1942 Operations from Gibraltar to France by the feluccas Seawolf and Seadog

I have mentioned elsewhere on this site that the exploits of the Polish crewed feluccas Seawolf and Seadog seem not to have been officially recognised. This is my attempt to put their extraordinary contribution into some perspective. I can only comment on their 1942 operations to France but it should be remembered they had already made numerous voyages to North Africa, and continued working into 1943 with missions to the south of France and Corsica. The basic facts are taken from Sir Brooks Richards highly recommended 1996 book "Secret Flotillas".

I have also added details of some of the many agents delivered and collected in order to emphasise the importance of the missions these tiny boats carried out. You will notice that their work was very similar to the Special Duties aircrews - they too went into occupied territories, secretly, at night, unarmed and defenceless - but unlike the SD crews, their hazardous, and often thankless, work has generally been ignored.

Information about the SOE agents comes mostly from "SOE in France" by M R D Foot. Information on SD flights comes from "We Landed by Moonlight" by Hugh Verity.

It should be noted that quite rapid communications, telegrams and presumably radio, existed between Marseille and Gibraltar, and so direct to the feluccas whilst they were at sea. A "felucca" is a small fishing vessel …

It should also be noted that Krajewski, in addition to being Captain and navigator of Seawolf, was head of the Polish mission in Gibraltar, responsible for all the Polish seagoing activities in the area. As the year progressed, he was increasingly desperate to be relieved of this last heavy responsibility by his long promised replacement.

On 14 April 1942, Lt Marian Krajewski (real name Marian Kadulski) took the felucca Seawolf out of Gibraltar on her first mission to the southern French coast. The combined Polish/SOE and PWE (Political Warfare Executive) Operation Jasmine began with Seawolf delivering Polish Captain Jankety Roehr to the callanque (callanque means small rocky inlet) of Port Miou, near Cassis, just a few miles south-east from Marseille, the night of 18/19 April. Roehr's mission was to go to Marseille to collect Polish servicemen (priority was given to NCOs and especially to armoured-warfare specialists, radio operators and airmen). They were to be the first such party to be evacuated from France by sea. On the way out from Port Miou, Seawolf encountered HM submarine P42 on her way to deliver SOE agents Victor Gerson (Vic - of the brilliant DF Section 'Vic' escape line) and radio operator Marcel Clech (Georges 60) at Miramar, just south of Cannes, for Operation Delay II.

This was the same night that HMS Tarana delivered Pat O'Leary and his radio operator to the beach near Port Vendres.

Three nights later, Seawolf delivered three SOE agents to Antibes: J F G Menesson was an F Section agent who ran the clandestine newspaper "Le Coq Enchaine", twenty year old Maurice Pertschuk (Eugene) was on his way to Toulouse, and Henri P Le Chêne (Victor) on his way to Lyons before setting up the PLANE circuit at Clermont-Ferrand. The following night Seawolf returned to collect the forty-four Poles Captain Roehr had collected for evacuation, this time from Port d'En-Vau, another callanque, next to Port Miou. Seawolf then returned to Gibraltar, arriving there safely 27 April.
Menesson returned to England via Spain following the arrest of his secretary in July 1943. He made his second trip to France by Hudson (Op Conjurer) the night of 15/16 November 1943. The landing was arranged by Henri Dericourt and Menesson was one of the four arriving agents arrested shortly afterwards. Jean Menesson was hanged at Flossenburg 29 March 1945. Martin Pertschuk was arrested in April 1943 and hanged at Buchenwald 29 March 1945. Fellow SOE agent Christopher Burney was to say of Pertschuk that "He fought more gallantly than any of us, and died more sadly". Henri Le Chêne's PLANE circuit faded quite quickly and Le Chêne returned to England via Spain in 1943.
On 5 May 1942, Seawolf (Krajewski) and HMS Tarana left Gibraltar on the Polish/SOE Operation Mimosa. The SOE part of the operation was to land radio operator Denis Rake (Justin) and Charles Hayes (Yves) at Antibes the night of 13/14 May.

Rake says in his 1968 book "Rake's Progress" that he went out on a ship (that has to have been Tarana), was transferred to a Polish submarine (sic) before moving on to a felucca (Seawolf) that put him into a rubber dinghy so he could row himself ashore at St Juin les Pins - he makes no mention of Hayes.
Hayes made his way to Virginia Hall in Lyons who passed him on to Philippe de Vomécourt. Hayes soon concluded that SOE operations in the Lyons area were too insecure, and on learning from Miss Hall that the Gestapo had a full description of him, returned to England via the Pyrenees in August. Hayes returned to France in November but was arrested and badly injured during a shoot-out 13 October 1943 at one of the many addresses betrayed by André Grandclément. Victor Charles Hayes was executed at Gross Rosen 1 August 1944.
David Harrison suggests there may have been a third agent landed with Rake and Hayes. Jean Marie Emmanuel van Haellebroucq was meant to join Ben Cowburn's TINKER circuit but, through his own indiscretion, was arrested two months later. Haellebroucq was one of the agents who escaped from the French concentration camp at Eysse (Lot-et-Garonne) on 5 January 1944.

Prior to that, Seawolf had collected thirty-one Poles from En-Vau (including Captain Roehr) and transferred them to Tarana, and after landing the two SOE agents, collected another 30 Poles from the Rhone delta, also transferred to Tarana before the two ships returned to Gibraltar.

On 4 June, Seawolf (Krajewski) left Gibraltar for the Polish, SOE and SIS(MI9) Operations Goblin, Sardine and Lucalite. The first Goblin operation brought out three Polish servicemen from En-Vau the night of 9/10 June. There had been many more but they had been arrested by local police and the group dispersed that afternoon. The following night, Seawolf returned to En-Vau and landed Polish courier Lt Biczysko. The next night, Operation Goblin II saw Seawolf landing three SOE agents, saboteur Alan Jickell (Gustave) and one other at Antibes, and sabotage instructor Ted Coppin (Olivier) at Cap d'Ail for Operation Sardine.
Alan Jickell returned to the UK via Spain the following year. Ted Coppin was captured in Marseille with his courier "Giselle" on 23 April 1943. He is believed to have died in German hands that September.
On the night of 14/15 June, Seawolf evacuated a mixed group of nine agents and refugees plus sixty-two Poles from Port Miou. Passengers included Claude and Denise Lamirault and Emile Champion and his wife and son, and Henri Frager (Paul, Louba - André Girard's staff officer for the disastrous CARTE circuit) and Pierre Fourcaud (one of de Gaulle's first emissaries to return to France). It also included the failed Pat Line radio operator known as Drouet, who had been landed from Tarana with O'Leary in April. This was the SIS(MI9) Operation Lucalite I with Lucalite II being an SIS operation to land stores at the same time. All passengers were transferred to the destroyer HMS Middleton met at sea off Capo de la Gata on the way back to Gibraltar.

On 30 June, Seadog (Jan Buchowski) collected an agent named Auguste Floiras (Albert) who had been distributing clandestine newspapers in Marseille, and delivered stores to Cap d'Antibes for the SOE Operation Nettletree. Floiras was later trained in England as a radio operator and returned to France by Lysander (Op Sadler/Electrician) 26/27 October 1942. He first worked with the CARTE circuit but later went to ground at Montelimar. He joined Francis Cammaerts in May 1943 and sent a record number of radio messages to London over the next fifteen months.

On 7 July, Seawolf (Krajewski) and Tarana left Gibraltar for the Operations Lucile, Mandarin I & II, Peppertree and Postbox. The SIS/BCRA Operation Lucile landed a Mr Alvast (at the request of the Polish liaison in Marseille) to En-Vau and collected two men and one wife the night of 13/14 July. I believe the man and wife were Pat Line agents Leoni Savinos and his German-born wife Emy. The following night, the Polish Operation Mandarin I collected fifty-two Polish servicemen from En-Vau. Two nights later Seawolf rendezvoused with Tarana south of Cassis - the passengers were transferred to the larger vessel and six agents and military stores taken on board. Either that same nght, or the next, Seawolf landed four of the agents from Tarana at Cassis Bay for the SOE Operation Peppertree. She also landed Emilio and Joyce Lussu at Port Miou for the Italian SOE Operation Postbox. On 19/20 July, as a continuation of Peppertree, Seawolf landed two more SOE agents at Antibes. Agents included Richard Heslop (Xavier - arrested with Denis Rake 15 August - both 'released' from Chambaran 27 November) and (according to Richards) R Leroy, Lt Krumhorn and Capt Barnard. The final Mandarin II operation brought fifty-three Polish servicemen from En-Vau the night of 22/23 July. These men were also transferred to Tarana before both ships returned to Gibraltar.

While Seawolf was carrying out Operation Lucile the night of 13/14 July, Tarana was busy collecting a party of eight escapers and evaders (including SOE agent André Simon) from St Pierre Plage near Narbonne for the SIS(MI9) Operation Bluebottle - the first such operation conducted specifically for the Pat Line. Click here for more details of Operation Bluebottle.

The fact that it was Tarana that landed the men brought back from these operations at Gibraltar goes some way towards explaining why she tends to get the credit rather than Seawolf.

Rake and Heslop were two of the nine men released from the French prison of Camp de Chambaran (along with Pat Line radio operator Alex Nitelet) by the pro-allied governor following Operation Attila - the German invasion of southern France.
Denis Rake was taken across the Pyrenees by the Pat Line in December 1942. He got back to England (via Miranda) to become an SOE training officer. He returned to France by Lysander (Op Mineur) 9/10 May 1944 as radio operator for Nancy Wake.
Richard Harry Heslop made his way to Angers before leaving France by Lysander (Op Acolyte) 23/24 June 1943. He was returned by Hudson (Op Peashooter) 21/22 September 1943 along with Jean Pierre Rosenthal (Cantinier). This second mission was to survey the Jura and see if it was practical for them to set up their MARKSMAN circuit there. Three weeks later they returned to England by Hudson (Op Shield) 16/17 October to report before going back once more by Hudson (Op Helm) 18/19 October along with their new courier Elizabeth Devereux-Rochester and American radio operator Denis Johnson. By 1944 Heslop was in command of a particularly aggressive force of Maquis fighters in the Ain and Haute Savoire regions which he maintained until the end of the war.

On 30 July, Seadog (Buchowski) landed SOE agents Nicholas Bodington, Henri Frager (Paul, Louba) Harry M R Despaigne and Yvonne Rudellat (Jacqueline) at Cap d'Antibes for Operation Sassafras.

Nicholas Bodington was there to report on André Girard's CARTE, which Bodington enthusiastically supported on his return to London (see Operation Watchman below) in September, and Philippe de Vomécourt's activities with VENTRILOQUIST.
Not really relevant here but interesting anyway, de Vomécourt (Gauthier) was arrested in October 1942 by Vichy police (for his own protection from the Germans, he was assured - he was charged as de Crevoisier) and held in a civil prison at Lyons. On 3 January 1944, he was one of nearly fifty men who escaped from the French concentration camp of Eysse. Philippe got back to England via the Pyrenees and then returned to France by Lysander (Op Chauffeur) 9/10 April 1944 with Lise de Baissac. His VENTRILOQUIST circuit was one of the several groups that mauled the SS Panzer Division Das Reich on its way from Toulouse to the northen landing areas following D-Day.
With demise of CARTE by the end of 1942, Henri Frager was flown back to England with Peter Churchill by Lysander (Op Playwright) 23/24 March 1943. He returned to France the same way (Op Salesman) 14/15 April, along with radio operator, J R A Dubois, to set up the DONKEYMAN circuit with Roger Bardet. Frager returned once more to England, this time by Hudson (Op Mate) 20/21 October 1943 and was brought back to France for the last time via the DF Var Line to Beg-an-Fry (MGB 502 - Op Easement III) the night of 29 February 1944. He moved to Paris to try and rebuild his faded circuit until arrested by Hugo Bleicher (Colonel Henri) 2 July 1944 and sent to Buchenwald. Henri Frager was shot at Buchenwald 5 October 1944.
Harry Despaigne (Richard) (note that Foot (p217) says Despaigne arrived by parachute) was sent in as an extra radio operator for Peter Churchill, which meant involvement in CARTE. Despaigne soon made his way back to England via Spain. He returned to France by Lysander (Op Milliner) 17/18 September 1943, an operation organised by Henri Dericourt and witnessed by the SD, as radio operator for Henri Severnet (Rodolphe). Harry Despaigne was never captured.
Yvonne Claire Rudellat had the distinction of being the first female F Section agent to be landed in France. She was captured 21 June 1943 and died at Belsen in April 1945.

On 26 August, Seadog (Buchowski) left Gibraltar for Operations Watchman, Vagrant, Kumel and Leda.

SOE Operation Watchman took place the early morning of 1 September with the landing of Blanche Charlet (Christiane - courier for Brian Stonehouse) and some 600 kilos of military stores at Rade d'Agay, and the collection of Nicholas Bodington, Andre Gillois and his wife and daughter, and two Belgian agents. Next night, SIS Operation Vagrant evacuated a mixed party of five, including General Juliusz Kleeberg, head of Polish forces and a former Military Attaché, from the same area. Operation Kumel was due to take place the night of 3 September but despite landing a shore party, no reception was found. The operation was repeated the following night with the same result and so abandoned. SIS/BCRA Operation Leda took place the night of 5/6 September when Seadog landed an agent known as "Porthos" at Narbonne Plage, and collected Pierre Brossolette, Charles Vallin, Denis Cochin, Dutrex, "Ronsard" and evading Lysander pilot Guy Lockhart. Kradewski reports that there should have been more passengers but the police arrived during the operation and the remainder had scattered.

Blanche Charlet was arrested with DETECTIVE radio operator Brian Stonehouse (Celestin) near Lyon 24 October 1942. She escaped from prison at Castres 16 September 1943 and was brought back to England on the last Var Line Operation Scarf from the Brittany beach of Beg-an-Fry 15/16 April 1944, along with former Pat Line courier Suzanne Wharenghem. Brian Stonehouse survived Mauthausen, Natzweiler and Dachau with Pat O'Leary, Tom Groome and Johnny Hopper.
Pierre Brossolette went to London after two years working in underground propaganda and joined BCRA. He returned to France by Lysander (Op Atala) 26/27 January 1943. He was brought out again by Lysander (Op Liberté/Juliette) 15/16 April 1943 with Yeo-Thomas. He returned once more, with Yeo-Thomas, by Lysander (Op Bomb) on 18/19 September 1943 following the arrest of Jean Moulin. Brossolette was due to be brought back to England 10/11 December 1943 (Op Sten) but the Lysander was shot down and F/O Jimmy Bathgate and his two passengers killed. Brossolette tried to leave France by sea the following January but the boat was wrecked and he was arrested. Taken to Avenue Foch, he died during an escape attempt, falling from a fifth floor window.
S/Ldr Guy Lockhart, an evader via the Pat Line in 1941, landed his 161 SD Lysander near Macon for the SIS Operation Boreas II, intending to collect agents Christian Pineau and Cavailles. The aircraft was damaged on landing and had to be destroyed. Both passengers are reported as being arrested but Lockhart escaped to Lyon where Yves Farge arranged his return from Narbonne. Acting Wing Commander William Guy Lockhart was killed in action over Germany the night of 27/28 April 1944.

On 11 September, Seawolf (Kradewski - with Lt Lukasz and Lt Tom Maxted RNR) left Gibraltar for Operations Falstaff (Triton), Orlando, Mullet, Nectarine I & II, and Titania.

SIS Operation Falstaff (Triton) was to land two agents (one female) at La Ciotat, just east of the callanques of Port Miou and En-Vau, the night of 17/18 September. The following night Seawolf landed an SIS agent and stores at Morgiou, another callanque, this time west of En-Vau, for the SIS Operation Orlando. The original landing site was to have been just around the headland at Sormiou but the reception party signalled from Morgiou and were only spotted on the way out from Sormiou. A heavy consignment of watches and stop-watches for the RAF was collected at the same time. That same night, Seawolf went to En-Vau to collect two agents for the SOE Operation Mullet. I believe the two men were Henri Frenay and Emmanuel d'Astier de la Vigerie. Next night (19 Sept) Seawolf was back at Sormiou where she collected thirty-one evaders, mostly Polish but (according to Richards) including three British, for the Polish Mission Operation Nectarin I. Next night she returned (but to En-Vau this time, as agreed with the landing officer Captain Iwaszkiewicz the previous night) and collected another twenty-five Poles for Nectarine II.

Seawolf then sailed south to Canet Plage, Perpignan, where she picked up twenty-four escaping and evading allied servicemen, four Pat Line agents and French Colonel Pierre Fourcade on the SIS(MI9) Operation Titania the night of 21/22 September. All passengers from the heavily overloaded felucca were transferred to HMS Minna the following day before returning to Gibraltar. Click here for more details of Operation Titania.

This was Kradewski's last mission in Seawolf. He returned to England for three weeks' leave before rejoining his ship Blyskawica as First Lieutenant.

On 23 September, Seadog (Buchowski) left Gibraltar for Operations Silkworm, Watchman II and Chub I & II. By early evening of 29 September, Seadog was in position off La Napoule (Cannes) for the Polish/SIS Operation Silkworm but received no reply to his signals. Bad weather prevented her from going on to her second rendezvous point so she hove to. Continuing bad weather and a broken engine meant she stayed in the area until 1 October, by which time the engine was repaired and she returned to La Napoule the evening of 2 October. There was still no reply to their signals but Buchowski decided to put General Kleeberg and two agents (for Operation Chub I) ashore at the town La Napoule, 200 metres from the railway station, half an hour before their train for Nice was due to leave.

SOE Operation Watchman II, the landing of stores, was due to take place two miles south at Cap-de-l'Esquillon. The rendezvous was set for 03.00 but Buchowski began his signals at 23.30 and received an immediate reply. Two more agents for Operation Chub I were delivered from Seadog's dinghy but the intended equipment was not landed as the promised motor boat did not appear.

Three of the agents landed were John Goldsmith (Valentin) Chalmers-Wright of PWE and Sidney Jones (Felix and later Elie).
Goldsmith was due to work with the (mostly theoretical) CARTE network before moving on to set up a sabotage circuit in the Pas-de-Calais but instead spent his time giving sabotage lessons in Nice and Juins-les-Pins whilst discussions continued about his future. Realising that CARTE was little more than a talking shop, he left France via the Pyrenees. Goldsmith returned to France by Lysander (Op Trainer) the night of 17/18 March 1943. He was taken back to England by Lysander (Op Milliner) with Ben Cowburn 17/18 September 1943.
Chalmers-Wright soon moved on to Grenoble where he spent the winter writing reports for PWE that he was unable to transmit.
Sidney Jones (Felix) arrived to establish the INVENTOR sabotage circuit in Marseille. By the time the Germans invaded southern France in November 1942, the circuit was well established but too remote to be resupplied from England. Jones was returned to the UK by Hudson (Op Steward) 20/21 February 1943. Jones came back (as Elie) for his 2nd mission by Lysander (Op Inventor) 14/15 May 1943 to be liaison officer between the INVENTOR and DONKEYMAN circuits, and arms instructor. Jones was arrested 20 November 1943 following the arrest of his courier Vera Leigh (Simone) and "Jacky" his bodyguard - betrayed by Roger Bardet. None survived. Sidney Charles Jones was executed at Mauthausen 6 September 1944. Vera Leigh was murdered at Natzweiler on 6 July 1944 with Andrée Borrel, Diana Rowden and Sonia Olschanesky.

After a day at sea, Seadog returned to land the stores for Watchman II but again received no reply to their signals. Seadog moved on to Rade d'Agay to collect six passengers for the SOE Operation Chubb II. As they reached the bay, two women approached them in a rowing boat and warned them that the French police had seen them and that they should return to their first position, off La Napoule. There was again no reply to their signals, but on 5 October, Buchowski finally managed to land the SOE stores using the ship's dinghy. There were no passengers to embark but the shore party told him that General Kleeberg and the agents were all safe.

Seadog finally returned to Gibraltar early in the morning of 10 October, after a voyage of 2,300 miles, with just five gallons of fuel left in her tanks.

On 30 September, Seawolf (Lt Lucasz - real name Marian Michalkiewicz) left Gibraltar on the SIS(MI9) Operation Rosalind, whose sole purpose was to collect evaders for the Pat O'Leary escape line. After various delays, the pick-up was finally made the night of 11/12 October from the beach just north of Canet-Plage, near Perpignan. The Abbé Josef Myrda and thirty-two allied servicemen, including eighteen escapers from the French prison of Fort de la Rivere, were delivered back to Gibraltar. Click here for more details of Operation Rosalind.

On 29 October, Seadog (Buchowski) left Gibraltar for Operations Watchman III, Overgrow, Dubonnet and Portia. Seadog reached her position off Port Miou the evening of 3 November, and despite the shore party being at the wrong place, made successful contact. Lt Jan Buchowski himself went ashore in the ship's dinghy. Nine (query) agents were landed and six (query) collected. Next evening another landing was prevented by bad weather and the ship moved out to sea for the day. Continuing bad weather and an engine break-down prevented any further operations and Seadog returned to Gibraltar the morning of 13 November.

Agents landed for SOE Operations Watchman III, Overgrow and Dubonnet included George Starr, Marcus Bloom, Mary Herbert, Marie-Therese Le Chêne, Odette Sansom and Gracomino Galea for the Italian Section, and possibly Alfred Schouten (Worthington) of DF Section. SIS(MI9) Operation Portia, which was combined with Watchman, landed Tom Groome as radio operator for Pat O'Leary.
George Starr (Hilaire) had intended to go to Lyons but by then the SPRUCE circuit was falling apart. Starr went on to Gascony instead where he set up his very successful WHEELWRIGHT circuit. Starr's organisation remained active until the war in that area was effectively over. He was ordered to leave France by de Gaulle in September 1944.
Marcus Bloom (Urbaine) was sent in as radio operator to Tony Brooks in Toulouse. Brooks was however appalled at Bloom's lack of security on arrival and so Bloom became radio operator for his friend Martin Pertschuk instead. They were both captured in April 1943. Marcus Reginald Bloom was executed at Mauthausen 6 September 1944.
Mary Herbert (Claudine) was on her way to work with Claude de Baissac (David - whom she subsequently married) and stayed in France until over-run by the allies in 1944.
Marie-Therese Le Chêne (Adele - the oldest Englishwoman sent on active duty to France) arrived as courier to her husband Henri, delivered by Seawolf in April. She was returned by Hudson (Op Dyer) in a party of ten on 19/20 August 1943.
Odette Sansom (Lise) was captured with Peter Churchill (who she later married) in April 1943 but survived Ravensbruck.
Alfred Schouten was captured (details unknown to me) and survived Oranienburg.
Tom Groome was arrested with his courier Danielle "Eddie" Reddé along with Pat Line agents Charles and "Pat" Cheramy at the Cheramy home in Montauban 11 January 1943. Taken to Gestapo HQ at the Hotel Ours Blanc in Toulouse, Tom tried to escape by jumping from a window. He was soon recaptured but Eddie got away in the confusion. Tom survived Mauthausen, Natzweiler and Dachau with Pat O'Leary, Brian Stonehouse and Johnny Hopper.
Danielle Reddé crossed the Pyrenees with Nancy Wake and others in March 1943. In England she joined SOE and (as Marocain) was parachuted back into France in January 1944. After the war in Europe ended, she went on to serve for many years as a parachutist and radio operator in the Far East.
Elenor Maud "Pat" Cheramy (from Aldbourne, Wiltshire) survived Fresnes, Ravensbruck and Mauthausen - liberated 22 April 1945 - and her husband Charles also survived.
Agents collected included John Starr (Emile later Bob - brother of George), Isadore Newman (Julien) "a radio operator with Peter Churchill", a person with the field name "Richard" (aircraft engineer Charles Roubier according to Odette Sanson) and his son, and "Quintet" (PWE Radio Patrie).
John Starr (Emile) had parachuted in France the night of 27/28 August to investigate CARTE but after ten weeks of insecurity and wasted effort he came back on Seadog. In May the following year, he returned to France (as Bob) again by parachute, with radio operator John Young (Gabriel) to set up ACROBAT. Starr was betrayed by a double agent (later hunted down and killed by Eric Cauchi) and arrested in July 1943. He was shot and injured during an immediate escape attempt and taken to Dijon prison. Starr was transferred to 84 Avenue Foch in September 1943 where, following a failed escape attempt with Noor Inayat Khan (Madeleine) and Cmdt Léon Faye (of Alliance) the night of 24 November, he gave his parole and cooperated with the SD to a limited extent, and where his presence was used to demoralise subsequent captured agents, some of whom he knew on sight. He was finally sent to Mauthausen, which, unlike Noor Inayat Kahn (d. 13 Sep 44 Dachau) and Léon Faye (d. 30 Jan 45 Sonnenburg), he survived.
John Young (Gabriel) was arrested 18 November 1943 with Diana Rowden (Paulette) following the capture of André Maugenet (Benoit) who had arrived by Hudson (Op Conjurer) with Jean Menesson, and been sent out to join them. John Cuthbert Young was executed at Mauthausen 6 September 1944.
Isadore Newman (as Pepé) returned to France by Lysander (Op Athlete) 19/20 July 1943 as radio operator to Philippe Liewer. The landing arranged by Henri Dericourt, who used the return flight for a one day visit to England. Newman was captured 25 February 1944 and executed at Mauthausen 6 September.


Buchowski was recalled to London in November. On 12 April 1943, the newly promoted Lt/Cdr Jan Buchowski was shot dead in the Pimlico flat of Lt Lubomir Chienski, a fellow Polish officer - and jealous husband.

My thanks grateful to David M Harrison for additional information about SOE French Section agents