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.
SOE F Section sent about 470 agents to France from 1941 to 1944, of whom about 40 were women. The Valençay SOE Memorial lists 91 men and 13 women agents who were killed, executed, or died in concentration camps during the war. SOE agents in France were organized into networks which usually consisted of an organiser (the leader), a courier, and a wireless operator.
Hugo Bleicher (1899–1982) was a senior non-commissioned officer of Nazi Germany's Abwehr who worked against French Resistance in German-occupied France.
Henri Déricourt, code named Gilbert and Claude, was a French agent in 1943 and 1944 for the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive organization during World War II.
Jack Charles Stanmore Agazarian, code name Marcel, was an agent for 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 Nazi Germany and other Axis powers. SOE agents allied themselves with French Resistance groups and supplied them with weapons and equipment parachuted in from England. Agazarian was a wireless operator with the Prosper network based in Paris.
Gilbert Maurice Norman was a British Army officer who served in the Special Operations Executive in France during World War II.
The Carte network or Carte circuit or Carte organization was an early and illusory attempt at organizing French resistance to the occupation of France by Nazi Germany during the Second World War. The creator of Carte, André Girard, claimed to have "plans in hand for preparing first sabotage teams, then larger guerilla groups, and finally a private army some 300,000 strong" to liberate France. Girard's army existed mainly on paper and in the minds of a community of artists, musicians, and students living on the French Riviera. Girard persuaded the United Kingdom's clandestine organization, the Special Operations Executive, (SOE) that his plan merited British help. Carte was eventually suppressed by the Germans and many of its members ended up in concentration camps or were executed.
Georges Pierre André Bégué, code named Bombproof, was a French engineer and agent of the United Kingdom's clandestine organization, the Special Operations Executive (SOE). The purpose of SOE in France, occupied by Nazi Germany in World War II, was to conduct espionage, sabotage, and reconnaissance. SOE agents allied themselves with French Resistance groups and supplied them with weapons and equipment parachuted in from England.
Major Joseph Antoine France Antelme OBE, no. 239255, was one of 14 Franco-Mauritians who served in the Special Operations Executive (SOE), a World War II British secret service that sent espionage agents, saboteurs and guerrilla fighters into enemy-occupied territory.
Francis Alfred Suttill DSO, code name Prosper, was an agent of the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) organization in World War II. Suttill was the creator and organiser (leader) of the Physician or Prosper network in and around Paris, France, from October 1942 until June 1943. The purpose of SOE was to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in occupied Europe and Asia against the Axis powers, especially Nazi Germany. SOE agents allied themselves with French Resistance groups and supplied them with weapons and equipment parachuted in from England.
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.
During the Second World War, Nicolas Redner Bodington OBE served in the F section of the Special Operations Executive. He took part in four missions to France.
André Girard was a French painter, poster-maker and Resistance worker. During the Second World War he founded and headed the CARTE network, also taking "Carte" as his personal codename.
Claude Marie Marc Boucherville de Baissac, DSO and bar, CdeG, known as Claude de Baissac or by his codename David was a Mauritian of French descent who was an agent of 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.
Hans Josef Kieffer was a Sturmbannführer (Major) and the head in Paris of the Sicherheitsdienst (SD), the intelligence agency of the SS during the German occupation of France in World War II. Kieffer's headquarters were at 84 Avenue Foch, an address that became well-known because many captured agents of the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) were interrogated there after their capture. After interrogation captured agents were sent to concentration camps in Germany and most were executed. Kieffer was successful in penetrating and destroying SOE networks which had as their objective fostering and supporting the French Resistance to the German occupation. Kieffer was able to deceive SOE headquarters in London for many months in 1943 and 1944 by sending false wireless messages, a tactic known as Funkspiel.
Pierre de Crevoisier de Vomécourt, code name Lucas, was an agent of the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive during World War II. The purpose of SOE was to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in occupied Europe against the Axis powers. SOE agents allied themselves with French Resistance groups and supplied them with weapons and equipment parachuted in from England.
Henri 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. He was betrayed to the Germans, deported and executed.
Harry Peulevé LdH CdeG MdeR DSO MC was a Special Operations Executive agent who undertook two missions in occupied France and escaped from Buchenwald concentration camp.
Benjamin Hodkinson Cowburn, Croix de Guerre, Chevalier of the Legion of Honour (1909–1994), code named Benoit and Germain, was an agent of the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) organization during World War II. He was the creator and leader of the Tinker network which operated in the area of Troyes, 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.
Marcel Clech was a French agent in the French section of the Special Operations Executive during the Second World War. He was sent to France on three missions and worked as a wireless operator in three different networks before his arrest, and was executed at Mauthausen Concentration Camp.
Roger Bardet was a member of the French resistance organisation known as CARTE, based in Cannes, organised by André Girard. He was betrayed by a fellow agent and became a double agent.