Leo Marks (24 September 1920- 15 January 2021) was born to a devout Jewish family in London. His father was joint owner of Marks and Co and was an antiquarian bookseller in Charring Cross Road, London. Marks joined the army in January 1942 and was sent to Bletchley Park as a codebreaker where he was regarded a misfit. However, SOE saw him has as one of a few unique people who could see patterns and codes that most people would miss. A modern description being ‘he could see so far out of the box most people even with a powerful telescope would miss it’.
As head of SOE’s European Country Sections codes and cyphers he was based at Mitchel House Baker Street, London with a staff of over 400 and was responsible for proving wireless trained agents operating in countries under occupation with cyphers which included various identity and security checks when sending signals to London.
He also provided every agent with a poem code to transpose text into coded messages and the most famous of his poem is ‘The life that I have’ used by Violette Szabo GC who refused to reveal it to the Gestapo after her capture.
Like many films and books about SOE ‘Carve Her Name With Pride’ was promoted as the true story of Violette Szabo but was heavily dramatized and had many historical inaccuracies including the claim her poem code was written by her husband who had recently died, this was among many books and films heavily criticised by former SOE agents and staff officers and these inaccuracies continue to be duplicated by authors and film makers.
John Cuthbert Young was born to British parents in Newcastle, England on 25 September 1907, he was married to a French woman and employed as a fire insurance surveyor before enlisting into the British army. Young was recruited by SOE on 27 April 1942 and is said to have struggled with the physical part of the training and his suitability as an agent was called into question after SOE was informed he told a naval officer and his wife about his potential clandestine service and his wife applied to join FANY because she wanted to be trained as a wireless operator so she could be near her husband on missions.
After being reprimanded for his serious indiscretion the investigating officer said Young now understood the importance of security whilst working for a branch of the British military that did not officially exist.
Using the code name Gabriel, Young arrived in France by parachute on 19 May 1943 to join the ACROBAT circuit near Saint-Étienne in eastern France. Around five weeks after joining the circuit John Starr, the circuit organiser was arrested by the Germans and ACROBAT, which had around 3,500 armed resisters, was in disarray and the circuit close to collapse. Young took over the circuit, stayed connected with London through his wireless link and organised several sabotage operations that supported the wider allied strategy being planned in London.
Several weeks later Young was warned the Gestapo had his description and he was on their wanted list, German wireless intelligence had detected his transmissions but in keeping with his wireless training Young did not transmit from the same location and this hampered direction finders. After receiving more intelligence London advised Young to leave France but he decided to remain with ACROBAT until London sent his replacement.
Sometime in November André Maugenet arrived in France to takeover ACROBAT and there are two accounts of the chain of events which followed. The Germans were aware Maugenet and two other agents would be arriving by Hudson aircraft because a treble agent named Henri Déricourt, SOE’s airlanding officer for northern France, tipped off the Gestapo and the three agents were followed from the landing ground and were still under surveillance when they were travelling by train to Paris and were arrested shortly after arriving. This version of events also claims that when Maugenet was searched the Germans found a letter to John Young written by his wife that Maugenet promised to deliver. A Gestapo informer then dressed in Maugenet’s clothes and was carrying his suitcase when he arrived at the safehouse Young was using and after recognising his wife’s handwriting believed the informer was the agent London had told him to expect. However, this version fails to explain how the Germans knew where Young was staying, and it is clear they only became aware after Maugenet arrived in France.
André Maugenet
During his briefing before leaving for France Maugenet was told how to contact Young and some historians believe he was a double agent working for the Germans and it was Maugenet who arrived at the sawmill where young was staying and gave him the letter from his wife and left after a brief conversation. That evening eighteen German soldiers with SD officers arrived at the sawmill, smashed down the door and dragged-out John Young and another agent named Diana Rowden.
Diana Rowden
When Young was arrested, he was handed to the SD and taken to several locations including a prison in Lyon for interrogation, then to Cherche Midi prison in Paris and a witness said they saw him at 3 bis Place des Étas Unis. After France was liberated, it was said allied forces examined 84 Avenue Foch in Paris that was used by the SD as their Paris Headquarters and found “Lt J.C. Young arrived 20.11.43.” scrawled on a cell wall. Young spent time at several prisons before being transported to Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria where he was executed but the date of his death is unknown. It was also discovered that Diana Rowden, the other agent arrested with Young at the sawmill was executed at Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp in Germany on 6 July 1944.
Several years after the war it was alleged André Maugenet took part in the raid at the sawmill and was armed and according to some historians it is beyond question that he provided information about ACROBAT that led to the arrest of John Young and Diana Rowden. It has also been claimed that in 1954 the French authorities said Maugenet was protected by the Germans and during investigations discovered he was living in Canada but before he could be extradited to stand trial for treason, he escaped to South Africa and the French authorities lost him.
Due to there being no evidence to support the allegations against André Maugenet he was given the benefit of doubt, and his name appears on the Brookwood memorial.
Further information can be obtained from his file (TNA HS9/1008/2) at the National Archives and additional primary sources might be found at the Archives at the Service Historique de la Défence that is part of the Ministére Des Armées.
Adolphe François was a French Canadian whose parent unit was the Royal Canadian Artillery who began his SOE selection and training in October 1943.
His training assessment describes him as very intelligent, mature minded, serious and of good motivation and stated he could do good work in the field. A later report added, whilst he has certain powers of leadership and has a pleasant and unaggressive manner his personality lacked the forcefulness to be fully effective and would be best used as an instructor or a subordinate organiser.
Though his French was excellent it was said his accent could sometimes be identified as French-Canadian, he also had no knowledge of France and was even surprised to learn the French drunk coffee out of a glass in cafés and was therefore decided he did not have the knowledge to run a circuit but would make a good lieutenant. Consequently, Deniset was sent to join the PHONO circuit in the Chârtres area as its second in command and arms instructor.
During his operational briefing Deniset was given a list of targets to sabotage which included locomotive sheds, railways and roads and was told to pass the list onto Emile Garry the leader of PHONO. On the night of 28 February 1944 (but like many SOE documents, dates vary according to sources at several archives) he boarded a Halifax bomber of 161 Special Duty Squadron RAF at Tempford with three other agents sent to establish a circuit in Brittany. It had been arranged for the agents to be dropped to a reception committee from PHONO circuit, but London was not aware the circuit had been destroyed and was under German control. The area where they were going to be dropped had been cordoned off by SS troops under the command of SS Sturmbannfurther Joseff Kiefer, head of the Paris SD and the three agents were arrested as soon as they landed.
It is known Deniset was interned at Frésnes prison and according to some accounts was taken to an underground solitary confinement cell with no lighting, no bed and no water and the only person he saw was a guard once a day who brought him weak soup.
On 2 June 1944 Deniset was seen by other captured agents at 3 bis Place des États Unis, a street located in the Chaillot district of Paris.
A post-war investigation found it extremely difficult to discover what happened to Deniset after leaving Frésnes Prison. Some witnesses said he was transported to Ravitsch concentration camp in northern Germany around 56 miles from Berlin but was later recorded by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission that Deniset was executed at Gross-Rousen concentration camp but there is no accurate date of his execution.
David Finlayson was born to English parents living in France where he was educated until the age of thirteen and after his family returned to England, he studied engineering at Wolverhampton Technical College.
Finlayson entered the SOE training schools on 25 July 1943 and after successfully completing the three compulsory courses his final assessment said he would be suitable as a member of a coup-de- main party (member of a clandestine circuit) but was only 19 years old and considered too young to be placed in charge of a circuit but was ideal as a wireless operator and after volunteering for wireless training attended the Wireless and Security School at Thame Park, Oxfordshire.
David Finlayson, Maurice Lapage (aka Colin) and an agent named as Lesout arrived in France on the night of 2/3 March 1944 to organise a circuit called LIONTAMER but after parachuting into France nothing was heard from them. London received several messages sent from Finlayson’s wireless, but his personal code was not used, and no security checks were sent. London suspected a German operator was attempting to ‘play back’ his wireless but the channel remained open in case Finlayson, whilst working under pressure, had forgot to use the codes. The channel was eventually closed after London received word that MUSICIAN circuit whose members were tasked with receiving the agents had been destroyed and was under German control. Consequently, the three agents were dropped to German soldiers.
Until late January 1946 there was no information about the fate of the three agents and is now thought David Finlayson was executed at Gross-Rosen camp in Poland.
Paul Tessier was born in Clichy-sous-Bois, France on 15 October 1916 to French parents but was a British national at the time of his service with the British army and was married with two young children.
In 1940 he enlisted into the Royal Fusiliers and sometime in 1942 transferred to the Royal Armoured Corps where he served in a reconnaissance unit. During his SOE training and selection he was described as ‘tough and enthusiastic. Anxious to finish training so he could get down to the real thing.
His first mission to France was in August 1943 as part of the Dressmaker sabotage team that arrived north of Escoussens by parachute to attack a tannery said to be used by the Germans, but the intelligence was wrong and they found the target deserted. The team then became ill after drinking contaminated water and returned to England.
In January 1944 Tessier returned to France to become the second in command of a circuit called Musician commanded by Gustave Biéler, but after being dropped over the pinpoint (drop zone) nothing was heard from him. Shortly after his disappearance London was warned the circuit that arranged the reception committee (helpers on the ground) had been infiltrated by the Abwehr (German Military Intelligence) and Tessier had been dropped to waiting Germans.
On 27 June 1944 SOE HQ in London received a message from a wireless operator working for the Spiritualist circuit informing them Tessier was now working for their circuit. It is now known that after being dropped to German soldiers he escaped from custody after breaking through an outside wall with an iron bar and tied bedding together to make a rope to climb out of the building and did this shortly after German interrogators broke his hand. The Germans and Gestapo now had his photograph and he should have left France through an escape line or air extraction by No.161 Special Duty Squadron RAF that specialised in air landings but he decided to remain in France.
It is known he sheltered with an English born woman whilst working for Spiritualist during which he helped arrange twelve air drops of weapons and involved in sabotage attacks against the railway running from Paris to Strasbourg and Metz. Dates vary according to several sources when Tessier was with three members of Spiritualist circuit attempting to cross the German lines at Clichy-sous-Bois to recover weapons and explosives when the lorry they were traveling in was engaged by Germany soldiers. During a brief firefight Tessier was wounded, capture, then shot and allowed to die in the road.
Paul Tessier was buried at Langny-sur-Marne around 18 miles east of Paris and a town square was later dedicated to his memory.
The American Virginia Hall and her wartime service with SOE is well known but Robert Byerly is less well documented and is sometimes wrongly described as a Canadian.
When Germany invaded France in April 1940 Robert Byerly who has been noted for being pro-British was living in Paris and because he was a citizen of a neutral country was allowed to leave France and made his way to England and in 1941 enlisted into the Canadian Army and trained as a signaller. The date he was recruited by SOE and passed selection varies according to sources, but it is known he arrived in France by parachute on 8 February 1944 near Poitiers to work as the wireless operator for SURVEYOR circuit. His infiltration was arranged by PHONO circuit but unknown to London the circuit had been infiltrated and Byerley along with two other agents were dropped to waiting German soldiers.
Under German supervision Byerly was forced to use his wireless to contact London and within the body of the message inserted a ‘bluff check’ and left out the ‘true check’ to warn London he was sending under duress. As was standard practice London maintained contact with Byerly to create the illusion he was of use to the Germans and hope he would not be executed, but his transmissions suddenly stopped, and was not heard again. After the war it was discovered that sometime during the summer of 1944 Robert Byerly was transported to Gross-Rosen concentration camp where he was executed a few days later.
Adolphe Rabinovitch was a Russian-Egyptian Jew who served with the French Foreign Legion during the Battle of France. After being captured he escaped and made his way to England where he was recruited by SOE. On his second mission to France he was captured, interrogated and sent to Gross-Rosa concentration camp where he was executed sometime in 1944 at the age of 25.
British Homefront during WW2. Home Station was the name given to the wireless station in England which maintained contact with SOE agents throughout occupied Europe. Over 500 people, mainly women, worked at the station and these wireless operators were often the first to suspected there was something wrong: the agent under their charge was working under stress or their wireless set was being used by a German operator. Aware enemy forces were attempting to find their agents through direction finders these wireless operators ensured their agents did not stay too long on the air and did not ask them to repeat unreadable messages. No date (IWM)
Yvonne Rudellat was an SOE Courier who was involved in a number of operations and the following is an overview. On 20 July 1942 after crossing from Gibraltar by felucca under the cover of darkness she arrived by rowing boat on a deserted beach a few miles from Cannes. She used the cover name Jacqueline Gautier but used other identities whilst working for various networks. She took a train from Cannes to Lyon and from there took a train to Paris where she hid in the tender of the locomotive to cross the demarcation line. From Paris she went to Tours and worked for the Monkeypuzzle circuit where she organised agents and supplies to be dropped by parachute and also travelled by bicycle to liaise with scattered members of the resistance. After Monkeypuzzle was infiltrated by German agents she teamed up with SOE agent Pierre Culioli and took the cover of a married couple with the surname Leclaire and continued organising parachute drops.
Working as a married couple they picked up two Canadian SOE agents, John Macalister and Frank Pickersgill who arrived in France by Parachute a few hours previously. Culioli was driving the car, Yvonne was sitting next to him and the two Canadians were sitting in the back when they reached a roadblock in Dhuizon. The reason why the Canadians were ordered out of the car and why their covers were blown is beyond the scope of this post. After German soldiers ordered Rudellat and Culioli out of the car Culioli put the car in gear and accelerated away and soldiers started firing at them. They were quickly pursued by a vehicle full of German soldiers who were shooting at them and Yvonne was seen leaning out of the car window returning fire before slumping back on her seat after being shot in the head, shortly afterwards Culioli was shot in the leg and the car crashed into a wall. Yvonne was taken unconscious to Blois Hospital where doctors found the bullet had not entered her brain and decided it was too dangerous to remove the bullet. When she gained consciousness she was confused, did not know her name or understand why she was in France.
On 2 March she arrived at Bergen-Belson concentration camp during a typhus epidemic during which an estimated 20,000 prisoners died. Rudellat never recovered her memory and eight days after the camp was liberated Yvonne Rudellat died of typhus and dysentery and was buried in a mass grave along with 5000 other bodies.
Alan Malcher 