The Comet Escape Line

As German forces took control of their country, a group of young Belgians conceived an audacious plan to smuggle downed Allied airmen and other evaders from Belgium, through France and over the Spanish border. So began the Comet line. Many incredible escapes followed, from safe houses in Brussels, along hazardous train journeys via Lille to Paris, to goat paths through the Pyrenees mountains, evading both German and Spanish border patrols. In this gripping new study, Alexander Stilwell reveals the personalities and motives of the Comet line founders, the British intelligence organisation (MI9) that supported it, the campaign by the Gestapo to destroy it, and the work of the Nazi collaborators who infiltrated the Comet line with disastrous results. Above all, this is the story of the incredibly brave civilians who risked their lives to help Allied airmen and other evaders to escape from occupied Europe.

Alexander Stilwell is a writer and editor specialising in military history and current affairs. He has written several books covering secret operations, special forces and escape and evasion, has an MA in International Peace and Security and served for six years in a British Army reserve forces reconnaissance regiment during which time he was trained in escape and evasion. He lives in Surrey.