Compared to Casablanca by the Washington Post, this a page-turning
story of a group of resistance workers who secreted downed Allied
fighter pilots through France and into safety in Spain during World War
II.
As war raged against Hitler's Germany, an increasing number of Allied
fliers were shot down on missions against Nazi targets in occupied
Europe. Many fliers parachuted safely behind enemy lines only to find
themselves stranded and hunted down by the Gestapo. The Freedom Line
traces the thrilling and true story of Robert Grimes, a 20-year-old
American B-17 pilot whose plane was shot down over Belgium on Oct. 20,
1943. Wounded, disoriented, and scared, he was rescued by operatives of
the Comet Line, a group of tenacious young women and men from Belgium,
France, and Spain who joined forces to rescue the Allied aircrews and
take them to safety. And on Christmas Eve 1943, he and a group of fellow
Americans faced unexpected sudden danger and tragedy on the border
between France and Spain.
The road to safety was a treacherous journey by train, by bicycle, and
on foot that stretched hundreds of miles across occupied France to the
Pyrenees Mountains at the Spanish border. Armed with guile and spirit,
the selfless civilian fighters of the Comet Line had risked their lives
to create this underground railroad, and by this time in the war, they
had saved hundreds of Americans, British, Australians, and other Allied
airmen.
Based on interviews with the survivors and in-depth archival research,
The Freedom Line is the story of a group of friends who chose to act
on their own out of a deep respect for liberty and human dignity. Theirs
was a courage that presumed to take on a fearfully powerful foe with few
defences.
