“This network was called Phill. It included 14 people, many of whom regularly and illegally crossed the forbidden zone and who took down the plans, the equipment, the strength of the air base of the Luftwaffe. All the data was transmitted to London subsequently guiding the intervention of the British fighter aircrafts and fighter bombers. This network was made up of men and women who did not have any help to rescue them on the spot and who carried out their missions while spending their own money. It was only near the end of 1941 that they first received funds from England.”( Paulin (c), 2006).

The actions of the phill network

Since the armistice, the Renault factories modified their French tanks on behalf of the Werhmacht. Paulin and his comrades set up with London the destruction of these factories located in the suburbs of Paris. Once the plan set up, the RAF bombed the site and achieved its goals although at the expense of thousands of civilians’ lives (Paulin (c), 2006).

“In 1941, the Phill network informed MI6 of the extent of the German research on the jet engine and the progress of the prototype plans.”

Back to his first loves

“Georges Paulin and his comrades had a fictitious or a part-time professional activity so as to cover their spying activity. Thus, Georges, who had been a dentist, began in November 1940 to work for Durren-Berger, a French dentist from Alsace who spoke German fluently and who had already treated members of the German embassy well before the outbreak of the war. This office had by then attracted remarkable customers: ambassador Otto Abetz, Minister Schleier, Minister Rode, General von Stülpnagel who led the French troops in France, Hermann Brandl also known as Otto, Chief of the Abwehr in France, Daniel Dubois the French number one of the Gestapo in Paris, Captain Otto Rahn sent by Himmler, consuls Quiring and Studer, etc. Yet, well before the war, Durren-Berger was already an agent from the 2nd office of the French army and during the occupation until 1942, he pursued his spying activity for the 2nd bureau of Vichy. This source of information was worth a considerable amount. Part of the information gathered by Durren-Berger was transmitted to the English by the chief of the intelligence service: lieutenant colonel Perruche. Durren-Berger did not know anything about Georges Paulin’s spying activity and neither did Georges Paulin about Durren-Berger’s.

The height of daring was such that, from November 1940 to October 1941, Georges Paulin treated Dubois, the traitor who was hunting him up without knowing who he was. They were on good terms with each other and Dubois told his secretary, Miss Méry, that he highly respected Georges Paulin.” [4].

Agents from the Phill network followed one another in Paulin’s dental office. In the course of their comings and goings through the office, they randomly met those German personalities. The information was dropped off in a hollow statue in Paulin’s office. The Germans never noticed anything [4].

Arrest

In November 1941, after having being denounced by a Swiss German “friend”, they were arrested under the order of Otto and Radecke from the Abwehr. It was Lafont, the head of the French Gestapo in Lauriston Street, and three of his fellows who were in charge of carrying out this mission. Durren-Berger, who was terrified, delivered all the dental files concerning the members of the Phill network who, then, all got arrested.

Georges Paulin was handed over to Otto. Dubois would later confide to Durren-Berger that Paulin never uttered a single word during eight days of questioning. The Resistance fighters were kept for four months and none of the Phill network, whether known or not by the Swiss German or by Durren-Berger had been harassed. Despite inhuman treatments inflicted to them, none of them who got arrested denounced their “free” comrades.” [4] They were tried in Paris on March 20, 1942 and sentenced to death. During the trial, Judge Eckard paid tribute to their patriotism stating that “it was honorable for a Frenchman to disobey the French government.” This same judge highlighted the fact that the Abwehr, the German intelligence service, had paid the whistleblower 400 000 francs per captured Resistance fighter [4].

During four months, they were tortured and lived in slow agony. Paulin had his neck and chest put in plaster to get tied down to the execution post. He told Abbot Stock, who accompanied him during his last hours, that he died on the week of the anniversary of his mother’s death, and to those who wanted to avenge him, he left those last words: “Do not avenge me, I love you.” They were shot at Mount Valérien [5].

After….

In 1945, Paulin was awarded the war cross with a vermeil star and was acknowledged under military order by General de Gaulle. In 1964, the administration declared that Georges Paulin died for France. In 1967, he was posthumously awarded the rank of lieutenant of the French army and in 1969, he was awarded the Resistance medal [4].

In the year 2000, his name and those of thousands others were engraved on the silent bell paying a tribute to the victims of Mount Valérien. In 2006, Mayor Bertrand Delanoë had a tablet in memory of Georges Paulin set on the number 3 of the “place du 18 juin 1940”. The same year, a Legion of Honor request was submitted by the Paulin family who received a flat refusal by the Ministry of Defense [6].

In 1945, the whistleblower fled to Switzerland where he was never bothered. Durren-Berger was sentenced to death on November 15, 1945, reprieved on November 18 and then freed in 1951.

1. 

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   Figure 1:

   Georges Paulin (1902-1942) [7].