Andrée de Jongh was 24 years old and working as a nurse in Brussels when she decided to create an escape route for Allied servicemen shot down over occupied Europe. She called it the Comet Line — Réseau Comète — and she personally escorted the first group of airmen from Brussels to the Spanish frontier in August 1941.

She walked into the British consulate in Bilbao with a British soldier and two Belgian men and announced that she had brought them from Brussels. The British intelligence officer who debriefed her was skeptical — he could not believe that this slight young woman had organized such an operation. He became a believer when she kept bringing more.

The Network

The Comet Line ran from Belgium through France to the Basque country of Spain. Along the route, safe houses sheltered the evaders while they waited for guides. The Pyrenees crossing was the most dangerous leg — a grueling mountain trek that took two to three days, often in winter conditions, led by Basque mountain guides.

What made the Comet Line unusual was that it was largely run by women. De Jongh believed — correctly — that women aroused less suspicion from German patrols. Women served as guides, safe house keepers, forgers, and couriers. Elvire De Greef, known as "Tante Go," ran the southern section of the line from her home near the Spanish border with extraordinary efficiency.

The Cost

De Jongh personally made 32 crossings of the Pyrenees, escorting 118 people to safety. She was eventually betrayed and arrested in January 1943. She was sent to Ravensbrück and Mauthausen concentration camps. Remarkably, the Germans never believed she was the leader of the organization — they assumed a woman could not have created and run such a network.

She survived the camps. After the war, she went to work in leper colonies in Africa, never seeking recognition or fame. The Comet Line saved over 800 Allied personnel during its operation — and approximately 170 of its members were killed by the Germans.