Charles Milne Skepper | |
---|---|
Birth name | Charles Milne Skepper |
Nickname(s) | Charlie |
Born | Richmond, Surrey | 26 February 1905
Died | 4 April 1944 39) unknown, possibly Buchenwald concentration camp, Nazi Germany, or Compiègne, France | (aged
Buried | commemorated Brookwood Memorial |
Allegiance | ![]() |
Service/ | ![]() |
Years of service | 1940–44 |
Rank | Captain |
Service number | 270156 |
Unit | Special Operations Executive, SOE |
Battles/wars | World War II |
Awards | Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, Croix de Guerre avec Palme |
Charles Milne Skepper MBE (26 February 1905 – on or after 4 April 1944) was an economist and socialist intellectual who joined the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) to operate in occupied France during the Second World War carrying out sabotage and spying missions until he was taken prisoner. He was tortured for information and subsequently murdered by the Gestapo.
Skepper was born in Richmond, London, the son of Henry and Mary Skepper. He and his younger sister (Mabel Mary known as Mary) spent much of their early lives in France particularly in Paris, [1] although Skepper studied at Queen Elizabeth's School in Cranbrook from September 1914 to July 1920. He was a highly intelligent student with a deep interest in social justice and a gifted linguist from an early age, he learned to speak perfect French and then German and Spanish. In later life he learned some Russian and good Chinese. [2] [3] Skepper had deeply held political views from a relatively early age being a serious socialist and after deep consideration over a long period he decided that he was an atheist. He was attracted to theoretical communism and became a member of the "Friends of the Soviet Union" a factor recorded by MI5 in London [4] and in the late 1920s travelling by train he made two visits to the Soviet Union. These visits changed his earlier positive views of Soviet Communism and turned him away from that path. [5] His father later stated that after his visits he came to regard communism as fascism under a different guise. [6]
Skepper was a student at the London School of Economics (LSE) from 1926 to 1929, earning a Bachelor of Science degree First in Economics his specialist subject was Sociology. Some older sources state that he gained a BA, however they were apparently based on one single source which has since been digitised and corrected. [7] before a brief period as a graduate student during which time he lived in an apartment on Great Ormond Street, in central London. [8] with his sister Mabel Mary Skepper who was also a student at the LSE. He did not complete his doctorate but worked as an assistant teacher of Sociology from 1930 to 1932 when he moved home to 27 Gordon Square also in central London. [9] In 1931 Skepper was awarded a Rockefeller Fellowship. [10]
Throughout the remainder of the 1930s he was in a partnership operating from near Paris, trading in antiques and travelling in the trade between France and Beijing where he lived for sometime. [11] He became deeply interested in modern art and purchased paintings by Da Silva, Max Ernst and Edouard Cortes, his collection was stolen from the family home at Rueil-Malmaison near Paris during the Second World War. [12] On 9 September 1932, while living in Paris, he applied for a visa to visit the United States. He sailed on 24 September 1932 from Le Havre aboard the British ocean liner Samaria, returning some weeks later. On 14 April 1936 he sailed to New York from England aboard the ocean liner Aquitania , declaring himself to be a "Dealer" [13] on a visit to Japan from which he returned sailing from Yokohama for the U.S. on 26 July 1936 aboard the American liner President Jackson with his 61-year-old mother. [14]
Travelling to China, he sailed from Southampton for New York again on 2 February 1937 aboard the French steamer Champlain describing himself as a tourist, [15] arriving in New York on 9 February 1937 he crossed the U.S. by railway before journeying onward from San Francisco on 20 March 1937 aboard the ocean liner President Taft, bound for Honolulu. On the final leg of his journey Skepper sailed from Honolulu on 8 April 1937 aboard the U.S. ocean liner President Hoover to disembark at Shanghai. [16]
In 1939 Skepper volunteered for military service and was appointed to run the propaganda broadcasting station of the British Ministry of Information in Shanghai. When the Japanese invaded Shanghai, he evaded internment and spent time operating with Chinese guerrillas until he was captured by the Japanese, ill-treated, and sentenced to four years in prison for anti-Japanese activities, [17] having been accused of helping four American marines to escape. However, he was repatriated when he was included in an exchange of diplomats between the United Kingdom and Japan in December 1941. [18] [19] Skepper returned to England in August 1942. [20]
In late summer 1942 he applied to join the Special Operations Executive citing Morris Ginsberg LSE "Martin White Professor of Sociology" as a referee and passing stringent examination and "vetting" he was accepted for "F" (French) Section despite being near the top of the upper age limit. [21] He commenced training at the SOE school based at Wanborough Manor in West Surrey learning aspects of the trade such as navigation, parachuting, killing with and without weapons, behaviour if captured, explosives and demolition, wireless and cyphers, shooting with pistols, sub-machine guns and rifles and familiarity with captured enemy weapons. [22] A report in his file dated 27 March 1943 stated "He has done extremely well in training". [23] To make his position more certain for official purposes on 16 June 1943 he became lieutenant [24] on the British Army "General List" of "non-regimentally employed" officers with the military service number of 270156
With several codenames, including "Henri Edouard Truchot" and "Bernard", Skepper was landed in France by an RAF Special Duties Westland Lysander of No. 161 Squadron RAF on the night 16–17 June 1943 to organise a new resistance and espionage ring in the Marseille region which would be known as the "Monk circuit". [25] [26] [27] to work with the French Resistance in the "Monk Circuit" operating in the Marseilles region. Skepper was flown in with a fellow agent Diana Rowden by the specialist covert operations pilot Flying Officer Jimmy McCairns DFC and 2 Bars MM. It was a double aircraft operation to land a number of agents in the Loire valley seven miles north east of Angers. The two aircraft carried Skepper, Cecily Lefort, Diana Rowden, and Noor Inayat Khan. [28] Three days later he was joined by his radio operator Arthur Steele code named "Laurent" who landed by parachute. [29]
Over a period of nine months in the Marseille area he travelled extensively pretending to be an antiques dealer and using a case of his own antique jade objects as cover. [30] Skepper built up an extremely effective sabotage group and organised a number of significant acts of sabotage. Skepper was noted to have always personally led operations and taken on the dangerous role of receiving parachuted supplies from England. Among the many acts of sabotage he led was an attack on a synthetic oil plant regarded as vital to the German war effort. Located at L'Estaque three oil tanks were destroyed and six damaged, he also led the mission to block an important rail tunnel near the Italian border by derailing a train inside the tunnel between Cassis and Aubagne and blew up the cement works used by the German military at Fos-sur-Mer [31] In between these major operations he blew up railway tracks, power lines and damaged railway engines whenever possible [32] [33]
On the night of 13–14 August 1943 a new agent Eliane Plewman parachuted in to Jura to join their team. [34] In the first two weeks of January 1944 Skepper's "Monk circuit" was responsible for damaging 31 railway locomotives, during February 1944 he organised 5 parachute drops of arms, ammunition and explosives and on 6 March 1944 met Jack Sinclair as he parachuted in to join the network before they organised and led a mission which resulted in damaging over 30 railway locomotives in a single day on 15 March 1944. [35] [36]
Skepper was arrested with others on 23, 24 or 25 March 1944 (dates vary with sources) in the apartment where he had been staying in Rue Merentie [37] with French friends of the Villevieille family after betrayal by a French national (Bousquet) working for the Gestapo. The traitor was identified and executed after the war. Everybody at the apartment was taken away while Bousquet and the Gestapo made the place look as normal as possible so that they could wait and trap any members of Skepper's team who visited. On the next day his radio operator Arthur Steele was arrested as was one of his agents Eliane Plewman code name "Gaby" and several French members. [38] [39] No arrests happened other than of people coming to that address which indicates that under torture no names were given away. [40]
At the Baumettes prison and at Gestapo headquarters in 425 Rue Paradis Marseille [41] the Gestapo tortured their three British captives by delivering very powerful electric shocks between the eyes and the results were so bad that when the British were seen by French prisoners they were almost unrecognisable. [42] When Skepper was seen in the Gestapo offices in the custody of Gestapo Agent Dunker by Villevielle two weeks after their arrests he also reported being unable to recognise his friend. [43]
It is noted that SS-Obersturmführer Ernst Dunker (born 27 January 1912 in Halle) was tried post-war in France for his crimes and executed on 6 June 1950 in Marseille. [44]
Initial reports in his SOE file [45] were that he was killed rather than arrested; there was certainly a serious scuffle during the arrest but later information suggested that he was seized, interrogated and tortured by the Gestapo and probably sent to Germany. [46] In the recommendation for Skepper's MBE reportedly originally an OBE but later downgraded [47] written by Major General Colin Gubbins the head of SOE on 8 December 1945 he stated that "Captain Skepper was arrested. He was severely tortured by the Gestapo and later transported to Fresnes and then to Compiegne prison. There has been no news of him since". [48]
Skepper was one of the few SOE agents whose fate has never been finally resolved. According to his SOE file postwar interviews with the French national who arrested him and with the two Gestapo officers based at Marseille produced no relevant information. Skepper's death was officially recognised by the War Office on 28 October 1946, where it was recorded as 'Presumed died while in enemy hands on or shortly after 1 April 1944'. [49] That date may have been much too early. There have been a number of speculations about his death but one possibility is that Skepper was executed in Buchenwald concentration camp in the autumn of 1944. Reports of Skepper in captivity can be found as late as October 1944 when the SOE file noted that Skepper was ""seen in Hamburg". [50] Arthur Steele was executed on 9 September 1944 and Eliane Plewman at Dachau concentration camp on 13 September 1944. [51] but no further news of Skepper could be found. A number of French, Belgian, English and Canadians who belonged to Allied secret services were hanged by the SS in Buchenwald which is where a number of British agents are known from other sources to have met their deaths. It is quite possible that Skepper was executed there. [52]
His fate was still unclear to the War Office in December 1945 and he was mentioned in the London Gazette as a lieutenant on the General List still in receipt of pay and allowances (effective 1 November 1945). [53] The Skepper family maintained his apartment (No. D5 Sloane Avenue Mansions) in his name until 1948. [54]
For official purposes the date of 4 April 1944 was set as his date of death and as he had disappeared Skepper's name was commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission on the Brookwood Memorial to the missing. [55] Several reports state that he died in Buchenwald concentration camp of the effects of the ill treatment suffered at the hands of the Gestapo. [56]
Awarded a posthumous MBE by the British government in the London Gazette 28 February 1946. [57] [58] [59] [60]
Awarded a posthumous Croix de Guerre 1939-1945 avec Palme by the French government, the citation for which was issued on 16 January 1946 and signed by De Gaulle, and L'Ordre de l'Armée. [61] [62]
By 8 May 1946, the first anniversary of VE Day, he was presumed officially dead for the purpose of probate, though the substantive assumption of death was delayed until October 1946. However, although he had died intestate Skepper had left a 'soldier's will' and his estate was administered on 18 January 1948, with the administration document simply saying that he had died 'on war service'. His whole estate was valued at £38,035 18s 2d [63] (a huge sum for that time) and his mother then informed the London School of Economics that he had said that in the event of his death, at least part of this should be used for the furtherance of sociology at the School. A bequest of £20,000 (currently worth approximately £500,000-£700,000) was made via a deed of trust, for 'Sociological Research at the School' by the establishment of The Charles Skepper House for Sociological Research with a Research Fellowship and Studentships. Sadly little apparently came of the intended Research Fellowship and Studentships, although the Charles Skepper House project was originally a large facility at LSE's campus on John Adam Street just south of the Strand there is no longer any physical trace of any such facility at LSE and Skepper's name has virtually disappeared. [64]
By name on the Brookwood Memorial in Surrey. [65]
By name on the SOE F Section Memorial at Valençay in France. [66] There is a commemorative plaque on the apartment building where Skepper and his comrades were captured in 1944. Skepper's name is commemorated on the LSE war memorial in their Old Building. [67] By name on the British Forces Roll of Honour.[ citation needed ]
See also SOE F Section networks
Mrs Mary Skepper (mother of Charles) was appointed an OBE in the Birthday Honours List 1950. [68]
Violette Reine Elizabeth Szabo, GC was a British-French Special Operations Executive (SOE) agent during the Second World War and a posthumous recipient of the George Cross. On her second mission into occupied France, Szabo was captured by the German army, interrogated, tortured, and deported to Ravensbrück concentration camp in Germany, where she was executed.
Nancy Grace Augusta Wake,, also known as Madame Fiocca and Nancy Fiocca, was a nurse and journalist who joined the French Resistance and later the Special Operations Executive (SOE) during World War II, and briefly pursued a post-war career as an intelligence officer in the Air Ministry. The official historian of the SOE, M. R. D. Foot, said that "her irrepressible, infectious, high spirits were a joy to everyone who worked with her". Many stories about her World War II activities come from her autobiography, The White Mouse, and are not verifiable from other sources.
Gustave Biéler DSO MBE CdeG was a Canadian Special Operations Executive agent during World War II.
Andrée Raymonde Borrel, code named Denise, was a French woman who served in the French Resistance and as an agent for Britain's clandestine Special Operations Executive in World War II. The purpose of SOE was to conduct espionage, sabotage, and reconnaissance in occupied Europe against the Axis powers, especially Nazi Germany. SOE agents allied themselves with resistance groups and supplied them with weapons and equipment parachuted in from England.
Yolande Elsa Maria Beekman was a British spy in World War II who served in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) and the Special Operations Executive. She was a member of SOE's Musician circuit in occupied France during World War II where she operated as a wireless operator until arrested by the Gestapo. She was subsequently executed at the Dachau concentration camp.
Madeleine Zoe Damerment was a French agent of the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) organization during World War II. The purpose of SOE was to conduct espionage, sabotage, and reconnaissance in countries occupied by the Axis powers, especially Nazi Germany. SOE agents allied themselves with resistance groups and supplied them with weapons and equipment parachuted in from England. Damerment was first involved in escape lines helping downed allied airmen escape occupied France. She fled France in March 1942 to avoid arrest. After arriving in Britain, she was recruited by the SOE. Damerment was to be a courier for SOE's Bricklayer circuit but was captured by the Gestapo on 29 February 1944 upon arrival in France. The Gestapo knew she was coming because they had captured SOE radios and were reading SOE radio messages. She was subsequently executed at the Dachau concentration camp on 13 September 1944 along with three other female SOE agents.
Fresnes Prison is the second largest prison in France, located in the town of Fresnes, Val-de-Marne, south of Paris. It comprises a large men's prison of about 1200 cells, a smaller one for women and a penitentiary hospital.
Diana Hope Rowden served in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force and was an agent for the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) during World War II. Rowden was a member of SOE's Acrobat circuit in occupied France where she operated as a courier until she was arrested by the Gestapo. She was subsequently executed at the Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp.
The SOE F Section timeline lists the significant events in the history of Section F of the Special Operations Executive. The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a clandestine organization of the United Kingdom during World War II. The purpose of SOE was to conduct espionage, sabotage, and reconnaissance in countries occupied by the Axis powers. SOE agents allied themselves with resistance groups and supplied them with weapons and equipment parachuted in from England. Section F was responsible for many of SOE's activities in France which was occupied by Nazi Germany.
Éliane Sophie Plewman was a British agent of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) and a member of the French Resistance working as a courier for the "MONK circuit" in occupied France during World War II. SOE's objective was to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance against the Axis Powers, especially Nazi Germany in occupied Europe and to aid local resistance movements. Plewman was captured by the Gestapo, and later executed by the SS in Dachau.
Lise Marie Jeanette de Baissac MBE CdeG, code names Odile and Marguerite, was a Mauritian agent in the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) organization in France during World War II. The purpose of SOE was to conduct espionage, sabotage, and reconnaissance in countries occupied by the Axis powers, especially Nazi Germany. SOE agents allied themselves with resistance groups and supplied them with weapons and equipment parachuted in from England.
Yvonne Jeanne de Vibraye Baseden MBE, later known as Yvonne Burney, was one of approximately forty female Special Operations Executive (SOE) agents who served in France. The objective of SOE was to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in occupied Europe against the Axis powers, especially Nazi Germany. SOE agents in France allied themselves with resistance groups and supplied them with weapons and equipment parachuted in from Britain.
Alix Marrier d'Unienville, MBE was a French-British agent in the Free French (RF) Section of the Special Operations Executive (SOE), during World War II.
Nicolas Redner Bodington OBE was a British journalist and soldier. During the Second World War, he served in the F section of the Special Operations Executive and took part in four missions to France.
Roger Arthur Landes, LdH CdeG MC & Bar, code named Stanislas and Aristide, was an agent of the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) organization during World War II in France. The purpose of SOE was to conduct espionage, sabotage, and reconnaissance in countries occupied by the Axis powers, especially Nazi Germany. SOE agents allied themselves with resistance groups and supplied them with weapons and equipment parachuted in from England. Landes was a wireless operator for the Scientist network in the Bordeaux region of France, and later became the "organiser" (leader) of the Actor network in the same region. After the liberation from German occupation of France in 1944, he joined Force 136 to subvert the Japanese occupation of Malaya.
Baumettes Prison is a prison in the 9th arrondissement of Marseille.
Operation Postmaster was a British special operation conducted on the Spanish island of Fernando Po, now known as Bioko, off West Africa in the Gulf of Guinea, during the Second World War. The mission was carried out by the Small Scale Raiding Force (SSRF) and the Special Operations Executive (SOE) in January 1942. Their objective was to board the Italian and German ships in the harbour and sail them to Lagos. The SSRF under the command of Major Gus March-Phillipps left Britain in August 1941 and sailed the Brixham trawler, Maid of Honour, to the Spanish colony.
Operation Aquatint was the codename for a failed raid by British Commandos on the coast of occupied France during the Second World War. The raid was undertaken in September 1942 on part of what later became Omaha Beach by No. 62 Commando, also known as the Small Scale Raiding Force.
Arthur Steele was a British soldier who joined Special Operations Executive (SOE) to operate in occupied France during the Second World War as a wireless operator carrying out sabotage and spying missions until he was taken prisoner. He was tortured for information unsuccessfully by the Gestapo and subsequently killed by the SS.
Haim Victor Gerson DSO, LdH, code name Rene, was a Special Operations Executive agent during the Second World War. He organised the Vic escape line in France. Escape lines helped allied soldiers and airmen, SOE agents, and other people in danger to escape from Nazi-occupied Europe, usually by crossing the Pyrenees mountains into neutral Spain.
[[Category:Special Operations Executive personnel killed in World War II]