Georges Duboudin Explained
Georges Duboudin (1907–1945) was a French Special Operations Executive agent during the Second World War.
Early years
Émile Georges Jean Duboudin was born in France on 23 May 1907, the son of George and Adelna Duboudin. He married an English woman named Elizabeth Trumble, and lived in London.
Wartime
He joined the Special Operations Executive, Section F, as a Captain.[1]
First mission
On the night of 19/20 September 1941 Georges Duboudin "Alain" landed by boat at Barcarès, near Perpignan,[2] and went to Lyons to train to organise the SPRUCE network to supervise sabotage teams.
In January 1942 Peter Churchill arrived to give him instructions from SOE headquarters and give him 300,000 francs.[3]
In April 1942 Virginia Hall assigned him radio operator Edward Zeff, who had arrived in the French Riviera by submarine with Victor Gerson, an SOE agent on a special mission to organise the VIC Escape Line, delivered by Peter Churchill in Operation DELAY II.
On 28 May 1942 the first parachuting of arms in the Lyons region took place.
On 2 June 1942 Robert Boiteux was parachuted to Anse to assist him, but the two men did not get along. Bob Sheppard, who arrived on the same flight as an instructor, fell on a roof near the police station and was arrested. Jean Mingat, in charge of receiving Bob Sheppard, was also arrested and sentenced to 10 months in prison.
In October 1942 Duboudin was called back to London, and during the night of 26/27 October a Lysander flew him back to the UK, having handed over his network to Robert Boiteux.[4] Francis Basin took over URCHIN.
Second mission
On the night of 23/24 March 1943 he was landed by Lysander near Compiegne[5] to run the PLAYWRIGHT network, but was arrested a few days after his arrival and taken to the Mittelbau-Dora Concentration Camp, where he died of pleurisy on 22 March 1945, aged 37, as result of his mistreatment in captivity.
Post-war
In 1965 his widow filed a claim for Nazi persecution under the Anglo-German Compensation Agreement.[6]
Recognition
- As one of the 104 SOE Section F agents who gave their lives for the liberation of France, Georges Duboudin is honoured at the Valençay Memorial (Indre).
- Brookwood Memorial, Surrey, panel 21, column 3.
Further reading
- MRD Foot, SOE in France an account of the work of the British Special Operations Executive in France, 1940–1944, HMSO, London, 1966.
- Hugh Verity, We Landed by Moonlight: Secret RAF Landings in France, 1940–1944, 2004.
- Sir Brooks Richards, Secret Flotillas - Clandestine Links in France and North Africa, 1940-1944, MDV, 2001.
- Amicale BUCK, Free Resistance, newsletter and liaison, alumni of SOE Networks Special Operations Executive (SOE), Issue 20, 2nd quarter 2007.
- André Courvoisier, The Heckler Network: from Lyon to London, Paris, Editions France-Empire,1984, 299 p. .
- EG Boxshall, Chronology of SOE operations with the resistance in France during World War II, 1960.
- Marcel Ruby, The Resistance in Lyon (19 June 1940 – 3 September 1944), in two volumes, Lyon, editions L'Hermès, 1979.
Notes and References
- https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C8953022 The National Archives HS 9/452/3 Jean Georges DUBOUDIN
- Operation Autogyro; ship: HMS Fidelity; Landed agents: Francis Basin "Olive", Robert Leroy "Louis", Raymond Roche "François", and Georges Duboudin "Alain". [Source: Sir Brooks Richards, p. 923]
- Of Their Own Choice, Peter Churchill
- Operation ACHILLES; agent: Arthur-Louis Gachet; aircraft: Lysander; pilot: Plt Off Peter Vaughan-Fowler; field: S of Mâcon, 3 km NO of Garnerons (Ain); persons brought: J. Paimblanc, Auguste Floiras; people removed : Georges Duboudin, Benjamin Cowburn. [Source: Verity, p. 256.]
- Operation JOCKEY / PLAYWRIGHT; agent: Marsac; aircraft: Lysander; pilot: Hugh Verity; land: 0 / NO from Compiègne, 5.5 km N from Estrées-Saint-Denis; people brought: Francis Cammaerts, George Duboudin; people removed: Peter Churchill, Henri Frager . [Source: Verity, p. 263.]
- http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C16382083 Nazi persecution claim: Mrs Veronica Francis Ellen Mary Duboudin (nee Trumble) for Mr Jean George Duboudin (deceased). National Archives Reference: FO 950/4485
