The Freedom Line: The Brave Men and Women Who Rescued Allied Airmen from the Nazis During World War II

The Allies began heavy strategic bombing of Nazi-occupied Europe in 1942. Initially, their losses of planes and crews were very heavy due to lack of long-range fighter support and anti-aircraft fire. On one raid alone, the United States reported it lost 600 airmen. When they could escape their damaged planes, these airmen parachuted into Nazi-occupied countries, primarily, France, Belgium and the Netherlands. The race to get top these downed airmen was then on. The Nazis sought to capture and imprison them. The resistance movements sought to hide them from the Nazis and to eventually repatriate them to England from where they could continue the fight against the Nazis. The resistance movements used various tactics to repatriate the downed airmen. One of the most successful of these tactics was originated by a young Belgian girl, Andree de Jongh (Deedee"), whose father as imprisoned and eventually executed by the Nazis. She organized resistance members who, at the risk of their own lives, provided food, clothing, and false identification papers, and guided them to safety in Spain.. Her organization became known as the "Comet Line." Lynn Olson, in her recent book entitled "Last Hope Island," describes some of the exploits of this organization. At the commencement of "The Freedom Line," de Jongh is betrayed by putative cohort . She is imprisoned by the Nazis and sentenced to death (though she survived the war and led a long, productive life). "The Freedom Line" describes the daring tactics of those who took over management of the Comet Line. Usually they saved and hid the airmen in attics and basements until they could be moved in small groups to Paris. From Paris they went in disguise to the French- Spanish border. There they hiked over the Pyrenees to San Sebastian, Pamplona, or Bilbao where English diplomats moved them to English-held Gibraltar. From there they were sent either by ship or air back to England. Interestingly, the United States diplomats in Spain. presumably acting on orders from Washington, refused to help the rescued airmen, most of whom were from the United States. They refused apparently out of ear of offending Franco. It was estimated that the Comet Line saved between 600 and 700 airmen, most of whom were Americans. In late 1943 and early 1944 the Allied strategic bombing of occupied Europe intensified in anticipation of D Day (June 6, 1944). This greatly increased the work of the Comet Line though the Allies slowly gained air superiority over the Luftwaffe due in part,, at least, to the introduction of the P-51 long-range fighter which could accompany the bombers to their targets and protect them on their way back to England and Scotland. This book will be of interest to World War II history Buffs. It selects an American B-17 pilot, Robert Grimes, and follows him from the moment he bails out of his crippled B-17 and lands in occupied Belgium until he is delivered eventually to the British in Spain. Along the way he is cared for by members of the Comet Line who in doing so are constantly risking their own lives. His life, also, is continually at risk. Other airmen and local patriots lose their lives to traitors and Nazis along the way. It is well-written and researched As one can imagine, it is very suspenseful. This is a 5 star non-fiction book.

I’ve known about the French Resistance, but I became more intrigued about them after reading the biography of “Nancy Wake” by Peter FitzSimons; which lead me to read “The Freedom Line: The Brave Men and Women Who Rescued Allied Airmen from the Nazis During World War II” by Peter Eisner.“The Freedom Line” is the heroic and epic true story of a small group of Belgian, French, and Basque who rescued downed allied airmen throughout western Europe. Their efforts were nothing short of remarkable and awe inspiring. The book is well-researched and reads like an action espionage war novel.I’ve read numerous books about WW2, but “The Freedom Line” was a revelation and an inspiration to me. Weeks after finishing the book, I still think about the heroism of the men and women of “The Comet Line” and what they accomplished under extreme physical duress and stress, the deadly risk to their lives and their families, the paranoia fear of traitors among them (i.e., double agents), and being constantly hunted by the Nazis. Those who were caught by the Nazis and survived being tortured and imprisoned in Nazi death camps must have suffered extreme PTSD after the war.For the most part, the men and women who organized the rescue of downed allied airmen were untrained civilians. As a uniformed military person under orders from a superior, there are duties and assumed risks during wartime, but not so for civilians. As non-combatant civilians, they had no duty to risk their lives to save down allied airmen. Nevertheless, they did so without compensation and at great risk to them and their families. I sometimes wonder if I would have had the courage to do the same things as they did.The one fact that “The Freedom Line” covered that I found especially interesting was the “neutrality” of Francisco Franco’s Spain and the distinctly unique Basque people. “The Freedom Line” gave me a better understanding and appreciation of the tragic history and the on-going struggles of the Basque.

Like the first reviewer, I too found this book 'too American' and the style of writing is very distinctive of a modern account, by a second generation admirer of the war participants. For this reason, I marked it down one star. Additionally there were questionable facts appearing that did not detract from the story, but did make me stop to reflect that this author was not a military historian, ( a Lysander was characterised as a glider, and Patton was storming up the Italian peninsula in spring 44 approaching Rome) but a man who married a Basque, and rightly is proud of their contributions during the war.Notwithstanding the above, this was a very respectful account of the Comet line work, interlaced with an American pilot's escape thro the line. The two storylines alternated chapter about, until the pilot made it to Spain. What made this book different from others on the Comet line, was the focus on members other than Dedee and Florentino. I was also surprised by the understatement of the role of Tante Go, always quoted at the primary stopping point before the border crossing. (Amusing that the author was prepared to use the nom de guerre of Franco and Lily, but the American reading public can't make the jump of using the French nickname of Tante Go, and had to Americanise it to Auntie Go, and create her husband as Uncle, where no use was ever made during the war)Another subtle problem I had was - the Errol Flynn effect, whereby the American's won the war, were the only participants, and the British only featured where there was no contribution to the story that an American would fulfil. The French resistance only featured as the hired assassins. If I respect this book was written for the American market, and the Americans did actively feature in the war, then I got over it, but it's always there in any similar modern treatments.I was very surprised there were no pictures featuring in this book, either of the principal Comet line participants, or of the pilot, whose story was interwoven thro the account. It definitely would have added colour.Good book, but I am going to refresh my understanding of other books on the subject to see if I can square the circle, on the roles of the primary participants to this account.

A very readable exploration of what it was like for evading air crew shot down over Europe and their Belgian and Basque guides who in large numbers risked and gave their lives for our freedom. For a British reader there are some irritating Americanisms, two nations divided by a language?! ;). Interesting that Franco was supplying US fuel to the Nazis to shoot down their own planes. Interesting that Portugal and Spain supplying the tungsten to Nazis for weapons and machine tools...Nadine Dumont interviews have appeared on BBC History programmes - very moving. These brave people chose to fight for freedom, often went to the camps or were simply executed following brutal torture, few returned. N'oubliez jamais!

Great history lesson. Wonderful comet line people. I wonder if it was made a film. A great British man airey neave. Should have a statue outside parliament so those idiots can see a real hero.

Had a relative, RCAF, who with the help of these people, escaped France after being shot down. This book helped me to understand the ordeal he went through. Very enlightening.

Good story