SOE F Section networks
Encyclopedia
These are the networks, also known as circuits, (or réseaux to their French participants) established in France by F Section of the British Special Operations Executive
during the Second World War. See also SOE F Section timeline
.
and John Kenneth MacAlister
, who were both captured in June 1943 immediately upon arrival in France. The network became an operation run by the Germans.
Joseph Placke, an assistant in the wireless section at 84 Avenue Foch
, impersonated Pickersgill, and Macalister's captured radio and codes were used to transmit false messages to London, arranging parachute drops of supplies, which of course fell into German hands. The fake operation continued until May 1944 and resulted in the capture of a sabotage instructor and six other agents sent to join the network.
, but which had been destroyed by the spring of 1942 after being betrayed by Mathilde Carre
.
. It had small groups over the whole of France.
Also known as Robin.
.
.
to the foothills of the Pyrenees.
.
_networks_in_france_june_1943.jpg)
Note: The map does not show the correct location of the original Autogiro network, which operated in the Paris area and did not exist after the spring of 1942. However the network was later revived by Francis Suttill
, organiser of Prosper.
Special Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was officially formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on 22 July 1940, to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Axis powers and to instruct and aid local...
during the Second World War. See also SOE F Section timeline
SOE F Section timeline
Timeline of events in the history of Section F of the Special Operations Executive. See also SOE F Section networks.*The relevant modern administrative département numbers are added, after several of the place names, so as to facilitate the tracing of events geographically.-May 1941-July 1941:...
.
Acolyte
- Robert Lyon — also known as Gilbert Calvert (Adrien)
- Jean ColemanJean ColemanJean Henri Coleman was a wartime member of the Special Operations Executive.Jean Henri Coleman was born in Neuilly sur Seine, France the son of John Henry Coleman, an English banker, and Eugenie Eulalie Rime, originating from Switzerland.He married Deirdre Brownlow in 1943.-Wartime exploits:After...
— lieutenant (Victor) - Robert Martin, real name : Albert Grinberg (Ibis) — wireless operator
Acrobat
- Harry RéeHarry RéeHarry Alfred Rée DSO OBE was a British educationist and wartime member of the Special Operations Executive.Harry Rée was born in England, the son of Dr Alfred Rée, a chemist who was descended from an illustrious Danish Jewish family, and Lavinia Dimmick, the American-born great granddaughter of...
— worked with Acrobat before taking charge of Stockbroker - Diana RowdenDiana RowdenDiana Hope Rowden MBE was a Special Operations Executive member who was executed in a Nazi concentration camp.-Early life:...
— courier - Jean Simon — organiser following Starr's arrest
- John Renshaw StarrJohn Renshaw StarrJohn Renshaw Starr , was one of two sons of Alfred Demarest Starr and Ethel Renshaw . He was a grandson of William Robert Renshaw. He was an artist and a soldier during the Second World War. His story is told in a book, The Starr Affair, by Jean Overton Fuller.-Military career:When war broke out...
— organiser - Andre Henri Van der Straton
- John Cuthbert Young — wireless operator
Archdeacon
A network which was meant to be established by Frank PickersgillFrank Pickersgill
Frank Herbert Dedrick Pickersgill is a Canadian hero of World War II....
and John Kenneth MacAlister
John Kenneth Macalister
John Kenneth Macalister was a Canadian hero of World War II.Ken Macalister graduated the Guelph Collegiate Vocational Institute and from the University of Toronto, then as a Rhodes Scholar studied at Oxford University...
, who were both captured in June 1943 immediately upon arrival in France. The network became an operation run by the Germans.
Joseph Placke, an assistant in the wireless section at 84 Avenue Foch
84 Avenue Foch
Number 84 Avenue Foch was a building in Paris used by the Gestapo during the German occupation of Paris in World War II.The location is found on Avenue Foch, a wide residential boulevard in the XVIe arrondissement which connects the Arc de Triomphe and the Porte Dauphine.During the German...
, impersonated Pickersgill, and Macalister's captured radio and codes were used to transmit false messages to London, arranging parachute drops of supplies, which of course fell into German hands. The fake operation continued until May 1944 and resulted in the capture of a sabotage instructor and six other agents sent to join the network.
Autogiro
A network which was organised in the Paris area by Pierre de VomécourtPierre de Vomécourt
Pierre de Crevoisier de Vomécourt was, during the Second World War, a Special Operations Executive agent, who founded and headed SOE's first Resistance network in occupied France, the AUTOGIRO network....
, but which had been destroyed by the spring of 1942 after being betrayed by Mathilde Carre
Mathilde Carré
Mathilde Carré , known as "La Chatte", was a French Resistance agent during World War II who turned double agent....
.
- Georges BéguéGeorges BéguéGeorges Bégué or George P. Begue was a French engineer and agent in the Special Operations Executive.-Early life:...
— wireless operator - Christopher BurneyChristopher BurneyChristopher Arthur Geoffrey Burney MBE was an upper-class Englishman who served in the Special Operations Executive during World War II.-Biography:...
— assigned to assist Burdeyron - Noel Fernand Rauol Burdeyron (real name, Norman F. Burley) — agent, single-handedly derailed German supply train by pulling up a rail, Autogiro's only successful attack
- Raymond Henry Flower
- Pierre de VomécourtPierre de VomécourtPierre de Crevoisier de Vomécourt was, during the Second World War, a Special Operations Executive agent, who founded and headed SOE's first Resistance network in occupied France, the AUTOGIRO network....
— organiser
Bricklayer
A small network specialized in the economical and financial matters in view of the allied landing on D-Day. The French members were mainly businessmen, lawyers, bankers and engineers.- France AntelmeFrance AntelmeMajor Joseph Antoine France Antelme OBE was one of 14 Franco-Mauritians who served in the Special Operations Executive , a World War II British secret service that sent spies, saboteurs and guerrilla fighters into enemy-occupied territory.After spying in Vichy-held Madagascar ahead of the allied...
— organiser - Madeleine DamermentMadeleine DamermentMadeleine Zoe Damerment was a World War II spy.-Biography:...
— courier - Lionel Lee — wireless operator
Chestnut
- Roland Dowlen — wireless operator
- William Grover-WilliamsWilliam Grover-WilliamsWilliam Charles Frederick Grover-Williams , also known as "W Williams", was a Grand Prix motor racing driver and special agent who worked for the Special Operations Executive inside France. He organized and coordinated the Chestnut network...
— organiser
Clergyman
- Robert BenoistRobert BenoistRobert Marcel Charles Benoist was a French Grand Prix motor racing driver and war hero.-Early life:Born near Rambouillet, Île-de-France, France, Robert Benoist was the son of Baron Henri de Rothschild's gamekeeper...
— organiser - Denise BlochDenise BlochDenise Madeleine Bloch was a French secret agent working with the British Special Operations Executive in World War II.- Early life :...
— wireless operator, 1943–1945 - Louis Blondet — instructor
Detective
- Denise BlochDenise BlochDenise Madeleine Bloch was a French secret agent working with the British Special Operations Executive in World War II.- Early life :...
— wireless operator, 1943–1945 - Blanche Charlet — courier
- Henri Sevenet (aka Henry Thomas)
- Brian StonehouseBrian StonehouseBrian Julian Stonehouse MBE was a British painter and Special Operations Executive agent during World War II.He was born in Torquay, England. When his family moved to France, he went to school in Wimereux, Pas-de-Calais...
— wireless operator
Digger
- Charles Beauclerk — wireless operator
- Emile Gerschel — instructor
- Peter Lake
- Jacques Poirier — organiser
Donkeyman
A network organised following the collapse of Autogiro and built on the remnants of CarteThe Carte Organisation
The Carte Organisation was a putative organ of French resistance during the Second World War.It was the brainchild of André Girard, an artist who claimed to have at his command a secret army of hundreds of thousands of would-be résistants waiting to rise against the Germans once they were properly...
. It had small groups over the whole of France.
- Francis CammaertsFrancis CammaertsFrancis Charles Albert Cammaerts DSO was an outstanding Special Operations Executive agent who organised French Resistance groups to sabotage German communications in occupied France.-Early life:...
- Henri FragerHenri FragerHenri Jacques Paul Frager was a member of the French Resistance during World War II . He was in succession, second in command of the CARTE network , then head of the SOE network DONKEYMAN, rising to the rank of major within SOE...
— organiser - Marguerite KnightMarguerite KnightMarguerite "Peggy" Knight MBE was a member of the Women's Transport Service who served with the Special Operations Executive during World War II and worked as a courier for the French Section....
— courier - Vera LeighVera LeighVera Leigh was a British spy during World War II who assisted the French Resistance. In 1944 she was captured by the Germans and executed.-Early life:...
— liaison officer - Rolf Baumann — teacher
Farmer
A network which was organised in the Lille area by Michael Trotobas.- Arthur Staggs — wireless operator
- Michael Trotobas — organiser
Farrier
An operation to organise aircraft landings and the reception of agents sent by such means.- Juliane AisnerJuliane AisnerJuliane Aisner was a World War II Resistance Agent, working the Special Operations Executive .French by birth, Aisner was recruited by Henri Dericourt to work with the SOE in Paris in February 1941...
— courier - Marcel Remy Clement — assistant
- Henri DéricourtHenri DericourtHenri Dericourt was a French agent for Special Operations Executive. There is ambiguity as to whether he became a double agent for the Sicherheitsdienst , or was working under British instructions.-Life and work:...
— organiser - Andre Watt — wireless operator
Fireman
- Alexander Campbell — assistant
- Edmund Mayer — organiser
- Percy Mayer — organiser
- Patricia O'SullivanPatricia O'SullivanMaureen Patricia "Paddy" O'Sullivan was a member of the Special Operations Executive during World War II and worked as a wireless operator for the French Section....
— wireless operator
Footman
- George Hiller — organizer
- Cyril Watney — wireless operator
- William Hawk Daniels — OSS instructor
- Richard Pinder — instructor
- Guy S. Songy — OSS instructor
Freelance
- John Allsop — instructor
- Andre Michael Bloch — instructor
- Rene Dussaq — assistant
- John Farmer — organiser
- Denis Rake — wireless operator
- Reeve Schley
- Nancy WakeNancy WakeNancy Grace Augusta Wake, AC, GM , served as a British agent during the later part of World War II. She became a leading figure in the maquis groups of the French Resistance and was one of the Allies' most decorated servicewomen of the war.-Early life:Born in Roseneath, Wellington, New Zealand in...
— courier
Headmaster
- Sonya ButtSonya ButtSonya Esmée Florence Butt MBE, also known as Sonia d'Artois, was a heroine of the Special Operations Executive during the Second World War.- Early life :Sonya Butt was born in Kent on 14 May 1924...
— courier - Pierre-Raimond Glaesner — instructor
- Charles Sydney "Soapy" Hudson — organiser
- George Jones — wireless operator
Historian
- Nicholas Allington — assistant
- Lilian RolfeLilian RolfeLilian Vera Rolfe was an Allied secret agent in World War II.-Early life:...
— wireless operator - Andre Studler — assistant
- George Alfred "Teddy" Wilkinson — organiser
Inventor
A sub-circuit of the Physician network.- Marcel Clech — wireless operator
- Sidney JonesSidney JonesJames Sidney Jones , usually credited as Sidney Jones, was an English conductor and composer, most famous for producing the musical scores for a series of musical comedy hits in the late Victorian and Edwardian periods....
— organiser and arms instructor - Vera LeighVera LeighVera Leigh was a British spy during World War II who assisted the French Resistance. In 1944 she was captured by the Germans and executed.-Early life:...
— courier
Jockey
A network in the south-east- Francis CammaertsFrancis CammaertsFrancis Charles Albert Cammaerts DSO was an outstanding Special Operations Executive agent who organised French Resistance groups to sabotage German communications in occupied France.-Early life:...
— organiser - Leslie Fernandez
- Xan Fielding
- Auguste Floiras — wireless operator
- Christine Granville — courier
- Cecily LefortCecily LefortCecily Lefort was a British SOE agent, during World War II.-Early life:Born as Cecily Margot MacKenzie in London of Scottish ancestry, she lived on the coast of Brittany in France from the age of 24 with her French husband, Dr...
— courier - Pierre Martinot — instructor
- Pierre Reynaud — sabotage instructor
- Antoine Sereni — wireless operator
Juggler
A sub-circuit of Physician, operating from Châlons-sur-Marne, east of Paris. It also had headquarters in the rue Cambon, near the Place de la ConcordePlace de la Concorde
The Place de la Concorde in area, it is the largest square in the French capital. It is located in the city's eighth arrondissement, at the eastern end of the Champs-Élysées.- History :...
Also known as Robin.
- Gustave Cohen — wireless operator
- Sonya OlschanezkySonya OlschanezkySonya Olschanezky was a member of the French Resistance during World War II. The daughter of a Russian Jew, Eli Olschanezky, a chemical engineer who worked as a sales representative for a manufacturer of ladies' stockings, she was seven years old when the family moved to Paris, France and her...
— courier, administrator - Jacques Weil — second in command
- Jean Worms (aka Jean de Verieux) — organiser
Labourer
- Elisee Allard (aka Charles Montaigne)
- Pierre Geelen (also known by the surnames Garde and Grandjean)
- Marcel Leccia (aka Georges Louis)- organiser
- Odette Wilen
Marksman
- Elizabeth Devereux-RochesterElizabeth Devereux-RochesterElizabeth Devereux Rochester was a member of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry who served with the Special Operations Executive during World War II and worked as a courier for the French Section.-Early Life:The daughter of American parents, Babe Gunning and Richmond Rochester, Devereux Rochester was...
— courier - Richard Harry HeslopRichard Harry HeslopMajor Richard Harry Heslop , DSO was a British agent for the Special Operations Executive during World War II....
— organiser - Owen Johnson — wireless operator
- Gordon Nornable — wireless operator
- Geoffrey Parker — medic
- Jean Pierre Rosenthal — organiser
- Marcel Veilleux — wireless operator
Monk
Also known as 'Monkeypuzzle' Circuit- Marcel Clech — wireless operator
- Jean Dubois — wireless operator
- Eliane PlewmanEliane PlewmanEliane Plewman was a French SOE agent and member of French resistance.Plewman was born Eliane Browne-Bartroli in Marseille. The daughter of an English father and Spanish mother, she was educated in England and in Spain...
— courier - Jack Sinclair
- Charles Skepper — organiser
- Arthur Steele — wireless operator
Musician
A network in eastern Picardy.- Yolande BeekmanYolande BeekmanYolande Beekman was a World War II spy.-Early life:...
— wireless operator - Gustave BiélerGustave BiélerGustave Daniel Alfred Biéler DSO MBE was a Special Operations Executive agent during World War II.Gustave Bieler was born in Beurlay in France. At the age of twenty, he emigrated to Canada where he settled in the city of Montreal working as a school teacher and then as an official translator for...
— organiser - Paul Tessier — assistant
Permit
- Robert Bruhl — assistant
- Gerard Dedieu — organiser
- Ginette Jullian — courier
Physician
Also known as Prosper.- Francine AgazarianFrancine AgazarianFrancoise Isabella "Francine" Agazarian was a World War II spy working with the Special Operations Executive .-SOE Work:...
— courier - Jack AgazarianJack AgazarianJack Charles Stanmore Agazarian was a British espionage agent who worked for the Special Operations Executive inside France...
— wireless operator - Andrée BorrelAndrée BorrelAndrée Raymonde Borrel was a French heroine of World War II.-Early life:Andrée Borrel was born into a working-class family in Louveciennes, Yvelines in the suburbs of Paris, growing up an active girl who liked hiking and most other outdoor activities...
— courier - Jacques Bureau — radio technician
- Pierre Culioli — organiser
- George Darling — group leader
- Gilbert NormanGilbert NormanGilbert Maurice Norman was born 1914 in Saint-Cloud,Hauts-de-Seine to an English father and a French mother and was educated in France and England....
— wireless operator - Yvonne Rudellat — courier
- Francis SuttillFrancis SuttillMajor Francis Alfred Suttill DSO was a British special agent who worked for the Special Operations Executive inside France. He organized and coordinated the Physician network, better known by his own code name Prosper...
— organiser - Germaine Tambour
- Madeleine Tambour
Salesman
- Edgar Fraser — Dakota expert
- Jean Claude Guiet — wireless operator
- Claude Malraux
- Isidore Newman — wireless operator
- Violette SzaboViolette SzaboViolette Reine Elizabeth Bushell Szabo, GC, was a Second World War French-British secret agent.-Early life and marriage:...
— courier - Philippe Liewer (aka Charles Staunton) — organiser
- Bob Maloubier — weapons instructor
Scholar
- Raymond Aubin — organiser
- Yvonne BasedenYvonne BasedenYvonne Jeanne de Vibraye Baseden was one of only 50 or so female SOE Agents.-Background and early life:She was born in Rue Violet, Paris. Baseden's father was a World War I pilot in the Royal Flying Corps. He crash landed in France at the home of the Comte de Vibraye, where he was invited by the...
— wireless operator - Rene Bichelot — assistant
- Louis Antoine Nonni
- Marie Joseph de Saint-Genies — organiser
Scientist
A network in the area of BordeauxBordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
.
- Claude de BaissacClaude de BaissacClaude Denis Boucherville de Baissac, known as Claude de Baissac or by his codename David was a Mauritius-born agent in the Special Operations Executive...
— organiser - Lisé de BaissacLisé de BaissacLise Marie Jeanette de Baissac was born in Mauritius of French descent and British nationality. She was a heroine of the Special Operations Executive during the Second World War, a special agent who risked her life running her own operations, but was denied a gallantry award after the war.-Escape...
— courier - John Danby
- Marcel Defence — wireless operator
- Andre Grandclement — organiser double agent
- Victor Hayes — instructor
- Mary Katherine HerbertMary Katherine HerbertMary Katherine Herbert was a member of the Special Operations Executive during World War II and worked as a courier for the French Section.- Early war service :...
— courier - Roger Landes — wireless operator
- Maurice Larcher — wireless operator
- Phyliss LatourPhyliss LatourPhyliss "Pippa" Latour MBE, was a heroine of the Special Operations Executive during the Second World War.-Early life:Latour's father, Philippe, was French and married to Louise, a British citizen living in South Africa, where Phyllis was born in 1921....
— wireless operator - Paul Baptiste Pardi — landing grounds
- Harry PeulevéHarry PeulevéHenri Leonard Thomas Peulevé DSO, MC was an agent of the Special Operations Executive , who undertook two missions in occupied France and escaped from Buchenwald concentration camp.-Early life:...
Spindle
A network based in MontpellierMontpellier
-Neighbourhoods:Since 2001, Montpellier has been divided into seven official neighbourhoods, themselves divided into sub-neighbourhoods. Each of them possesses a neighbourhood council....
.
- Peter ChurchillPeter ChurchillPeter Morland Churchill DSO Croix de Guerre was an SOE Officer in France during World War II.He was a brother of Group Captain Walter Churchill DSO DFC and Major Oliver Churchill DSO MC who was also an SOE Officer during World War II.-Biography:...
— organiser - André GirardAndré GirardAndré Girard may refer to:*André Girard , French resistance worker, leader of the CARTE network*André Girard , French resistance worker, member of the ALLIANCE network...
- Victor Hazan
- Adolphe Rabinovitch — wireless operator
- Odette SansomOdette SansomOdette Sansom Hallowes GC, MBE, Chevalier de la légion d'honneur was an Allied heroine of the Second World War.-Early years:...
— courier
Spiritualist
- Henri Diacono — wireless operator
- René Dumont-Guillemet — organiser
Spruce
Also known as 'Plane' circuit.- Robert Boiteaux — organiser
- Henri Paul Le Chêne — organiser
- Marie-Thérèse Le Chêne — courier
- Pierre Louis Le Chêne — radio operator
- John Dolan
- John Hamilton
- Madeleine Lavigne — courier and wireless operator
- Robert Sheppard — saboteur
- Edward Zeff — wireless operator
Stationer
A network with activities in the south and center of France, from ChâteaurouxChâteauroux
Châteauroux is the capital of the Indre department in central France and the second-largest town in the province of Berry, after Bourges. Its residents are called Castelroussines or Castelroussins....
to the foothills of the Pyrenees.
- Jacques Dufour
- Rene Mainguard — organiser
- Rene Mathieu — wireless operator
- Pierre Mattei — landing grounds
- Jacqueline NearneJacqueline NearneJacqueline Nearne MBE was a secret agent for the British Special Operations Executive in Nazi-occupied France during World War II.-Biography:...
— courier - Alexander Shaw — landing grounds
- Maurice Southgate — organiser
- Pearl WitheringtonPearl WitheringtonCecile Pearl Witherington Cornioley CBE was a World War II SOE agent born in Paris to British parents.-Wartime service:...
— courier, organiser following Southgate's arrest
Stockbroker
- Eric Cauchi — instructor
- Joseph Maetz
- Harry RéeHarry RéeHarry Alfred Rée DSO OBE was a British educationist and wartime member of the Special Operations Executive.Harry Rée was born in England, the son of Dr Alfred Rée, a chemist who was descended from an illustrious Danish Jewish family, and Lavinia Dimmick, the American-born great granddaughter of...
— organiser - Jean Alexander Simon
- Paul Ullman — wireless operator
Ventriloquist
- Muriel Byck — wireless operator
- Emile Counasse
- Maurice Lostrie — saboteur
- Stanislaw Makowski — instructor
- Pierre de VomécourtPierre de VomécourtPierre de Crevoisier de Vomécourt was, during the Second World War, a Special Operations Executive agent, who founded and headed SOE's first Resistance network in occupied France, the AUTOGIRO network....
— organiser
Wheelwright
A network in the area of ToulouseToulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
.
- Jean-Claude Arnault — assistant
- Yvonne CormeauYvonne CormeauYvonne Cormeau, born Beatrice Yvonne Biesterfeld was a heroine of the Special Operations Executive during the Second World War who was the second female radio operator to be sent to France and who talked her way out of arrest by pretending her wireless was an X-ray machine.-Early life:Beatrice...
— wireless operator - Philippe de Gunzbourg — courier
- George Reginald StarrGeorge Reginald StarrGeorge Reginald Starr DSO MC was a British mining engineer and one of the Special Operations Executive's best secret agents during World War II.-Early life:...
— organiser - Anne-Marie WaltersAnne-Marie WaltersAnne-Marie Walters MBE was a WAAF officer recruited into the Special Operations Executive during the Second World War. Her code name was Colette....
— courier
Wrestler
A network with activities in the Valençay-Issoudun-Châteauroux triangle.- Pearl WitheringtonPearl WitheringtonCecile Pearl Witherington Cornioley CBE was a World War II SOE agent born in Paris to British parents.-Wartime service:...
— organiser
Map of networks as of June 1943
The map below shows the major SOE F Section networks which existed in France in June 1943, based on the map published in Rita Kramer's book "Flames in the Field" (Michael Joseph Ltd, 1995).Note: The map does not show the correct location of the original Autogiro network, which operated in the Paris area and did not exist after the spring of 1942. However the network was later revived by Francis Suttill
Francis Suttill
Major Francis Alfred Suttill DSO was a British special agent who worked for the Special Operations Executive inside France. He organized and coordinated the Physician network, better known by his own code name Prosper...
, organiser of Prosper.