List of SOE F Section networks and agents

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This article lists the clandestine networks, also known as circuits, (réseaux in French) established in France by F Section of the British Special Operations Executive during World War II. The SOE agents assigned to each network are also listed. SOE agents, with a few exceptions, were trained in the United Kingdom before being infiltrated into France. Some agents served in more than one network and are listed more than once.

Contents

The clandestine networks and agents were "dedicated to encourage and aid resistance" to the German occupation of the country. Activities included gathering intelligence, organizing and supplying indigenous resistance groups, and sabotaging transportation, communications, and industrial facilities. A typical SOE network had three agents: 1. Circuit organiser: leader, planner, and recruiter of new members. 2. Wireless Radio Operator: send and receive wireless messages to and from SOE headquarters in London, encode and decode messages, maintain wireless sets. 3. Courier or messenger: travel between organiser, wireless operator, and resistance groups to deliver and receive messages, and, on occasion, deliver explosives and other equipment. Large networks sometimes had more than one courier and wireless operator. [1]

Each network was given a name and each agent belonging to the network had one or more code names and aliases which he used in France. For example, SOE organiser George Reginald Starr was the organiser of the Wheelwright network and known as "Hilaire" to French contacts in the Resistance and to other SOE personnel. [2]

Nearly 50 SOE networks were operating in France when the country was liberated from German control in 1944. Forty-three circuits were no longer existent at that time of which 31 had been destroyed by the Germans. [3]

Approximately 470 SOE agents served in France during World War II. [4] The Valençay SOE Memorial in Valençay, France lists the names of 91 men and 13 women who were killed, executed, or died in prison while serving as SOE agents. [5]

Networks and personnel

All names of networks and dates for the operations of individual networks are from M. R. D. Foot's SOE in France (2004), pages 466-467. Dates of network operations are inclusive; some networks had lengthy periods of inactivity within the dates cited. Individual agents may have served in more than one network or during only part of the time the network was operational.

Acrobat (September 1942 to May 1944)

Author/Digger (September 1943 to August 1944)

Autogiro (March 1941 to August 1942)

Bricklayer (November 1942 to February 1944)

Butler (August 1942 to August 1944)

Carte (September 1941 to May 1943)

Chancellor (June to September 1944)

Chestnut (May 1942 to August 1943)

Cinema/Photo (January 1943 to February 1944)

Clergyman (October 1943 to August 1944)

Corsican (October 1941 to July 1943)

Detective (July 1942 to August 1944)

Digger

Donkeyman (July 1942 to August 1944)

Facade/Tilleul (August 1941 to August 1944)

Farmer (November 1942 to September 1944)

Farrier (December 1942 to May 1944)

Fireman (March 1944 to September 1944)

Footman (January to September 1944)

Freelance (April 1944 to September 1944)

Greenheart (July 1942 to August 1943)

Headmaster (September 1942 to August 1944)

Heckler/Saint (September 1941 to August 1944)

Historian (April 1944 to August 1944)

Inventor (September 1942 to December 1943)

Jockey (March 1943 to September 1944)

Juggler (July 1942 to August 1944)

Labourer (April to June 1944)

Marksman (July 1942 to September 1944)

Minister (March to September 1944)

Monk (June 1943 to March 1944)

Monkeypuzzle (July 1942 to August 1943)

Musician (November 1942 to August 1944)

Parson (June 1943 to February 1944)

Permit (July to September 1944)

Physician/Prosper (June 1942 to August 1943

Also known as Prosper. SOE's most important network in 1942-1943. Agents continued to be sent to the Prosper network for some time after it came under control of the Germans in June 1943. [39]

Pimento (July 1942 to August 1944)

Plane (April 1942 to August 1943)

Privet (July 1942 to June 1943)

Professor/Pedlar (February 1942 to August 1944)

Prosper (See Physician)

Prunus (April 1942 to April 1943)

Salesman (April 1943 to August 1944)

Satirist (July 1942 to March 1944

Scholar (May 1944 to July 1944

Scientist (July 1942 to August 1944

Scullion (April to September 1943)

Shipwright (May 1944 to September 1944)

Silversmith (May to September 1944)

Spindle (January 1942 to July 1943)

Spruce/Gardener (September 1941 to August 1944)

Stationer (January 1943 to April 1944)

Stockbroker/Judge (April 43 to September 1944)

Tinker (September 1941 to August 1944)

Urchin (September 1941 to July 1943)

Ventriloquist (May 1941 to November 1942)

Wheelwright (November 1942 to September 1944)

Wizard (March 1944 to July 1944)

Wrestler (May 1944 to September 1944)

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).

SOE (F) 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.

Operations

Asymptote

Operation Asymptote was mounted in February 1944, while the Operational Instructions [50] were quite clear, the disguised objective was to rescue two agents Émile Bollaert and Pierre Brossolette who had been captured on 2 February 1944 while trying to leave Brittany by boat. F. F. E. Yeo-Thomas (alias Shelley, alias Asymptote alias Cheval) and Maurice Lostrie (alias Trieur) were dropped on the night of 24 February 1944 by a RAF Halifax of 161 Squadron on DZ (Drop-zone) Sarrall, 16 km NE of Montluçon, Allier. Yeo-Thomas was captured by the Gestapo on 21 March 1944. Brossolette died while trying to escape the next day.

See also

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References

  1. ↑ Escott, Beryl E. (2010) The Heroines of SOE, Stroud, Gloucestershire: The History Press, pp. 9– 12, 26-27
  2. ↑ Glass, Charles (2018). They Fought Alone. New York: Penguin Press. pp. ix–xiv. ISBN   9781594206177.
  3. ↑ Foot, M. R. D (2004). S.O.E in France. London: Frank Cass Publishers. pp. 133–134. ISBN   0714655287. Revised edition, first published in 1966.
  4. ↑ "The Female Spies of the SOE," , accessed 8 January 2020
  5. ↑ "The Section F Monument," , accessed 8 January 2020
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Foot 2004, pp. 414–418.
  7. ↑ Mace, Martin; Grehan, John (2012). Unearthing Churchill's Secret Army. Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Pen & Sword. pp. 156–158. ISBN   9781848847941.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Glass 2018, pp. ix–xiv.
  9. ↑ Mace & Grehan 2012, pp. 198–199.
  10. ↑ Mace & Grehan 2012, pp. 29–30.
  11. ↑ Foot 2004, pp. 147–148.
  12. ↑ Cookridge, E.H. (1967), Set Europe Ablaze, New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, pp. 67–68
  13. ↑ Mace & Grehan 2012, pp. 31–32.
  14. 1 2 3 Mace & Grehan 2012, pp. 47–48.
  15. ↑ Mace & Grehan 2012, pp. 19–20.
  16. ↑ Mace & Grehan 2012, pp. 40–41.
  17. ↑ Foot 2004, p. 231.
  18. ↑ Foot 2004, p. 51.
  19. ↑ Mace & Grehan 2012, pp. 75–76.
  20. ↑ Mace & Grehan 2012, pp. 26–27.
  21. ↑ Foot 2004, p. 287.
  22. ↑ Mace & Grehan 2012, pp. 60–61.
  23. ↑ Mace & Grehan 2012, pp. 70–71.
  24. ↑ Mace & Grehan 2012, pp. 33–34.
  25. ↑ Foot 2004, p. 332.
  26. ↑ Foot 2004, p. 192.
  27. ↑ Jacobs, Peter (30 September 2015). Setting France Ablaze: The SOE in France During WWII. Pen and Sword. ISBN   978-1-78346-336-7.
  28. ↑ Mace & Grehan 2012, pp. 185–187.
  29. ↑ "George Hiller - Special Operations Executive (SOE) Agents in France". nigelperrin.com. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
  30. ↑ Mace & Grehan 2012, pp. 24–26.
  31. ↑ "Captain Brian Dominic Rafferty | Christ Church, Oxford University".
  32. ↑ Foot 2004, p. 226.
  33. ↑ Mace & Grehan 2012, pp. 15–16.
  34. ↑ Mace & Grehan 2012, pp. 22–23.
  35. ↑ Mace & Grehan 2012, pp. 30–31.
  36. ↑ Mace & Grehan 2012, pp. 49–50.
  37. ↑ Mace & Grehan 2012, pp. 68–69.
  38. ↑ Vigurs, Kate (2021). Mission France: The True History of the Women of SOE. Yale University Press. ISBN   978-0-300-20857-3.
  39. ↑ "The British Prosper Spy Network: Destroyed to Protect D-Day?". 31 August 2016. Archived from the original on 23 August 2017.
  40. ↑ Suttill, Francis J. (2018). Prosper. Stroud, Gloucestershire: The History Press. pp. 50–51. ISBN   9780750989374.
  41. 1 2 Foot 2004, p. 127.
  42. ↑ Marnham, Patrick (2020). War in the Shadows. London: Oneworld. p. 77. ISBN   9781786078094.
  43. ↑ Mace & Grehan 2012, pp. 34–36.
  44. ↑ Mace & Grehan 2012, pp. 16–17.
  45. 1 2 Foot 2004, p. 335.
  46. ↑ Foot 2004, p. 329.
  47. ↑ Foot 2004, pp. 112, 127.
  48. ↑ Mace & Grehan 2012, pp. 46–47.
  49. ↑ Mace & Grehan 2012, pp. 42–43.
  50. ↑ Marshall, Bruce (2001). The White Rabbit. Cassell. p. 101. ISBN   030435697-2.
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