Escape into Espionage: The True Story of a French Patriot in World War II

Roland Rieul


After the collapse of the French army in 1940, Rieul was transported to Germany as a POW worker. Minor acts of sabotage in his first camp caused him to be sent to another, where the work was brutalizing. He undertook his first escape, which was followed by two others, until he finally made his way to Switzerland. There he joined British intelligence and was assigned to German-occupied Paris. Often by dint of sheer luck he found several good sources of information and, to get his reports to the British, had to cross the Franco-Swiss border, which he did almost 30 times. There is scarcely an unexciting page in this book, which ends with the liberation of Paris. Unfortunately, the uncredited translation, which frequently resorts to British slang and Victorian prudery, diminishes the impact of the story. Photos not seen by PW.


This personal memoir begins in June 1940, when Rieul, a French sergeant, was ordered to surrender to invading Germans. Rieul was sent to a POW work camp in Germany, where living conditions were spartan and work was hard. Rieul contrived to escape several times from successive work camps, always landing up in "disciplinary" camps with even harsher conditions. Finally he escaped, crossed the Swiss border, and presented himself to the British as a volunteer. Trained in espionage, he was sent to Paris to set up a spy network. His adventures as a spy include several narrow escapes and more than 50 clandestine crossings of the French/Swiss border. For his services to the Allies, Rieul was officially recognized by the British after the war. Recommended for general readers as well as young adults.

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