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68-769: Under Suttill's leadership the Prosper network was SOE's most important network in France, notable for its rapid growth, wide circle of contacts and collaborators, and the geographical reach of its operations "from the Ardennes to the Atlantic ." The fall began in April 1943 and was as fast as its rise. The network was too large, diverse, and security too lax. The Germans penetrated and used Prosper for their own purposes. The Air Operations officer for Prosper, Henri Déricourt , would later be accused of being

136-904: A No. 138 Squadron RAF Halifax aircraft and parachuted into France near La Ferté-sous-Jouarre with a Deputy Lt. James Frederick Amps. Suttill was fluent in spoken French, but had an accent and he relied on Borrel, already experienced in the resistance, for much of his communication. After meeting in Paris, Suttill and Borrel took a month long trip around central France, exploring the potential for setting up resistance networks. They posed as an agricultural salesman and his assistant. Their early successes and high level of activity led SOE to send them two wireless operators, Gilbert Norman ( Archambaud ) in November, and Jack Agazarian ( Marcel ) in December. Most SOE networks had only one wireless operator. During late 1942 and

204-444: A German officer pretending to be one of the recently parachuted Canadian agents came to the apartment where Norman was staying, and he and Andrée Borrel were arrested. The apartment was full of identification cards and other documents. The Germans learned, probably from the documents, where Suttill was, and he was arrested mid-morning on 24 June at a cheap hotel where he was staying. The arrests continued. On 1 July Jean Worms , head of

272-490: A circuit in Paris, covering a vast chunk of central France." His network was named Physician, although more commonly was called by his code name of Prosper. Earlier SOE networks, Carte and Autogiro, led by Frenchmen André Girard and Pierre de Vomécourt respectively, had been destroyed by the Germans. With the allied invasion of North Africa approaching, and tentative plans for an invasion of France in 1943, Suttill's job

340-411: A compromised letter-box. He cancelled all passwords and letter-boxes. On the night of 15–16 June, two SOE agents, Canadians John Kenneth Macalister and Frank Pickersgill , were dropped to one of sub-network leader Pierre Culioli 's reception sites. On the morning of 21 June, Culioli and his courier, Yvonne Rudellat , set off by automobile with the two Canadians to catch a train to Paris, unaware that

408-621: A double agent for the Germans. Maurice Buckmaster , the leader of the French section at SOE's London headquarters, failed to recognize clear signs that the Germans had infiltrated Prosper. In what has been called SOE's "catastrophe of 1943," Suttill was captured by the Germans on 24 June 1943 and later executed. By the end of August 1943, the Germans had captured many of the nearly 30 SOE agents associated with him and hundreds of local French people working with or cooperating with SOE. Many were killed, executed, or died in concentration camps. Suttill

476-544: A kind of Ivanhoe; but he should have been a cavalry officer, not a spy. Henri Déricourt In May 1940, Suttill was commissioned into the East Surrey Regiment of the British Army . He was recruited and trained by SOE during the summer of 1942. Charismatic and a natural leader, Suttill was considered by SOE to be "highly resourceful, and smarter than most" and thus chosen for its "most challenging job: to establish

544-676: A message to Norman's radio saying, "You have forgotten your double security check. Be more careful next time." but this was after Norman had decided to cooperate. Dr. Josef Goetz was the wireless expert at 84 Avenue Foch in Paris, the headquarters of the Sicherheitsdienst (SD), the security service of the German SS . When wireless operator Gilbert Norman was captured on 23 June, the Germans also captured his wireless set. With this wireless, and others soon captured, including that of Noor Inayat Khan, and after Buckmaster's blunder on 7 July, Goetz

612-472: A pact with Kieffer to tell everything to save their lives. Norman advised Rousset to do the same. SOE's Vera Atkins interviewed Kieffer after the war while he was on trial for war crimes. Atkins' report did not confirm that such a pact existed. She was vague about this all-important question. Atkins reported only that Kieffer said that Suttill "did not want to make a statement" and not whether or not he did. She also reported that Kieffer said that Norman "had not

680-502: A pact with SD head Josef Kieffer. The terms were that, if Suttill or Norman told the Germans where their caches of arms were located, they and the local people involved would not be tried by tribunal but simply sent to a concentration camp. Whether such a pact existed has been debated by historians. A SOE agent, Marcel Rousset (one of the few SOE agents captured by the Germans who survived), told SOE that he had met Norman at 84 Avenue Foch and Norman told him that both he and Suttill had made

748-870: A popular tourist destination. The region takes its name from the vast ancient forest known as Arduenna Silva in the Roman Period . Arduenna probably derives from a Gaulish cognate of the Brythonic word ardu- as in the Welsh : ardd ("high") and the Latin arduus ("high", "steep"). The second element is less certain, but may be related to the Celtic element *windo- as in the Welsh wyn / wen ("fair", "blessed"), which tentatively suggests an original meaning of "forest of blessed/fair heights". The Ardennes likely shares this derivation with

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816-758: A rapid passage through the Ardennes to attack a relatively lightly defended part of France. The Ardennes became the site of three major battles during the world wars—the Battle of the Ardennes (August 1914) in World War I, and the Battle of France (1940) and the Battle of the Bulge (1944–1945) in World War II. Many of the towns of the region suffered severe damage during the two world wars. Allied generals in World War II believed that

884-608: A result, in 1839, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg ceded the westernmost 63% of its territory (being also the main part of the Ardennes) to the new Kingdom of Belgium , which is now its Luxembourg Province . In the 20th century the Ardennes was widely thought by leading military strategists to be unsuitable for large-scale military operations, due to its difficult terrain and narrow lines of communications. However, in both World War I and World War II , Germany successfully gambled on making

952-451: A security check. It seems that he may have sent three such messages in the five days following his arrest, two of which were repeats of messages he had already sent. In order to be allowed to send these, he had to reveal his codes. This enabled the Germans to decode his back messages which Norman did not realise had all been recorded during May and June but which had not been understood until he had revealed his codes. Reading these messages gave

1020-529: Is important in the history of Wallonia because this former mountain is at the origin of the economy, the history, and the geography of Wallonia. "Wallonia presents a wide range of rocks of various ages. Some geological stages internationally recognized were defined from rock sites located in Wallonia: e.g., Frasnian ( Frasnes-lez-Couvin ), Famennian ( Famenne ), Tournaisian ( Tournai ), Visean ( Visé ), Dinantian ( Dinant ), and Namurian ( Namur )". Except for

1088-507: The Ardennes department and the former Champagne-Ardenne region ) and geologically into the Eifel (the eastern extension of the Ardennes Forest into Bitburg-Prüm , Germany); most of it is in the southeast of Wallonia , the southern and more rural part of Belgium (away from the coastal plain but encompassing more than half of the country's total area). The eastern part of the Ardennes forms

1156-768: The Ardennes in Belgium, near Falaise in Normandy, three areas around Le Mans and two around Troyes , soon to be taken over by the Tinker network. Also, both the Privet network around Nantes and the Musician network around Saint-Quentin, Aisne were originally part of the Physician network. There were two main clusters: one in the Vernon/Beauvais/Meru triangle to the northwest of Paris and

1224-759: The Ardennes Forest or Forest of Ardennes , is a region of extensive forests, rough terrain, rolling hills and ridges primarily in Belgium and Luxembourg , extending into Germany and France . Geologically, the range is a western extension of the Eifel ; both were raised during the Givetian age of the Devonian (382.7 to 387.7 million years ago), as were several other named ranges of the same greater range. The Ardennes proper stretches well into Germany and France (lending its name to

1292-504: The Invasion of France . The forest's great size could conceal the armored divisions , and because the French did not suspect that the Germans would make such a risky move, they did not consider a breakthrough there, or considered that it would take at least 15 days for an army to pass through the forest. German forces, primarily under the command of Erich von Manstein , carried out the plan in two days, and managed to slip numerous divisions past

1360-615: The Maginot Line to attack France from the north, and rout the French forces. In May 1940 the German army crossed the Meuse , despite the resistance of the French Army . Under the command of General Heinz Guderian , the German armoured divisions crossed the river at Dinant and at Sedan, France . This was a crucial step in the push towards Paris, and France fell on 25 June 1940 . At the other end of

1428-496: The University of Lille and was accepted as an external student at University College London. In 1931, he moved to London to continue his studies and eventually became a barrister at Lincoln's Inn . He married Margaret Montrose in 1935 and had 2 sons. Suttill suffered from polio as a child and one leg was shorter than the other although he could walk without a limp. Prosper was magnificent, strong, young, courageous and decisive,

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1496-631: The Ardennes and is part of the same geological formation, although they are conventionally regarded as being two distinct areas. The Ardennes are the remnants of a mountain range formed during the Hercynian orogeny ; in France similar formations are the Armorican Massif , the Massif Central , and the Vosges . The low interior of such former mountains often contains coal, plus iron, zinc and other metals in

1564-742: The Ardennes formed part of the Duchy (since 1815, the Grand Duchy) of Luxembourg, a member state of the Holy Roman Empire, which changed hands numerous times between the powerful dynasties of Europe. In 1793 revolutionary France annexed the whole area, together with all other territories west of the Rhine river. In 1815, the Congress of Vienna , which dealt with the political aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars , restored

1632-574: The British anticipated that Suttill and other SOE agents would tell the Germans that a 1943 allied invasion of Europe was imminent. British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) deputy leader Claude Dansey , who was known to oppose the existence of SOE, has been suggested as the perpetrator of the deception scheme and alleged betrayal. The conspiracy theory was debunked by Foot and by Suttill's son, Francis J. Suttill. The SOE historian, M.R.D. Foot said, "if you can believe that, you can believe anything." He said

1700-706: The Fog: The true story of Major Suttill and the Prosper French Resistance Network by his son, Francis J. Suttill, was published by The History Press in 2014. A revised and updated edition was published by The History Press in 2018 titled Prosper: Major Suttill's French Resistance Network . Ardennes The Ardennes ( French : Ardenne [aʁdɛn] ; Dutch : Ardennen [ɑrˈdɛnə(n)] ; German : Ardennen ; Walloon : Årdene [ɑːʀdɛn] ; Luxembourgish : Ardennen [ɑʁˈdænən] ), also known as

1768-513: The French Resistance groups had the expectation that an allied invasion of France would occur in fall 1943. The efforts of Prosper and it's sub-networks were directed toward becoming a potent resistance force to aid the proposed invasion. Suttill stockpiled arms and ammunition parachuted in from England to that end. Parachute drops of weapons and supplies arranged by Suttill began in November 1942. Parachute reception teams and drop areas were in

1836-499: The Germans detailed locations, dates and quantities of material of almost every drop received over the last two months and it was this that persuaded Norman that he might as well cooperate in an attempt to save lives.() London was surprised by the mistakes in Norman’s messages as he had a high reputation for efficiency and accuracy and SOE's French section leader, Maurice Buckmaster , refused to believe that he had been captured. He sent back

1904-435: The Germans had set up extensive roadblocks. They were caught, and the Germans found packages of letters and instructions and radio crystals in the car, two of which were clearly labelled "For Archambaud". This led the Germans to Archambaud (Gilbert Norman, Suttill's wireless operator) because, as Culioli admitted after the war, he had the address of Archambaud in his briefcase when he was caught. Shortly after midnight of 23 June,

1972-459: The Juggler Network, and Armel Guerne , one of Suttill's locally recruited seconds-in-command, were arrested in a Paris cafe where Worms ate lunch every day. Over the next three months, hundreds of local agents associated with Prosper were arrested, of whom 167 are known to have been deported to Germany, where about one-half were executed, killed, or died in concentration camps. The communists in

2040-725: The Paris suburbs with whom Suttill worked mostly survived the debacle because of their rigid security practices and their dependence on SOE only for arms and money, not guidance and communications. The survivors of the Prosper Network were mostly in the sub-networks of Prosper scattered around northern France. On 25 June, an agent in Paris radioed SOE headquarters in London that Suttill, Norman, and Borrel "had disappeared, believed arrested." Soon after his arrest, Norman decided that it would be worth contacting London under German control so that he could warn them that he had been arrested by leaving out

2108-484: The Tambour sisters, Germaine and Madeleine , long-time members of the French Resistance were arrested in Paris. Suttill, through an intermediary, attempted to buy their release with a one million franc bribe, but the Germans deceived him by releasing two prostitutes rather than the Tambour sisters. The danger of the arrest to Prosper was that ten of its agents had used the house as a letter-box and meeting place, far more than

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2176-487: The Tournaisian, all these rocks are within the Ardennes geological area. The Ardennes includes the greatest part of Belgium's Luxembourg Province (not to be confused with the neighbouring Grand Duchy of Luxembourg), the south of Namur Province , and Liège Province , plus a very small part of Hainaut Province , as well as the northernmost third of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, called " Éislek " ( German : Oesling ) and

2244-495: The advancing Soviet Army. According to the theory, Suttill, during his mysterious visit to London in May 1943, was told or given the impression that the invasion of Europe would still take place in 1943. Thus, on Suttill's return to France the Prosper network accelerated its efforts to organize resistance to the German occupation. The British betrayed Suttill and his SOE associates, the theory goes, because, after being captured and tortured,

2312-447: The air movements officer for SOE's French Section, Déricourt was charged with finding farm fields in northern France suitable for landing small aircraft from England and arranging for the embarkation or disembarkation of SOE agents. He also collected mail and reports, often written in plain text rather than coded, from the agents and delivered messages to them. He accomplished the dangerous tasks of arranging clandestine aircraft landings and

2380-620: The boggy moors of the High Fens region of south-eastern Belgium . The region is typified by steep-sided valleys carved by swift-flowing rivers, the most prominent of which is the Meuse . Its most populous cities are Verviers in Belgium and Charleville-Mézières in France, both exceeding 50,000 inhabitants. The Ardennes is otherwise relatively sparsely populated, with few of the towns exceeding 10,000 inhabitants. (Exceptions include Belgium's Eupen and Bastogne .) The Eifel range in Germany adjoins

2448-407: The character of" Suttill, which gives the impression that Norman was the more malleable of the two. Author Helm speculated that Atkins manipulated and concealed information to coverup SOE's mistakes. At the time of this interview in 1947, accusations were being made by the French that Suttill had sold out his French followers. Atkins and SOE neither confirmed nor denied this accusation. Suttill's family

2516-538: The date of the Normandy invasion , the radio game was worn out, but the Germans could not resist taunting the British. Although Goetz protested, the German government ordered Josef Kieffer head of the SD in Paris, to wire his opposite number, Maurice Buckmaster, at SOE. Kieffer drafted and sent a message saying: We thank you for the large deliveries of arms and ammunition which you have been kind enough to send us. We also appreciate

2584-658: The details that the latter wished to hide’. The role of Henri Déricourt , the French Section's air movements officer in northern France, in the destruction of the Physician/Prosper network is much debated. Déricourt, as mentioned above, arranged for the arrival and departure of SOE agents by air and collected their mail, including their uncoded reports, for transmittal to London. He was highly successful in these duties, but doubts about him began to be expressed in June 1943, at about

2652-412: The first half of 1943, the Prosper network grew rapidly, covering a large part of northern France, and involving hundreds of locally recruited agents and some 60 sub-networks. SOE headquarters in London was both surprised and elated at the rapid progress of Prosper, although concerned about its connections with the communists who were especially powerful in the northern suburbs of Paris. SOE, Suttill, and

2720-470: The harsh climate of the Ardennes limits the scope for agriculture ; arable and dairy farming in cleared areas form the mainstay of the agricultural economy. The region is rich in timber and minerals, and Liège and the city of Namur are both major industrial centres. The extensive forests have an abundant population of wild game . The scenic beauty of the region and its wide variety of outdoor activities, including hunting, cycling, walking and canoeing, make it

2788-526: The magic bay horse which, according to legend, jumped from the top of the rock to the other bank of the Meuse. On their pillaging raids in the years 881 and 882 , the Vikings used the old Roman roads in the Ardennes and attacked the abbeys of Malmedy and Stavelot and destroyed Prüm Abbey in the Eifel . The strategic position of the Ardennes has made it a battleground for European powers for many centuries. Much of

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2856-580: The main part of the French Ardennes department . Before the 19th century industrialization, the first furnaces in these four Belgian provinces (all in the Wallonia region) and in the French Ardennes used charcoal for fuel, made from harvesting the Ardennes forest. This industry was also in the extreme south of present-day Luxembourg Province (which until 1839 was part of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg), in

2924-450: The many tips you have given us regarding our plans and intentions which we have carefully noted. In case you are concerned about the health of some of the visitors you have sent us you may rest assured they will be treated with the consideration they deserve. Most of the SOE "visitors" captured by the Germans were executed. Some authors report that after their arrest Suttill or Norman or both made

2992-488: The northernmost third of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, also called " Éislek " ( German : Oesling ). On the southeast the Eifel region continues into the German state of the Rhineland-Palatinate . The trees and rivers of the Ardennes provided the charcoal industry assets that enabled the great industrial period of Wallonia in the 18th and 19th centuries, when it was arguably the second great industrial region of

3060-607: The numerous Arden place names in Britain, including the Forest of Arden . The modern Ardennes region covers a greatly diminished area from the forest recorded in Roman times. A song about Charlemagne, the Old French 12th-century chanson de geste Quatre Fils Aymon , mentions many of Wallonia's rivers, villages and other places. In Dinant the rock named Bayard takes its name for Bayard ,

3128-485: The other between Tours , Orléans and Vierzon , an area known as the Sologne between the rivers Loire and Cher . Whilst parachute drops were organised by circuit leaders, pick-up operations were organised by a specialist. On the night of 22/23 January 1943, a much-travelled French pilot named Henri Déricourt , code named Gilbert, was parachuted into France, landing about 80 kilometres (50 miles) south of Paris. As

3196-529: The previous geographical situation, with most of the Ardennes becoming part of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. After the revolution of 1830 , which resulted in the establishment of the Kingdom of Belgium, the political future of the Ardennes became a matter of much dispute between Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands, as well as involving the contemporary great powers of France , Prussia , and Great Britain . As

3264-505: The reception and departure of agents without many problems. In April 1943, Benjamin Cowburn , an experienced and careful agent, delivered radio crystals to Suttill in Paris. Cowburn described Suttill as having a "dynamic personality" and said that "the small world of the resistance rallied to a strong personality." He also saw problems with security and remarked that a large number of SOE agents and their French contacts were going in and out of

3332-653: The region called Gaume . The most important part of the Walloon steel industry, using coal, was built around the coal mines, mainly in the region around the cities of Liège , Charleroi, La Louvière , the Borinage , and further in the Walloon Brabant (in Tubize ). Wallonia became the second industrial power area of the world (after Great Britain) in proportion to its territory and to its population (see further). The rugged terrain and

3400-443: The region was impenetrable to massed vehicular traffic and especially armor, so the area was effectively "all but undefended" during the war. The German Army twice used this region to invade northern France and southern Belgium, via Luxembourg in the Battle of France and the later Battle of the Bulge . The military strategists of Nazi Germany in 1939 and 1940 selected the forest as the primary route of their mechanized forces in

3468-517: The resolve of captured SOE agents by revealing how much the Germans knew about them personally. An oft-cited theory is that Suttill and his Prosper colleagues were deliberately sacrificed by the British to mislead the Germans about allied plans for the invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe. The British reasoning behind the deception was that if the Germans anticipated an invasion of France in 1943, they would maintain or expand their occupation forces in western Europe, rather than sending resources east to combat

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3536-443: The river Sambre; Liège Province along the river Meuse. The region the Ardennes are part of has been uplifted further in the last few hundred thousand years by a mantle plume , as measured from the present elevation of old river terraces, with the largest amount of uplift concentrated in the east, where the Ardennes connect with the Eifel, where the same mantle plume is also responsible for volcanic activity. This geological region

3604-485: The same apartment. Suttill responded that SOE headquarters kept sending people to him who needed help and that the address of the apartment had been passed around by agents. He had in fact cancelled this letter box in February and did so again during his visit to London in May 1943. The size and scope of Prosper violated SOE doctrine that agents in different networks should have no contact with each other and even that agents in

3672-485: The same network should rarely meet, but rather communicate through intermediaries or letter-drops. However, the shortage of wireless operators in France resulted in agents from several other circuits having to contact his operators to communicate with London. This made the circuit more vulnerable but despite the German Gestapo and Abwehr becoming more expert at rooting out SOE agents and their French collaborators, this

3740-423: The same time that Germans had begun destroying the Prosper network. Several SOE agents communicated that "Gilbert is a traitor," but it is unclear whether they were talking about Déricourt, code named Gilbert, or Gilbert Norman who had been captured by the Germans. In October 1943, Henri Frager , a veteran resistance leader, flew to London specifically to denounce Déricourt as a traitor. Déricourt, however, enjoyed

3808-569: The sub-soil. This geologic fact explains the greatest part of the geography of Wallonia and its history. In the North and West of the Ardennes lie the valleys of the Sambre and Meuse rivers, forming an arc ( Sillon industriel ) going across the most industrial provinces of Wallonia , for example Hainaut Province , along the river Haine (the etymology of Hainaut); the Borinage , the Centre and Charleroi along

3876-463: The support of SOE French section leader Buckmaster and his deputy, Nicolas Bodington . What Déricourt appears to have done was to copy the letters and reports which agents gave him for transmittal by airplane to England and give them to the Germans. The Germans learned about part of the Prosper network, which facilitated the arrests of locally recruited agents and the destruction of the network. Moreover, interrogators such as Kieffer were able to weaken

3944-410: The theory was implausible. Suttill concludes that "the arrest of my father was the consequence of a series of unfortunate events, not the result of any betrayal as part of a deception plan." After his capture on 24 June 1943, Suttill was imprisoned and interrogated at Sicherheitsdienst (SD) headquarters at 84 Avenue Foch in Paris and later sent to Sachsenhausen concentration camp near Berlin where he

4012-428: The war, the Ardennes area came to prominence again during the Battle of the Bulge . The German Army, which had been forced to retreat for some time, launched a surprise attack in December 1944 in an attempt to recapture Antwerp and to drive a wedge between the advancing British and American forces in northern France. After a fierce battle the Allied forces blocked the German advance on the river Meuse at Dinant. In

4080-470: The world. The greater region maintained an industrial eminence into the 20th century, after coal replaced charcoal in metallurgy . The strategic position of the Ardennes has made it a battleground for European powers for centuries; it was the site of major battles during both World Wars. Much of the Ardennes is covered in dense forests, with the hills averaging around 350–400 m (1,150–1,310 ft) in height but rising to over 694 m (2,277 ft) in

4148-417: Was Norman who had sold them out and that there was no point in hiding anything as Norman had told them everything. This was confirmed by the two lieutenants of Prosper, who added that Norman had given the Prosper circuit and, ‘that he had assisted at the interrogation of Prosper which lasted without interruption for several days and several nights and that little by little Norman completed or made Prosper give up

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4216-457: Was able to play radio games (" Funkspiel ") with SOE headquarters. He sent false messages to SOE which were accepted as genuine. For months, Goetz persuaded SOE that the Prosper network was still active and functioning. The practical results were that Goetz deceived SOE into air-dropping arms and equipment into German hands and, with details of their travel, the Germans captured 17 SOE agents immediately upon their arrival in France. By 6 June 1944,

4284-437: Was bitter at the lack of support they received from SOE. There is however clear evidence that Suttill did not agree to cooperate with his captors. This is a deposition by Maurice Braun who was a member of Marcel Fox’s Publican circuit. He records that in September 1943 he was for a short while placed in a cell in Fresnes with Fox, Jean Worms and two lieutenants of Prosper whose names he did not know. Fox and Worms told him that it

4352-399: Was born in Mons-en-Barœul near Lille , France, to an English father, William Francis Suttill, and a French mother, Blanche Marie-Louise Degrave. His father managed a textile manufacturing plant in Lille. Suttill studied at Stonyhurst College , Lancashire, England. For the school year 1927/8, he attended the College de Marcq in Mons-en-Barœul , gaining his Baccalauréat . He then read law at

4420-425: Was held in solitary confinement in the prison block until he was shot on 23 March 1945. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order posthumously. Francis Suttill is honoured on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Memorial at Groesbeek in the Netherlands and also on the Roll of Honour on the Valençay SOE Memorial in Valençay , in the Indre department of France. A biography of Suttill titled Shadows in

4488-444: Was not the reason for the capture of Suttill and many of his agents and the destruction of the Prosper network.< The truth is that Prosper's downfall, tragic as its consequences were, was brought on in spite of their bravery by the agents' own incompetence and insecurity...The real wonder is not that Suttill and his friends were caught, but that it took so long for so many Germans to catch them. M. R. D. Foot On 22 April 1943,

4556-459: Was prudent. On 15 May 1943, Suttill returned to London for unknown reasons. He was parachuted back in France near Chaumont-sur-Tharonne on 21 May with another SOE agent, France Antelme . On his return, his confidence seemed shattered due to the ignorance of SOE personnel in London about the conditions he faced in the field. On 19 June, Suttill sent a bitter message to London blaming SOE for directing newly arrived wireless operator Noor Inayat Khanto

4624-421: Was to build a network to replace them in northern France. SOE Section F (France) leader Maurice Buckmaster in London envisioned a strong resistance network based in Paris to harass the German occupiers of France. On 24 September 1942, Suttill's courier, Andrée Borrel , code names Denise and Monique , parachuted into France to prepare for his arrival. He himself left England on the night of 1 October 1942 on

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