Groupe Hoornaert-Dirix

The following pages from the book Du Sang Sur Les Bruyeres (Google translation, Blood on Bruyeres) were scanned for me courtesy of Mr. Wolfgang Meyer.  The front cover gives the following identification: Groupe Hoornaert-Dirix, De L’Armee Secrete, 1940-1945.  Following the cover I have prepared an index to names of 71 airmen (including a few non-airmen) giving the page number(s) where each person is to be found.  Where I have made a notation such as “RAF?”, that indicates the person is probably RAF but it is not explicitly stated as such in the publication.  Following the pages from the book, I have added (1) a short account about Paul Hoornaert  provided by Philippe Connart, and (2) some links to other websites that might be useful.

Front cover

Title page, IMG_1900

INDEX TO NAMES OF AIRMEN

  • ALEXANDROF, Michael, URSS – 71
  • BABCOCK, Ford, AAF – 69
  • BAILEY, Charley, AAF – 68
  • BARTON, Arthur, RAF – 71
  • BENNETT, Albert, RAF – 69
  • BEBER, Alfred, RAF? – 65
  • BOARD, Leslie E. (misspelled as BERD), RAF – 70, SPG 3351/2096
  • BRADLEY, John, AAF – 69
  • BREED, Mervyn R., NZAF – 69 (See also Dutch-Paris listing)
  • BULL, William, AAF – 70
  • BURROWS, Robert, AAF – 70
  • BYERS, John F., AAF – 69
  • CASSODY, Georges, AAF – 70
  • COOPER, Brian, RAF? – 67
  • COVENTRY, Stanley, RAF? – 66
  • COWE, Archibald, RAF? – 65
  • DANIELS, John Bryan, RAF – 70
  • DAVIES, Joseph, RAF – 69
  • DUDLEY, William G., RAF – 70
  • ELDRIDGE (misspelled as ELWIGDE), Douglas, RAF – 68, shot down 29 June 1943
  • ELLINGHAM, Leslie, RAF – 68
  • ELWIGDE, Douglas, RAF – 68
  • ESTEP, C. James, AAF – 70
  • EVANS, John H., RAF – 71 (Helped by Baron d’Villenfagne who also helped escape Russian POWs.)
  • FERGUSON, Donald, RAF? – 65
  • FRENKEN, Joseph, Commandant of Aviation, KLM – 66
  • GARFIELD, William, RAF? – 66
  • GODDARD, Ronald, RAF? – 66
  • GRANT, James, RAF? – 66
  • HARGROVE, Maurice, AAF – 70
  • HATTER, Cyrill, RAF – 71
  • HORTON, Horace, RAF? – 67
  • HUTTON, John, RAF? – 65
  • JAVANOVITCH, Voja, Yugoslav – 71
  • KEENAN, Howard, AAF – 69
  • KENDALL, Walter, AAF – 70
  • KILLIAN, Harold, AAF – 69
  • KRAWEZYNSKI, Steve, AAF – 68
  • LLOYD, P.R. (Doug), RAF – 71, (Helped by Baron d’Villenfagne who also helped escape Russian POWs.)
  • MARIAN, Majewski, Lt. of Artillery, Poland – 66
  • MERKLEY, Allen L., AAF – 69
  • MOORE, Stanley, RAF? – 65
  • MULLANEY, Walter, RAF – 67, 68
  • MURPHY, Wilfred, RAF or RCAF? – 65
  • MURRAY, Gordon, RAF? – 66
  • NICHOLSON, Edward, RAF? – 67
  • PAJANTISCH, Stretsko, Yugoslav – 71
  • PENCEK, Raymond, AAF – 69
  • PERRY, Francis Lloyd, RAF – 70
  • PIERRE, Marcel, RAF? – 65
  • PRESTON, (no initials), RAF – 71
  • QUINU, William, AAF – 68
  • REES, Cecil, RAF – 67, 68
  • ROBERTSON, W. (Bill) A., RAF – 71, (Helped by Baron d’Villenfagne who also helped escape Russian POWs.)
  • ROEDE, Ernest, RAF? – 67
  • ROYCE, Gillvary, AAF – 69
  • SANKEY, Joseph, RAF? – 65
  • SCHIPILOFF, Paul, URSS – 71
  • SCHULTZ, Henri, AAF – 69
  • SEVEDLESNIE, Feodor, URSS – 71
  • SMITH, John M.J., RAF – 67, 68
  • STERN, Milton, AAF – 70
  • SUMPTER, Irvin F., AAF – 69
  • TOLBERT, James W., RAF – 68
  • TOUVAEF, Constant, URSS – 71
  • TURNER, Alvin, RAF or RCAF? – 66
  • VAN DER STOK, Bram (“Bob”), RAF – 71 (See his book, “War Pilot of Orange”)
  • WARREN, James W., AAF – 70
  • WILKINGS, James, RAF? – 66
  • WILSON, Lloyd George, AAF – 68
  • ZALLAS, Jan., Lt. of Artillery – 65
  • ZOLLNER, John, AAF – 70

Preface, pp. 3-4

Preface, IMG_1901

Page 4, IMG_1902

Pg. 65

Pg. 65, IMG_1915

Pg. 66

Pg. 66, IMG_1916

Pg. 67

Pg. 67, IMG_1917

Pg. 68

Page 68, IMG_1903

Pg. 69

Pg. 69, IMG_1904

Pg. 70

Pg. 70, IMG_1905

Pg. 71

Pg. 71, IMG_1906

Background of Paul Hoornaert Submitted by Philippe Connart

Paul Hoornaert (1888-1944) was from Liège (Rue Fabry).  A lawyer and attached to the Christian-Democrats, he volunteered during WWI and became an officer.  He created the Nationaal Legioen/Légion Nationale in the mid-twenties (1927). Pierre Nothomb (father of Jean-François) created the similar Action Nationale.  All these nationalist movements came to light as a result of WWI. In France, you had the Action Française of Charles Maurras. In Italy, the Fascism followed a similar ideology, as well as in Portugal and Spain.
Hoornaert was much inspired by Italian fascism. His group, of some 5,000 members strong, became part of the Armée Secrète/Geheime Leger.
The Legion was aiming at a national revolution in order to establish a New Ordre, where political parties and the parliament would be replaced by a strong government under the authority of the king.  In addition, the National Legion was anti-marxist, anti-parliament, anti-semitic, Belgian-Nationalist, royalist and was against ballots.
When the Légion Nationale refused to collaborate with the occupying German power (unlike Rex and the VNV which did)–it had been first allowed to reunite and run training camps in their uniform–200 leaders were arrested by September 1941. So was Paul Hoornaert arrested in 1941, and deceased in early 1944 in the concentration camp of Sonnenburg.  On August 6, 1942, Paul was tried in Aachen on the charge of illegal possession of weapons, clandestine press and espionage.  The group Hoornaert-Dirix is known for having shot a few SS soldiers and helped in the evasion of aviators and Soviet prisoners from the coal mines in Limburg.
Paul Hoornaert  developed a heavy cough in Febuary 1944 and died from fever and lack of care.

Links to Other Websites Having to Do with Groupe Hoornaert-Dirix