St. Jean de Luz is a quiet seaside town in southwestern France. It’s a favorite destination for Parisians who want to take a break and get away from it all. During WWII, this quiet little town, even though occupied by Nazis, was a critical node in Operation Comet – a network for smuggling downed Allied airmen out of Europe.
Even when occupied by Nazi forces, St. Jean de Luz was still a quiet little fishing town. But there was more to this little fishing town than met the eye. The Nazis knew something was going on, they just didn’t have much luck doing anything about it.
What was going on? Plenty!
Allied airmen who had been shot down as far east as Belgium were being smuggled out of Europe and back to safety in England. St Jean de Luz, occupied or not, was a critical stop along the way.
The smuggling effort, called the Operation Comet, was started by a Belgian woman named Andrée de Jongh. After personally escorting numerous airmen to safety, she established a clandestine network of routes and safe houses across Belgium and France to get them to England.
The Nazis knew downed airmen were disappearing. It was a high-stakes game of cat and mouse between the Gestapo and the Resistance. Unfortunately, Andrée de Jongh ultimately got captured. After multiple unsuccessful interrogations she was sent to a concentration camp in Germany. (Somehow, she managed to survive the war).
The best route to smuggle airmen out of Europe was by way of Spain. But operating in Spain was almost as dangerous as in occupied France. Franco had his own Gestapo-trained heathens, the Guardia Civil, to hunt down escaping airmen.
French and Belgian Resistance fighters escorted pilots to St. Jean de Luz. Basque Resistance fighters took it from there. It turns out that smuggling was right up their alley.
Smugglers
Basques have a proud history of being adept smugglers. But smuggling is a bad thing, right? Well….
If you’re a Basque living in Spain or a Basque living in France, chances are that in your heart, you’re a Basque first and a Spaniard or Frenchman second.
The French/Spanish border runs right through Basqueland. Both countries have laws, levies, and taxes pertaining to items crossing the border, none of which, from the Basque perspective, have any benefit at all. For Basques, the Spanish/French border is an imaginary line dividing their homeland in two.
Over the years, Basques became adept at avoiding rules and costs associated with border restrictions. That meant smuggling goods – sheep, shoes, wine, or whatever – through the rugged passes of the Pyrenees.
As mountain ranges go, the Pyrenees aren’t especially high, but they’re steep and rough. Some areas are forested, others are nothing but bare rock – not good for travelers, but great for smugglers.
Operation Comet
Using the routes and safe houses of Operation Comet, French Resistance fighters escorted downed airmen to St. Jean de Luz. The Gestapo was there, on the hunt for them. Anyone caught aiding the enemy would be interrogated, and if still alive afterwards, sent to a concentration camp.
On dark nights, late, well after all was quiet, Basque smugglers set out with their Allied refugees. After reaching a secure place to cross the Bidassoa river, they’d head up through old smuggling trails in total darkness. It wasn’t easy going. Nor was it easy after getting across the mountains.
Franco’s dreaded Guardia Civil patrolled the Spanish side of the Pyrenees, on the hunt for smugglers and their airmen. When daylight came, smugglers laid low in villages and farm houses in the Basque countryside. Many a downed pilot has told of the great meals provided to them by Basque families.
The airmen were taken under cover to the British consulate in Bilbao. From there, British agents got them out of Spain either by air or by sea, typically departing from Lisbon.
It’s hard to imagine St. Jean de Luz as a center for the Resistance and Operation Comet. Hard to imagine, and easy to forget, so there’s a bronze plaque here to remind us.
To be continued…
Note:
The map at the top of this post is from here. If you want more details about theses activites on the Spanish side of the border, this is a great place to find them.
