Susan Ottaway - Sisters, Secrets and Sacrifice - The True Story of WWII Special Agents Eileen and Jacqueline Nearne

Some months earlier Jacqueline had gone to Boulogne to make sure that the family home on the boulevard Saint-Beuve was secure. The furniture was covered with dust sheets, the curtains drawn, and all the windows and doors locked, but there was little else that she could do to ensure its safety in the event of the German invasion they had all prayed would not take place. Now that had happened, and the family began to wonder what would become of them if enemy troops reached them in the south of France. They didn’t have long to wait for their answer.

Following the French surrender, the country was divided into two parts. The northern part was occupied by the Germans, while the southern sector remained in French hands, with the whole country nominally under the government of Marshal Philippe Pétain, hero of the Battle of Verdun of 1916, who had taken over when Prime Minister Paul Reynaud resigned days before the armistice. Pétain, no longer showing any heroic qualities, based his regime in the city of Vichy, from where he and the puppet administration did nothing for the French people, bowing completely to the will of the Germans. It was an enormous betrayal. Three days after the French surrender Pétain’s betrayal was compounded by the signing of another armistice, this time with Italy, and the formation of a demilitarized zone within France, which included the cities of Nice and Grenoble and which was administered by occupying Italian forces.

Foreign nationals were being forced to move from the coastal areas of France and the Nearne family was no exception. Even French-born Mariquita was regarded as being foreign, as she was married to an Englishman. The Nearnes were given just eight days to pack up and leave their home in Nice and find somewhere else to live. 6 The edict that forced them to move was known as ‘ residence forcée ’ – enforced residence in an area, where residents were kept under police surveillance and life was often made very difficult for no apparent reason, other than that they were not French. The seaside house in Boulogne was obviously not an option as a place to relocate to and they doubted that they would be able to return to the Paris apartment even if they had wanted to, because the capital was swarming with Germans. After a hurried discussion, Jack and Mariquita elected to go to the Grenoble area which, although in Italian-occupied France, was where Francis and his wife had settled. Thérèse was expecting the couple’s first baby later that summer and they wanted to remain close for the arrival of their first grandchild. 7

The family home at avenue des Arènes de Cimiez was leased to a Frenchwoman at an inexpensive rent and the Nearnes left Nice, taking as many of their personal belongings as they could carry to a hotel in Grenoble, where they remained while searching for a new home. Eventually in rue Adolphe Muguet, Saint-Egrève, in the mountains north-west of the city, they found a large, rambling old villa that needed restoring and they were able to purchase it. It was nothing like the comfortable home they had had in Nice, although the views of the mountains were beautiful. But at least they had their own house again and their enforced move meant that they were closer to the newest member of the family, a boy born on 24 August, whom Thérèse and Francis named Jack, after his paternal grandfather. 8

Gradually the Nearnes managed to introduce some degree of comfort to the draughty old house, but Jack and Mariquita, their two daughters and younger son never really regarded the villa as a home. For them it was just somewhere to stay until the Nazis had been defeated, when they could reclaim the house in Nice and find out what had become of their other home in Boulogne and their Paris apartment.

By the late autumn of 1940 Frederick, along with so many other young men, had decided that, with no job and the ever-present threat of being sent for forced labour to Germany, he could no longer remain in France and would therefore go to England. It must have been a time of great anxiety for his parents, but they knew better than to try to persuade him to remain with them in Grenoble, believing that Britain would be a safer place for him than German-occupied France. Upon arrival in England he volunteered for the RAF, was sent to the recruits’ centre at RAF Station Uxbridge in Middlesex, and as Aircraftman 2nd Class Frederick John Nearne (1270875) began his service career on 1 November 1940. A month later he was posted to Ford in Sussex and six days later started his training at HQ Number 17 (Training) Group, part of Coastal Command. He remained there for a year before being posted, on 5 January 1942, to the Middle East Command, where he served at the RAF station in Amman, Jordan; the Middle East Torpedo (Training) school; Lydda (now in Israel); and various maintenance and operational training units in the Levant. He eventually returned to England and received his discharge on 23 October 1946. 9

No longer seen as the well-to-do French family that they had previously appeared to be, the members of the Nearne family who remained in France were now regarded, at least by the authorities, as foreigners – citizens of an enemy state – and had to get on with their lives as best they could. Since they were unable to find any of the domestic help that they had formerly relied upon, Jacqueline and Didi had to help Mariquita run the house. One of their tasks was to collect and chop firewood, which was always in short supply but which they needed both for warmth and as fuel for cooking, and they helped with the shopping, cleaning, washing, ironing and cooking. Neither girl minded having to help with these chores – Didi even began to enjoy cooking – but they both minded very much about the reason they had had to move to the house in the first place.

Although they were British nationals, they had almost no memories of the country of their birth and spoke English with French accents. France was their home and they loved their life there. But as time went by and they saw how Britain was standing alone in the fight against the Germans, they began to think that perhaps they too should be doing something for the war effort. The war had made Jacqueline realize how patriotic she felt towards this small country, even though it was so unfamiliar to her. From that moment she knew that she would not be able to remain in France, subjected to the will of the Nazis and the weak-minded French appeasers who had formed some sort of a collaborative government. Slowly over the next few months, perhaps inspired by her younger brother’s decision to leave home, she came to the conclusion that she too would have to go to England and do something to help Britain fight the Germans, although she didn’t have any idea how she was going to do it. She discussed the situation with Didi, who immediately said that she wanted to go with her. Jacqueline was nervous about this, as Didi was still very young and quite naive. But once Didi had an idea in her head, nothing would stop her. If her sister was going off to fight, then so was she.

Meanwhile time passed slowly. The girls had made friends in Saint-Egrève but there was no possibility of employment for either of them. At an age when they should have had lots to do, they were stuck in their mountain hideaway, bored with their enforced inactivity and frustrated that what should have been the most exciting years of their lives were passing them by. For Didi at least, there was a glimpse of that excitement when she met her first boyfriend. 10 Andy was a pleasant young man, with a cheeky grin that showed off his slightly protruding front teeth. He was smitten by Didi, but although she was fond of him, the excitement of her first romance couldn’t prevent her from thinking about escaping to England.

Jacqueline was eager to leave for England as soon as possible and, as they were both still British citizens, she and Didi contacted the British consulate in Lyons and obtained British passports. Jack and Mariquita, understandably, did not want them to go but knew that, as with Fred, it would be wrong to try to stop them. So at the beginning of 1942, not knowing if they would ever see their daughters again, they reluctantly said goodbye to Jacqueline and Didi and waved them off on a train bound for Marseilles, at the start of what would undoubtedly be a difficult and dangerous journey.