Shadows in The Fog

Author

Francis J Suttill

Reviewed by

Michael Tillotson, The Times

Publisher

The History Press

Price

£20

Published

2015

Shadows in The Fog by Francis J Suttill (Reviewed by Michael Tillotson, The Times, 28 March 2015)

Who or what caused the collapse of the Special Operations Executive’s “Prosper” circuit, which extended from Nantes through Paris to the lower reaches of the Marne in 1943, has been the subject of books, myths and speculation for more than half a century.

Throughout, suggestions of double agents, betrayal through jealousy or penetration by German intelligence have faded before the more sinister proposition that it was given away deliberately to confuse the enemy over the Allies’ invasion strategy or to distract attention from clandestine operations elsewhere.

The Western Allies, Britain and the US sought to convey the impression that an invasion of Europe, through Brittany, the Netherlands or even Norway, was being planned for 1943.

In his book SOE in France the authoritative M. R. D. Foot concedes that the head of “Prosper”, Major Francis Suttill, returned to France from a briefing in London in October 1943 believing that an Allied invasion was probably imminent.

This was certainly not part of any deception plan but rather due to the fact that the high-level decision to delay the invasion to mid-1944, for practical reasons, had not at that time been communicated to SOE’s headquarters.

There remains the controversy over the SOE agent – and almost certainly double agent – Henri Dericourt, the former French civil airlines pilot responsible for finding suitable sites for RAF Lysander aircraft clandestine landings bringing in SOE agents and lifting others out.

He was responsible for some of Prosper’s support flights and he also had dealings with the Gestapo. Tried but found not guilty after the war, Dericourt died in 1962.

It now appears certain that following his arrest Francis Suttill remained stoically silent under German interrogation about his comrades, British and French, right up to the day of his execution in Sachsenhausen concentration camp in March 1945.

Now, Francis J Suttill, son of the Prosper leader, has completed a decade-long forensic examination of all the evidence to arrive at the truth.

The book, accurately titled Shadows in The Fog, requires careful reading as it contains hard evidence intermingled with reports that inevitably overlap and in some cases contradict. It is a scholarly work.

The truth emerges, leaving the honour of Suttill senior enhanced and giving reminders of the rules of clandestine operations.

The SOE was disliked and distrusted by the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) for its enthusiastic amateurism but it brought to the war effort some remarkable men and women.

This book provides a captivating account of the courage, determination and ingenuity of agents parachuted or air-landed into occupied France – and elsewhere in Europe – with their lives not just in their own hands but in the hands of others, some friends, some foe.

The History Press. £20