27 OCTOBER 1944, Page 10

We have had many stories since then. of the actual

effect upon the French people, and upon the resistance-movement, of the pro- grammes devised and directed by Jacques Duchesne. The members of his team became popular heroes in France long before D-Day. When some of them joined the expeditionary force and landed in Normandy they were accorded a popular ovation. In one village in Normandy the Mayor gathered the villagers together in order to present Jacques Duchesne's son with an enormous bouquet. At Barfleur Andre Rabache was greeted by a deputation headed by the town band. At La Ferte in the Sarthe the whole town turned out to greet Pierre Bourdan. Throughout all this Duchesne himself maintained his accustomed calm. Only once in these four years have I seen him even faintly flustered. It was on the morning of Friday, August 25th, last. On the Wednesday night we had heard General Koenig's report that Paris had been liberated ; throughout Thursday contradictory rumours had been circulating ; on that Friday morning anxiety still prevailed. I found Duchesne in his office looking pale and strained ; our monitoring service had managed to pick up a few mangled messages being sent out from a small wireless installed in the Hotel de Vile; they were not encouraging ; as Duchesne turned them over his finger trembled slightly. And then one of his staff entered with another sheet in his hand and his eyes aflame. Duchesne read the message and passed it to me with- out a word. "General Leclerc's division has entered the city," I read. "The bells of Notre Dame are ringing out our liberation." Duchesne stretched his arms upwards with all the weariness of four exiled years. "En/in," he said.

* * * *