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The V-Organisation (1941)

The first recorded sighting of a man calling himself Pierre Duroc was in 1916, when a young Dr Fung encountered a certain Colonel Pierre Duroc In the trenches of the Western front. Fung reported that the Colonel rallied French troops to overturn a German attack on their position, but during the charge, multiple eye witnesses reported that Duroc was killed in an explosion that perforated his body with shrapnel.

Fung, curious as to why a Colonel in his late fifties would be involved in such an action, searched French army records for clues, only to discover no such officer recorded anywhere.

A year later Dr Fung briefly saw the Colonel very much alive in a bar in Paris, but thanks to a large crowd, lost him.

In July of 1940, a man in his late fifties calling himself Father Pierre Duroc arrived in London and offered his services in connecting British Intelligence with fledgling French resistance groups. Duroc was sent back to France to serve as a liason and spy, for who would suspect the kindly white haired and frail looking clergyman of being a Free French agent.

By the spring of 1941, Duroc had organised a network whose call sign was V for Victory. Returning to London, he was able to convince British Intelligence of the propaganda value of a resistance army fighting under the V sigil.

Collaborating with the British Broadcasting Corporation, In conjunction with British Intelligence, Father Duroc worked closely with a BBC assistant news editor called Douglas Ritchie.

Together the two men would create a propaganda programme based on the V fighters operating in defiance of the Nazi occupiers in France.

On July 20th 1941* Ritchie began a series of radio broadcasts under the guise of "Colonel Britton" alongside a print news campaign.

Using the existing small network as a basis, Britton called for the formation of a "V-Army" among the citizens of territory occupied by the Nazis as well as everywhere in the world. The V-Army was called on to make the V symbol on walls, doors, and pavement everywhere in occupied territories as a symbol of a secret but massive resistance. Further, they were also to tap out the V sign in morse code - three dots and a dash - to embolden fellow resisters and strike fear into Germany. Finally, of course, raising two fingers of the hand to flash a V sign was also encouraged. This form of the V sign was further popularized with its use by Winston Churchill. Finally, the V-Army was asked to be ready to take more direct action.

As resistance fighters in France and other countries united to add to the core ranks, the V-Organisation was truly born. Father Duroc returned to France to oversee operations and soon after began travelling to different occupied nations to strengthen the new branches.

By September he had recruited a dozen or so foreign nationals and neutrals who vowed to join the fight for freedom; these operatives were dispatched to start small groups in their own nations, including America.

Late in that month, an American volunteer pilot named Jerry Steele who served with the RAF American Eagle Squadron was assigned to take a blonde female agent to occupied Europe.

Realising the young woman, code named V-5 was a fellow American, Jerry took an interest in her, and when the drop point proved to be a trap, he went to her rescue instead of flying to safety.

For his trouble, Jerry ended up in a concentration camp where Nazi doctors experimented on him and other prisoners. While his fellow inmates grew sick and died, Jerry survived, though barely alive.

Several weeks later the V-Organisation staged an attack on the camp and liberated the prisoners, but a weakened Jerry was shot and left for dead.

Pulled from a pile of bodies by an old "farmer" who proved to be Father Duroc, the priest turned freedom fighter muttered that at last he had found someone who might survive "the process."