A Convoluted Journey from German Captivity, to the French Resistance, and Betrayal of the Resistance
As the German blitzkrieg overran France, Harold Cole became a POW in May, 1940 when the Germans captured the guardhouse where he was jailed. Cole escaped German captivity and made his way to Lille, where he got in touch with the French Resistance. He convinced them that he was a British intelligence agent sent to organize escape lines to get stranded and fleeing British military personnel back home. At first, Cole actually helped the Allied cause. He escorted escaped personnel across Nazi-occupied territory to the relative safety of Vichy France. From there, they slipped into Spain and a ship back home.
He also embezzled from the funds intended to finance those operations to pay for a high society lifestyle of nightclubs, pricey restaurants, expensive champagne, fast cars, and faster girls. When his thefts came to light in 1941, the Resistance arrested and locked him up. While they deliberated what to do about him, Cole escaped. On the run from the Resistance, he turned himself in to the Nazis. He gave them 30 pages of Resistance member names and addresses, and became an agent of the SS’ Sicherheitdienst, or SD.