The County Durham secret agent who was stripped naked and executed

It is a Second World War behind-the-lines story of a secret agent’s daring attempts to sabotage the enemy’s fuel supplies, and it is the sort of clandestine story in which knowing all the words to the Blaydon Races is crucial in proving your identity.

But it is a short story. It ends, tragically, in a Nazi execution camp when the 23-year-old secret agent is stripped naked and executed.

The plaque was unveiled on Sunday on the birthplace in Newfield, between Stanley and Chester-le-Street, on what would have been the 101st birthday of George William Hedworth Demand – known as “Sonny”.

His mother, Annie, was a local girl from Pelton Fell and his father, Rene, was a Belgian soldier who had been wounded in the First World War and had come to work with his fellow countrymen – as the “Birtley Belgians” – in the munitions factory near Chester-le-Street. Most of the Belgians returned after the war, but Rene stayed to marry Annie and they ran a fish and chip shop.

The house in Newfield where George "Sonny" Demand was born on July 24, 1921, and where the plaque has been installed. All pictures courtesy of David Elgy

A little family grew up – Sonny was followed by a brother, Leon, and a sister, Evelyn, and the children went to Roseberry School in Pelton Lane Ends.

In 1931, with times very tough in the county, they decided to try their luck in Brussels, where Sonny finished his education and joined the army.

In 1940, Belgium was over-run by the Germans, and in 1941, he made the big decision to leave his family, elude the enemy and join the British army.

He travelled to Marseilles in southern France and was smuggled over the Pyrenees into neutral Spain, where he was arrested. In August 1941, he was released to continue his journey to Britain as an “alien”. On arrival, an MI5 interrogator, suspicious that he was an enemy spy, demanded that he prove he really was, as he claimed, to be from north Durham.

So he sang the Blaydon Races, and was let in.

He came back north, joined the Border Regiment based in Carlisle, and struck up a friendship with Freda Ashworth, from Aspatria.

But there was clearly something special about him, and not just his fluency in French. He was selected for the Special Operations Executive (SOE), a secret unit formed under the Minister of Economic Warfare, Hugh Dalton, the Bishop Auckland MP, to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in occupied Europe.

He trained in Scotland, and was selected for Operation Scullion – a six man attack on a synthetic petrol plant near Dijon that mined oil shale and converted it into thousands of tons of fuel a year.

On the night of April 18/19, 1943, a plane dropped the team from 500ft near the refinery. However, two of the six were so badly injured on landing that they could not continue.

This left four men to carry loads, including two large explosives, meant for six. As they neared the plant at Autun, two others became overwhelmed by physical demands of the mission and fell by the wayside, leaving just Sonny and his commander, Captain Hugh Dormer.

On the night of April 22/23, they approached their target but, contrary to their reconnaissance the night before, a bridge was suddenly heavily guarded. It was as if the enemy had heard something was afoot.

George "Sonny" Demand: the only picture that is known of him is a copy of a copy, and when he was dropped behind the lines he looked very different: his fair hair was dyed black and he was dressed like a French farmer

Dormer and Demand decided that it was too risky – if they were caught with the explosives so close to a strategic factory, no amount of fluent French would be able to explain their presence.

They abandoned their mission, and walked 180 miles to Paris, where a secret underground network spirited them by train back to Spain from where they returned to England two months after their departure. George immediately married Freda and had a couple of days honeymoon in the Crown and Mitre Hotel in Carlisle before returning to his unit.

Although Scullion had been aborted, the shale oil plant was still considered a worthwhile target, and Dormer put together a new team for Operation Scullion II. They trained more intensively, including in a mine in Scotland, and learned the lessons, principally about the lack of reconnaissance.

So on the night of August 12/13, 1943, George was dropped alone near the refinery to prepare the ground.

Unfortunately, he parachuted into a tree and was knocked unconscious. He came round four hours later, hanging upside down, with the wind banging his head against the branches.

He untangled himself and, with a throbbing headache, reacquainted himself with a friendly farmer whom he had met on the initial operation.

He spent four days completing his reconnaissance and then radioed back from a barn, arranging for the rest of the unit to be dropped on the night of August 16/17. He waited for them at the dropzone, armed with a chicken, 12 eggs, a gourd full of wine and three bottles of water.

After the welcome party, they spent the next four days planning the raid, he helped with the preparations and once they were ready to go in, Dormer decreed that his job was done and he should begin his journey home to his new wife.

It seems he was already in a safe house in Paris on the night of August 21/22 when explosions rocked the refinery.

But the escape line was taking its time in getting Sonny home. A week later, he was still in the safe house when the Gestapo raided it at dawn, carrying him off for interrogation in a prison.

The gate of the Flossenburg concentration camp with the Nazi slogan, "Arbeit macht frei"  - "work sets you free"

Six months later, he and 14 other captured SOE agents were moved to the Flossenburg concentration camp in the remote Bavarian mountains. A couple of them were executed later in 1944, but George was kept alive in desperately grim conditions – the camp had its own on-site crematorium such was the death rate – for a year, presumably for further interrogation.

On March 29, 1945, with the US Army nearing Flossenburg, the camp commandant, Obersturmbannfuhrer Max Koegel conducted tribunals into the 13 surviving SOE agents. In their absence, they were sentenced to death.

They were taken to the bath-house and ordered to remove their clothes. All rings and jewellery were taken from them, their hands were tied behind their backs with wire and their family photographs were torn up in front of their eyes.

Then they were hanged.

When the Americans liberated the camp on April 23, one surviving prisoner recalled seeing their 13 naked bodies hanging in the cellblock courtyard.

After death, it seems their teeth were removed and their bodies destroyed in the crematorium.

On January 4, 1946, Lt George Demand was given a posthumous Mention in Despatches.

The citation read: "This officer was twice parachuted into France with a coup de main party. The target was a synthetic oil plant near Autun. The first attempt in April 1943 failed and the party returned to England the following month. On 12th August 1943 they were again parachuted into France, and the operation was entirely successful. Demand distinguished himself by his excellent work in reconnoitring the neighbourhood of the target and planning the approach to the target. His coolness and courage were outstanding.

“After the operation Demand proceeded to Paris to prepare a line of retreat but was arrested en route. He was later deported to Germany and was executed at Flossenburg in March 1945."

Local historians David Elgy and Dorothy Rand with the plaque

Local historian Dorothy Rand has been researching Sonny’s story for the last 30 years and included him in her book, Roseberry Remembered, about his school. She was then contacted by the renowned military historian Paul McCue who added to the knowledge, and then Chester-le-Street military historian David Elgy became involved.

“Sonny is remembered on four memorials – on SOE memorials in Woking and France, on the Flossenburg memorial in Germany, and on the memorial in Aspatria in Cumbria – but none of them are in County Durham,” Dorothy said. “We tried to get a blue plaque, but he didn’t fulfil the criteria, and we hope to get a memorial bench in Newfield, but at least now we’ve got a plaque on the house where he was born.”

Chester-le-Street military historian David Elgy and Durham North MP Kevan Jones unveiling the plaque

They were spurred on by the support of the Durham North MP, Kevan Jones, who shares an interest in military history.

He said: “This is a remarkable but very sad recognition of the bravery of a County Durham resident, whose story has been brought back to life thanks to the sterling work it Dorothy Rand and David Elgy.

“It is important that future generations know the sacrifices that were made to protect the freedoms that we take for granted today.

“There is disappointment though, as Durham County Council refused to recognise him with an official blue plaque. Thanks to the work of David and others we now have some recognition of this very brave individual.”

Birtley Belgians at work in the munitions factory - Sonny's father, Rene, was one of them