Philippe de Vomécourt
Philippe de Vomécourt | |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Gauthier, Antoine |
| Born | 16 January 1902 Chassey-lès-Montbozon, France |
| Died | 20 December 1964 (aged 62) Paris, France |
| Allegiance | France/United Kingdom |
| Service | Special Operations Executive, |
| Years of service | 1941–1944 |
| Unit | Ventriloquist |
| Awards | Croix de Guerre, France, Distinguished Service Cross, United States |
Had all of us in France meekly, lawfully carried out the orders of the German master, no Frenchman could have ever looked another man in the face. Such submission would have saved the lives of many -- some very dear to me -- but France would have lost its soul.
Philippe Albert de Crevoisier, Baron de Vomécourt (16 January 1902 – 20 December 1964), code names Gauthier and Antoine, was an agent of the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) organization in World War II. He was the organiser (leader) of the Ventriloquist network (or circuit) from May 1941 until the liberation of France from Nazi German occupation in September 1944. The purpose of SOE in occupied France was to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance. SOE agents allied themselves with French Resistance groups and supplied them with weapons and equipment parachuted in from England. The primary area of Vomécourt's activity was in the Sologne region about 160 kilometres (99 mi) south of Paris. Philippe's older brother Jean and younger brother Pierre were also members of the French Resistance.
Vomécourt was controversial. Author Sonia Purnell is critical of Vomécourt, but acknowledges that he was one of "the biggest legends of the Resistance." A colleague in the Resistance, Col. Vésine de la Rüe, said Vomécourt "was the real organizer, the undisputed leader of the resistance in Sologne, and the main, if not the only distributor of weapons." Pearl Witherington, the SOE leader in an adjacent district, called Vomécourt a "wily fox of an agent." On the adverse side, the official historian of the SOE, M.R.D. Foot, said that Vomécourt's book, An Army of Amateurs, was "a sometimes exaggerated account of his activities." He added that de Vomécourt had "magnetic qualities of personality" and "attracted storms." The American SOE agent Virginia Hall had as little contact as possible with Vomécourt as she considered him careless about security and full of grandiose plans.
Summing up the pluses and minuses, author Peter Hore's comment about another controversial figure in the Resistance, Mary Lindell, applies also to Vomécourt: he resisted the German occupation of France for more than three years unlike many of the French who joined the Resistance only when it became clear that Germany was losing the war.