Comet line The Comet line ( ) was a resistance group in Belgium and France that helped Allied soldiers and airmen return to Britain during the Second World War . The line started in Brussels where the men were fed , clothed and given false identity papers , before being hidden in attics or cellars . A network of people then guided them south through occupied France into neutral Spain and home via British - controlled Gibraltar . Routes . A typical route was from Brussels or Lille to Paris and then via Tours , Bordeaux , Bayonne , over the Pyrenees to San Sebastián in Spain . From there evaders travelled to Bilbao , Madrid and Gibraltar . There were three other main routes . The Pat line ( after founder Pat O ' Leary ) ran from Paris to Toulouse via Limoges and then over the Pyrenees via Esterri d ' Aneu to Barcelona . Another Pat line ran from Paris to Dijon , Lyons , Avignon to Marseille , then Nîmes , Perpignan and Barcelona , from where they were transported to Gibraltar . The third route from Paris ( the Shelburne line ) ran to Rennes and then St Brieuc in Brittany , where men were shipped to Dartmouth . Creation and exploits . The Comet line was created by a young Belgian woman who joined the Belgian Resistance . Andrée de Jongh ( nickname " Dédée " ) was 24 in 1940 and lived in Brussels . She was the younger daughter of Frédéric de Jongh , a headmaster , and Alice Decarpentrie . A heroine of Dédée ' s in her youth had been Edith Cavell , a British nurse who was shot in 1915 in the Tir National in Schaerbeek for helping troops escape from occupied Belgium to neutral Netherlands . In August 1941 Andrée de Jongh appeared in the British consulate in Bilbao with a British soldier ( James Cromar from Aberdeen ) and two Belgian volunteers ( Merchiers and Sterckmans ) , having travelled by train from Paris to Bayonne and then on foot over the Pyrenees . She requested British support for her escape network ( later named ' Comet line ' ) , which was granted by MI9 ( British Military Intelligence Section 9 ) , under the control of an ex - infantry major Norman Crockatt and lieutenant James Langley . Langley had been repatriated after losing his left arm in the rear guard defence of Dunkerque in 1940 . Working with MI9 de Jongh helped 400 Allied soldiers escape from Belgium through occupied France to Spain and Gibraltar . Neave described her as " one of our greatest agents . " Later Neave organised gunboats from Dartmouth to run agents and supplies across the Channel to the French resistance in Brittany and return with escaped POW s and evaders . Comet Line members and their families took great risks . De Jongh escorted 118 airmen over the Pyrenees herself . After November 1942 the escape lines became more dangerous , after southern France was occupied by the Germans and the whole of France came under direct Nazi rule . Many members of the Comet line were betrayed ; hundreds were arrested by the Geheime Feldpolizei and the Abwehr and , after weeks of interrogation and torture at places such as Fresnes Prison in Paris , were executed or labelled Nacht und Nebel ( NN ) prisoners . NN prisoners were deported to German prisons and many later to concentration camps such as Ravensbrück concentration camp for women , Mauthausen - Gusen concentration camp , Buchenwald concentration camp , Flossenbürg concentration camp . Prisoners sent to these camps included Andrée de Jongh , Elsie Maréchal ( Belgian Resistance ) , Nadine Dumon ( Belgian Resistance ) , Mary Lindell ( Comtesse de Milleville ) and Virginia d ' Albert - Lake ( American ) . The authors of the official history of MI9 cite 2 , 373 British and Commonwealth servicemen and 2 , 700 Americans taken to Britain by such escape lines during World War II . The RAF Escaping Society estimated that there were 14 , 000 helpers by 1945 . The Comet line inspired the 1970s BBC television series , " Secret Army " ( 1977 – 79 ) . Further reading . The story of Comet Line is told in " The Little Cyclone " written by Airey Neave , who whilst working for MI9 was responsible for overseeing and helping this line . Other accounts appear in the books " Saturday at MI9 " also by Airey Neave , " Home Run " by John Nichol & Tony Rennel , " MI9 - Escape & Evasion " by James Langley & M . R . D . Foot , and " Silent Heroes : Downed Airmen and the French Underground " by Sherri Greene Ottis . " Return Journey " by Major ASB Arkwright includes a first hand account of three British Officers who were brought to freedom by the line after escaping from a POW camp . " Riding the Comet " is a stage drama by Mark Violi . The play focuses on a rural French family helping two American GIs return safely to London shortly after the D - Day invasion . This play premiered at Actors ' NET of Bucks County , Pennsylvania in September 2011 .