35
members of the escape network were brought to trial
charged with conveying soldiers to the enemy. Most
were given between 2 and 10 years hard labour, 8 were
acquitted. Phillippe Bancq and Edith Cavell were shot. Originally,
another four were condemned to death, but received
a reprieve when the Pope intervened on their behalf.
The sentence on Edith and Phillipe was carried out very quickly ’in the
interest of the state’, despite desperate appeals from the American Minister
and Spanish Ambassador in Brussels.
Albert Thuiliez, one of the reprieved condemned prisoners
was certain that had Edith Cavell worn her nurses uniform
at her trial she would not have been given the death
sentence.
Phillipe Baucq had a leading role in the development
and operation of the escape network. In prison he was
duped into confessing to a ‘cell mate’ that
as well as operating the escape network and controlling
the distribution of the illegal newspaper ‘La
Libre Belgique’ he had worked as a spy. |
