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Courier. Operated under the name "Madame Pauline" in France. One of the longest serving of Britain's wartime women agents. Parachuted into SE France in July 1944. One of the few SOE female field agents promoted to captain. Killed in 1952 by man who had become obsessed with her. Sverre Granlund
SOE agents are second from right, possibly Christine Granville, third John Roper, fourth, Robert Purvis. [126] In France, most agents were directed by two London-based country sections. F Section was under SOE control, while RF Section was linked to Charles de Gaulle's Free French Government in exile. Most native French agents served in RF.
Station XIV - Briggens House, [6] near Roydon, Essex, contained the Forgery Section. Station XV - The Thatched Barn - road house on the Barnet bypass at Borehamwood, Hertfordshire - Camouflage Section. Much of the work of this station involved the final equipping of agents who came through the Thatched Barn prior to going to France.
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 ...
Housekeeper (1943) – France, sabotage of canal lock at Lesdains. Josephine B (1941) – France, sabotage of transformer sub station Pessac. Pilchard (1942) – France, sabotage of Matisse works, Versailles, and BREWER Radio Paris at Allouis. Sainfoin (1944) – France, September Pantarlier region, working behind enemy lines in advance of Allies.
SOE agents in France were organized into networks which usually consisted of an organiser (the leader), a courier, and a wireless operator. Arrivals of agents in France was by parachute, clandestine air flight, or, in a few cases, by ship or boat. Dates of arrivals and departures below reflect that most operations took place about midnight.
Estimates of the number of F Section female agents vary. Thirty-nine female SOE agents were trained in Britain. The following list of forty-one agents is taken from M.R.D. Foot, the official historian of the SOE, with two additions: Madeleine Barclay who served (and died) on a ship contracted to SOE and Sonia Olschanezky, a locally-recruited courier who was executed.
SOE agents in France allied themselves with French Resistance groups and supplied them with weapons and equipment parachuted in from Britain. An SOE network in France (also called a circuit or a reseau ) usually consisted of three agents: an organizer and leader, a courier, and a radio operator.