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 four young sisters from Vorselaar (originally believed to be Herentals), Belgium to move the men across the border into Belgium.
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 (Richard?) – 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)
WWII Netherlands Escape Lines 
Thank you for posting this. I am the grandson of Gaston Hullin, who passed away in 1999. He spoke often about his escape, but I can’t remember specific details he told me about his route through Belgium.
Laurent Reinhardt
San Diego, California, USA
Auguste Garry had been helped by Louis Saint Ghislain, railway worker in Tourcoing ; he arrived at Louis’s house with 5 other POW on november the 27th 1943
My Great uncle John Green (Royal Artillary) was helped by Louis St Ghislain to return to England in 1943 using false documents. My Uncle was captured at the retreat from Dunkirk and was a POW but escaped into Occupied France and was found by Louis who helped him. All brave men
thats strange 69 years from to-day
Im trying to find information about my grandad andre jezequel he was a frenchman and fought in ww11 and escaped pow camps 5 times and brought back at gun point, i believe he was in germany but this what im researching as i want to find any documents or any about him really
One possible source of information would be the Institut d’histoire du temps présent (IHTP) at http://www.ihtp.cnrs.fr/. Their archives might have information or they might be able to direct you to another source.
Hi. As you see from my name I have Jezequel family connection. My father Andre was imprisoned by the Germans but I don’t think it was him ,but I also know of another Andre in the French army and a story of one more Andre. Please get in contact if you see this email. Regards. Michael..
Rene GLOTZ born in Paris in December 1903 joined was part of the Chasseurs a Pied and was captured in the Battle of the Somme i June 1940 when his unit was encircled. He was taken to Stalag VID and then to Stalag IB in Hohenstein, now Olszytenek Poland. He arrived on Jube 22, 1940. In November of 1940, around Nobember 22, he was due to be transferred to VIB according to the Red Cross. His documents say he escaped and returned to France between November 22 or 25 and December 30th where he presented himself to the last post of the Chasseurs a Pied that had become part of the Armee d’Armistice at the Demarcation line in Alloue ,France. I am trying to recreate his path.
I know that it was early but he must have had some help so I am wondering what people or organizations were available to help a French POW in November-December 1940.
Thank you,
Cordially,
Renee Payne
I am trying to recreate my uncle’s escape in November-December 1940. If he would have escaped through the Netherlands, he may have been on the way to Stalag VIB of VID when
he escaped, do you have any thoughts of who would be a helper that early in the war?
Thank you.
My father is Peter Hullin, I have come across your post, I know we originate from France, although I am also welsh, my mother is welsh generations back . My dad is convinced we are French as well. Ref Gaston Hullin. You can contact me on Bracken1985@hotmail.com, Ruth Sims, formally Hullin, I look forward to hearing from you.
Dear Ms. Sims,
In 2019 I donated all my research files to the McDermott Library at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado. Consequently, I no longer have any records, such as my file on Gaston Hullin. The library, however, has posted an index, or finding aid, to the files at https://airforceescape.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Finding-Aid_MS-71-Bolinger-Bruce.pdf. If you scroll down through the finding aid, on pg. 19 you will find listed “Box Twenty-Nine: Smit Helpers” and in that box is “Folder 5: Smit Helpers-French: Hullin”. There may be information in the Hullin folder of use to you. You will want to contact the following the head of Special Collections at the McDermott Library about obtaining copies of whatever documents there are in Box 29, Folder 5:
Joel Hebert, PhD
Chief of Special Collections, McDermott Library
Assistant Professor of Special Collections and Archives Research
U.S. Air Force Academy
(719) 333-6919
joel.hebert@afacademy.af.edu
I see that there is a brief reference to a Hullin in the March 2015 newsletter of the Air Forces Escape and Evasion Society (AFEES), pp.18-19. Go to https://airforceescape.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/AFEES-Newsletter-2015-3-March-Issue-optimized.pdf.
I have a hazy recollection that Gaston Hullin was one of the escaped French POWs helped by Charlotte Ambach, a Dutch woman with German nationality living in Brussels. See https://wwii-netherlands-escape-lines.com/interviews/interview-with-charlotte-ambach/ for an interview with her. My file on Hullin at the McDermott Library should show that, if I remember correctly. The escape line of Karst Smit would deliver evading Allied airmen and others, like Hullin, to the apartment of Charlotte Ambach and her mother in Brussels.
Best wishes,
Bruce Bolinger
229 Success Mine Loop
Grass Valley, CA 95945
(530) 273-6442
Email: bcbolinger@comcast.net