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Auction: 23003 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 102

An unusual campaign group of six awarded to Agent Monsieur Alfred Devroe, Belgian Army, who at one time served for British Military Intelligence and was 'mentioned' for his fine work

Devroe operated out of Iseghen, a town occupied by the German Army throughout hostilities and was identified under the umbrella heading of 'Belgian Agents' and 'Agents 102'

Belgium, Croix De Guerre 1914-18, with two Bronze Palmes; Croix de Feu; Volunteer Combatants Medal; Commemorative War Medal 1914-18; Allied Victory Medal; British War Medal 1914-20, with M.I.D. oak leaves, (A. Devroe), good very fine (5)

Arthur Devroe was born at Meulebeke, West Flanders, on 10 September 1890. However, the Belgian Archives show only one A. Devroe noted as being awarded the British War Medal and that is Alfred Devroe who was Inspector of Intelligence in Holland. Devroe received a 'mention' for his services (London Gazette 29 August 1919) for as part of the Volunteer Service Attached To The British Army in France (Section I) Belgian Subjects.

Belgian Agents

The War Office Medals Branch AG 10 Decision Book WO 162/376 contains the following entry dated 7 July 1919: 'Secretary of State concurs in Adjutant General's ruling 68/121/1046. A number of persons of Belgian nationality (3758) of French nationality (251) and of British nationality (3), were employed by British Intelligence Department as Secret Service Agents. Adjutant General ruled that they should be treated as soldiers, and should be eligible for the British War Medal (68/121/1046)'.

The following extract from 'Armour Against Fate' by Michael Occleshaw is not without interest:

'There were, of course, many other organizations which, while successful to a lesser degree, nevertheless ran the same risks and penalties. Drake tells us that the number of Agents employed by G.H.O. alone was 'roughly 6,000', of whom ninety-eight lost their lives - ninety-one executed, four dying in prison, two shot and one electrocuted when trying to cross the Dutch-Belgian frontier. A further 644 were imprisoned for sentences totalling 700 years (the time actually served amounted to 175 years), and ten were deported. Major Wallinger, however, told Colonel Kirke that the total number of G.H.Q. Agents in the occupied territories was 5,500 of whom 1,200 were imprisoned, serving an average of fourteen months, and 200 were shot or died in prison (though in a later letter he gave a total shot or dying in prison as 120).
The reason for the disparity between the two men's figures almost certainly resides in a question of terminology; a question of what was precisely meant by the words 'Agent' and 'Spy'. An Agent is an individual directly employed by an Intelligence Service sent into a foreign country to obtain information. A Spy is an individual who served in the enemy's own ranks and, more often than not, is recruited by the Agent...the numbers employed both directly and indirectly by the British Intelligence Services was one that the Germans simply could not contain, much less control. Every sort of person was employed, ranging 'from abbes, high officials of the Gendarmerie, a Marchioness of some 60 years of age, big industrialists and prominent barristers, down to seamstresses, poachers, smugglers, bargemen and railway officials ... '

Sold together with copied London Gazette extracts.

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