Octave Simon had been a notable sculptor before the war and was involved in resistance after France was occupied. In 1942 he began working as a sub-agent with SOE after being recruited by Philippe de Vomécourt the leader of VENTRILQUIST circuit. After De Vomécourt was arrested Simon was contacted by another agent and asked to form a circuit in the Sarthe region.
Simon received several arms drops through a circuit called SATIRIST and after Francis Suttill, the leader of PROSPER circuit was arrested in June 1942 all sub-circuits of PROSPER including SATIRIST were infiltrated and within weeks the entire network was blown. Simon escaped to Angers after almost being captured by the Gestapo on four occasions and was eventually picked up by an aircraft from 161 Squadron, RAF Special Duty Squadron on the night of 19/20 August and taken to London.
After completing agent training Simon returned to France on the night of 7/8 March 1943 with a wireless operator named Marcel Defence to restart SATIRIST circuit. They were parachuted to a reception committee (helpers on the ground) from BUTLER circuit but SOE HQ in London was unaware the circuit had been destroyed and was in German hands, consequently, Simon and Defence were dropped to waiting German soldiers.
Marcel Rousset, the wireless operator for BUTLER, was forced to use his wireless to contact London and allegedly London overlooked his ‘Bluff’ code indicating he was in German hands and sending under duress. The Germans continued to use his wireless for nine months and received several arms drops and captured a number of agents who were dropped to German reception committees. It is recorded that Octave Simon and Marcel Defence died at Gross-Rosen Concentration Camp, Marcel Rousett survived the war and died on 13 February 1983.
Alan Malcher
Alan Malcher 