BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — The Allied invasion of Normandy France, in Operation Overlord (i.e., D-Day) during World War II 79 years ago today on Tuesday, June 6, 1944, is arguably one of the most important dates in world history over the past 100 years.
Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D-Day, it was the largest seaborne invasion in history. The operation began the liberation of German-occupied France (and later western Europe) from Nazi control, and laid the foundations of the Allied victory on the Western Front.
Planning for the operation began in 1943. In the months leading up to the invasion, the Allies conducted a substantial military deception, codenamed Operation Bodyguard, to mislead the Germans as to the date and location of the main Allied landings. The weather on D-Day was far from ideal and the operation had to be delayed 24 hours; a further postponement would have meant a delay of at least two weeks as the invasion planners had requirements for the phase of the moon, the tides and the time of day that meant only a few days each month were deemed suitable. Adolf Hitler placed German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in command of German forces and of developing fortifications along the Atlantic Wall in anticipation of an Allied invasion.
The amphibious landings were preceded by extensive aerial and naval bombardment and an airborne assault—the landing of 24,000 US, British, and Canadian airborne troops shortly after midnight. Allied infantry and armored divisions began landing on the coast of France at 6:30 in the morning. The target 50-mile stretch of the Normandy coast was divided into five sectors: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword. Strong winds blew the landing craft east of their intended positions, particularly at Utah and Omaha. The men landed under heavy fire from gun emplacements overlooking the beaches, and the shore was mined and covered with obstacles such as wooden stakes, metal tripods and barbed wire, making the work of the beach-clearing teams difficult and dangerous. Casualties were heaviest at Omaha, with its high cliffs. At Gold, Juno, and Sword, several fortified towns were cleared in house-to-house fighting, and two major gun emplacements at Gold were disabled using specialized tanks.
The Allies failed to achieve any of their goals on the first day. Carentan, St. Lô, and Bayeux remained in German hands, and Caen, a major objective, was not captured until July 21. Only two of the beaches (Juno and Gold) were linked on the first day, and all five beachheads were not connected until June 12; however, the operation gained a foothold which the Allies gradually expanded over the coming months. German casualties on D-Day have been estimated at 4,000 to 9,000 men. Allied casualties were at least 10,000, with 4,414 confirmed dead.
So what does this have to do with water polo? Without question some of the soldiers on both sides of the conflict had previously played the game. But for one soldier who did not land on that day and was being held by the Germans, the game of water polo played a critical role in the invasion.
The Story of George Lane – Spy & Water Polo Player
Born in Upper Hungary on January 18, 1915 with the birth name Dyuri or György Länyi, Lane’s family were Jewish; his father Ernest Länyi was a wealthy landowner. The family moved to Budapest after the end of the First World War, when his parents’ land was allocated to the new state of Czechoslovakia by the Treaty of Versailles.
He moved to London in 1935, where he befriended the Dean of Windsor, Albert Baillie and his wife American-born political hostess Lady Baillie. He studied at Christ Church, Oxford and then read English at the University of London, but also trained with the Hungary men’s national water polo team, and wrote for a Hungarian newspaper on a freelance basis.
Lane wrote several articles about the trauma of meeting demoralized Germans in Harwich. These articles attracted the interest of Rozsika Edle Rothschild, a Hungarian sportswoman who lived in Northamptonshire. Rothschild wrote to Lane, but he did not respond to her letters.
After the outbreak of World War II, he volunteered to join the British Army. He was accepted as an officer cadet by the Grenadier Guards, but as an alien was also served with a deportation notice. While staying at the Baille’s home Leeds Castle, Lane met Anthony Eden, the future Prime Minister and David Margesson, the government Chief Whip. With their help the deportation order was rescinded, but he had to spend a year in the Alien Pioneer Corps doing manual labor.
He joined the Special Operations Executive (SOE) – the British secret service. After intensive training, Lane became adept in unarmed combat, weapons and explosives, parachuting, and small boat handling. He went on missions to Belgium and Holland, but he refused to parachute into Hungary, so he transferred to No. 4 Commando under the leadership of Lord Lovat.
Lord Louis Mountbatten, the British Chief of Combined Operations, decided that better use should be made of foreigners in the British Army because of their language skills and intense hatred of Hitler. Lane and a commando captain, Bryan Hilton-Jones, identified 140 foreigners for a proposed “X Troop”, of whom 80 were selected, all them fluent in German. Largely composed of Jewish refugees from Europe, this X Troop became Number 3 Troop in No. 10 (Inter-Allied) Commando, of which Hilton-Jones became commanding officer. The men of Number 3 Troop would be temporarily seconded to different units and undertook reconnaissance raids. Lane was commissioned as an officer in 1943.
For one mission, Lane had to parachute into northern France, rifle a safe in a German brigade headquarters, and bring back some important papers. A top safe breaker was released from prison on the Isle of Wight for two days and taught Lane how to crack the German safe. The prison inmate was reluctant to reveal the secrets of his safecracking trade, only doing so when Lane swore not to take this skill with him into civilian life.
For another mission, Lane was part of a small group that was dropped behind enemy lines to examine a new gun sight. A report was needed urgently, so the men tied the report to a carrier pigeon brought along for the purpose. The pigeon flew away and was heading for home when a hawk darted out from under the cliffs and seized it. The frustration of seeing so much effort wasted, Lane said later, nearly reduced him to tears.
In May 1944 Lane was raid commander of three missions, known as the Tarbrush raids, to examine mines on the French coast near Ault. During the lead-up to D-Day, a British Royal Air Force (RAF) fighter had strafed a pillbox on the French coast. The aircraft carried a camera, and the scientists who examined the film were puzzled that the plane’s rockets, which fell short, appeared to have set off underwater explosions. The Allies wanted to know if the Germans were using a new kind of mine on the beaches. Lane led a hazardous reconnaissance mission that required a two-mile approach to a heavily defended coastline. Lane’s reconnaissance expedition discovered that the Germans had attached Teller mines to stakes in the water. These would be submerged when the tide was high and would explode on impact with a landing craft. However, the mines had no waterproofing and had corroded. They had only exploded when the rockets from the RAF fighter had hit nearby. Lane concluded that the Teller mines were only a crude improvisation, not an advanced type of mine.
Lane was ordered to return the next night (May 18 or 19) to the coast the Pas de Calais – this time with a sapper officer, Roy Wooldridge, who was a mine expert. They found nothing but the Teller mines, but had orders to photograph other obstacles on the beach using infrared equipment.
The commandos were taken by surprise when starshells illuminated the beach. Lane and Wooldridge, hiding in the dunes, came under fire from two German patrols. They were cut off from the others in the raiding party, who, unable to wait any longer, had left them a rubber dinghy and swum out to their boat. When the firing stopped, Lane and Wooldridge returned to the beach and paddled out to sea as fast as they could.[1] Although it was dark and pouring rain, a German patrol boat spotted the two British commandos. The two men jettisoned their photographic equipment before they were taken prisoner. They were told that they would be handed over to the Gestapo and shot.
Lane expected to be executed in accordance with Adolph Hitler’s Commando Order – which ordered the immediate execution of all spies. However, the duo were first interrogated by German Army officers to ascertain the purpose of their mission.
For several days the two British commandos were kept in cellars at Cayeux, where they were interrogated by the Germans. Eventually, Lane and Wooldridge were bound, blindfolded and pushed into a car. They were driven to a castle, and Lane was taken to a room guarded by a ferocious dog. Lane’s blindfold was removed and an elegant German officer arrived with sandwiches and real coffee.
Lane was then taken to a large library to be questioned over tea by Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, with Lane pretending to know no German, and to be Welsh to hide his Hungarian accent when speaking English.
When Lane entered the office, the Field Marshal rose to his feet, and asked Lane to join him for tea. So Lane sat down and had tea with Erwin Rommel.
Rommel opened by saying, “So, are you one of those gangster commandos?”
Lane responded, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m a soldier, and commandos are the best soldiers.”
Rommel then said to him, “You must realize that you are in a very tricky situation. Everyone seems to think that you are a saboteur.”
Lane replied, “Well, if the Field Marshal believed that I was a saboteur he would not have done me the honor of inviting me here.”
Rommel asked, “So you think this is an invitation?”
Lane answered, “I do, sir, and I must say I am highly honored.”
In the ensuing conversation Rommel apparently relaxed enough to ask Lane, “How’s Montgomery doing?”, referring to British general Bernard Montgomery. Lane replied, “Unfortunately I don’t know him, but he’s preparing the invasion and he’ll be here shortly,” adding, for good measure, “by the shortest route.”
Rommel then brought up his belief that Britain and Germany should be allied together in the fight against the Soviet Union. Lane commented that he did not believe their two countries could be allies at the moment, especially because of the way Germany was treating people of jewish faith.
Rommel quickly cut him off and said, “Now you are talking politics. We are soldiers, we don’t concern ourselves with politics.”
The two then had a pleasant conversation, with the Field Marshal politely probing for intelligence, and the Commando deftly parrying with feigned ignorance.
At the end of their tea, the two amicably parted company. As for Rommel, a few days later he and his car were shot up by the RAF, so he played no part in D-Day, and then he was accused by Hitler of being part of a July bomb assassination plot, and forced to commit suicide. Lane was likely the last non-German to see Rommel alive.
Lane and Woolridge were imprisoned later the same day at Fresnes Prison near Paris and told that they would be hanged or shot. After two days, the pair were sent on to the castle prison for officers at Spangenberg, near Fulda, Oflag IX/A-H. There were 300 British officers in the castle. They had an excellent library, and Lane studied estate management through a correspondence course.
As the Allies closed in, the prisoners were moved out under guard. On the second night, Lane escaped by slipping into a deep ditch. He then hid in a tree, but then saw a German soldier climbing up behind him. The German turned out to be a deserter.
The German advised Lane to walk to a nearby hospital and wait for American forces to arrive. When Lane arrived at the hospital, a doctor told him that the SS regularly searched the hospital. Lane, however, told the doctor that the Americans were very close and that when they arrived, the doctor would need a friend. Lane then proceeded to round up some of the sick and wounded from his prisoner of war column and bring them back for treatment. Two days later he was able to give the Americans such a good account of the doctor that they put him in charge of the entire hospital.
Lane made his way to the home of his brother-in-law Victor Rothschild in Paris, whose house had plenty of Château Lafite and Dom Pérignon but no hot water. He was awarded the Military Cross for his war service.
Lane’s articles prior to the war covering water polo and Hungarians impacted by the Nazis played a critical role in his war and postwar life. During the war, Lane met Miriam Rothschild, the renowned entomologist, when recovering at her house after an accident. Miriam Rothschild was the daughter of Rozsika Edle Rothschild, who had written Lane before the war about articles he had written. When Lane arrived at the Rothschild estate, he recognized the address. Rozsika Rothschild had died in 1940, but her daughter remembered the articles. Miriam’s first words to Lane were, “Why the hell didn’t you answer my mother’s letter? You ought to be ashamed of yourself.”
The pair married in August 1943. They had four children, and adopted two: two sons and four daughters.
Following the war, Lane was formally naturalized as British in 1946 and assisted his wife to run her estate at Ashton Wold near Oundle in Northamptonshire after the war.
Lane farmed successfully and became a successful businessman, but his marriage to Miriam broke down and the couple divorced in 1957. Following the divorce, Lane moved to the United States where he studied at night school until he had passed the stock exchange examinations. He later opened offices in Cannes, Monte Carlo, Paris, and Zurich.
In 1963, he married Elizabeth Heald in 1963. She was the daughter of Conservative politician and former Attorney General Sir Lionel Heald. They lived in London and had a son.
Lane later opened the London office of the Economic News Agency, reporting on precious metals, and secured financing for projects in the Congo.
Lane died in London on March 19, 2010, at the age of 95 survived by his second wife, their son, and three daughters from his first marriage: Rozsika (Rosie) Parker; Charles Daniel Lane; Johanna Miriam Lloyd-Jones; and Charlotte Theresa Lane.
