Elvire De Greef
Belgian member of the Comet line in World War II
Elvire De Greef, (born June 29, 1897, Ixelles, Belgium, d. August 20, 1991, Brussels), code name Tante Go or Auntie Go, was a member of the Comet Escape Line in World War II. From her house in Anglet in southwestern France, near the border with Spain, she led efforts by the Comet Line in the Basque country to exfiltrate people from occupied Belgium through France to Spain, especially Allied airmen whose aircraft had been shot down by Nazi Germany. Once across the border in neutral Spain the escapees were transported to the United Kingdom. De Greef's husband and two teenage children also worked with the Comet line.
De Greef was a recipient of the George Medal from the United Kingdom and the Medal of Freedom from the United States. Unlike many of the leaders of the Comet Line, De Greef was never captured by the Germans. Authors Nichol and Rennell regarded De Greef as the most important person of the Comet Line, except for founder Andrée de Jongh.
Background
Born Elvire Ghislaine Berlemont, she married Fernand De Greef (born November 11, 1902) in 1922. The couple had two children: Frederick, born in 1923, and Janine (born September 29, 1925). In May 1940, when the German army invaded and occupied Belgium, the De Greef family and an Englishman named Albert Edward Johnson fled in an attempt to transit Spain and take refuge in the United Kingdom.
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The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q16224246. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1897, 1991, 1902 and 1922.
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This entry incorporates text from “Elvire De Greef” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.