Over the past few months I took a break from reading pigeon files so as to have time to learn a bit more about the Special Operations Executive. From that experience I can wholeheartedly recommend two books. The first is Watch for Me by Moonlight by Evelyn Le Chene. The second is SOE in France by M.R.D. Foot. I am now into We Landed by Moonlight by Hugh Verity. It contains a few pages about pigeons.
What follows is an excerpt explaining how pigeons facilitated an SOE agent’s escape from France. Philip Schneidau dropped by parachute in France on October 9/10, 1940.
“In preparation for this trip to France, Philip had, among other things, to do three things: change his appearance, learn about pigeons and arrange for his return journey. He changed his appearance by growing a modest beard and wearing spectacles. He was afraid that his clean-shaven face might be too well known from the days when he had been a hockey international. The pigeons were to be his only means of transmitting a message from France. In those days, portable wireless transmitters for agents were in their infancy. He would have to be able to send a message if there were any difficulty with the Lysander pick-up arranged before leaving England. The only alternatives would be a pick-up by a motor torpedo boat on the coast of Brittany or a long hike over the Pyrenees.
Squadron Leader Rayner explained to him how useful the pigeons would be if they were kept incommunicado from other pigeons, who could have given them other ideas. He advised Philip that the pigeons should be put into a pair of socks before they were carried in a ruck sack. As instructed, Philip purchased a special pair of socks and cut off the toes. Before embarking on the Whitley, he carefully threaded a pigeon into each sock so that their heads stuck out of the holes in the toes.
When he arrived in France, Philip boarded the pigeons with an old friend in the country who had a pigeon loft. Two days later, the Lysander failed to show up as arranged. Unknown to Philip, there was very bad weather over Tangmere. Philip encoded a message to the effect that he was still awaiting transport. He attached copies of this to the pigeons’ legs and allowed them to fly away at 0800 on a Sunday morning, from the Fontainebleau area. At 1630 the same day they arrived at their owners pigeon loft at East Grinstead. Fifteen minutes later, the owner telephoned for a despatch rider. The rider signed for the two little tubes taken off the pigeons’ legs and tore off to the Air Ministry London on his high-powered motor-cycle. The messages were signed for by the duty clerk at 1830, just over 12 hours from the release of the pigeons in France. It took another 13 hours before there was anybody on duty empowered to open them and telephone their message through to the section concerned.”
The story continues with Flight Lieutenant W.J. Farley begging his commanding officer at Tangmere to let him fly out and pick Philip up, in spite of the bad weather. He is given permission. These two men make their way out of France in a courageous fashion. I don’t want to ruin the fun of finding out what happens for you, so I’ll end it here.
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