Georges Bégué or
George P. BegueSocial Security Death Index was a
French engineer and agent in the
Special Operations Executive.
Early life
Georges Bégué was born November 22, 1911 in
Périgueux,
France. His father was a railway engineer and the family moved to
Egypt when Bégué was a child. Bégué also trained as an engineer at
University of Hull where he learned English and met his wife. He went through his military service as a
signaller.
Second World War
At the outbreak of the
Second World War, Bégué was recalled to his unit. Because of his knowledge of English he was assigned to liaison with the British troops. He eventually escaped to Britain during the
Dunkirk evacuation. After the surrender of France, he joined the
Royal Signals as a sergeant, meeting
Thomas Cadett the Paris correspondent of the BBC who was working in SOE's F section. It was suggested that Bégué be parachuted into France.
SOE
In 1940 SOE recruited Bégué to the new French section, and gave him the alias Georges Noble. After a short training course, he was parachuted to
Indre on the night of May 5, 1941 with a heavy transmitter in a suitcase. He was the first SOE agent in France. He contacted socialist
Max Hymans in
Valencay and eventually convinced him that he was not a trap.
Bégué settled in
Châteauroux with his transmitter and sent the first message to London May 9, 1941. SOE...
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