Bernard O'Connor

Blackmail Sabotage: Attacks on French Industries During World War Two Bernard O'Connor

In late-1943 Harry Rée, one of Britain's secret agents operating in eastern France, witnessed an RAF bombing mission on Peugeot's automobile factory in Sochaux/Montbéliard. As many bombs missed their target, damaging houses and killing innocent French civilians, he was aware that it could turn public opinion against the Allies. With the agreement of his boss in the Special Operations Executive, he approached one of Peugeot's directors and made him an offer: Agree to have your vital machinery sabotaged or have the factory destroyed by British or American bombers. To help the director decide, he was offered compensation by the Allies after the war. When this novel approach proved successful, SOE set up a blackmail sabotage committee which targeted over thirty French factories. Over twenty specially trained agents, both men and women, were infiltrated on missions which included blackmail sabotage. This book details their successes and failures.