Churchill's White Rabbit (35 page)

2. After the First World War Forest had numerous jobs, but he found his niche working for fashion designer Molyneux and attending the well-to-do ladies of the 1930s.

3. After the First World War General Pétain was seen as a hero and led a triumphal parade through Paris.

4. General Pétain, French hero and leader of the Vichy government.

5. With the Second World War looming, many old soldiers wanted to avoid a return to trench warfare and started to make plans for defences.

6. Trench warfare had left its scars on France, and General Pétain, among others, pushed for a defensive barricade for the French borders; this became the Maginot Line.

7. The Maginot Line was one war too late. It failed in its task of keeping the Germans out and soaked up money that could have been placed into armaments.

8. Neville Chamberlein, seen here pre-war (
back row, second from right
) founded SOE as his last political act before his death.

9. Hitler surged to power in the 1930s and was quickly clamouring for another war. Forest joined up as soon as he realised the threat.

10. By the Second World War Petain was an old man and he voted for appeasement instead of war. He founded the Vichy government, which briefly kept southern France unoccupied. He was recognised by SOE as a threat as serious as the Gestapo to their operations.

11. Place de la Concorde was one of the first ports of the city to be triumphantly taken by the Nazis. German planes landed in the square while swastikas went up on the buildings.

12. General de Gaulle opposed Petain and fled to England to set up a government in exile. Forest was an ardent Gaullist and met the man personally. De Gaulle stands here at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier after the Liberation of Paris.

13. Forest knew it was the ordinary people who would suffer most in the war and made close ties with rural communities where resistance was strong. Here, French women continue to harvest chestnuts while war rages around them.

14. The old and infirm had no place in the Nazi ideal and were often kicked from their homes or executed.