Maurice Buckmaster

Maurice Buckmaster OBE (born January 11, 1902 in Ravenhill, † April 17, 1992 ) was a British intelligence officer during the Second World War .

Life

Because of his father's financial problems, Maurice Buckmaster had to drop out of his education at Eton College . He then became a reporter for the French newspaper Le Matin . He later became a banker and manager at Ford Motor Company in France.

With the beginning of the Second World War he returned to Great Britain and was a soldier in the British Army . On March 17, 1941 he was taken over as an intelligence officer by the Special Operations Executive (SOE) and first used in the Belgium department. In September 1941 he was appointed head of the France department. Its main task was to support the Resistance in the areas occupied by the Wehrmacht . He was involved in the recruitment and training of SOE agents who were being prepared for deployment in the enemy rear; these included Jack Agazarian and Violette Szabo . In addition, he had direct contact with resistance fighters in France, including Maurice Hewitt .

Vera Atkins was part of his department from 1941 to 1944 .

Honors

• France honored him as a Knight of the Legion of Honor and he received the Croix de Guerre , the award for resistance fighters.
• He was accepted into the Legion of Merit by the USA .
• Great Britain made him Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1943 .

Fonts (selection)

• Special Employed: The Story of British Aid to French Patriots of the Resistance. 1952
• They Fought Alone: ​​The Story of British Aid to British Agents in France. 1958

Web links

• Obituary in the Toledo Blade, April 20, 1992, available on Google News
• photo
• Maurice Buckmaster in the Internet Movie Database (English)