Denys Teare
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Denys's journey is perhaps the best documented of all the crew, which is fully decribed in his excellent book "Evader" , but this is a brief summary of his journey.
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After landing in a wooded area near the crash site Denys set off trying to cover as much distance as possible before morning. He came across two local French men, who had been ordered to guard a bridge in Bar-le-Duc by the German authorities. Excited to meet an "Aviateur Anglais", the two men took Denys to the home of Mm. Barbierri, where he stayed for several weeks. A plan had been put in place for Denys to be escorted down a line of Resistance agents, but this was scrapped in December after the capture and execution of twelve Resistance men involved in the operation.
Denys was then moved across the village to the home of cheese merchant M. Collin, who had previously helped two US airmen escape to England. Denys decided that he could be of use to the Resistance, and so asked to stay, rather than be smuggled into Switzerland, where he would have been interned. It had become clear to him that members of the local Resistance were unfamiliar with many of the British weapons that had been dropped, so he put himself forward as a weapons instructor. In January 1944, Denys was taken by car to join a Resistance group. He was given a false ID card, with the name ‘Denys Thomas Lebenec’, and was to remain with the Resistance for the next 9 months.
He became fluent in French and well trained in the art of sabotage and resistance work. On the 8 June 1944, Denys was with a Resistance member, Robert Lhuerre, who had served with the demobilised French Air Force, when the building they were in was raided by SS, Gestapo and German military police. Denys and Robert hid in the attic, but as the search continued and their discovery was imminent, Robert presented himself to the Germans admitting to being the Resistor that they were looking for, and stating that he was the only one in the building. He was immediately arrested and the search was called off, saving Denys from capture. Robert and three other members of the Bar-le-Duc Resistance group were executed by German troops on 28 August 1944. A few days later the town was liberated by American forces. How did he get back to England?