Foreword

These are the stories of gallant people whose names deserve to be engraved forever on Canada's roll of honour. Some of them did not survive – were captured, tortured by the Gestapo and then executed. These are stories, simply told, of real heroes, hitherto unsung but no less inspiring despite the passage of time.

Many Canadians fought behind the enemy lines in the Second World War as agents for the British organizations that, stealthily, slowly at first but with growing effectiveness, operated escape routes and sabotage networks in occupied countries. Of these whose names are know, details of their activities are often sketchy, but, as this account points out, all were people of rare courage and dedication. They all knew, without exception, that, if captured, they could not look for the smallest protection from the Geneva convention. And they knew, also, that the risks of capture were high.

Modern warfare, as exemplified by the Second World War, is something the human race has never before experienced. No longer confined to professional armies with rules for conduct and surrender, whole populations are now caught up and engulfed in its toils and agony – men and women, the young and helpless, aged and infirm. Terrorism is a weapon deliberately conceived and put to use. In their blitzkriegs against Poland and the low countries, the German Army drove masses of terrified civilian refugees ahead of them so that they would clog the roads and impede the advance of the Allied forces coming to engage them.

As one country after another fell to the Nazi occupation, a darkness and silence descended, followed shortly by the curfew, the pre-dawn round-up, and mass deportations – all in the name of the new order.

But the leaders of the new order did not reckon with the indomitable courage of the individual. The urge toward freedom is irrepressible. Multiplied many times, it generates a force which cannot be measured in terms of tanks or machine guns firing hundreds of rounds a minute. Many times in the past it has slowed the onslaught of a tyrant and help bring about his downfall. Tolstoy in War and Peace referred to it as the mysterious force of X.

I was priveleged in World War II to have played a role in helping this force to be generated and brought into play. Those who went forth did so as individuals, knowing they would receive no quarter. Most of those who were captured perished after ghastly tortures. But more and more stepped forward to take their places.

I am glad that this tribute to a rare brand of courage and heroism is being published by the Canadian Department of Veterans Affairs. It is testimony to the belief that wars will ultimately cease – not because war becomes too terrible to endure, but because no matter how terrible war becomes, the free spirit of men and women, as exemplified in these brief but moving records, will always survive and rise again like gleaming sparks from the ashes.

William Stephenson

WILLIAM STEPHENSON

William Stephenson is a Canadian who was the chief of British Security Coordination – a world-wide intelligence operation set up by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill during the Second World War. With its headquarters in New York City, its aim was to challenge the spread of Nazism throughout the free world by engaging in underground warfare.

Stephenson, whose code name was "Intrepid," acted as an intermediary between Churchill and United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the crucial final years of the war. After a long period of continued secrecy, historians have now acknowledged that this operation provided an essential back-up to military and political measures in the fighting of the Second World War.

While the undertakings of the British intelligence agencies were traditionally cloaked in secrecy, the exploits of secret agents have long been familiar to the world through the James Bond series of spy novels, parts of which were based on activities of the intelligence operation headed by Stephenson. Their author, Ian Fleming, was an aide to the chief of British Naval Intelligence and actually worked with and received some training from William Stephenson during the Second World War.

Stephenson was knighted after the war for his role in the intelligence operation. His fascinating story is counted in the book A Man Called Intrepid, published by Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich in 1976 and written by another William Stevenson who worked with Sir William but is no relation to him.