By Alexander Turcan
The COMET line, a famous resistance network which operated between 1941 and 1944 during World War II, helped grounded allied pilots and officers reach safety. It has been well documented: pieced together with the help of diaries written by the soldiers and the help of the families of the Basque smugglers (mugalari) who worked as guides over the Pyrenees.
However, at times the COMET line used a lesser-known route, crossing the French border east of URDAX along a route which led the pilots southwards through the mountains into the BAZTAN VALLEY and ERRATZU. From ERRATZU they then made their way by bicycle to SAN SEBASTIAN. Just like the Lions.
The COMET network was the initiative of Andree de Jongh (known as Dédée) – a 24 year-old Belgian woman, and nurse, who came into contact with wounded allies hiding in safe houses throughout Belgium. Together with the help of family and friends she started the network which escorted displaced allies through France into the ‘neutral’ Spain.
The reasons why Dédée chose the Basque Pyrenees as the best crossing point for the COMET line are manifold. Not only did she have contacts in the area, but geographically, with exception of the mountain passes in Catalonia, these mountains offer the lowest crossing points into Spain and far milder winters than the snowy peaks of the higher Pyrenees to the east. However, this is still very complex terrain to navigate – with an intricate network of steep ravines and stream gullies, dense woods and mountain mists, so the help of expert guides was essential.
This job was the natural domain of the Basque smugglers who had perfected the art of moving goods, animals and people silently over these borders on dark moonless nights, avoiding border guards and Guardia Civil alike. Their isolated farms and homesteads on the slopes of the Pyrenees made ideal ‘safe houses’ and resting points and on both sides of the border they shared a common, indecipherable language and a deep mistrust of Nazi regimes.
Stopping at numerous ‘safe’ (and not so ‘safe’) houses en route run by local families, the allied pilots (and soldiers) were slowly moved down through France towards SAINT JUAN DE LUZ in south west France from where they walked to one of three isolated farmsteads on the outskirts of URRUGNE. Here they spent their final night on the French side of the border. They were given a warm bowl of milk, chord-roped espadrilles, walking sticks and kitted out in blue workman’s clothing before being led by Basque mugalari (such as Manuel Irurroiz, Florentino Goikoetxea, Tomas Anabitarte, Donato Errasti and others) on a tortuous route through the mountains to ENDARLATSA, over the BIDASOA river and into Spain. Once in Spain they now swapped one enemy for another. This time the enemy was now Franco’s Guardia Civil, who would either turn them over or imprison them, often taking them to a small concentration camp south of Pamplona in Miranda del Ebro.
The final stretch of the COMET line would lead the pilots over the mountains towards the final ‘safe house’ on the outskirts of OIARTZUN before they were moved on to PASAIAS, SAN SEBASTIAN and BILBAO. From here British Intelligence M19 would send an official escort to take them to MADRID or GIBRALTAR and then back home. Over 800 allies escaped from occupied territory along the COMET line, many of them escorted all the way by Dédée herself. Over 1200 people worked within the COMET Line, and some 280 people were killed because of their involvement.
In an interview in a Basque magazine in March 2015, two Basque brothers recall having people in the house when they were children: they remember them as frightened – (they had not only to escape the Nazi Regime but Franco’s Guardia Civil as well) – but despite extremely courteous and respectful. For their family, who had worked all their lives smuggling goods and livestock over the border, harboring a handful of allied pilots were all part of the trade!