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. This group(s) were tasked with the assignment of gathering information about the enemy and relaying said information to the SOE headquarters in London. At minimum, a circuit would be composed of three people: 1) Circuit leader: organize the group and recruit new members. 2) Wireless Radio Operator: know-how to work the wireless set, possessed an understanding of Morse Code and as well the ability to encode and decode messages. 3) Courier or messenger: travel from circuit to circuit within the country acquiring intelligence about the enemy.
See also SOE F Section timeline.
Robert Lyon – also known as Gilbert Calvert (Adrien)
Jean Coleman — lieutenant (Victor)
Robert Martin, real name : Albert Grinberg (Ibis) — wireless operator
Harry Rée — worked with Acrobat before taking charge of Stockbroker
Diana Rowden — courier
Jean Simon – organiser following Starr's arrest
John Renshaw Starr — organiser
Andre Henri Van der Straton
John Cuthbert Young – wireless operator
Roger Landes – wireless operator
A network which was meant to be established by Frank Pickersgill 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.
F. F. E. Yeo-Thomas
Harry Peulevé — organiser
Jacques Poirier – organiser
A network which was organised in the Paris area by Pierre de Vomécourt, but which had been destroyed by the spring of 1942 after being betrayed by Mathilde Carre.
Georges Bégué — wireless operator
Christopher Burney — 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 Vomécourt — organiser
A small network specialised 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 Antelme — organiser
Madeleine Damerment — courier
Lionel Lee – wireless operator
Charles Henri Lucien Corbin – organiser
Roland Dowlen – wireless operator
William Grover-Williams — organiser
Emile Henri Garry – organiser
Noor Inayat Khan — wireless operator
Robert Benoist — organiser
Denise Bloch — wireless operator, 1943–1945
Louis Blondet – instructor
Denise Bloch — wireless operator, 1943–1945
Blanche Charlet — courier
Henri Sevenet (aka Henry Thomas)
Brian Stonehouse — wireless operator
Charles Beauclerk – wireless operator
Emile Gerschel – instructor
Peter Lake
Jacques Poirier – organiser
Maurice Dupont
Guy D'Artois — organiser
Lt. Jean Renaud-Dandicolle, M.C. (aka John Danby)
A network organised following the collapse of Autogiro and built on the remnants of Carte. It had small groups over the whole of France.
Francis Cammaerts
Henri Frager — organiser
Peggy Knight — courier
Vera Leigh — liaison officer
Rolf Baumann – teacher
A network which was organised in the Lille area by Michael Trotobas.
Arthur Staggs – wireless operator
Michael Trotobas – organiser
An operation to organise aircraft landings and the reception of agents sent by such means.
Juliane Aisner — courier
Marcel Remy Clement – assistant
Henri Déricourt — organiser
Andre Watt – wireless operator
Alexander Campbell – assistant
Edmund Mayer – organiser
Percy Mayer – organiser
Patricia O'Sullivan — wireless operator
George Hiller — organiser
Cyril Watney – wireless operator
William Hawk Daniels – OSS instructor
Richard Pinder – instructor
Guy S. Songy – OSS instructor
John D. Allsop – instructor
Andre Michael Bloch – instructor
Rene Dussaq – assistant
John Farmer – organiser
Denis Rake – wireless operator
Reeve Schley
Nancy Wake — courier
Sonya Butt — courier
Pierre-Raimond Glaesner – instructor
Charles Sydney "Soapy" Hudson — organiser
George Jones – wireless operator
Paul Goillot – organiser
Virginia Hall
Henry Riley – organiser
Nicholas Allington – assistant
Lilian Rolfe — wireless operator
Andre Studler – assistant
George Alfred "Teddy" Wilkinson – organiser
A sub-circuit of the Physician network.
Marcel Clech – wireless operator
Sidney Jones — organiser and arms instructor
Vera Leigh — courier
Blanche Charlet
A network in the south-east
Francis Cammaerts — organiser
Leslie Fernandez
Xan Fielding
Auguste Floiras – wireless operator
Christine Granville — courier
Cecily Lefort — courier
Pierre Martinot – instructor
Pierre Reynaud – sabotage instructor
Antoine Sereni – wireless operator
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 Concorde. Also known as Robin.
Gustave Cohen – wireless operator
Sonya Olschanezky — courier, administrator
Jacques Weil – second in command
Jean Worms (aka Jean de Verieux) — organiser
Elisee Allard (aka Charles Montaigne)
Pierre Geelen (also known by the surnames Garde and Grandjean)
Marcel Leccia (aka Georges Louis)- organiser
Odette Wilen
Elizabeth Devereux-Rochester — courier
Richard Harry Heslop — organiser
Owen Johnson – wireless operator
Gordon Nornable – wireless operator
Geoffrey Parker – medic
Jean Pierre Rosenthal – organiser
Marcel Veilleux – wireless operator
Denis Barrett – wireless operator
Yvonne Fontaine — courier
Also known as 'Monkeypuzzle' Circuit.
Marcel Clech – wireless operator
Jean Dubois – wireless operator
Eliane Plewman — courier
Jack Sinclair
Charles Skepper – organiser
Arthur Steele – wireless operator
A network in eastern Picardy.
Yolande Beekman — wireless operator
Gustave Biéler — organiser
Paul Tessier – assistant
Nicholas Bodington — organiser
Herbert Maurice Roe - Wireless operator
Anthony Brooks — organiser
Robert Bruhl – assistant
Gerard Dedieu – organiser
Ginette Jullian – courier
Also known as Prosper.
Francine Agazarian — courier
Jack Agazarian — wireless operator
Andrée Borrel — courier
Jacques Bureau – radio technician
Pierre Culioli – organiser
George William Darling – group leader
Gilbert Norman — wireless operator
Yvonne Rudellat — courier
Francis Suttill — organiser
Germaine Tambour
Madeleine Tambour
An unofficial name for Physician, named for its organiser's codename.
Agents continued to be sent to the Prosper network for some time after it had been controlled by Germans.
Maurice Pertschuk - organizer
An unofficial name for Juggler.
Edgar Fraser – Dakota expert
Jean Claude Guiet – wireless operator
Claude Malraux
Isidore Newman – wireless operator
Violette Szabo — courier
Philippe Liewer (aka Charles Staunton) — organiser
Bob Maloubier – weapons instructor
Raymond Aubin – organiser
Yvonne Baseden — wireless operator
Rene Bichelot – assistant
Louis Antoine Nonni
Marie Joseph de Saint-Genies – organiser
A network in the area of Bordeaux.
Claude de Baissac — organiser
Lisé de Baissac — courier
John Danby
Marcel Defence – wireless operator
André Grandclément – organiser double agent
Victor Hayes – instructor
Mary Katherine Herbert — courier
Roger Landes – wireless operator
Maurice Larcher – wireless operator
Phyllis Latour — wireless operator
Paul Baptiste Pardi – landing grounds
Harry Peulevé
Madeleine Lavigne – courier and wireless operator
A network based in Montpellier.
Peter Churchill — organiser
André Girard
Victor Hazan
Adolphe Rabinovitch – wireless operator
Odette Sansom — courier
Henri Diacono – wireless operator
René Dumont-Guillemet – organiser
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
A network with activities in the south and center of France, from Châteauroux to the foothills of the Pyrenees.
Jacques Dufour
Rene Mainguard – organiser
Rene Mathieu – wireless operator
Pierre Mattei – landing grounds
Jacqueline Nearne — courier
Alexander Shaw – landing grounds
Maurice Southgate – organiser
Pearl Witherington — courier, organiser following Southgate's arrest
Eric Cauchi – instructor
Joseph Maetz
Harry Rée — organiser
Jean Alexander Simon
Paul Ullman – wireless operator
Muriel Byck — wireless operator
Emile Counasse
Maurice Lostrie – saboteur
Stanislaw Makowski – instructor
Pierre de Vomécourt — organiser
A network in the area of Toulouse.
Jean-Claude Arnault – assistant
Yvonne Cormeau — wireless operator
Philippe de Gunzbourg – courier
George Reginald Starr — organiser
Anne-Marie Walters — courier
Eileen Nearne — wireless operator
Jean Savy – organiser
A network with activities in the Valençay-Issoudun-Châteauroux triangle.
Pearl Witherington — organiser
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, organiser of Prosper.
