“ DIDDLING ” THE GERMANS.

Putaruru Press, 7 June 1928, Page 7

“ DIDDLING ” THE GERMANS.

A YORKSHIREMAN IN FRANCE. One of the little known heroes of w is Mr G. W. Richardson, who was a Yorkshireman who settled in Roubaix, in France, many years ago, and became the owner of large wool and cotton mills. The story of how he lived for the duration of the war in Roubaix while it was occupied by the Germans, and carried on work in ■which he risked his life every day is told in the National Review by Mr H. A. Walton. Mr Richardson had won such a place for himself m the commercial life of Northern France that he was one of the leading citizens who at one stage of the wax were held as hostages. He is proud of the fact, too, that for a considerable time the Germans did not discover his true nationality. Another point in which he was successful in deceiving them was in hiding his

knowledge of German. . They never he could speak the language as well as he did French, and by this means he gained an immense advantage. His first conflict with the invaders came when they f'””>d it essentia! to use his principal mill for the manufacture of woollen cloth. The mill was commandeered, and its owner was ordered to begin making cloth. He fiatly refused, even when given the choice between obedience and a firing party. He laughed at the threat, and asked, “Will you get your cloth if time to time Mr Richardson was able x, reconsidered his decision, but kept the mill-owner under close surveil- •*- lance. The Germans made efforts to work the mill themselves, but whenever they appeared to be on the point of success they found indispensible parts missing. Though they shipped all the German and French machinery to Germany they left the English machinery of Mr Richardson at his mills, in the hope of forcing him to use it. But they did not sm ' 1 Meanwhile, in spite of the supervision they kept over his movements, Mr Richardson threw himself heart and soul into the risky business of “diddling” the Germans. He was constantly under suspicion, and was imprisoned six times, but they could never find sufficient proof on which to shoot him. His most dangerous activity was in co-operating with the heroine, Leoriie Vanhutte, in collecting military intelligence for the Allies. He was also involved deeply in the highly organised plans for assisting British, French, and Bel-

gium soldiers in regaining their units through Holland, and of conveying particulars of the enemy’s dispositions to the Allied headquarters. Very early in the invasion he got one important message out by carrier pigeon, the breeding of which was his chief hobby. The Germans killed all his birds, and made it a capital rffence to possess one. His daughter, Miss Gertrude Richardson, also assisted in the great work. She was nursing in the hospital and working together they got one vital message out in the bandages round a wounded officer’s leg. On one other occasion he saved himself and others by swallowing a message that would have been fatal to the whole organisation had the Germans secured it. In evading orders to surrender various materials that were made from pearance was nothing to the quantity to give full play to his incomparable skill in “diddling” the Germans. One of his most daring feats, in which he was helped by a former employer, was disposing of three tons of lead. They managed to remove it from the mill in small quantities, and in doing so bad to pass two sentries. The little the Germans got for the sake of appearance was nothing to the quantity they lost. Then he managed to bum a large quantity that was confiscated to be used for making sandbags. Another trick that was successful was the taking of 12 bicycles to pieces and sinking them in parts of the river. His narrowest escape from detection rose through his concealing a very large quantity of copper by bricking it up in a passage of the mill. A German officer instituted a most determined search of the mill for material they suspected him of hiding. It was a most minute search carried out with much probing and sounding. The officer himself sounded the false wall from end to end while Mr Richardson stood by, without detecting his precious hoard. On another occasion the house was suddenly raided at night in search of wireless or other signalling apparatus. Mr Richardson met tne officer on the threshold and begged him to make as little noise as possible as his wife was ill. “We don’t know yet what is wrong with madame,” he added, “but we are afrajid of typhus.” The search was there and then indefinitely postponed. In disguise Mr Rishardson repeatedly crossed the Belgium frontier and preserves as a memento of one of these exploits his hat with a bullet hole made by one of the many shots fired at him when detected by a German patrol. Mr Richardson was awarded the Legion of Honour and nine other decorations—none of them British.