Louise de Bettignies

Louise de Bettignies (born the July 15th 1880 with Saint-Amand-the-Water - died in 1918 with Cologne) was under the pseudonym of Alice Dubois a French secret agent on behalf of the British Armée during the First World War.

Biography

Services of espionage

Inhabitant of Lille since 1903, it decides to engage in resistance and espionage as of the German invasion of the city in October 1914. Polyglot (French - English - German - Italian), it directs since its residence of Lille a vast network of information in the North of France on behalf of the British army and of the Intelligence Service under the pseudonym of Alice Dubois. This network provides to the British important information via the Belgium and the occupied Netherlands. It is estimated that it saves the life of more than one thousand of British soldiers during the 9 months of its full activity (January in September 1915).

Its network of a hundred people, primarily on 40km of the face, in the west and the east of Lille, was so effective that it was called by its English superiors the queen off spies . Thus, Louise had establishes for her superiors of Londoners a squared chart of the area around Lille. Following the example naval battle, the lines were located by numbers on a side and letters of the alphabet on the other. As soon as the German army installed a new artillery battery, even camouflaged, this position was bombarded by English aviation in the 8 days.

Another occasion enabled him to announce the day and the hour of passage of the imperial train transporting Kaiser in secret visit on the face to Lille. At the time of the approach of Lille, two English planes emerged and bombarded the train, but missed their target. The German command did not include/understand the single situation of these 40 “cursed” km of face (held by English) on nearly 700 km of face. One of its last messages was to announce the preparation of a gigantic German attack for the beginning of 1916 on Verdun. Information was relayed with the French command which refused to believe in it.

Stopped by the Germans in September 1915 then held during 3 years, it dies in 1918 of the continuations of the Tuberculose at the Sainte-Marie hospital of Cologne.

Circumstances of its arrest

The circumstances of its arrest remain mysterious , because of several elements.

At the time of his last passage in the United Kingdom, its officer treating with Folkestone makes him the sharp reproach of what its clothing is unworthy of an agent of Its Majesty. He gives an additional sum to him and orders to him to buy new clothing in the best store of the city. Louise is very surprised of this insistent request but agrees to re-equip herself in clothing with the indicated store. It will be its last voyage in England.

One month later , it is stopped close to Tournai and is put in prison at Brussels. An officer of the German information then goes to the prison Antwerp where Léonie Vanhoutte is, the assistant of Louise de Bettignies. Equipped with a recent photograph of Louise, he asks to him whether this woman is well Alice Dubois. Léonie refuses to identify its chief and the officer sets out again without testimony with load against Louise. But this one is surprised to see the officer presenting to him a recent photograph of Louise equipped in town suit.

This event must be close to another event taking place at the same period: the extraction in August 1915 of the secret code allowing in February 1917 to translate the Telegram Zimmermann (involving the entry in war of the the United States of America in April 1917). More than 80 years after the facts, the conditions of this extraction are always held secret by the British. The question is to include/understand how the British services could subtilize the diplomatic code in Brussels without fearing that the German services do not decide to change it at the time of the disappearance of their specialist into communication, the young person Alexander Szek . This Austrian, inventive citizen of radio operator systems had been engaged of force by the Germans in Brussels at the beginning of 1915.

To cover the extraction of Szek, the British services call upon a agent triples (one of their agents supposed to play to be a double agent for German). To validate this agent with the eyes of the Germans, that Ci would have had the mission “of giving” the chief of the principal British network behind the German lines: Louise de Bettignies. This same double agent having to inform German of the escape of the Szek young person towards Holland with the double of the code. But Szek finally is found died, electrocuted on the electrified barbed wires of the border belgo-Dutchwoman. Unrecognizable, it was identifiable only with its only identity papers. Several testimonys however attest that Szek is well repatriated alive in the United Kingdom, but disappears definitively in spite of research from his/her father after the war, this one being close to the imperial family of Austria. However, at the time of its secret departure for Belgium organized by the British networks, Szek was accompanied by another escaped prisoner, his age and its size (important detail), which also disappears without leaving traces.

Lastly, all the British secret operations were supervised by the admiral Reginald Hall of famous the Room 40 where are deciphered the German telegrams. Hall is announced in its youth about 1890 by taking the first photographs of German military ships of the port of Hamburg by using a mask placed in the cabin of its sailing ship. It could have used the same principle in the fitting room of Folkestone to have a photograph of Louise.

It should however be added that Sir Hall, by regard for the services rendered by Louise, left him a chance to save its life. Indeed, the agent triples had drawn the attention of its German superiors to the fact that the German judges with the military tribunal of Brussels, were not to know the evidence held by the German services, because that would come down giving their source and thus destroying the cover of their new double agent (risk of escape). For lack of produced evidence, the court accepted in fine detention instead of the execution.

Louise died of disease contracted in prison, this a few months before the armistice. Another spy of the United Kingdom, Edith Cavell, was stopped in August 1915 and was shot in September, starting reprobation in the world. She “was also perhaps given” by the triple agent.

This situation from August-September 1915 is explained by a reversal of the British strategy at that time. It had become clearly with semi-1915 that the war would not decide any more by battles of sliced between armies of equivalent forces. Under these conditions, the value of the English networks behind the German lines was not any more the same one. Another thing was needed.

Sources of the article

This presentation is built primarily on ten works printed about 1920-1930 and which constitute a reliable base on the actors of the time. Other works written by independent authors published towards 1980 confirm the key function played by Szek. On the other hand, certain Web sites specialized on the information discovered the existence of Szek recently but to present a “politically correct” version which does not rest on any the works of time, works which besides contradict these “correct” versions. Thus, several witnesses attested survival of Szek in 1918, kept with the secrecy in England.

In fine, this operation of misinformation is to be brought closer to the Opération Fortitude launched in beginning 1944 by the British services, to make accept an unloading in the Pas-de-Calais, this by sacrificing agents parachuted in France and in the Netherlands.

Notes & references

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