List of SOE F Section networks and agents

See also: SOE F Section timeline and List of female SOE agents

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 France. Some agents served in more than one network and are listed more than once.

The clandestine networks and agents were "dedicated to encourage and aid resistance" to the German occupation of the country. Activities included gathering intelligence, organizing and supplying indigenous resistance groups, and sabotaging transportation, communications, and industrial facilities. A typical SOE network had three agents: 1. Circuit organiser: leader, planner, and recruiter of new members. 2. Wireless Radio Operator: send and receive wireless messages to and from SOE headquarters in London, encode and decode messages, maintain wireless sets. 3. Courier or messenger: travel between organiser, wireless operator, and resistance groups to deliver and receive messages, and, on occasion, deliver explosives and other equipment. Large networks sometimes had more than one courier and wireless operator.[1]

Each network was given a name and each agent belonging to the network had one or more code names and aliases which he used in France. For example, George Reginald Starr was the organiser of SOE's Wheelwright network and known as "Hilaire" to French contacts in the Resistance and to other SOE personnel.[2]

Nearly 50 SOE networks were operating in France during World War II. Forty-three circuits were no longer existent at the time that France was fully liberated from German control of which 31 had been destroyed by the Germans. [3]

Approximately 470 SOE agents served in France during World War II.[4] The Valençay SOE Memorial in Valençay, France lists the names of 91 men and 13 women who were killed, executed, or died in prison while serving as SOE agents.[5]

  1. ^ Escott, Beryl E. (2010) The Heroines of SOE, Stroud, Gloucestershire: The History Press, pp. 9– 12, 26-27
  2. ^ Glass, Charles (2018). They Fought Alone. New York: Penguin Press. pp. ix–xiv. ISBN 9781594206177.
  3. ^ Foot, M. R. D (2004). S.O.E in France. London: Frank Cass Publishers. pp. 133–134. ISBN 0714655287. Revised edition, first published in 1966.
  4. ^ "The Female Spies of the SOE," [1], accessed 8 January 2020
  5. ^ "The Section F Monument," [2], accessed 8 January 2020