Following the creation of SOE's F Section in the summer of 1940, it became eventually apparent that French anti-German sentiment was not as simple as once thought and effectively fell into two camps - those who supported de Gaulle and those who did not. To keep these camps apart, RF Section (pro-Gaullists) was mooted in late 1940 and came into being in early 1941. By May 1941 it was established at 1, Dorset Square and initially headed by Capt Eric Piquet-Wicks. The complexities of the interplay between F and RF Sections and between RF and BCRA is covered in MRD Foot's book "The SOE in France". The operations listed below are effectively, jointly mounted by SOE-RF and BCRA with the former supplying, or access to, the materiél (flights, wireless-sets, weapons, training etc.) with the BCRA supplying personnel. The men and women who made their ways to London to join BCRA came from a wide background both in terms of profession and location. To assume they were French and lately of the remnants of the French military is an over-simplification - civilians as well as foreign-born pro-French sympathisers make up a notable proportion of the agents prepared to fight for France.
Operations timeline Section RF of the Special Operations Executive. Pierre Tillet's cited work forms the basis of this summary, this is hereby acknowledged. Where missions are logged as RF/BCRA, they are detailed below and augmented with citations from predominantly French sources. Uncited detail by default stems from Tillet's work. The Service Historique de la Defense has produced an index of BRCA agents, this covers some 16400 agents' dossiers. From the work of Tillet, most of these agents must have performed their acts of resistance in situ since relatively few are recorded travelling into France from abroad Separating F-Section 's and RF Section's operations becomes difficult as both increase in activity and share some resources including agents - these lists are by no means definitive in this regard. These operations are almost entirely mounted as joint operations between RF-Section and BCRA. A brief explanation of this relationship follows. Many of the links are in French.
Missions and networks by year 1941 Summarized from 'Table of History of agents In/Exfiltrated Year 1941 - table 34.2 by P. Tillet'
TORTURE: Henri Labit and Jean-Louis Cartigny parachuted blind near Mutrécy, Calvados on 5 July 1941. Objective: Recce of German-held airbase at Carpiquet. The pair were betrayed and separated. Cartigny arrested 7 July with Lucien Frémont (mayor of Lasson, shot 31 March 1942). Cartigny shot 4 Feb 1942. Labit escaped to Toulouse and helped in getting the FABULOUS circuit underway. He returned to London via Spain, arriving 8 Aug 1941. TROMBONE CIP: Robert Lencement dropped blind near Chateauroux, Indre on 29 Aug. His brief was to form three circuits amongst his neighbours for sabotage, propaganda and intelligence - an ambitious plan given he had had only 2 weeks training. Arrested 31 Dec 1941, released and re-arrested in 1943, sent to Fresnes (near Paris) then to Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora. Released 2 May 1945. DASTARD: Raymond Laverdet and André Allainmat dropped near Petit Chaumont, Seine et Marne on 7 Sept 1941. Made contact with a sizable group 'Armée Gaulliste Volontaire' but were discovered by the Gestapo. Allainmat arrested in Paris 6 Sept 1942 sent via Sarrebrück to Mauthausen, liberated 19 May 1945. FABULOUS: Jacques Furet dropped near Lévignac, Haute Garonne to join Henri Labit on 10 Sept 1941. Furet arrested 22 Nov in Toulouse by the Vichy police and handed to Germans, deported to Buchenwald 18 Aug 1944 and returned April 1945. Labit returned to the UK via St-Pabu, Finistére on 6 Jan 1942. BARTER-1: Roger Donnadieu and Michel-Etienne Laurent dropped from Mimisan, Landes on Sept 10. Objective: To reconnoitre the Mérignac (now Bordeaux) airfield, wireless radio damaged - operation incomplete. Laurent shot by Gestapo and died en route to La Pitié Hospital, Paris 22 June 1942. MAINMAST-B: Jean Forman and René Periou dropped on DZ Lamartinette near Fonsorbes, Haute Garonne 13 October. Objective: To contact resistance groups in the Lyon and Montpellier regions. Forman returned to UK 6 Jan 1942 on operation OVERCLOUD-III, Periou arrested at Agen railway station 8 Dec, escaped 12 Dec. Re-arrested in Hericy-sur-Seine 14 May 1942 and deported to Struthof-Natzweiler then Dachau. Liberated 15 May 1945. OVERCLOUD: This had several operations associated with it, OVERCLOUD (#) operated from 14 Oct running MV360s from the Helford river in Cornwall to St Pabu, Finistére and back. This was the achievement of Joël LeTac and Alain, le Comte de Kergorlay. OUTCLASS: Yvon Morandat dropped near Fonsorbes, Haute Garonne on 6 Nov. Objective: Contact with Christian trade unionists in the Lyon area. TROUT: Philippe Koeningswerther (wireless operator) dropped near Montaigu-le-Blin, Allier on 26 Nov. Wireless set found by Gendarmerie. Koeningswerther arrested Dec 1943, executed in Struthof-Natzweiler Sept 1944. COD: Edgard Tupët-Thomé and Joseph Piet dropped near Ménétréols-sous-Vatan, Indre on 8 Dec. Objective: To set up the Antoine network. Both men were injured in the drop, Piet was arrested in Marseilles on 21 Sept 1942, escaped and was re-arrested in St-Girons in Béam on 20 May 1944 en route to Spain. Deported to Dachau 2 July 1944, liberated 1 June 1945. Tupët-Thomé exfiltrated May 1942 (see Shrimp below) PLAICE: Pierre Moureaux (Wireless operator) landed by MGB-314 (using Overcloud route), arrived at Aber Benoit, Finistère 31 Dec 1941. Objective: Meet up with LeTac to replace de Kergorlay. Moureaux arrested 2 Feb 1942 and sent to Allach then Dachau, liberated April 1945.
1942 Summarized from 'Table of History of agents In/Exfiltrated Year 1942 - table 34.3 by P. Tillet'
ROBERT/PERCH/MAINMAST-A: Jean Moulin, Raymond Fassin and Joseph Monjaret dropped blind near Fontvieille, Bouches du Rhone on 1 January 1942. Objective - Unification and co-ordination of Resistance groups. Monjaret arrested 4 April 1942, deported to Mauthausen 20 Sept and liberated 4 May 1945. DACE/CYPRUS/HORNBEAM: Louis Bourdat (plus SOE-F agents Donald Dunton and Jack Fincken) dropped on DZ near Mulsanne, Sarthe on 25 January 1942. Objective to meet up with Raymond Laverdet. Bourdat had a narrow escape having lost one shoe during the drop; he was stopped by two curious French gendarmes who were evidently anglophiles and helped him find the missing shoe. The Paris Police Judiciaire attempted to arrest Bourdat and Laverdet on July 15, 1942, in the ensuing gun battle, Bourdet was fatally shot by René Fortin of the RG and died in the Marmottan hospital. Laverdet escaped. NICK/PERNOD: Robert Delattre dropped on DZ Nick Pernod near Le Moulin, Deux Sèvres on (?6 Jan 1942). Objective - to replace WT operator (Bernard Antiquetil who had been executed 24 Oct 1941), Delattre arrested 29 May 1942 in Paris, died in Fresnes 13 May 1943. EASTER: Jacques Soulas by Lysander to LZ E of Etrepagny, Eure on 1/2 April. His mission was to carry out several intelligence tasks for Dewavrin including assessing the predisposition of several eminent politicians to participating in the formation of the Resistance. BRIDGE/ISABELLE/CAHORS/PHALANX: François Faure and Christian Pineau by Lysander to LZ east of St Saens near Rouen on 27 April 1942. Exfiltration of Pierre Brossolette and Jacques Robert to UK. Faure arrested 15 May 1942 and deported to Dachau, liberated April 1945. BASS: Henri Labit dropped near Sore, Landes on 1 May 1942. Objective - to establish a resistance network in the Bordeaux area. Labit was stopped by German guards on the train at Langon and his radio was discovered, he shot two Germans before escaping and before being captured swallowed his cyanide pill. PILCHARD: Henri Clastère, Paul Bodhaine and Maxime Gaudin parachuted blind on 5 May 1942 from planned DZ near Pierrefitte-sur-Sauldre, Loir et Cher. Operation to destroy Radio Paris transmitter at Allouis between Vizeron and Bourges. Returned to UK via Spain and Gibraltar. GOLDFISH: René-Georges Weill, André Montaut and Olivier Jacques Courtaud parachuted onto DZ Roland Garros between Avesnes-sur-Helpe and Vervins, Aisne. Supply of wireless comms to Front National. Weill arrested and committed suicide 29 May 1942, Montaut arrested 21 July in Lyon, died in Mauthausen 2 June 1944. Courtaud arrested 28 June 1943, deported to Buchenwald thence Bergen-Belsen, liberated 15 April 1945. SHRIMP: Gaston Tavian and Jacques Pain to LZ Faucon near Les Lagnys, Indre 29 May 1942. Objective: to set up Action Branch of Antoine network. SALMON: Maurice de Cheveigné parachuted blind about south of Thoissey, Ain. Wireless Operator for Jacques Soulas. PYTHON: Pierre Brossolette and Jacques Robert dropped near Uchizy, Saône et Loire, June 3. Objective: To set up Phratrie network. Robert arrested in Nice 29 April 1943 by French Police, escaped 2 May, reached London 16 June 1943. CRAB/PERCH/MINNOW: Paul Frédéric Schmidt, Gérard Brault and Jean Holley dropped by parachute 3 June near Givarlais near Montluçon, Allier. Holley along with Rennais Jean Loncle and Marcel Lenclos arrested 20 Jan 1943 at Annecy. Holley and Loncle were tortured by the Gestapo before being handed over to the Italians and imprisoned in Turin, then Parma and Fossoli then sent to Mauthausen, both were liberated 8 May 1945. Lenclos was deported to Bolzano in northern Italy and died (no further details are known). SARDINE: Roger Lardy landed by sea at Cape d'Ail near Monte Carlo on 11 June. Objective - to contact ecclesiastics. DORY: Michel Gries parachuted on DZ Capucine SE of Cournon d'Auvergne on June 23. Arrested 2 days later, escaped and crossed Spanish border and returned to London 31 July 1943 via Gibraltar. CRAYFISH/BRILL: Jean Orabona, Henri Bertrand and Xavier Rouxin dropped onto DZ Milan near Boisset-les-Montrond, Loire 24 July. Orabona fatally injured during drop. Rouxin arrested 17 Sept 1943 in Avignon, escaped 21 March 1944 - returned to London via Spain 11 July 1944. ROACH/MACKEREL: Jean Ayral, Francois Briant and Daniel Bouyjou-Cordier dropped onto DZ Monge near Corsages, Allier 25 July. Ayral was KIA 22 August 1944 while securing the Castellet district of Toulon. Briant arrested 3 April 1943 in Garches, deported 24 Jan 1944 to Buchenwald (&c), released 3 May 1945 arrived in Paris 19 May 1945. BULL/MERCURE: 6 Agents including Emmanuel d'Harcourt landed by sea from HMS Tarana between Agde and Narbonne, Aude 17 August. Objective - d'Harcourt was made Chef du Bureau of the National Commissariat for Foreign Affairs in March 1942 and MERCURE was an operation of liaison between senior French personnel (his father Gen d'Harcourt, Dunoyer de Segonzac, Paul Claudel etc). This ended in February 1943 when d'Harcourt attempted to leave France via Spain. Arrested and interned in Barcelona, he was liberated 10 June 1943 and returned to London. BOREAS-II / BOREE / MERCURE: Pierre Delaye and Pierre Demoulin landed by Lysander (crashed and was destroyed by F/L W.G. Lockhart). Pilot exfiltrated by felouca during LEDA-2 operation. Delaye arrested and shot by Gestapo 11 May 1943 in Loyettes, Ain. CLAM: Pierre Boutoule dropped onto DZ Latour near La Tour du Pin, Isère 31 August 1942. Boutoule arrested by Gestapo 2 March 1943, jailed in St-Paul Prison, Lyon and liberated 21 April 1944. Arrived London 2 May 1944 via Gibraltar. ORLANDO: Émile Champion landed by sea 18 Sept at Morgiou west of Cassis, Bouches du Rhône. HAGFISH: Pierre Nogue dropped onto DZ near Penchard near Meaux, Seine et Marne. Nogue arrested 26 Oct 1942 in Turgon (Charente). Jailed in Angoulême, deported to Sachsenhausen. Liberated 1 May 1945 and repatriated 25 May 1945.