During
the Second World War there were many brave individuals fighting with the French
resistance to combat the invading forces of Nazism. Perhaps one of the most
complex characters to emerge was Mathilde Carré, known by friends and enemies
alike as ‘The Cat’.
Mathilde-Lucie
Belard was born in June 30 (my birthday) in 1908. Dainty, with dark hair and
staring green eyes and a broad sensual mouth, she had a succession of
boyfriends at the Sorbonne, but, according to her own story, remained a virgin
until twenty-three.
She
secretly married a schoolteacher, Maurice Carré, and they went to North Africa
and taught. Here, at Ain Sefra, she embarked on an affair with an aristocratic
Muslim, a friend of her husband. In 1939 Maurice was posted on active service
in Syria and left her behind, their marriage over.
She
made her way back to France and trained as a nurse. During the French retreat
from the invading Germans, she met, nursed and fell in love with a tank corps
captain, Jean. She became pregnant, Jean was transferred away and she
miscarried, then contemplating suicide in the River Garonne. Instead, she
determined to join de Gaulle and fight for France; however, the British consul
in Toulouse advised her to remain in France. She met an escaped POW, Polish
airman Roman and agreed to join him in German-occupied Paris. This was what her
restless and passionate spirit had craved – glamour, adventure and danger.
Meeting
with the undercover Deuxieme Bureau agents, she was given elementary training –
codes, recognition of German Army and Air Force formations and the use of
invisible ink. She spent her evenings in the bar of the luxurious Hotel
Ambassadeurs where the American newspapermen made their HQ. She curled up in a
big armchair, her black hair bobbing and her long talon-like fingernails
nervously scratching the leather side of the chair, just like a cat. Some wit
called her ‘The Little Black Cat’, and it stuck, and in the network she was
thereafter known as ‘The Cat’. Their espionage network was known as
Inter-allie, and at this period it was successful, providing much-needed
information to the British. She began wearing her trademark clothing, a black
fur coat and a little red hat. Roman’s mistress was recruited into Inter-Allie
and her presence seemed to cause tension, though Mathilde vowed she’d never had
an affair with Roman.
Two
days after the first anniversary of the network’s birth, Mathilde was on her
way to her studio when she was picked up by the Abwehr; she was identified by
Roman’s mistress. Apparently, the German Command in Paris had suspected a major
Allied spy ring operating in the area, due to the precise timing of the RAF attacks.
She
spent a night in a cold dank cell and seemed to suffer a complete moral
collapse due to the sudden reversal of her fortunes. She was taken to a warm
room fed breakfast and informed by Hugo Bleicher, an NCO who later penetrated
several clandestine British networks, and arrested Odette. Bleicher told her
she was too intelligent and interesting a woman to remain in prison; if she
co-operated, he would set free that evening…
Over
the next few days she systematically betrayed the remaining members of the
Inter-allie network. With Bleicher’s aid, she used a captured British radio to
get in contact with London, advising them that though she had escaped the
network members in Paris were all captured; and she was believed.
Her
relationship with Bleicher was not always smooth; on one occasion he teased by
asking her what requests she would make if they decided to shoot her. ‘To have
a good dinner, to spend the night in bed with a lover, to listen to Mozart’s
Requiem, and to be shot while it was being played.’
While
she worked with Lucas, one of the first SOE agents dropped into the area,
London discovered that she was a double agent. When Lucas suggested that
Mathilde go back to London with him, the Abwehr and Bleicher went along with
the idea, believing she would be useful to them in the heart of the SOE.
An
MTB picked up the pair in February 1942. When they docked at Dartmouth, she was
taken to a luxury flat in Bayswater Road, where she was to make herself
comfortable; the place was ‘lousy with microphones’. She was de-briefed (interrogated),
but also escorted to well-known tourist sights, restaurants and even
night-clubs!
Lucas
returned to France, was captured and questioned by Bleicher; as a result,
Bleicher was convinced that the Cat still functioned as an Abwehr spy in
London. After some harsh mistreatment, Lucas was eventually sent to Colditz POW
camp.
Mathilde
was sent to Aylesbury Prison and Holloway and then in 1945 she was repatriated.
In 1949 she was tried in France. Two of her former chiefs in the Deuxieme
Bureau spoke up for her, but she was sentenced to death; it was later commuted
to life imprisonment. Late in 1954, she was released. In 1959 she published her
own account, I Was the Cat (revised 1975). She died in Paris in 1970, aged 62
-
Some of the above was gleaned from The
Real World of Spies by Charles Wighton (1962).
Also
of interest:
Mathilde
Carré, Double Agent by Lauran Paine
(1976)
Gordon
Young, The Cat With Two Faces (1957)
In
the late 1950s I saw a French film The
Face of the Cat which was a chilling movie of the French Resistance
starring Francoise Anoul; I often wondered if the film was inspired by the
above Cat.
It’s
interesting that David Cornwell chose the penname John le Carré. He was
probably aware of Mathilde Carré’s story. Le Carré is French for ‘the square’.
Of
course my Cat heroine is not a double agent; she’s simply someone obsessed with
destroying a company and its CEO: it begins with Catalyst.
The
first in ‘The Avenging Cat’ series
Catalyst, a person that precipitates events.
That’s Catherine Vibrissae. Orphan. Chemist. Model.
Avenging Cat.
She
seeks revenge against Loup Malefice, the man responsible for the takeover of
her father’s company. An accomplished climber, Cat is not averse to breaking
and entering to confound her enemies. During her investigations, she crosses
the path of Rick Barnes, a company lawyer, who seems to have his own agenda.
Ranging from south of England to the north-east,
Wales and Barcelona, Cat’s quest for vengeance is implacable. But with the NCA
hot on her tail, can she escape the clutches of sinister Zabala and whip-wielding
Profesora Quesada?
…
and continues with Catacomb (due for
release Autumn 2015).
