In 1952, Francis Cammaerts became the headmaster of Alleyne’s Grammar School in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, a post he held for nine years. A committed pacifist, the pupils and teachers at Alleyne’s knew little of Cammaerts exploits in the Second World War, or his reasons for deciding to play an active part in the conflict.
He
was born on the 16 June 1916, in the London borough of Kensington, the second
child of Émile Leon Cammaerts, a Belgian poet, and his wife Helen Tita Braun, a
Shakespearean actress. The couple moved from Kensington to the Hertfordshire
village of Radlett, where three more children were born, Catherine, Pieter and Jeanne.
Following
a formal education at Mill Hill school, Cambridge University and, later, at St
Catharine’s College, Francis took up a career as a Teacher and, after a short
spell in Belfast, became a schoolmaster at Penge county school for boys. In 1939,
whilst living in Beckenham, Kent, he volunteered as an ARP warden for the
County Council, a part that could be
seen to support the war effort without taking a combative role. By 1940, he had
been refused registration as a conscientious objector by his local tribunal,
but it was granted by the appellate tribunal, conditional upon him taking up
agricultural work. He joined a farm training project at Holton Cum-Beckering,
Lincolnshire, and during this period met Nancy Findlay, whom he forever
referred to as Nan. The couple married shortly after they met on 15th
March 1941.
However,
two weeks later, on the 30th March 1941, his younger brother, Pieter,
was tragically killed while serving in the Royal Air Force. Pieter had enlisted
in the RAF shortly after he outbreak of war, and said of his decision:
“I’m
not the only one. There are many married men crowding the recruiting offices
who understand still less than I do. Besides, I’m not choosing this job because
it’s dangerous — between you and me and the bedpost, I’m scared stiff — but
it’s the best means of avoiding the tedious waiting in muddy trenches. I could
never stand that. The air is clean at least, and if the end comes it will be
short and good.”
On completion of his
training as an Observer, Pieter was posted from No.17 Operational Training Unit
at RAF Upwood, Cambridgeshire, with his two crewmates, Sergeant Leslie Ernest Kiddle,
a trained Pilot who had been in the service since 1937 and Air Gunner Sergeant Ronald
Henry Kniveton, who, like Pieter, had only recently joined up. The three men
were attached to No.101 Squadron, part of 2 Group, Bomber Command, arriving at RAF
West Raynham, Norfolk, on Boxing Day 1940.
Pieter
flew on his first operational mission on the 16 January 1941, when two of the
Squadrons Bristol Blenheim aircraft were ordered to attack the docks at
Boulogne. Owing to thick cloud the crew of the Bristol Blenheim (T2281) were
unable to find their target and were forced to return home with their payload
still aboard. A disappointing start to his active service role.
The
appalling weather in the opening months of 1941 restricted flying operations and
saw Pieter only take part in a further five operational flights. On the 23
March, he and his crew attacked the German city of Hanover, their payload
causing “vivid green explosions”. A week later, on the 30 March their Bristol
Blenheim (T2281) was tasked with an anti-shipping raid on Brest, France. As the
aircraft returned it was forced to make a landing at RAF St Eval, Cornwall. The
Pilot would have been unfamiliar with the airfield and as it came into land overshot
the flare path and crashed onto the runway. Sergeant Pieter Cammaerts and the
pilot, Sergeant Leslie Ernest Kiddle, were killed. The Air Gunner, Sergeant Ronald
Henry Kniveton, was injured in the head and leg and admitted to Truro Hospital.
Kniveton survived the war and returned to his Derbyshire home, where lived
until his death on 5 July 2003.
Pieter
is buried in Christ Church Churchyard Extension, Radlett, Hertfordshire. His
grave carries the following inscription;
It
Does Not Matter What Happens To Us, But How We Behave Under The Ordeals That
Are Given To Us.
The grave of Pieter Cammaerts at Radlett cemetery. (Paul Johnson)
Following the death of his brother, Francis felt he could no longer stand aside, and, as a fluent French speaker, he succumbed to the urging of his friend, Harry Rée, to join the Special Operations Executive (SOE), a secret organisation whose purpose was to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in occupied Europe, and to aid local resistance movements.
Francis
began a period of extensive training in October 1942, but Training staff did
not think highly of him. They reported that he would make a competent sabotage
instructor, but did not appear to have the leadership qualities needed for the
task that was to be assigned to him. However, on the completion of his training
he was appointed the rank of Captain and the given the code name Roger.
Two
years after the death of his brother, on the 23 March 1943, Francis Cammaerts
was flown into occupied northern France having been assigned to the Donkeyman
circuit, which was then operating in the upper Rhône Valley. On arrival, his
reception party drove him first to Paris, with a dangerous disregard for
security that alerted him to the risks of such behaviour. Being over six feet
tall, he felt very conspicuous, so he left Paris by the evening train for
Annecy to join Donkeyman. In Cannes he established a cover as a teacher
recovering from jaundice. This was the only time that he spent more than four
nights in the same place, as security rather than urgency was paramount at that
stage of the war.
After discovering that Donkeyman
had been penetrated by Hugo Bleicher of the Abwehr, the German military
intelligence service, he moved to St Jorioz in the mountains of Savoy, and set
up his own circuit code named Jockey. This comprised of seven or eight
reliable individuals, one of whom was Cecily Lefort (Right), who Francis
described as his “right arm”. After being thoroughly briefed about the
importance of security, the SOE agents set about recruiting potential saboteurs
for when the time was ripe. Cammaerts’ insisted that the key to individual
security was that his agents always had a credible reason for being where they
were, if stopped by a German patrol. However, Cecily Lefort was arrested by the
Gestapo on 15 September 1943, possibly after being betrayed, and after
considerable interrogation and maltreatment was sent to Ravensbruck
concentration camp. She was transferred to Uckermark Camp in early 1945, and it
was here that she was executed in the gas chamber.
Despite
the devastating loss of Lefort, and the potential implications it brought for Jockey,
by the end of 1943 Cammaerts had made sure his circuit was ready to play its
part in any sabotage that might be required. Following the Normandy Landings,
the Jockey circuit, in conjunction with other SOE circuits, cut railway
lines and helped to severely hinder German troop and machinery movements. Francis
Cammaerts was appointed head of Allied missions in south-eastern France, and
had, by this time, built up an organisation consisting of more than 10,000
people.
In
August 1944 the Allies invaded southern France (Operation Dragoon), and the Jockey
circuit and other SOE teams again played their parts. They kept open the route
from Cannes to Grenoble, allowing the Allied armies to get clear of the lower
Rhône valley. It was at this point that, despite his meticulous care for
security that Cammaerts, Xan Fielding and another colleague were arrested by
the Gestapo in Digne. The Gestapo probably did not realise Cammaerts’
significance.
Krystyna
Skarbek, a young Polish SOE operative who had avoided arrest, managed to get
Cammaerts and the others released. She confronted two collaborators, Albert
Schenck, a French liaison officer to the Gestapo and a Belgian interpreter,
telling them that US troops would arrive within hours and that if they did not
co-operate she would ensure the pair were handed over to an avenging mob of
French citizens. The terrified collaborators succeeded in getting Cammaerts,
Fielding and their colleague released.
Cammaerts’
time in occupied France, 15 months in total, now came to an end. He was
promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel, awarded the Distinguished Service Order and the
Legion d’honneur, Croix de Guerre and the American Medal of Freedom for his
exploits in southern France. As in the case of others who operated in
enemy-held territory for prolonged periods, he gave a great deal of credit to
the ordinary French citizens who had provided him and his colleagues with
safety and comfort.
Following
his time at Alleyne’s Grammar School in Stevenage, he became the Principal of
the Leicester Teacher Training college in Scraptoft, between 1961 and 1966. It
was during this period that tragedy struck, when his daughter, Christine, died
from the effects of Hydrocephalus. Francis then moved to Kenya to help with the
development of the countries education system in the immediate post-colonial
period. He became Professor of Education in Nairobi from 1966-72 and later returned
to England, to become head of Rolle College, a teacher training college at
Exmouth, Devon, which later became part of University of Plymouth. In 1981,
aged 65, he came out of retirement to start a teacher training college in
Botswana. He had a major impact on the development of education on all levels
in the country, which had the most advanced policies on the African continent.
Francis
Cammaerts finally retired in 1987, returning to live with his beloved wife in
the south of France. Nancy passed away in 2001 and Francis remained alone until
his death in on the 3 July 2006 at the age of 90.
Sources:
National
Archives – AIR 27 Series
Ancestry.com
Findmypast.com
Forcesrecords.com
