Women and WWI: Part 2- The Alice Network & La Dame Blanche

by Susan Jarrett

Women and WWI is a series based on historical accounts of women who fought for the Allied Cause during The First World War. Women’s war contributions have largely been dismissed and were not formerly acknowledged until the late 1970s when women of the US Army Signal Corps Telephone Operator’s Units demanded recognition from the US government and equal status as military veterans. This series is based on first hand accounts as well as research by other historians. Women and WWI hopes to spark continued curiosity about the roles women played during The Great War and further propel women’s history into mainstream consciousness.

Louise De Bettignies & The Alice Network

In the Spring of 1915, the British Intelligence Service enlisted a modern young French woman by the name of Louise De Bettignies to gather information about German movements in occupied Lille (just on the French border). Fluent in English, German, Italian and able to understand Russian, Czech and Spanish, Louise was trained in Britain by intelligence officers in codes, drawing up plans, gathering information, and sending messages. Upon being smuggled into Belgium, she adopted the name Alice Dubois.

Prior to becoming an official British agent of espionage, Louise and her sister worked underground smuggling supplies to the front. Upon entering Belgium, she began collaborations with Marie-Léonie Vanhoutte, (alias Charlotte Lameron) who was affiliated with the ambulance services throughout German occupied Belgium and the neutral Netherlands. Together, they expanded and centralized a secret organization of 80-100 nameless men and women, now known as “The Alice Network.” The Alice Network watched trains, identified positions of gun batteries, munitions depots, and identified the houses of officers throughout Belgium. Many involved in the secret network worked for the railways or the postal services.

Despite her meticulous training and prior experience, crossing the Belgian-Dutch border every week quickly brought Louise to the attention of the German counter-intelligence agency. She was captured in October 1915 and was found guilty of espionage. She was sentenced to death but after pressure from Belgium officials, was commuted to forced labour in Germany. After refusing to make German munitions, she was confined to a dungeon and fell ill. She died in 1918 from an infection resulting from a poor surgery and unsanitary conditions. In 1920, her body was returned to Lille and given a state funeral.

Louise De Bettignies was known as the “Joan of Arc of the North” by her comrades and “The Queen of Spies” by the British. The Alice Network was so effective, it is estimated over 1,000 British lives were saved during its short period of operation (“On this Day.”).

La Dame Blanche

The most successful espionage effort in occupied Europe was La Dame Blanche (or The White Lady) network. There are multiple legends surrounding the term “La Dame Blanche.” In 1870, Folklorist Thomas Keightley describes the “Dames Blanches” as a type of Fée known in Normandy “who are of a less benevolent character.” Additionally, famous Celtic scholar James MacCulloch believed Dames Blanches were a recharacterization of medieval female guardians who watched over the home. During WWI, La Dame Blanche was symbolic of the ancient German legend that tells the story of the appearance of a white lady (or spectre) just prior to the fall of the Prussian Empire.

Much of what we know about La Dame Blanche comes from author Tammy Proctor in her book, Female Intelligence: Women and Espionage in the First World War (published in 2003). La Dame Blanche was an extensive network throughout occupied Europe and was thought to have had at least 1,100 agents of which 300 were female. “Women provided an important component to intelligence and escape networks because their movements aroused fewer suspicions than the activities of men” (75). The network’s leaders devised a network that could be run entirely by women. A female executive committee was created which could perform leadership functions and take over the Network completely if necessary. 

Proctor also writes about a La Dame Blanche battalion based in Brussels, headed up by two schoolmistresses sisters named Laure and Louise Tandel. The Tandels’ batallion employed 190 agents- of whom 59 were women. Of these 59 women, two-thirds were unmarried and in their thirties and forties. They were highly independent women from “respectable” backgrounds- ranging from the middle class to the aristocracy.

La Dame Blanche concentrated most of its espionage on railway observation. Reports were collected, verified, and then given to a “courier” service who then transmitted them to English agents in the Netherlands. It is known that La Dame Blanche collaborated with The Alice Network in Belgium.

Additionally, La Dame Blanche surveyed the countryside for any details that could be of military interest. La Dame Blanche was so efficient in their espionage that by 1918, the Allied Forces knew (with almost daily accuracy) the exact details of all German positions within Belgium, Northern France, and Luxembourg.

Unlike the Alice Network, few agents of La Dame Blanche were ever caught. Of the 1,100 active collaborators, only two were ever convicted and condemned for spying. La Dame Blanche was highly skilled at evading most all German counter intelligence efforts (Decock).

There is no doubt, ”The intelligence community rested on the backs of female laborers,” Proctor writes (55). The patriotism and motivation to protect the home front motivated these women to “do their bit.” As one unnamed La Dame Blanche reflected, “We were ‘soldiers without uniforms’ (75)”. Interestingly enough, Germany’s defeat in 1918 led to a German Revolution. The German monarchy was overthrown and the Weimar Republic was established, thus bringing an end to the Prussian Dynasty just as predicted. It seems the foretelling of the appearance of La Dame Blanche proved true.

Unlike the Alice Network, few agents of La Dame Blanche were ever caught. Of the 1,100 active collaborators, only two were ever convicted and condemned for spying. La Dame Blanche was highly skilled at evading most all German counter intelligence efforts (Decock).

Recommended Readings:

Antier, Chantal. “Bettignies, Louise Marie Jeanne Henriette de.” International Encyclopedia of the First World War. encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net

Brittain, Vera. Testament of Youth. Victor Gollancz Ltd. London, 1933.

Brittain, Vera. Lady into Woman. Andrew Dakers Limited. London, 1953.

Chronicling America- Historic American Newspapers.” Library of Congress. chroniclingamerica.loc.gov

Debruyne, Emmanuel. “Espionage.” International Encyclopedia of the First World War. encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net

Decock, Pierre. “La Dame Blanche.” International Encyclopedia of the First World War. encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net

On this Day.” The Western Front Association. www.westernfrontassociation.com

Proctor, Tammy M.Female Intelligence: Women and Espionage in the First World War. New York and London: New York University Press, 2003.

Queens of the Spy World.” The Uncommon Wealth: Voices from The Library of Virginia. August 12, 2018.

PART 3: The Hello Girls

CalicoBall logo

CalicoBall is a grassroots effort to document, preserve, and present rural America’s diverse historical traditions. CalicoBall is an educational extension of Maggie May Clothing. All rights reserved.