World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseAndrée Eugénie Adrienne de Jongh was born in Schaerbeek, Belgium to headmaster Frédéric de Jongh and Alice Decarpentrie. She worked as an artist in Malmédy, Belgium when Germany invaded in May 1940. Shortly after, she moved to Brussels and became a volunteer with the Red Cross. In secret, she provided help to injured Allied troops hiding in various safe houses in Brussels; very quickly, as she traveled from safe house to safe house, she found herself facilitating a network of safe houses. This network would become the Comet Line, Le Réseau Comète, in the summer of 1941 with her at the helm, aiming to help these Allied personnel in hiding escape to neutral Spain and on to Britain. The Comet Line's first attempt failed, with all but two involved interned by Spanish authorities. She personally led the second attempt to take 1 British soldier and two Belgium resistance fighters to Spain, and this attempt was successful. In Aug 1941, she met with British authorities at the British consulate in Bilbao, Spain, which led to her organization being directly supported by British Military Intelligence Section 9. In the following year and half, under her leadership, the Comet Line helped 400 Allied personnel to escape from Belgium; 118 of them were escorted by Jongh personally. In Jan 1943, she was betrayed by a member of her network and was captured in Urrugne, France while on her 33rd trip escorting escapees. She was tortured and admitted being the head of the network, but the Germans did not believe her. Meanwhile, in Jun 1943, her father Frédéric de Jongh, who was also a member of the Comet Line, was captured in Paris, France and was executed. The younger Jongh was sent to Ravensbrück Concentration Camp then to Mauthausen Concentration Camp. In her absence, the Comet Line continued its operation, sending an additional 400 Allied personnel to Britain. She was freed in Apr 1945 as Mauthausen was liberated. After the war, she was honored with the Belgian Croix de Guerre/Oorlogskruis with palm, the American Medal of Freedom, and the British George Medal; she was also made a Chevalier of the Belgian Order of Léopold, a Chevalier of the French Légion d'honneur, and a honorary lieutenant colonel in the Belgian Army. In 1985, she was made a countess. After a post-war career working in Congo, Cameroon, Ethiopia, and Senegal with those suffering leprosy, she returned to Belgium as she grew frail as she aged. She passed away at the age of 90 at the University Clinic Woluwe-Saint-Lambert/Sint-Lambrechts-Woluwe in Brussels. Her funeral service was held at the Abbaye de la Cambre/Abdij Ter Kameren, Ixelles/Elsene, Belgium, on 19 Oct 2007, six days after her death. She now rests at the Schaarbeek Cemetery at Evere, Belgium.

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2.  C. Peter Chen says:
17 Jan 2018 09:08:09 AM

Anonymous of 16 Jan 2018: Thank you, the "Gender" data has been corrected.