13.
Seeing through the Fog


The Nacht und Nebel prisoners were supposed to disappear but I have the following information on there experiences in the rest of the war and afterwards.

Louisa Deloge in 1958

LOUISA DELOGE. After receiving her 5 year term of imprisonment (Release date set as September 12 1946 at 1800h).Louisa did enforced work for the Krupp factory in Essen and was witness to the heavy bombing of the city by the allied air forces. In order to gain favours from the female warders she relied on her skills as a milliner and made them fashionable hats. On October 21st 1943, she was taken to a prison for women at Lubeck-Lauerhof where she was detained until the 9th May 1944.
Louisa Deloge meeting Queen Fabiola 18 June 1986
Louisa Deloge meeting
Queen Fabiola of Belgium
19 June 1986
She was then moved again. On the 10th, she arrived at the women's prison (Frauenzuchthaus)in Jauer in Lower Silesia and remained there for 9 months. On January 28th 1945 what was known as the march of the death started. Louisa DELOGE passed the last 3 months of her captivity in the prison of Aichach in Bavaria. It is there that she was freed on 13th May 1945 by the Americans and repatriated to Belgium, she arrived on the 15th May in Liege. She was then hospitalized until 18 October 1945.

So Louisa survived the war, she re-opened her millinery business at 100 Rue General Capiaumont and in the 1970's married Victor-Adonis Randour, her long time companion and the man she recruited into the group. She was widowed a few years later and died at Godinne on the 3rd January 1994 age 87. She was buried in Malonne, Namur.




Yvonne
Yvonne in 1958

Yvonne DELOGE. After the trial and sentencing Yvonne stayed in Essen until the 19th October 1943.
She was then taken to the prison of Lubeck-Lauerhof where she stayed from the 21st October 1943 to May 9th 1944, when she was transferred again. On the 10th, she entered the women's prison (Frauenzuchthaus) in Jauer, Lower Silesia (now Jawor near Wroclaw formerly Breslau Poland )as prisoner number 155/ 4. On an indeterminate date, she was probably taken to the prison of Schweinditz also in Lower Silesia now called Swidnica Poland between Wroclaw (Breslau) and Walbrzych. On the November 8th 1944, the camp entry register of Ravensbruck recorded the arrival of Yvonne DELOGE and she was assigned the prisoner number 83489. On March 7th 1945 Yvonne was on a transport with about 2,000 Nacht und Nebel prisoners that left Ravensbrück and which arrived at Mauthausen Concentration camp near Linz in Austria soon after.




Yvonne's arrival in Mauthausen recorded in documentation.

She remembered being in the quarries that were part of the camp. On April 12 she was put in the camp hospital where she was freed on the 22nd April by the Swiss Red Cross who sent her 2 days later to Switzerland. She was suffering from entéritis, oedema, pleuresy, bronchitis, tachycardia (abnormally rapid beating of the heart), bad teeth , other conditions and general weakness , On the 7 May 1945, she was hospitalized in St.Gall. She was repatriated to Brussels on June 16 1945 and again hospitalized until the 29 October 1945.

Mauthausen Concentration camp near Linz in Austria in 1947.


After the war Yvonne married Marcel Corbeau and lived in Beez and Floreffe near Namur they had one daughter Marceline Francoise (1949-2000). She continued working for Bon Marche but in their Namur store. Yvonne was an eternally cheerful person despite the hardships she had suffered. Like most concentration camp survivors her health though was never good and she died of cancer at the age of 63 in 1973.


Alfred Jones

Bombardier Alfred George JONES 815209 born on the 18th August 1914 from Aberavon, Port Talbot, Wales, he attended The Mountain Junior School Aberavon and went on to the Trefelin School, Velindre both in the Port Talbot district. Leaving school at 14 he became a tin worker but as a work was scarce in South Wales in the 20's and 30's like a lot of young Welshmen, he joined the Army.


Alfred Jones (4th from left standing) when he joined the army.


He enlisted at Port Talbot into the Royal Artillery on the 19th August 1931 aged 17, he had added a year to his age so he could join up. After training he was posted to the 22/24 Brigade and on the 14th February 1934 he was posted to the 12/25 Brigade in India. He served in India, mainly in the North West of the country, until the 29th November 1937 and was released to the Army Reserve on the 29th February 1938. He rejoined the army on the 21st April 1939 and was posted to the 23rd Field Regiment 25th May 1939 and sent to France to join the British Expeditionery Force on the 28th September 1939. After the trial in Essen Alfred was acquitted, but from information
supplied by his brother and other sources, he was first taken to SACHSENHAUSEN- (ORANIENBURG Concentration Camp). Although the Germans knew he was a British soldier he was treated as a "Nebel und Nacht" political prisoner. He was in a "Kommando", made to try out boots for the German military by walking in them to test their strength. The prisoners were made to walk around a semi-circular area, the Appelplatz, which had different surfaces along it - grass, asphalt, stones etc. They were forced round and round the track all day walking about twenty five kilometres carrying thirty pound packs on their backs whilst living on starvation rations. If they dropped they were kicked and the dogs set upon them. Occasional halts were made for a man in civilian clothes to inspect the boots and make notes.

Despite this treatment Alfred's health, which was bad after his years of imprisonment, did improve in the camp as he was helped by the other prisoners. Norwegian prisoners of which there were several hundred in the camp were for some reason allowed to receive parcels of food, as though they were ordinary POW's. These they shared with the other prisoners, they probably gave away more food parcels than they kept for themselves. In June 44 he was taken to NATZWEILER concentration camp in Alsace. In August 44 to ALLACH camp adjoining the BMW factory. By 1944 there were as many as 20,000 workers at Allach, including 3000 POWs and up to 5000 concentration camp inmates, many from nearby Dachau, producing radial aircraft engines. He left this camp on the 15th of September 1944. The Museum at Dachau informs me that Alfred Jones was a prisoner number 98277 in Dachau Concentration Camp from September 4th 1944 to September 22nd 1944.

Then he was transported to the Concentration Camp at Mauthausen arriving 16th September 1944 according to Mauthausen records . Prisoners with him at the same time in Natzweiler, Dachau and Mauthausen included Ian Kenneth "Johnny" HOPPER an Englishman who had conducted a one-man war against the Germans in occupied France and Robert PERRIER known as Robert le Kid a professional boxer with underworld connections. Also there was Lieutenent Brian Stonehouse a clandestine wireless operator for Special Operations Executive (SOE), John Starr a SOE agent and Lieutenant Commander Pat O'Leary R.N. who was in reality a Belgian Army Doctor Albert Guerisse founder of the Pat Line which was the other main escape line with Comete. Pat O'Leary knew Alfred in Natzeiler. It is likely Alfred was involved in the boxing matches organised by the SS. His family were told that he died in Dachau on the 1st April 1945. In the files at the Public Record Office Norwegian prisoners describe Alfred being shot after slapping a German across the face, this must me mistaken identity. But in part of a letter sent from Dresden on the 18th July 1947 by Franz Schwark who was a friend of Alfred's in Mauthausen describes what actually happened to Alfred.

"................ In October 1944 all the prisoners considered as dangerous for the State were transferred from Sachsenhausen (Berlin) to Mauthausen (Austria), I was still with him until March 1945, he then became ill (malnutrition) and was therefore not be able to work.
Then the Waffen SS remembered he was in the camp for espionage. Alfred was , at the beginning of March, with 52 Germans and Austrians, brought to the gas chambers, killed and cremated.
You ask if I could tell you where his grave is, there is no grave because in this camp 180,000 men were murdered, and there are no graves, everybody was incinerated and the ashes were dispersed.......................Lonely and alone I may remember him as he was my best friend and comrade, and he died as an honest man. I can tell you that the SS of the Mauthausen concentration camp were hanged and among them were the murderers of Alfred........"


The date of Alfred's death on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission records is given as the 9th November 1944 which differs from Franz Schwark's account. It may be that Schwark made a mistake with the dates as in November 1945 Lieutenant-Commander Pat O'Leary in a letter to a Captain Galitzine who was investigating deaths in Mauthusen states.
"I myself knew Freddy Jones personally from June to September 1944 in Natzweiller"
He states that Robert Perrier was with Alfred at his last moments when he was gassed in November 1944.
The various records held in the Mauthausen Memorial Archives show Alfred arriving at the camp on the 16th September 1944 from Dachau. He is described as Alfred Jones born 18/4/1914, place of birth Port Talbot, an officer, prisoner number 98320, a British soldier in protective custody. He is shown to have died on the 9th November 1944 in the register of official executions.
In the book "The History of the Concentration Camp Mauthausen" by Hans Marsalek on page 244 it states " an Englishman not known by name was executed by a shot in the neck on the 9th November 1944." This would seem to be refering to Alfred.
His name is remembered with honour on the DUNKIRK MEMORIAL. See Dunkirk Memorial page.

His friends and family did not know what had happened to Alfred though, airman Leonard Jones, Alfred's brother, was allowed by the RAF to travel to Brussels to try to find out what had happened to him. He wrote to their parents:-
Brussels
29/7/1945

Dear Mum And Dad
As I expect you know by now I have been in Brussels for three days trying to found out something about Alf. I am no nearer finding where he is now than before I went but at least I do know a lot that happened to him while he was free. I stayed at the Haeseleer's the last place he stayed at before he was caught.
Before I tell you any more I think it would be better to tell you a little about who the people were hew worked with. At present you only know their names.
Mme. Colet was the woman he stayed with after he came to Brussels from the village where he escaped. She was caught a few months before Alf. M. Strens, his mother and brother. They are a firm of funeral directors in Brussels. M Strens was the leader of the party and died in Germany. His wife and child have been living in Hastings for the last five years.
The d'Haeseleer family. Mother, father, son and daughter. Only the daughter Elsa speaks English. Alf stayed there for three months before he was caught. They didn't help in the underground movement at all but gave Alf food and shelter because they belong to the village where Alf escaped.
Paul Lurquin. A lawyer before the war, now a Major in the Belgian Military Government. I think his job now is to sort out all the evidence against Belgians who were said to have helped Jerry. There ate a lot of others in the story but they are not important as they only say the same as the rest.
The Germans used to bring the prisoners back through Belgium into Germany. It was from one of these convoys Alf and two others escaped while they were in this village ( I don't know the name). The villagers gave them civilian clothes and must have got identity cards as well . There was a Belgian there who had been in America for ten years . I think it must have been there Alf was speaking about in that letter to his girl.
He must have been in this village for a time before going to Brussels. His two mates tried to get back to England they ought to have written to you. I don't know what Alf was doing with the underground movement but he must have been in a few scrapes. I can't trace Mme. Colet anywhere now but she has Paul Lurquin that if we hear from Alf up to three months after VE Day she has something to tell you. She didn't say what so you will have wait until sometime next month to see. She was in a very bad way when she came back from Germany and went to the Ardennes to recuperate.
It must have been after she was taken away that Alf went to the Haeseleer's. He told them a few of the things he did but not much. He used to go out from there and didn't always go back the same day. He never told them where he had been. He had a few narrow escapes from the Gestapo. I'll have to tell you about them as it takes too long to write them.
He was caught accidently. He was playing cards one night at about 1am when the Gestapo went round looking for a Jew. This jew was one of the crowd. They were all taken in as a precaution and it was while he was in prison they started to find out what he had been doing. They were nearly all caught by this time. They tried to get Alf to tell them where he had been staying but they failed because the Haeseleers were never bothered.
As I told you they could not speak English. Elsa couldn't speak much then so you see must have been speaking French. When he was in St.Gilles prison he wrote a letter in French to Elsa.
The funny part is that although he told Paul Lurquin almost everthing that went on he told him he could not speak French. ( They didn't meet until they were in St. Gilles prison). He taught Lurquin to speak English. Lurquin must have been a bit dumb then because he said he often wondered why Alf asked for the newspaper and talked about the news after. Also he said that Alf knew every dog and horse in Belgium and worked out a system while they were together. They couldn't bet in prison of course but on paper they averaged a 1000 francs win a day. And it wasn't until I called there with Elsa Haeseleer that he (Lurquin) learned Alf could speak French. I don't understand Alf's reason for that neither do I understand why when he was known as Alfred Jones at St Gilles prison he went under a Belgian name in Germany.
Lurquin has traced Alf as far as Sept 15th 1944 but doesn't know at what prison he was then.
Friday morning as I was coming away from Brussels I was told that Mme.Strens wanted to see me. I called there and found that two people had been there the previous day who had just got back from Germany. They said they last saw Alf at Dachau but didn't give the date . You must realise Alf had had a rough time in prison but they said he was back in his old health then and was an attendant at Dachau infirmary. Mme Strens is going to see them again and will let me know the date. She also knows Edgard Perbal but didn't know his address. I gave it to her so she will get in touch with him as well. They all have my address now so perhaps they will write to me instead of you now.
As soon as I hear anything further I will let you know. If you hear anything let me know as well as it may help all those in Brussels a bit further. Show this letter to Dil as it will save me writing it twice. It isn't all the story but it was a bit difficult as I couldn't speak French. One thing more. Alf told Luquin that he was in India as a miner. I didn't tell him anything different but I thought you ought to know. As far as I can see that is the only thing he did wrong while he was here. Lurquin says of him that he was very intelligent and afraid of nothing. If you knew Lurquin you would realise that was high praise. All the rest thought well of him so you have nothing to worry about in that way.
Dil tells me you have had to go to bed again. I hope you are OK now and won't overdo it.
I think that is about all the story so if you write to the War Office again they have a good lead from Dachau.
Cheerio for now and lots of love from Len
P.S. Alf also spoke a little German while he was in prison.

The Jones family also received two letters from Edgard Perbal (born Tournai 8/2/1900) who had been the editor of the underground newspaper "La Libre Belgique" until his arrest on the 26th May 1941 and imprisonment in Fort Breendonk, Essen and Dachau :

My dear Fred, I am just back home. I took information from various places about you, and I just learn you were at the Dachau camp at the time it was liberated. Therefore, thinking you are back to England, I am eager to give you news from me, and I hope you'll find my letter at home and you'll give me your news soon. I spoke to Clara Strens and to François Strens's mother. Franz died at the Sonnenburg camp. Janssens, Toussaint and Pens are also probably dead. Alice Wergifosse is also dead. Marie Darmont and Jean are back home and recover in Mr Darmont's family near Namur. But I have not their address, and I don't know the address of the nurse, Marie's cousin or sister. I keep on searching and, if you find anything on your side, please let me know. Pipo is also home, but I didn't see him yet. And you, my dear Fred, what happened to you ? I don't forget you promised to come and see me. I often thought to the moments we spent together. Therefore I hope to receive news from you very soon. I wish you a fast recovery, and I hope we'll all be restored to be able to have a merry "Christmas". Good luck, and sincerely yours. Edgard



Linkebeek (Brussels) 25/7/45
My dear Fred
It is the second time I write to you. I arrived home on May 12th very tired and also ill. I am feeling much better now. What happened to you? I shall be very glad to hear something about you. You know probably that Strens, Pens, Vandenhove, Toussaint, Jansens are dead. Clara Strens, Yvonne and Louisa Deloge are coming back, but I know nothing about Mme Deloge.
Marie Darmont and Jean are also in good health and are living near Namur, but I don't have her address. I wrote a letter to Yvonne Deloge asking her to give some accuracy upon the destiny of Mme Wergifosse, Greta Thiry, Elise Ausseloos, Alice Lambert, and all the other companions, and I am still waiting for an answer.
A friend, who is coming from the camp Dachau, does tell me that you were there at liberation time. Is it true? I expect to hear something from you by return of post.
Best regards
Edgard Perbal


On right Edgard PERBAL editor of "La Libre Belgique"
with Belgian war correspondent Paul Levy (on left) in Germany at the end of the war .
(Photo from Jean-Marie Wijnsberghe)


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