Eric Bourse - Mural wall of Louise de Bettignies
Louise de Bettignies was without doubt a woman ahead of her time. Born in Saint Amande des Eaux she was educated in France and England and travelled extensively throughout Italy in 1906 with the Viscontis and in 1911 she left for Count Mikiewsky, Lemberg in Galicia.
She lived in Lille since 1903 and it is here in October 1914 upon the German occupation that her remarkable story of exceptional courage starts and the legend of the “Queen of Spies”, the “Joan of Arc” of the North is born. During the initial battle for Lille Louise helped to ensure food and ammunitions were sent to the soldiers still fighting the attackers, and it was here, amongst the ruins of the city, that she made her decision to defend her nation using espionage and resistance.
Initially, and remarkably under her own steam and all of her own ingenuity, she began to courier letters between families trapped behind enemy lines to relatives abroad and this route took her through Belgium and Holland to Britain and back to Boulogne. It is here that she caught the eyes of the British. Also approached by the French, who she worked intermittently for known as “Pauline”, Louise (who was described as feisty, intelligent and patriotic and also a devout Catholic), made the decision that working with the British, and handpicking her own network of agents and couriers, would serve her beloved France best.
Interviewed by Major Walter Kirke, a senior British Intelligence officer in Saint Omer on February 12th 1915 she began soon after recruiting and creating her team known as the “Alice Network” due to her British codename of Alice Dubois. She was also known to Major Kirke as Ramble, and this name is his reference for her in his notes and reports, which show just how valuable her information was and how highly herself and her opinion were thought of.
The admiration that Kirke held for Louise perhaps is also reflected by his specific notes that neither Louise or her network took any payment for their work, apart from the small out of pocket expense, and when this was raised to Louise by the Major, she simply stated “they work better for an ideal”, a belief that was also held close to her heart for France and for a life free from Occupation.
Louise's network was fully operational for 9 months, from February to October 1915, and the impact that she inflicted on the Germans was magnifying. Throughout this time, and working closely with another famous resistance fighter, Marie-Léonie Vanhoutte, and her Lieutenant, Louise and her agents were able to gather invaluable information on German troop movements, ammunition store locations and to monitor trains. She also helped smuggle men to England, passed over times and dates of a secret visit by the Kaiser to the front at Lille, and with the accuracy of her grid mapping of Lille and the location of enemy artillery guns, the Allies were so effective at bombing their targets that the guns had to be moved every few days to limit the scope of Allied damage.
Louise had 100 comrades in her network and her operational success was noted by Major Kirke after one of her visits to Folkestone by the line “She is doing splendidly”. The Germans though were also painfully aware of the resistance activity and the collateral damage that they were causing. Four agent deaths in the Lille area saw Kirke becoming increasingly concerned for her safety and in his note that he wrote on 27 September, his concern and acknowledgment of the value of her work were clearly expressed by the words that there were ‘... fears for Ramble. If anything happened to her it would be nothing less than a calamity’.
On October 7th, he specifically made a comment on the Commander-In-Chief's statement about de Bettignies in that ‘He said she was a regular modern Joan of Arc’ a sentiment already being echoed by her comrades in France, and one that remained with her as steadfast as her British moniker “Queen of Spies”.
Sadly just 13 days later on the 20th October 2015 Louise de Bettignies was arrested by the Germans at Froyennes and sent to Saint Gilles prison in Brussels, where she was sentenced to death on March 16th 2016. Kirke throughout this time kept Louise close in his thoughts, and he visited her Mother when she was missing and made sure to keep in touch with her.
Louise’s sentence however was commuted and after being sentenced to hard labour for life she was moved to the infamous women’s prison at Siegburg near Cologne. Louise endured 3 years until her death on the 27th September 1918, just before the armistice on 11th November, as a result of pleural abscesses from an inadequately performed operation under terrible conditions.
On the 23rd October 1918 Kirke began the process for honouring Louise and initiated an OBE posthumously together with a condolence letter from King George V which were received alongside each other by her mother in January 2019. The recognition by the British for Louise’s “very exceptional services” was mirrored by her own Nation and she was awarded the Croix de Guerre in 1916, left in her mother's charge until released, and posthumously the Croix de la Legion d’Honneur in 1919.
Louise’s efforts undermined the German campaign in Lille and the surrounding area to such an extent that this 40km of front (held by the British) was seen as being “cursed” against the full front lines of almost 700km. Louise’s undeniable success with her agents and couriers was even acknowledged by the Germans themselves when they refused a request to move Louise to Switzerland when she was dying because “She did us too much harm”.
Louise’s remains were repatriated to Lille in 1920, accompanied by both French and British troops, and after a service with full military honours she was buried in the family tomb at Saint-Amand-les-Eaux.
Louise de Bettignies, the pro-British and modern “Joan of Arc” was a true heroine of France and Britain. Her commitment to the resistance and France was born from a deeply rooted sense of patriotism and her selfless work and courage undoubtedly secured the British and French victories, saved lives, and helped to shape the freedom of Lille and France. These sainted and royal nicknames given to Louise simply demonstrate further the value that was placed on the intelligence she provided.
Her heroism and extraordinary story were recognised globally after the war, with many international newspaper articles, books, a play, film and even an overture composed in her honour, but this recognition was sadly cut short all too quickly with the start of WWII.
Saint-Amande-les-Eaux has seen the family home restored and a museum and exhibition opened in her honour. Plans for a further exhibition to be created in honour of female resistance fighters in both wars to commemorate their efforts were put in motion by Alain Bocquet (a mayor of Saint-Amande) who commented they are a way to honour “women who choose to resist and to risk death rather than to give in to the humiliation and dishonour of the two Occupations”.
Louise de Bettignies, Alice Dubois, Ramble, is a woman whose many names from services to her country and ours, should and never will be forgotten and whose actions unreservedly deserves her the accolade of the modern “Joan of Arc”.
