Peter Churchill
Peter Morland Churchill, Croix de Guerre was a British Special Operations Executive officer in France during the Second World War. His wartime operations, which resulted in his capture and imprisonment in German concentration camps and his subsequent marriage to fellow SOE officer Odette Sansom, received considerable attention after the war, including a 1950 film.
On 29th December 2024 he was inducted into the Spengler Cup Ice Hockey Hall of Fame in Davos, Switzerland, in recognition of his exceptional ice hockey playing in the 1930s and will be represented in the ice hockey museum there.
Early life
He was born in Amsterdam on 14 January 1909, the son of William Algernon Churchill, a British Consul who served in Mozambique, Amsterdam, Pará in Brazil, Stockholm, Milan, Palermo, and Algiers. His father was also an art connoisseur, and author of what is still the standard reference work on early European paper and papermaking, Watermarks in Paper, and Violet. He was a brother of Walter Churchill DSO DFC, a Royal Air Force pilot during the war, and Oliver Churchill DSO MC, also an SOE officer.Education and career
He was educated at Malvern School from 1923–27, then spent 18 months at Chillon Castle, then went on to Geneva University. From 1929–32, he read Modern Languages at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. In addition to his native English, he was bilingual in French and fluent in Spanish and Italian.He also excelled in sports – he had the reputation of being one of the finest ice-hockey blues the university had produced. Churchill was Captain of the Cambridge University Ice Hockey Club in 1932 and won 15 international caps. He was proficient at exhibition diving, a first-class skier, and played golf off a six handicap.
He moved into the British diplomatic service and served as British Vice-Consul in the Netherlands from 1934–5, and Pro-Consul in Oran, Algeria from 1935–6. From September 1939 to August 1940, he was Under Secretary to Sir Norman Birkett in the Home Office Advisory Committee, and later became President of the Committee.
Wartime activities
At the outbreak of the Second World War, he was commissioned into the Intelligence Corps and also underwent commando training. In April 1941, joined the Special Operations Executive as one of its early recruits and assigned to the French Section in June 1941.He was infiltrated into France four times, twice by submarine and twice by aircraft, and spent 225 days behind enemy lines.
First mission
In Operation WILLOW, his mission was to inspect three SOE networks in the south of France, evaluate their strengths and weaknesses, assess their needs, and give them instructions. He was also given two million francs to distribute between the three networks, with 400,000 francs for Francis Basin «Laurent» of the URCHIN network in Antibes, 300,000 francs for Georges Duboudin «Charles» of the SPRUCE network in Lyon, and 300,000 francs for Ted Coppin «Olivier» of the DONKEYMAN network in Marseille. The other million francs was destined for Colonel Deprez in Marseille to facilitate the release of 10 French patriots from Fort St Nicholas prison in Marseille.On 1 January 1942, submarine P36 took him 2 miles offshore Miramar from where he paddled to the shore by canoe at night. The next morning he walked 25 km to Antibes where he met his first contact, Dr Élie Lévy «Louis», who introduced him to Baron d'Astier de la Vigerie «Bernard», head of Lyon resistance group known as ‘The Last Column’.
Using false identity papers of an Argentinian journalist, he then travelled by train with «Bernard» to Lyon to meet Virginia Hall «Germaine», an American agent, who put him in contact with Duboudin. He then went by train to Marseille where Hall introduced him to Ted Coppin and Colonel Deprez.
Having completed his mission, Churchill returned to the UK. Travelling as a couple to reduce suspicion, Hall accompanied him on a train to Perpignan, and with a guide he crossed the Pyrenees overnight on foot and walked about 80 km to Bañolas near Figueras. He was then driven to Gibraltar, crossing the Spanish border hidden in the car’s boot, and on 14 February 1943 was flown back to London for debriefing.
Second mission
Operation DELAY II was a brief mission to deliver four SOE agents by submarine to the French Riviera.In April 1942, Churchill travelled from Gibraltar in HM Submarine P 42 "Unbroken" with three radio operators, Isidore Newman «Julien» for the URCHIN network and Edward Zeff «Matthieu» for the SPRUCE network, Marcel Clech «Bastien» for the AUTOGIRO network, and Victor Gerson «René», an SOE agent on a special mission to organise the VIC Escape Line On the night of 21 April, Churchill led Newman and Zeff by canoe to the shore at Antibes with their radios and took them to the house of Dr Élie Lévy, who asked him to take «Bernard» back with him to the UK. Churchill returned to the submarine with «Bernard», after which Clech and Gerson were dropped off by canoe at the Pointe d’Agay and Churchill returned to the UK.
Proposed next mission
On his return Col Buckmaster gave Churchill his next mission which was to blow up a powerful radio transmitter at Sainte-Assise near Fontainebleau which the Nazis were using to direct their U-boat campaign, and was so powerful that the U-boats could pick up its messages without having to surface. He was to be accompanied by 'The Twins' but, just as they were about to undertake the mission, a failed attempt by a French agent resulted in significantly increased security and Churchill’s mission was called off.Third mission
His third mission was to organise and coordinate the SOE F Section "Spindle" Network in Cannes which directed the delivery of supplies to support the CARTE Organisation run by André Girard.On 27 August 1942, he was parachuted near Montpellier and went to Cannes where he learned that Francis Basin had just been arrested. Churchill planned to rescue him when he was being transferred by train to Lyon but this attempt was called off, apparently at Basin’s request.
Among his couriers was Odette Sansom «Lise», with whom he was to develop a close relationship and subsequently marry after the war. Adolphe Rabinovitch «Arnaud» was his wireless operator. Churchill arranged an arms drop for General de Lattre de Tassigny, Commander of one of the sole French Divisions still in existence, based in Montpellier, and another for the Maquis des Glières, who operated near Lake Annecy in Haute-Savoie.
Several attempts were made to fly him back to the UK to report on his activities. The first attempt was for a Hudson bomber to land at Vinon near Aix-en-Provence to collect Churchill, Giraud and five French generals, however the terrain had not been surveyed properly by the French resistance and the runway proved inadequate, so Churchill aborted the landing.
Returning to Cannes, Churchill was informed that two police inspectors had called at his accommodation searching for him, and he had to change lodgings immediately. On 8 November 1942 Hitler ordered the occupation of Vichy France and as a result of increased security activities in Cannes, Giraud moved his CARTE operations to Arles.
In November 1942, a CARTE courier, André Marsac, was arrested in Paris by Abwehr intelligence officer Hugo Bleicher and his interrogation in Fresnes prison led to the arrest of another CARTE member, Roger Bardet. Bardet was interrogated in Fresnes, became a double agent, and released. From information provided by Marsac and Bardet, Bleicher came to know all about the SPINDLE network, including the names of Churchill and Sansom, and believed Marsac’s false claim that Churchill was related to Winston Churchill.
A second attempt from Arles in late December 1942 was unsuccessful due to the heavy presence of German soldiers.
In January 1943, Girard was dismissed as head of the CARTE Organisation, and Henri Frager «Paul» and André Marsac «End» were made Joint Commanders. The third attempt was on a small abandoned airfield near Tournus between Mâcon and Chalon-sur-Saône in January 1943 to collect Churchill and take Frager to London to clear up the confusion over the CARTE question and have a definite ruling on the matter from HQ. The Germans had obstructed the planned landing strip to prevent a landing and these obstacles had to be cleared quickly. The Hudson bomber collected 10 men, but it turned out that some of De Gaulle’s agents had planned this landing at the same time, and Churchill and Frager were not collected.
Churchill and Sansom returned to Cannes for the last time, and he arranged a further attempt for a Lysander to land near Périgueux. This entailed a journey of over 800 kilometres through German occupied France, changing trains at Marseille and Toulouse. The landing had to be aborted when it was realised that the Germans were lying in wait, and Churchill, Frager, Sansom and the others escaped on foot, narrowly missing capture.
Churchill and Sampson left Périgueux by train for Toulouse where they were provided accommodation in a safe house and informed that all passengers on an earlier train from Périgueux had been met by the Gestapo and questioned, and that his flat in Cannes has been raided and people arrested. He decided it was too dangerous to remain in Cannes and relocated the SPINDLE network to Saint-Jorioz on Lake Annecy in Haute-Savoie, and changed his cover name.
A further attempt was made to land a Lysander at Tournus north of Lyon, but the aircraft did not arrive. On 22/23 March 1943, a Lysander piloted by Hugh Verity landed at Estrées-Saint-Denis near Compiègne exfiltrated Churchill and Frager, while bringing Francis Cammaerts «Roger» to take over the SPINDLE network in his absence.