Shelburne Escape Line
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The Shelburne Escape Line (1944) was a resistance organisation in occupied France in the Second World War. The Shelburne Line, financed by the British intelligence agency MI9, helped Allied airmen shot down over France evade capture by the occupying Germans and return to Great Britain by boat from the coast of Brittany. For the Allies, the rescue of downed airmen had a practical as well as a humanitarian objective. Training new and replacement air crews was expensive and time-consuming. Rescuing downed aircrew and returning them to duty became a priority.[1]
MI9's first attempt, called the Oaktree Line, to set up an escape line for aircrew by boat from Brittany to England failed due to German infiltration and poor leadership. Its successor, the Shelburne Escape Line, helped more than 300 airmen evade German capture. In addition to those aircrew evacuated to England, the associated Francois Line in Paris helped aircrew escape to neutral Spain or shelter in place in a forest refuge in France.