Nicolas Bodington

Nicolas Redner Bodington OBE (6 June 1904 – 3 July 1974) was a British journalist and during the Second World War second in command of the F (French) section of the Special Operations Executive. The purpose of SOE was to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in occupied Europe and Asia against the Axis powers, especially Nazi Germany. In France, SOE agents allied themselves with French Resistance groups and supplied them with weapons and equipment parachuted in from England. Bodington led four missions to occupied France.

Bodington was associated with one of the most controversial and much-studied events in the history of SOE: the destruction of the Prosper network of SOE agents in France and the subsequent misinformation campaign by the German Sicherheitsdienst (SD). Bodington defended the double agent, Henri Déricourt, who played an important role in Prosper's downfall.

Nicolas Bodington was the son of Oliver Bodington, an international lawyer, and Mary (née Redner), an American. He was born in Paris. His elder brother was Lieutenant colonel John Redner Bodington DSO MC , a soldier who served in World War I and World War II. Nicolas Bodington studied at Cheltenham College and (for a year) at Lincoln College, Oxford. He married Audrey Hoffmann in Cheltenham in September 1926. In 1929, he returned to Paris was a correspondent for the Daily Express and the Daily Sketch. In 1935, he became the Reuters's correspondent in Paris. Bodington spoke fluent Spanish as well as French and visited Spain to report on the Spanish Civil War. In 1938 his novel Solo was published in England by Victor Gollancz Ltd.

Double agent Henri Déricourt told author Jean Overton Fuller that he knew Boddington in Paris before World War II as both were fans of dirt track racing. In 1938, both knew Karl Bömelburg, attached to the German Embassy in Paris. In 1940, with the German conquest of France, Bőmelburg returned as the head of the Gestapo in Paris. The relationship of the three becomes important in subsequent events.

With the beginning of World War II in 1939, Bodington served for a time as a war correspondent in Paris. He applied to join MI6, then better known as the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS). He was turned down, possibly because of his "reputation for drinking, gambling, and not paying his debts." In April 1940, the French cancelled his accreditation as a war correspondent because of his "bad spirit." He applied to MI6 again and this time was redirected to a new organization, the Special Operations Executive, created in July 1940.

Claude Dansey of MI6 saw the new organization as a rival. The SOE's objective to "set Europe ablaze" (in Winston Churchill's words) threatened MI6's focus on intelligence. Wars, MI6 believed, were won by intelligence not sabotage. Dansey attempted to get his acolytes in positions of importance in SOE and exercise some control over SOE operations in what was, by then, German-occupied Europe. Bodington may have been placed in SOE by Dancey.

Bodington joined the F (French) Section in December 1940. On 25 December he became the deputy head of F Section with the military rank of major. In January 1941 he recruited American Virginia Hall who became SOE's first female agent to live and work in France for an extended period of time. In August 1941, Maurice Buckmaster became Section F's head with Bodington as his deputy. Bodington's various cover identities and code names were "Nick", "Andre Edouard", "Jean Paul", "Pierrot" and "Pedlar".

In February 1942, Bodington participated in the failed attempt to evacuate by boat from France SOE agent Pierre de Vomécourt, codename Lucas, head of the 'Autogiro' network, and Mathilde Carré, codename Victoire, the infamous spy nicknamed La Chatte. In this and additional missions, SOE violated normal clandestine doctrine. As Deputy in F Section, Bodington knew too much about the organization and its personnel and should not have been allowed to go to France.

The Carte network of André Girard on the French Riviera, in the words of M. R. D. Foot, seemed to be what F Section was seeking: "a ready made secret army which only needed arms and orders before it was ready to co-operated in throwing the Germans out of France." On the night of 29/30 July 1942, Bodington arrived in France on July 30 by felucca to evaluate collaborating with Carte. Girard persuaded Bodington and SOE agent Peter Churchill that he could initiate sabotage, proceed to guerilla war, and eventually field an army of 300,000 men that could united with a revitalized French army to push the Germans out of France. Bodington was impressed and put SOE agents to work on the complexities of the plan, such as providing food to a large number of men in a Carte army in food-short France. On his return to England in September, Bodington wrote "a long, strong, and enthusiastic report on Carte."

Major General Colin Gubbins head of SOE wrote of Bodington's mission, "As a result of his ingenuity, resourcefulness and perseverance, it has been possible to establish close relations with a very important group of French patriots. This contact would not have been successfully made without the personal visit of this officer". He was recommended for the award of the MBE.

Bodington's enthusiasm to the contrary, Carte began to fall apart from internal dissention by the end of 1942. Girard's "army" consisted of a list of 200 names, which was captured by the Germans. SOE gave weapons to Carte, but they rotted in a warehouse. Visiting the Riviera in March 1943, SOE agent Francis Cammaerts described Carte as "a shambles, lacking any sense of security or organizational rigor."

In 1943 Bodington supported the candidacy of Henri Déricourt a former civil airline pilot, who was engaged by F section and sent to France in February that year, codenamed Gilbert, to organise aerial rendezvous for F Section.

Francis Suttill had been chosen to establish a new network in and around Paris, called "Prosper" (also called "Physician"). In September 1942, Andrée Borrel was parachuted into France to prepare the way for Suttill who arrived on 1 October 1942. A wireless operator, Gilbert Norman and a second operator, Jack Agazarian (codename 'Marcel'), followed. Suttill and Agazarian became increasingly concerned about the loyalty of Déricourt. In May 1943, Francis Suttill returned to London and he passed on his fears to Nicolas Bodington and Maurice Buckmaster. However, they were unconvinced and refused to recall Déricourt to Britain.

Preparing to return to France Bodington discussed the situation with Buckmaster and left a note on record at SOE Headquarters dated 23 June 1943 concerning Dericourt, "we know he is in contact with the Germans and also how and why" (suggesting that he may have been feeding the Germans with false intelligence provided by London. He was decorated with the MBE while temporary major in June 1943.

Bodington, with Agazarian and the Belgian Adelin Marissael were flown into France by a special duties aircraft of No. 161 Squadron RAF which landed near Angers on the night of 22–23 July 1943.

He was to clarify the circumstances surrounding the collapse of the Prosper network in June and the role of Déricourt, who was strongly suspected of having betrayed several agents. Oddly, it was Déricourt who welcomed them when they landed, in the field Achille 1 km to the southeast of Soucelles. Bodington and Agazarian travelled to Paris with Dericourt where they tried to establish if Norman was active. Tossing a coin to choose who would visit Norman's address Agazarian lost and when he visited was arrested by the Gestapo. Having escaped the Germans, Bodington exonerated Déricourt (though he was dismissed from SOE) and tried to convince SOE agent Noor Inayat Khan to return to England (she refused), Bodington returned on the night of 16–17 August 1943 by Westland Lysander along with Lise and Claude de Baissac. He did not believe that Déricourt was betraying British agents as he had been active in Paris for some time himself and had not been arrested.

For the following six months he lectured and wrote reports on the intricacies of the French political situation for the forces preparing for the Allied invasion of France.

On 11 February 1944 in London, he interrogated Dericourt who had returned from France, to ascertain his loyalties.

In the spring of 1944 Bodington was due to return to France on an SOE mission to the southwest of France as the organiser of a resistance network but the mission was cancelled at the last moment, possibly due to concerns over an informant in France, later identified as Bousquet, following the arrest of Charles Skepper, Eliane Plewman and Arthur Steele.

SFHQ sent him back to France under the codename Jean. Knowing that the Gestapo had a photograph of him and a price on his head Bodington parachuted on the night of 10 July 1944 into the dangerous Chalons-sur-Marne district to reactivate the Professor network in its new identity as the Pedlar network, and to assist the French Resistance. Accompanied by a small Special Air Service team of four men he provided useful information for RAF bombing objectives and, from 24 August, was attached to "Arnold" team of Operation Jedburgh. Jedburgh involved teams drawn from SAS, SOE, OSS and French intelligence operated behind German lines as liaison between French resistance groups and Allied command, supplying the resistance with equipment and directing them in acts of sabotage coordinated with the military situation. In total, 93 Jedburgh teams operated in 54 French metropolitan départements between June and December 1944. They were known by codenames which usually were first names (such as "Hugh"), with some names of medicines (such as "Novocaine") and a few random names thrown in to confuse German intelligence.

Bodington was recommended for a gallantry award, the Military Cross for his service in France, the recommendation recorded his previous missions to France and his return despite knowing that the Gestapo had his photograph and adds that – In the short time at his disposal Bodington arranged several receptions of arms and stores (parachuted by the Royal Air Force) to the French resistance in the Marne Department and organised guerrilla warfare against enemy garrisons and convoys passing through the area. In the St. Dizier, and Chaumont regions he took part in several clashes with the enemy and showed great courage in dealing with German formations by the use of the BAZOOKA and the PIAT. After his positions had been over-run by the American advance he passed through enemy lines several times to obtain valuable intelligence. He was recommended for a Military Cross for gallantry in action in Normandy but eventually received an OBE instead.

Bodington worked for both Special Operations Executive and also the "Secret Intelligence Service" MI6, possibly simultaneously, and as the result of internal rivalries appears to have been the victim of an internal smear campaign suggesting that he may have had wartime contact with the German Sicherheitsdienst (the Nazi intelligence service) which was not always in the best interest of his country. The National Archives in London hold a file documenting an investigation carried out into these claims from February to July 1945 which it classifies as :

With rank of captain Bodington resigned his commission on 7 July 1945 and was granted permission to retain the rank of major.

In June 1948 he was a witness at the trial of Henri Déricourt, who was known to have had contact with the German Sicherheitsdienst and Gestapo and is often regarded as having been a double or triple agent. Bodington's testimony was decisive in bringing about Dericourt's acquittal and suggests that Dericourt may have fed false intelligence to the Germans.

In 1961 his second book, The Awakening Sahara. was published by Andre Deutsch,

In the 6-episode TV docudrama "Lost Women Spies" (2024), which is about the life of the high-ranking SOE-spymaster Vera Atkins, Nicolas Bodington is portrayed by the actor Sean Pogmore. Around 15 minutes into episode one, Bodington's position in the SOE is discussed in detail, after which we see him return regularly in the rest of the story.

• UK
  • Member of the Order of the British Empire Military Division (MBE). Awarded as captain, Temporary Major, British Army
  • Officer of the Order of the British Empire Military Division (OBE), Awarded as a major, British Army,.
• France : Médaille de la Résistance

• Patrick Howarth (1980). Undercover: The men and women of the SOE. Routledge. ISBN 0710005733.
• Foot, M. R. D. (1966). SOE in France. An account of the Work of the British Special Operations Executive in France, 1940–1944. London: HMSO. republished Whitehall History Publishing, in association with Frank Cass, 2004.
• André Gillois, L'Histoire secrète des Français à Londres, Le Cercle du nouveau Livre, Librairie Jules Taillandier, 1973.
• Verity, Hugh (2013). We Landed by Moonlight. Crecy Publishing. ISBN 9780947554750.
• Foot, M. R. D. (2006) [1966]. SOE in France (Revised ed.). Routledge. ISBN 0415408008.
• Nicolas Bodington (1938). Solo. Gollancz.
• Nicolas Bodington (1961). The Awakening Sahara. Andre Deutsch. ASIN B0000CL147.
• Paul Gaujac (1999). Special Forces in the Invasion of France. Histoire & Collections. ISBN 2-908-182-947.