Escape and evasion lines (World War II)

Others were the product of a combination of allied military personnel and local citizens in occupied territory, such as the Pat O'Leary Line.

[1][2] About 7,000 airmen and soldiers, mostly American, British and Canadian were helped to evade German capture in Western Europe and successfully returned to the United Kingdom during World War II.

The most perilous job of all was handled mostly by young women, many of them still in their teens, who escorted the servicemen hundreds of miles across enemy territory to Spain.

Typically, downed airmen were found, fed, clothed, given false identity papers, and hidden in attics, cellars, and people's homes by a network of volunteers.

Travel through occupied France was mostly by train, followed by a crossing on foot of the Pyrenees mountains into Spain with a local guide (usually paid).

Once in Spain the airmen were assisted by British diplomats to travel to Gibraltar and then were flown back to the United Kingdom.

However, two UK clandestine organizations, mostly MI9 but also Section DF of the Special Operations Executive (SOE), financed the large escape lines and the U.S. clandestine organization MIS-X helped prisoners of war (POWs) escape from German POW camps.

[13] The members of the escape and evasion lines were usually unarmed and did not participate in violent resistance to the German occupation.

To maintain tight security, escape lines usually avoided contacts with armed resistance groups.

The number of airmen evading capture after being shot down or crash landing in western Europe was a small fraction of those killed or taken prisoner.

[18] During the Second World War citizens in the occupied countries of Europe were not free to move about without identification cards and travel permits.