The High Price of This Scumbag’s Treason
Harold Cole’s betrayal of the French Resistance proved devastating. Over 150 Resistance members were arrested because of the information that Harold Cole gave the Nazis. At least 50 were executed, and Cole was present as many of his former colleagues were interrogated and tortured. When the Allies liberated France in 1944, Cole fled in a Gestapo uniform. He turned up in southern Germany shortly after the end of WWII in Europe. There, he claimed to be a British undercover agent, and offered his services to the American occupation forces.
Cole had already double crossed, so it was no big deal for him to triple cross, and turn against the Nazis. He hunted his former masters, and murdered at least one of them. The British eventually arrested Cole, but he escaped while awaiting court martial and fled to France. There, French police received a tip-off that revealed his whereabouts in a central Paris apartment. On January 8th, 1946, they crept up a staircase to arrest him, but their heavy tread gave them away. Cole met them at the doorway, pistol in hand, and was killed in a shootout.
