This is Captain Harratt’s actual report that he wrote concerning the ‘Pedlar Mission’ for which he was awarded a Bar to his Military Cross.
In early April 1944, I was appointed second in command to Pedlar Mission, which was due to leave for the field at the end of the month. After various delays, over which the members of the mission had no control, I decided that as I could no longer be parachuted I would infiltrate myself across Spain as the Mission had been provisionally assigned an area south of the Loire, and Lysander operations as far south as this were difficult, if not impossible.
I reached Gibraltar on June 6th and was infiltrated clandestinely into Spain on June 17th, reaching Madrid the next day, where I remained until on July 12th I received information from London that the remainder of the Mission had been successfully parachuted into France on July 10th. I was told to report to COCLOIS, some 30 kilometres north-east of TROYES, a point about 160 kilometres east-south-east of Paris. This was the first I had heard of the new area assigned to the Mission.
In view of the state of affairs in France at this time (July 12th), I asked London whether they could bring me back to the UK, and Lysander me to the area as it was many hundreds of miles north of where I expected to be sent. I was told that Lysander operations to this area were impossible, but that VIC was due in Spain on the 17th and that I could wait for his arrival and go in with him.
I decided that in view of the delay already incurred I would proceed alone, but was informed by DIF Section, Madrid, that no lines existed at that moment, and that I should have to wait for VIC in any case.
In due course, VIC arrived on the 21st, and the two of us went up to Barcelona the same night. VIC made every effort to reconstruct a line, in spite of the arrests of several of his helpers on the Spanish side soon after our arrival.
Finally, I moved up to the Andorra frontier on 9th august in a milk tanker. The safe house on the Spanish side of the frontier was closed, so we moved on another 6 kilometres to another village where we were unable to wake the owners of another safe house. It was now 0500 hours and getting light, so I hid in an isolated hen-cum-rabbit coop for nineteen hours and was finally picked up after dark the next night, and taken to the safe-house where LAWRENCE – a DIF agent also on his way to France – joined me, a few hours later.
Here we remained for about three nights, hidden in a bedroom and finally walked by night on mountain paths to the village of SAN JULIA, ten kilometres south of the city of ANDORA. During this stage of the journey, I fell over a small cliff and injured my knee. Luckily we had a three-day delay in SAN JULIA waiting for guides, which enabled me to get on my feet again. On the night of August 17th, we were taken by car to a village some eight kilometres north of ANDORA city, and the following dawn started across the mountains.
The less said about the crossing the better. It is an absolute nightmare for anyone who is not 100% physically fit and strong, a state of health very difficult to maintain after spending several days in cramped quarters immediately before crossing.
I want to pay tribute to the excellence of the two guides with which LAWRENCE and I were supplied. They know the route perfectly and assisted me in countless ways.
Finally, after thirty hours march with a four-hour rest, after going up to a height of over 9000 feet, we reached the outskirts of TARASCON, changed into respectable clothes, threw away all our equipment, and walked six kilometres into TARASCON which we reached at 1400 hours on the 19th August.
From there we went by bicycle to FOIX. Here we were supposed to contact another guide, but he could not be found. So the same evening we tried to go to TOULOUSE by train. The train started two hours late and only went eight kilometres owing to the activities of F Section, who had successfully blown the line in daylight. So we walked the next eleven kilometres to PAMIERS, getting a lift for a short distance in a car.
We reached PAMIERS shortly before dark and were told there was no train service to TOULOUSE. A few minutes later a train came south from TOULOUSE containing some German officers and men. The train was attacked in the station by local F.F.I. elements, and a general fight ensued in the station yard. When the trouble had died down, LAWRENCE and I took a bedroom in the station hotel and tried to get some sleep.
Two hours later our bedroom was filled with a highly excited mob of F.T.P, armed to the teeth, who demanded our papers. We had anticipated something of the sort and had decided that, should it occur, the best thing to do was to declare ourselves as British Officers. This was particularly necessary as far as I was concerned, in view of my accent.
At first, we were not believed, and the leader of the party wished to shoot us immediately. I suggested that before doing so he should contact any British Officer serving with the Maquis in the area, should such an officer exist. He admitted the existence of such an officer and agreed to my proposal. Our two guides were also arrested, and left in the Gendarmerie at PAMIERS, whilst we proved our bona fides. I agreed to pick up the guides as soon as possible, as they were the only people who knew my TOULOUSE contact.
LAWRENCE and I were taken by car and on foot during the remainder of the night to the BOIS DE LA BELENE, fourteen kilometres due east of PAMIERS, where later in the morning we met Major PROBERT, in charge of a group of Spanish Maquis, and were O.K’d by him. We remained two nights at his headquarters in the woods – whilst he continued the liberation of FOTX.
As soon as FOlX was cleared of the Germans the Prefet lent us his car, and I went to PAMlERS to pick up the guides and continue to TOULOUSE.
Administrative confusion reigned at PAMIERS, which was under the control of the F.T.P, and although I searched every cell in four separate prisons, I could not find the guides, whom I was told had been kept in custody to await my return. I was finally informed that the truth of the matter was, as soon as I had been arrested, the guides had been released by the local F.T.P. I could only conclude that they had returned to ANDORRA.
I got an “ordre de mission” at PAMIERS addressed to Colonel RAVANEL, F.F.I. Military Governor of TOULOUSE, and continued on my journey. I saw the Colonel the same night at TOULOUSE, which was in the process of being liberated. I told him I was a British Officer on a mission to the north of France. He asked me, did I know anyone called BUCKMASTER, and if so, what was his Christian name? I replied “Maurice”, and he told me he would check with London as to my bona fides before allowing me to proceed, and that I should return in two or three days’ time.
That night after a comparatively little difficulty, I found lodgings in a poor area and returned the following morning to RAVANEL’s headquarters to try to hurry up the reply from London.
By sheer good fortune, I ran into a London-trained agent whom I had previously transported to France, on one of my seaborne missions. This agent vouched for me to RAVANEL and I was immediately supplied with an “Ordre de mission” to every F.F.I. unit in France, to facilitate my passage across the country.
I acquired a motor car in the course of the day and arranged to depart the same night. Fortunately, as it turned out, the car was not ready till the following morning, and in the meantime, I contacted, again by pure chance, GEORGE of the VIC circuit, who had originally been entrusted with the task of finding an escort for me across France. He supplied me with a courier.
Very little information was available as to the conditions in the centre of France, so I painted a white star on the roof of my car, hoisted a Tricolour, and set off north hoping for the best We travelled entirely by secondary roads. All telephonic communication had been cut, with the exception of the private lines running between railway stations. I took advantage of this by going to each station on my line of advance and telephoning up the line to find out what conditions were for the next ten or fifteen miles. This system worked extremely well.
But on several occasions, on creeping into villages, we would see the Germans still in occupation, usually milling around the village square, packing up before withdrawing. On these occasions, we went out quietly in reverse gear and found a way around. This, needless to say, led to countless detours. This and the fact that all principle bridges had been blown-up, considerably delayed our passage, particularly in the last stages. This can be best illustrated by the fact that the last seventy kilometres took eight hours to cover.
Finally, after fifty-six hours of continuous driving, stopping only for petrol and oil and a period of four hours of sleep, this worked perfectly, which was a great relief.
I moved on immediately to NOGENT-sur-AUBE on the instructions of the contact. Here I expected to meet Major BODINGTON, but was instead arrested, this time by a JED team, which I subsequently discovered had landed only twelve hours previously. The French member of the team completely disbelieved my story that I was a British officer “on mission”, took not the slightest notice of RAVANEL’s “Ordre de mission“, placed me under an armed guard, and said that he would have me shot if I was unable to prove my identity within twenty-four hours.
I then remembered the alternative contact given to me by F Section, and asked him, if he would not allow me to do so if he would make it for me. This he and the English Major in charge of the JED team agreed to do. After a short delay, IVAN (DIPLOMAT) and his W/T operator were brought to me. By an amazing coincidence, the W/T operator was also an agent who in April last I had transported to France on my last seaborne mission. He immediately identified me and all was well.
DIPLOMAT told me that he had been in contact with PEDLAR (Major BODINGTON), who was now in the Marne, and that the following morning he would be able to put me in touch with someone who he hoped would be able to help find my Mission.
That night I slept in a barn with DIPLOMAT and his W/T. In the early hours of the morning, two German Staff cars went past the barn. The three of us, accompanied by some 10 F.F.I. gave chase, and the Germans, after being shot up, abandoned their cars and got into a farmhouse. We took up position in a farmhouse some thirty yards away on the opposite side of the road and fought them until mid-day when the only remaining member of the German team surrendered.
The same afternoon I went, accompanied by one of DIPLOMATS guides, to a chateau, the name of which I have forgotten, where I met the owner – FRANCOIS – running his own Resistance Group. He told me that he did not know where PEDLAR was, but that he knew the whereabouts of Lieutenant CORMIER, another member of the PEDLAR group.
Finally, as night was falling, after shooting our way through a halted German convoy at MONTIER-en-DER, we found Lieutenant CORMIER, and some thirty men hidden in a forest. I got the exact address of PEDLAR, and the name of the man known to FRANCOIS, who could take me to him.
I took FRANCOIS home, as he was expecting a reception that night, and tried to get back to NOGENT, but unfortunately came upon a group of at least 50 German tanks, harboured for the night on both sides of my road, and had to lie low.
Finally, I returned at dawn to MONTIER to make contact with the guide who could take me to PEDLAR. Here I was informed that when we had shot up the convoy the previous afternoon, they had been on the point of departure, but as a result of our attack had put out defensive positions around the town until nightfall, when they had moved. This section definitely delayed the withdrawal of the convoy for at least four hours.
At this point, I abandoned my car, got into a small Gasogene truck, and started out for PEDLAR’s headquarters at BOUZY, on the north bank of the MARNE, between CHALONS and EPERNAY.
Unfortunately, we got blocked in an American convoy. A few moments later the German anti-tank guns opened up from a range of 200 yards, but after two or three salvos, presumably ran short of shells as they destroyed their guns and disappeared.
After extricating myself from the convoy, I went on across side roads and finally reached CONDE-sur-MARNE. The bridge here was destroyed, and the Germans were holding the north bank. I went along the south bank of the river to TOURS and found the same conditions prevailing, and finally to BISSEUIL where an interesting situation prevailed. The bridge was blown and fairly strongly held on the north bank by the Germans, but a considerable quantity of horse-drawn transport, and more important still, several Staff officers and cars had been left on the south bank.
The Germans were feverishly trying to rebuild the bridge in order to evacuate that part of their forces left on the south. I had a chat with them on the bridge and asked them how long it would take to repair, as I thought I might as well use it also. They said they did not know that they would ever be able to repair it in time.
My situation was now awkward as I could not possibly go back through the American lines without a great risk of getting shot for having been into the German lines, and gone back. If I remained where I was chatting with the Germans, T should most certainly be arrested on the arrival of the Americans. Neither could I cross the MARNE. So I went along a cart track in the forest to the village of PLIVOT, where I acquired a bicycle, and hid the truck in a farmyard. With the bicycle, I went back to the river, and finally found a stretch of about 100 yards on a bend which appeared from the lay of the land to be out of view of the German machine-gun posts. At this point, I left the bicycle and swan the MARNE.
From here I walked back to TOURS acquired another bicycle and arrived at PEDLAR’s headquarters at BOUZY at nightfall.
From here on, until my return to the UK, my activities are incorporated in the official PEDLAR Mission report.
