Me again! In those papers about Bobby Wallis was a reference by my mother to going to France in 1997 having "been invited to join a party of BRO people going to meet some French Resistance people". It was on this trip she discovered Bobby's grave number, etc. Now, I know she was fire-watching during the Blitz -- barmy, grabbing a tin hat and telephone to run up the tallest building around while everyone else was heading for the shelters -- so it's possible she heard of, or was heard of, by the BRO. She was also great friends with a well-known Suffolk family and kept in touch with them after the war, which is how I came to live in the county. The BRO was particularly strong out here. I was also under the impression that members were still under the Official Secrets Act until quite recently. So .... Anyone know anything? Thanks Geoff
Geoff, Google Auxiliary Units and a few sites will pop up I can also recommend Waricker's Book With Britain in Mortal Danger, a few county histories of the Aux Units have also been published. Steven
Steven: Thanks very much. Best lead I've had. I'll post anything I find. I'd be grateful for any more help or suggestions, too. Geoff
Dear Geoff, hard to know quite what you are trying to find out. But I shall endeavour to help. Certainly John Warwickers book, with Britain in Mortal Danger is good, also his slightly newer work Churchill's Underground Army is also very good. As she had a casualty relative in France and the BRO may have been going to visit the memorials to some of the Auxiliary Units [official name of the BRO] members who in mid war joined the SAS [invited because they already had a lot of explosives and arms training], she probably had some friends who invited her along on the trip? Thats about all I can think of. There are several photos in John's books and some details in his 2nd book on what happened to some of the Aux Units men who joined the SAS. Quite a number of them were sadly killed after their unit was betrayed by a Resistance traitor. Hope this helps. I am quite a big Aux Units buff if you want any further info I shall be pleased to try and help you. They did recruit civilian women and men in a seperate department which basically would ave been tasked to have "spied" upon the British population after invasion. They were also used during the war to sound out questionable people, those who might have been sympathisers with the enemy or unsound about security etc. It is a very interesting subject. Regards Matt
Members of the Aux Units also served with distinction in SOE, including the actor Anthony Quayle, Andrew Croft, Geoff Appleyard and Bill Beyts at least three served as Jedburgh Officers. It would be interesting to know how many were retained in NATOs post-war stay behind plans
Hiya Matt! In a letter we found which started all this off, she said she'd been invited to join a party of BRO to meet some French resistance vets in Arras in 1973. Weren't the vets still under the Official Secrets Act at that time and would they have been able to invite friends? The second bit about spying on Brits after an invasion is interesting. If my idea above is true, then that's exactly the sort of thing she would have been up for. If you think of anything else please let me know. I'd love to get to the bottom of this. Thanks Geoff
There was also a book written in the 1960's that is worth checking out called The Last Ditch by David Lampe......
In a letter we found which started all this off, she said she'd been invited to join a party of BRO to meet some French resistance vets in Arras in 1973. Weren't the vets still under the Official Secrets Act at that time and would they have been able to invite friends? It's also a possibility that this "BRO" party may have been SOE or MI9 veterans I.E. the people who liaised/networked the French Resistance/escape lines? They would have been more inclined to keep up relations after the war with their compatriots...whereas the vast majority of Aux Unit patrol members took their secrets - and membership - to the grave with them without telling a soul.
I believe the truth about the BRO aka Auxiliary Units came out with David Lampe's book which lifted the veil a little - the reason for post-war secrecy was the fact that there was a NATO-wide resistance organisation encompassing some of the neutrals such as Switzerland, Sweden, Spain etc that was in existance at least until the end of the Cold War.
The first article mentioning the Aux Units was in the Times in 1945/6 which gave a very brief mention of them, but lots of people probably missed the significance of. Lampes book was the first one where an author had been given permission to talk to certain people. It appears from reading around the subject that not many people were that keen to talk to him, and IIRC in at leats one case he was given misinformation. With regard to your suggesting Geof, that they would have been under the OSA in the 70s this is true. Given that so many of the Aux Units vets say they were told that their story should 'never' be told, I wonder if as signatories to the act, they should still be covered by it? There must have been a point where they decided [well some of them] to tell their story, many years after the war. Since there were over 3000 Auxiliers there is only a small percentage of them who have said anything. Those that do, whom I have had the privilege of meeting, are very interesting men and women. Regards Matt
Hi Geoff, Check out our website Coleshill House - Home of the Auxiliary Units 1940 - 44. Britain`s secret resistance organisation formed to fight behind the lines in the event of a Nazi invasion. It is the online authority on the subject.
