Code Name Hélène

On May 15, 1944, while Nancy is preparing to make the bus into her office/living quarters, she hears explosions. She runs out and Hubert and Fournier tell her that there has been an attack on Gaspard’s compound in Mont Mouchet. They are too far away to help, and they have no choice but to continue arranging airdrops and listen to the attack in the distance.

The next day, some of Gaspard’s men arrive at their camp. They say that they decided to come to their camp instead of Tardivat’s, which was closer, because of Madame Andrée, who “calls for weapons and they fall from the sky” (192). This worries Hubert and Nancy, because it means that “even random maquisards know who she is and where to find her” (192). The men report that the Maquis had ambushed the German supply lines and captured their heavy artillery and then retreated when they ran out of ammunition. Throughout the day and into the next, more of Gaspard’s soldiers and volunteers from Auvergne arrive at the camp. Each of the recruits is interviewed by Hubert to ensure they are not German spies. Eventually, Gaspard himself arrives at the camp. He meets Nancy in her bus/office.