New Member - MI6?

Discussion in 'Top Secret' started by Lindylootoo, Aug 25, 2022.

  1. Lindylootoo

    Lindylootoo Member

    Can someone please direct me to the correct forum to discuss undercover operations in the Riorges, Roanne area of France in WW2? I have spent some years researching my father who was "passed down the line" from M Tallard in Paris and through to Riorges. He was not a member of SOE - I have been assured by the Chief Archivist of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, who added that he is 99.99% sure he was recruited by MI6. I have a huge amount of information both prior to his MI6 recruitment and post - following his escape from France via Spain; letters from French nationals he worked with/for which gives details of the liberation of Riorges, including the hanging of collaborators. Also various completed US questionnaires from US MISX from NARA.

    I am also interested in finding a repository which would accept my research for public use & display.
     
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  2. davidbfpo

    davidbfpo Patron Patron

    Neither of the place names given appear here, which may indicate it is not a well-known aspect of WW2 in France. The surname Tallard does not appear here either.

    It would help if you named your father, as that might find him here or alert watchers. In a moment I will PM the only member I know who watches such matters, they have not logged on here for sometime though.
     
  3. Lindylootoo

    Lindylootoo Member

    My dad's name was Robert Andrew Jones, born 28 May 1921, Coulogne, Pas de Calais. Father: Edward W Jones. Mother: Madeline Eugene Marie Jones nee Quevilly.
    Alice and Maurice Forge addressed their letter from "Cottage Indian" Allee de la Liberation, Riorges, (Loire) and dated 15/1/46 in which Alice refers to "wondering what has happened since November 1944". Maurice writes: Your letter arrived opened and 14 months late. We were liberated on the 21st August 1944. All the authority of Vichy was swept away. The mayor was M Dousein, 2nd in charge M. Vianx(?). We were liberated at last. I was a little surprised that I was invited to become a member of the new town council..........the previous mayor M. Gerard was confirmed in his role by the Germans(?) in the elections on 29th April 1944 when for the first time in France women voted. It was time that we liberated because myself and Alice were on the Doriatt(?) list of PPF (popular party of France) this traitor was killed in Germany by an allied bomb otherwise we would have been captured and deported, perhaps killed and our cottage ??? then burned. I would have been warned but not able to alert Alice. Having continued our underground work the BBC was useful and encouraging for us, thanks to our understand of English. Although we were passed over it was not the same for Mr Ancay(?) who was a leader of a section in Lyons under the name of Rohan(?) Jimi de Bertrand. He was taken by the Gestapo 9.9 days before the liberation of Lyons. He was shot at Bron where he was buried 18 August 1944. He kept silent unto death. His real name was Pierre Bertain (or Berhain). His companion (Mme Netter) was captured at the same time as him and annihilated with other martyres at St Genis-Lavel (near Lyons) and we have not found anything among the remains to be able to identify them. We the survivors have formed a "friendly society" called the "Freedom Fights of Roannais". Mlle Coutayne and Mme Baur (or Baus) are members. I have not been able to locate them as the office had been taken over by the Boches for their own affairs, and other people, who like Place were collaborators. We who are older know well that this is false (bad) - we have about 13 members of the Amicale and some died in the camps and some on their return to France, damaged by their suffering. Willy Mamby (?) came to see us at the Liberation, he is staying with his relatives at Maison Laffite but he is getting bored. Alice told you that our commissions have been accomplished with your recommendations and directions. .................. The black market continues and everything is still hard to come by. As for the peace it progresses slowly, we hope that in 9.9 months things will be better but we need MONEY & IMPERIALISM to see it. We are planning to return to Paris in 2 to 3 years if all goes well. Mr Tallard (Zollard) (the English Teacher) who used to live in Clermont has a job in St Germain-en-Laye, near to Paris. .........I finish by cordially shaking your hand and hoping to hear from you soon. Long live Liberty. Death to the Boches. Maurice Forges.

    Gustave Place, Chirurgien-Dentiste, de la Faculte de Medecine de Lyon. Roanne. Tel 35-01. Dated 14 Nov 1946. Wrote: ...............Here emotions ran high until "liberation" arrived. Imagine that after your departure I hid at my house an American Captain who parachuted from his flaming plane. .......should I send your case to the address which you gave me more than a year ago? I cannot return your bicycle. It died int he field of honour. My motorbike, my car all served to help the liberation. We helped the liberation by any means at our disposal. As I had your permission to use in the service of the cause I did not hesitate to do so. Unfortunately in a skirmish with the Boche only my car was saved, the rest were in bad shape.

    In 2007 NARA sent me a copy of a file for Maurice Forge from MIS-X French Helper Files Division 7707th ECIC, Headquarters, European Theatre of Operations, US Army (Record gorup 498). In 2009 a file from the same Record Group was sent for Gustave Place.

    The questionnaire completed by Maurice Forge states - Number of Airmen helped: 1 British; From whom did you receive them: Sent by Mr Tallard, Professor Lycee, St Gemain-en-Laye 1 March and passed on 8 March 1944 to Mr Gustave Place, 2 Route de Commelle, Le Coteau (Loire). Member of what Resistance Group: Group of Capt Aucey (Pierre Bernheim) killed in Lyon under name of Rohan (Resistance). Personal Opinion: Above lodged a British parachute intelligence worker Robert Jones details fo find landing fields of aerial operations. Lodged him for a period of 8 days and then gave him to G.Place but Jones returned to his home periodically for escape purposes.

    The questionnaire completed by Gustave Place states: Co-worker: Robert Jones (David Roberts) 109 Purleigh Rd, Rayleigh, Essex, England. British Intelligence working with Maquis and detailed to find landing field of aerial operations. M. Maurice Forge, Cottage Trianon, Croxtachon, Riorges (Loire). Capt. Jacques Thomasini, Service de lay Reconstruction, Blvd de la Republic, Noisy le Sed (Seine). M Boissonade (interviewed). Final notes include: Unable to trace the exact functions or mission of British agent Jones. Seems that his mission of finding landing field primarily centered about Clermont Ferrand. Difficulty and obligation to escape eastward.

    I have made notes that the Resistance Group was Bernheim known as Aucy or Francs-tireurs du roannais. Other names I've noted are Guillard and Willie Mamby

    On the French Questionnaire for Gustave Place is also : J.A. REITMEIER USA. Cap Navigateur, Abattu en Mai 44 a MABLY Recu par Mr Tomasini dit ALBERT de l'AS rue d l'Entrepot Roanne. Il a egalement ecrit au Serv. Americain Hotel Majestic au sujet de Mr J.A. REITMEIER, Cap. Navigateur, dont l'avoin est tombe ne flammes, dans les bois de la Commune de MABLY, (Loire) par ROANNE.
     
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  4. Roy Martin

    Roy Martin Senior Member

    Like you, I imagine, I have tried to check on a member of MI6; but I got a handwritten letter, without an address to say that it was their practice to 'neither confirm, nor deny' that individuals were in MI6. Hope you have luck finding more, it seems a most interesting story.
     
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  5. Lindylootoo

    Lindylootoo Member

    Hello Roy. Yes, I've approached them twice: once direct and once via my MP who then requested help direct - both occasions met with the "we can neither confirm or deny". You may have better luck if you ask NARA for help and see if he is mentioned in any of their archives.
     
  6. Lindylootoo

    Lindylootoo Member

    Hello again Roy. Can you please tell me if the person you believe worked for MI6, continued to work occasionally after the war - or after the initial period of work? I have been told that MI6 keep track of where in the world you are and ask for assistance when and where needed. My dad worked on various contracts in West Africa - Nigeria and Cameroon. The whole family went on most of those trips but in 1964 the family were living in the UK and he returned , to Cameroon and died in June 1964. One of the death certificates state "immersion" as the cause. I've managed to contact most of his work colleagues none of whom witnessed the death and say he was probably with French friends from Douala at a party on Mile 9 Beach. He was a very powerful swimmer and familiar with the area, so it's surprising he would drown - despite the reputed rip tide (of which I'm sure he would have aware). My aim of course is to find a witness to the accidental drowning. The man who took over his job (setting up a new branch of the company) and who is the youngest person I have been able to contact, told me that position was his from the beginning, he'd never heard about my father and never heard any gossip regarding the death of a 42 yr old man leaving a wife and three children in the UK.
     
  7. Roy Martin

    Roy Martin Senior Member

    Hi Lindylootoo, The short answer is I don't know, but expect he did as he became a Military Attache at the British Embassy in Washington. He was Major Ardale Vautier Golding, who was one half of the Suffolk Golding Mission in France in 1940. His son thinks he was in Military Intelligence, but the M number he quotes doesn't tie up somehow. That said I have no reason to doubt his son. The Mission got out of Bordeaux a fortnight after Dunkirk. Also on the same cargo ship were gem diamonds worth up to £3 million (then) and all the known stock of heavy water. Both of these items were brought out by other brave idividuals
     
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  8. Lindylootoo

    Lindylootoo Member


    It certainly seems highly likely that he was MI6 - there's quite a lot of information on google/Ancestry/FMP. Suggest you join Forum list - take a look at the "Intelligence Cell". Good luck
     
  9. Roy Martin

    Roy Martin Senior Member

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