Mission Summary and Team
Saturday, May 31, 1941
At the Market Near the Palais Saint-Georges
Raymond arrived at the market around 6:30 so as to get a perspective on the situation there. He purchased a meal from one of the vendors and waited for his contacts to arrive. While he was waiting, he spotted Antoinette emerging from an alley. She made her way carefully through the crowed. Raymond noticed that she appeared uncharacteristically anxious. A moment later, a well-dressed man emerged from the same alley. Raymond could tell that he was following her, and that Antoinette was aware of it.
Raymond proceeded to distract her pursuer by interposing himself at a carpet stall, where he surreptitiously impeded the man by assaulting him with a roll of carpet. The man was sufficiently distracted, but not before observing that Antoinette had dropped a wad of paper near the fountain. Antoinette was no where to be seen. The man flashed his Gestapo warrant disk and inspected Raymond’s papers. Raymond talked his way out of any trouble. The man extracted himself and collected the paper that Antoinette had dropped, inspected it, put it in his pocket, and wandered off.
After a few minutes, Antoinette emerged from the building, made eye contact with Raymond, and directed him to a stall where she left a note under a meat cleaver and walked off. Raymond purchased a carpet, in case the Gestapo was watching, and then proceeded to the knife stall, where he bought the knife and note beneath it. He put the note inside the box with the knife, and put the box in the carpet roll.
It was only 7:45 and the meeting was set for 8:00, so Raymond went to the street to negotiate a carpet delivery to the apartment. The draughtsman agreed to wait until 8:30 so as to make the delivery in time to get home before curfew himself. Raymond returned to the market shortly before the appointed time. He scanned the crowd, but did not see the contacts. He waited until 8:15 and then collected his carpet and returned to the apartment.
At the Apartment
Raymond waited a little while before examining the note. In the mean time, he poured red wine on the living room carpet to validate his cover story. The note was encoded. He removed the book code source from its hiding place and decoded the message.
Laurent and Antoinette had been arrested by the Gestapo in possession of explosives and a radio. Antoinette was released after being detained and questioned all day. She had had no contact with Laurent since they were captured. She convinced the Gestapo that she had happened upon a wounded man and as a doctor was treating his broken arm when they were picked up. She was going dark so as to not jeopardize the mission maintaining her cover as a doctor at the POW Hospital.
Raymond drafted an encoded message to Antoinette providing a method of making contact in case she needed support. He planned to leave the message at the dead drop near the fountain at the Market near the Palais Saint-Georges. Then he went to bed.
Sunday, June 1, 1941
At the Apartment
Raymond awoke with a start. It was around 5AM and still dark out. He could hear boots climbing the steps and their landlady berating him and his fellow tenants to the Germans. He quickly gathered up the various papers, the butcher knives, the gold box, and the code book, and attempted to sneak out onto the lower roof. There was a loud creak as he closed the window behind him, but no one seemed to notice.
On the lower roof, he looked about and noted some soldiers on the street in front of the house, and heard voices beyond the building next door to the left. He attempted to jump down to the ground, but landed noisily and caught the attention of more soldiers on that side of the house at the other end of the alley.
The alarm was raised, but Raymond ran full out into a neighboring alley and evaded pursuit. Once clear of the vicinity, he made his way to the garage. Along the way, he traded clothing with a homeless man and muddied his appearance. He skillfully crossed the river without drawing attention to himself, but as he approached the Heer headquarters, which was along his route, he was spotted by a sentry. Quickly, Raymond ran into a crowd and disappeared. Once at the garage, he again found new clothes and worked on altering his appearance.
At Eglaise Saint-Germaine
Patrice, Didier and Jean spent the night in the Eglaise Saint-Germaine. At sunrise, the the priest knocked at the office door and made conversation. They discussed her sore feet and the priest took a guess at what might be ailing her. He was clueless. However Patrice mentioned extensive time in Italy in passing. The priest offered the trio some ersatz coffee and bread.
Patrice asked what they could do in exchange for his generosity. The priest suggested making a donation. He mentioned that unneeded goods would be just as good as cash. Patrice offered her shoes. In exchange, she found another pair of shoes that were nearly new and fit better. She noted that the soles of her old shoes left telling marks that could be followed by an expert. She hid the old shoes at the bottom of the collection bin.
Jean donated the jacket he had been wearing, but he could not find anything that would fit him in exchange. He asked the priest about the statues in the church. The priest explained the story of the brothers Saint Germaine and Saint Alphonse, who were present at the capture of Jerusalem and who brought the ten pillars inside the church back with them.
The priest asked if they would be staying for the service. Jean asked if the service would be in French or Latin. The priest responded with indignation, but added that most of his flock just followed along. Patrice asked if there would be noteworthy members of the community present as they were new in town. The priest replied that the attendance varied given the conditions in the city, the flood of refugees, and inquiries by the Germans among the population.
Jean and Didier went outside to have a smoke. From the gates, they noticed German soldiers posting notices and handing out flyers. An officer approached the church. Jean fled into the church and stood by the votive candles. Didier was accosted by the officer, who handed him a flyer. Examining the flyer, it noted that a Raymond Courmier and a Norris Fournier were wanted by the German authorities for questioning, and offered a 500 franc reward.
The German officer entered the church and was approached by the priest while Jean listened on. The officer informed the priest that the men pictured were wanted for questioning by the German authorities, and anyone who saw them should contact the nearest law enforcement officer. He also gave the priest a handful of flyers to distribute, and then left.
Jean approached the priest and asked if it was common for them to circulate flyers and have him hand out them out to the parishioners. The priest responded that it happened from time to time. Jean asked if any of his parishioners had been arrested. The priest replied that no one had been taken from the church, but that some people would come one week and not come the next, but that that could have been for many reasons.
Patrice asked the priest what they should do if they came across the people being sought. Specifically if it would be better for him to contact the authorities on their behalf. The priest replied that he could not advise her on that. He added, however, that in his experience, those who passed information on to the authorities often found themselves under the scrutiny of them themselves.