After the French surrender, thousands of French soldiers were imprisoned in Germany. There they waited, hoping to be returned home. And waited. Some decided not to wait any longer, escaped, and headed for France. In 1942, Karst Smit and another marechaussee were patrolling a forested area, the Landgoed de Utrecht, near the Belgian border. They came across two men hiding in a ditch. Assuming them to be smugglers, Karst questioned them. On learning that they were French soldiers trying to walk home, he and the other marechaussee helped them across the border into Belgium. Realizing that there would be more such men, Karst set up the first elements of his escape line, using contacts in Enschede to be on the lookout for escaped Frenchmen and send them to Tilburg, where Karst or his men would pick them up and move them to a contact in Brussels. Later Karst enlisted the help of three young sisters from Herentals, Belgium to move the men across the border into Belgium (see discussion in the following page).
The recommendation for an MBE credited Karst with helping 80 Frenchmen, but it may have been as high as 90. Names and addresses of some are listed below. I very much would like to correspond with any of them or their families:
Antonin, Jurdy - à Burdignes, Loire
Beucher, Raymond – 31, Avenue de Livry, Le Rainey, Seine-et-Ois
Bordenave, Joseph – Pardies Mounin près Peau, Basses Pyerenées
Carboue, Charles – Montiers sur Saulx, Meuse
Curat, Louis – à Chancy, Loire
Delas, Elie – Aubiet (Gars), Toulouse
Garry, Auguste – Route de St. Suzanne, Montsûrs (Mayenne)
Hullin, Gaston – 4, Rue Mayet, Paris (6)
Labadens, Gilbert – 1 Rue des Baléares, 31130 Balma
Marey, Francois – à Pîemeaux par Nuits. St. George, Côte d’Or (74 Route National)
Martin, Albert – 15, Rue du Collège, Toul. Meurthe et Moselle, Nancy
Muixe (?), Maurice – à Estagel, Pyrenées-Oriëntales
Oudin, Francois – La Ferté/Chiers, Ardennes, France
Petitjean, Marcel – 27, Avenue Choisy, Villeneuve St. Georges, Seine-et-Oise
Raynal, Jean – à Peyrestortes, Pyrenées-Oriëntales
Royer, Henri – “Mauroo” à St. Benoit près Poitiers, Vienne
Tranvouez, Gaston – 15-17, Rue des Martyrs (chez Mde. Dusseaux), (Paris 9)
Vigner, Joseph – à Combourg, Ille et Vilaine, Bretagne (Vieux Châtel)
Waldschmidt, Jean – 2, Rue Alfred Dumont, Dunkerque-Nord
Waldschmidt, Robert – 2, Rue Alfred Dumont, Dunkerque-Nord
Warisse, Jean – 48, Rue d’Hauteville, Paris (X)
