Francis Suttill

Major Francis Alfred Suttill DSO (March 17, 1910 – March 23, 1945) was a British special agent who worked for the Special Operations Executive (SOE) inside France. He organized and coordinated the "Physician" network, better known by his own code name "Prosper". He was captured and killed by the Nazis.

Early years

Suttill was born in Mons-en-Barœul near Lille, France, to an English father, William Francis Suttill, and a French mother, Blanche Marie-Louise Degrave. His father managed a textile manufacturing plant in Lille. Suttill studied at Stonyhurst College, Lancashire, England until he was 16 when he developed poliomyelitis. It was a year before he was able to resume his education, with one leg 18mm shorter than the other. For the school year 1927/8, he attended the College de Marcq in Mons-en-Baroeul gaining his Baccalaureat. He then read law at the University of Lille and was accepted as an external student at University College London. In 1931, he moved to London to continue his studies and eventually became a barrister at Lincoln's Inn. He married in 1935 and had 2 sons.

Wartime activities

In May 1940 he was commissioned into the East Surrey Regiment of the British Army. He was later recruited by the SOE, where his bilingualism was highly valued, and he was selected for a posting in France. After being trained during the summer of 1942, Suttill was chosen to create a new resistance network in northern France, based in Paris. His code name was "Prosper" and his assumed identity was "François Desprées".

On September 24 1942, his courier Andrée Borrel, aka "Denise", was parachuted in France to prepare for his arrival. He himself parachuted near La Ferte-sous-Jouarre October 1 1942. Suttill and Borrel, posing as brother and sister, traveled around a large part of northern France to start building their network, known in France as "Physician-Prosper". They were joined by wireless operators Gilbert Norman ("Archambaud") in November, and Jack Agazarian ("Marcel") in December.

During the first half of 1943, the Prosper network grew considerably, covering a large part of northern France, and involving an increasing number of locally recruited agents. On May 15 1943, Suttill returned to London for reasons which remain obscure.

Imprisonment and death

Suttill was parachuted back in France over Romorantin on May 21 1943. He was arrested by the Gestapo at his hotel on June 24 1943. Borrel and Norman were arrested earlier the same day. Hundreds of local agents were arrested the following days, from end of June to early July. Despite 2 wireless operators reporting the arrests, SOE remained skeptical and sent Bodington and Agazarian to determine the status of the network. Agazarian was trapped and arrested by the Gestapo late July.

Suttill was taken to Gestapo headquarters, where he may have been tortured for several days. Norman made a deal with the Germans whereby he would give details of ammunition dumps in exchange for being considered prisoners of war and having his life and those of the other agents spared. He was sent almost immediately to Berlin. He arrived in Sachsenhausen concentration camp near Berlin on 3 September 1943 where he was held in solitary confinement in the prison block until he was shot on 23 March 1945. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order.

Francis Suttill is honoured on the CWGC Memorial at Groesbeek in the Netherlands and also on the Roll of Honour on the Valençay SOE Memorial in Valençay, in the Indre département of France.

Further reading

* Henri Noguères - "Histoire de la Résistance en France de 1940 à 1945", Robert Laffont, 1976.
* Hugh Verity - "We Landed by Moonlight", (revised edition). Manchester: Crecy Publishing, 2000.
* Anthony Cave Brown - "Bodyguard of Lies: The Extraordinary True Story Behind D-Day ", 1975.
* M. R. D. Foot - "S.O.E. in France", Frank Cass Publishers, 2004 (first published London, HMSO 1966). Official history.