saud and La Bûcherie, to the crash site at Le Groslaud, the maquis camp in the forêt de Boubon near Cussac and to Abel Devautour who as a fourteen year old lad had played in the crashed plane soon after it had come down and just before the Germans arrived.
Dave Blackett with the Pilot's helmet taken as a souvenir by Abel in May 1944
From Left to right : Annie Devautour, Dave Blackett, Abel Devautour and Sgt Blackett's grandson Stuart Blackett
We spent an incredible morning with Annie and Abel Devautour. Abel, recounting as if it were yesterday, how as a fourteen year old lad he had heard that an allied plane had come down a few miles away from his home at Chassenon With the volume of planes overhead in the area at that time he had become fascinated by aircrafts and was keen to go take a look.
He and his best friend jumped on their bikes and cycled over to the crash site. The plane had broken in two but had not caught fire. The young lads hid their bikes and went inside the plane sitting in the pilot's seat pretending to be the pilot. Abel found a helmet in the cockpit, some chewing gum and some cigarettes. After twenty minutes they got back on their bikes and just in time as a Side-car with a German soldier had arrived.
Le père de Madame Devautour, Pierre Adam, né le 22 août 19O2 à Rebeuville (88), a fait partie de la Résistance dans les Vosges, arrêté le 18 mai 1944 et déporté à Neuenegamme puis à Stalag X-B Sandbostel, il est décédé le 27 avril 1945 la veille de la libération du camp.
Abel kept the helmet as a souvenir and later became a light aircraft pilot, his son and grandson also became pilots. Abel's brother Marcel, eight years his senior, was part of the Résistance at nearby Champagnac-la-Rivière. Annie Devautour's father, Pierre Adam, had been part of the Résistance at Vosges and had been arrested by the Germans on 18th May 1944 and deported to Neuenegamme and then Stalag X-B Sandbostel. Sadly he died on 27th April 1945 two days before the camp had been liberated.
Dave Blackett with the Pilot's helmet taken as a souvenir by Abel in May 1944
On our third day at Saint-Saud a ceremony and a presentation had been organised in memory of the airmen and la Brigade Rac. What an absolute honour it was to have been involved, the Blackett family were clearly moved and I am sure will not forget the day.
I have posted photos of the day in a previous article but here are a few more photos kindly sent to me by Dave Blackett.
Jean-Pierre Colin who had organised the ceremony and the presentation had put together an excellent slide show covering the airmen's story. In the centre of the photo Dave Blackett, to the left myself and Jean-Luc Forestier who organises the ceremony at Javerlhac each year. To the right is Claude Rialet-Laussucq, the daughter of Jean Laussucq "Louis", one of the first to join the Résistance at Saint-Saud.
Dave and Stuart Blackett either side of the boards made up by Jean-Pierre Colin telling the airmen's story
Photo taken on Sunday 7th October in the marquee set up for lunch at the yearly Fête du Cèpe et du Veau at Saint-Saud held on the first Sunday in October. We were honoured to take part. It may have been a rainy day, first in four months, but as you can see every one turned up.
Dave and Stuart Blackett seated on the left and Jean-Pierre Colin seated on the right
Photos from 1946 of Harry and Vera Blackett's wedding
Press articles in France and England covering the airmen's story and the Blackett family's visit to France to retrace their steps :
Ipswich Star (2OO4 and 2O1O) - New clues to dad's history (link)
Northern Echo (27th September 2O18) - Retracing steps of Bishop Auckland father's ww2 journey (link)
Sud-Ouest (15th October 2O18) - En souvenir d'un aviateur anglais (link)
More photos :
Dave Blackett proudly showing his copy of La Brigade Rac
The book was published in 1977 and includes the photo taken in May 1944 at the maquis camp in the woods at Boudeau with Sgt Blackett and Sgt Jones sitting at the table with some of la Brigade Rac.
Michel Aupetit kindly brought his Traction Avant over for the ceremony. Michel was one of the porte-drapeaux at the ceremony and he and the Traction take part in the ceremony at Javerlhac every 24th July.
Laurent Martinet, one of the porte-drapeaux at the ceremony and Stuart Blackett, grandson of Sgt H. Blackett
The march down from the Foyer Rural to the monument of la Brigade Rac
The Mayor of Saint-Saud, Pierre Duval with Dave and Stuart Blackett
Michèle Cézard - la fille du lt col Rac, Monsieur le maire - Pierre Duval and Dave Blackett
Facing the monument for la Brigade Rac in the Place de la Résistance
Dave and Stuart Blackett in front of the monument for la Brigade Rac.
To their left is Guy Lastere the Mayor of Champs-Romain and to their right the Mayor of Saint-Saud
Photo taken of La Chorale de Miallet just after their superb and moving rendition of the maquis hymn Chant des Partisans
Dave Blackett and myself talking with Liliane Chabeaudie, the lady in the red coat, who had lived at La Bûcherie during the war and had known the Ribeireix family well. She had come up from the Basque region to be at the ceremony.
Presentation in English and French of the story of the seven airmen at the Foyer Rural at Saint-Saud. To my right Stuart and Dave Blackett and to my left the Mayor of Saint-Saud and Pascal Metayer who presented my talk in French.
Dave and Stuart Blackett either side of the boards made up by Jean-Pierre Colin telling the airmen's story
Photo taken on Sunday 7th October in the marquee set up for lunch at the yearly Fête du Cèpe et du Veau at Saint-Saud held on the first Sunday in October. We were honoured to take part. It may have been a rainy day, first in four months, but as you can see every one turned up.
Dave and Stuart Blackett seated on the left and Jean-Pierre Colin seated on the right
Photos from 1946 of Harry and Vera Blackett's wedding
To the left of Sgt H. Blackett - Sgt R. Clark, standing on right - Sgt E. Jones
Press articles in France and England covering the airmen's story and the Blackett family's visit to France to retrace their steps :
Ipswich Star (2OO4 and 2O1O) - New clues to dad's history (link)
Sud-Ouest (15th October 2O18) - En souvenir d'un aviateur anglais (link)
Article published in the Ipswich Star in September 2OO4
Follow up article in the Northern Echo published on 25th October 2O18
Saint-Saud et la Bûcherie (24) - sur les traces d'un aviateur anglais (link)
Le Groslaud (16) - Chemin de la mémoire d'un aviateur anglais hébergé en 1944 (link)
Trou des maquis - forêt de Boubon - Cussac, Haute Vienne (link)
Saint-Saud : Photos de la cérémonie du 9 octobre 2O18 - l'accueil de la famille d'un aviateur anglais (link)