In 1944 my father, SQMS J Alcock, led out C3 patrol from Operation Pistol. In the official report it says at one point that my father and three SAS men were trapped in a house in the forest at a place called Koecking Bois. Two 15 year old girls were in the house. The Germans have surrounded the house the report says. It then says the girls are pushed out of the front door whilst my father hides with his men in the rear hallway until then sees a chance to break out of the back.
The actual facts are different. In his oral story he places the girls in the house when the Germans enter. He is hiding in the back hall. He told me there were shouts at the girls so he and his men re-entered the main room and shot the Germans who were within it. They then turned and ran out the back door. As my father left the room he turned and saw a German soldier with red hair enter at the diagonally opposite side. This man had been upstairs. Neither man shot at the other. My father ran out the back door and ran after his men who were making for the wood. The remaining Germans gave chase but my father and his men turned and shot them, except for one man. The report says my father heard two shots after twenty minutes or so and he summises the girls have been shot. In his oral story he paces them in the house. I am still unclear as to where the girls died. It is a sad tale and it is not explained fully in the official report. The soldier named Lyczak in this patrol was infact given a false name which was 'Grand'. This has been confirmed by a US intelligence report that I obtained from American Archives.
My father was extremely lucky to be able to get out of this house because at one point german soldiers were all around it. I have visited the pistol area and found other oral descriptions from frenchmen that all add detail to the official reports. One tells how a captain Scott of C1 patrol was hidden under a blancket by a woman who placed her children on top just as germans entered her house to search it. She got away with it.
Not so long ago I went to Koecking Bois again but this time to question the residents of the three farms that are located on the cross roads near to where the girls were killed. I asked the owners of these farms if they had heard anything about the girls deaths. They said they knew nothing of them or their deaths as they had not been in the farms in 1944. They said the Germans had thrown them out and replaced them with German families. After the war ended the French came back to reclaim their farms so they had not been there in 1944. Look on wikipedia for the written report. Look for Operation Pistol. My father was in C drop but you can read there the reports from A and B drops also.
The actual facts are different. In his oral story he places the girls in the house when the Germans enter. He is hiding in the back hall. He told me there were shouts at the girls so he and his men re-entered the main room and shot the Germans who were within it. They then turned and ran out the back door. As my father left the room he turned and saw a German soldier with red hair enter at the diagonally opposite side. This man had been upstairs. Neither man shot at the other. My father ran out the back door and ran after his men who were making for the wood. The remaining Germans gave chase but my father and his men turned and shot them, except for one man. The report says my father heard two shots after twenty minutes or so and he summises the girls have been shot. In his oral story he paces them in the house. I am still unclear as to where the girls died. It is a sad tale and it is not explained fully in the official report. The soldier named Lyczak in this patrol was infact given a false name which was 'Grand'. This has been confirmed by a US intelligence report that I obtained from American Archives.
My father was extremely lucky to be able to get out of this house because at one point german soldiers were all around it. I have visited the pistol area and found other oral descriptions from frenchmen that all add detail to the official reports. One tells how a captain Scott of C1 patrol was hidden under a blancket by a woman who placed her children on top just as germans entered her house to search it. She got away with it.
Not so long ago I went to Koecking Bois again but this time to question the residents of the three farms that are located on the cross roads near to where the girls were killed. I asked the owners of these farms if they had heard anything about the girls deaths. They said they knew nothing of them or their deaths as they had not been in the farms in 1944. They said the Germans had thrown them out and replaced them with German families. After the war ended the French came back to reclaim their farms so they had not been there in 1944. Look on wikipedia for the written report. Look for Operation Pistol. My father was in C drop but you can read there the reports from A and B drops also.