Maurice Buckmaster English intelligence officer Date of Birth: 11.01.1902 Country: Great Britain

Biography of Maurice Buckmaster

Maurice James Buckmaster was born in 1902 in Ravenhill, Brereton, Staffordshire, England. He received his education at Oxford University and then went on to work as a reporter for the French publication 'Le Matin' in France. He later became a banker and eventually a senior manager for the French branch of the American company 'Ford Motor Company'.

At the beginning of World War II, Buckmaster was called into the army. He completed his training as a scout and in the spring of 1940, Captain Buckmaster was sent to France where he participated in the defense of the corridor at Dunkirk, where the evacuation of English troops was taking place. In 1940, he left France along with a group of wounded British soldiers.

On March 17, 1941, Maurice Buckmaster began working as the head of the French section of the Special Operations Executive (SOE), also known as the intelligence agency. Starting out was incredibly challenging for him, as there were no clear directives for his group, only the general task of inflicting maximum damage on the enemy. He began by acquiring a directory of French businesses and used it to identify targets for sabotage and espionage.

He held this position for four years, during which his activities involved airdropping agents, establishing communication with occupied France, and training resistance fighters. Initially, Buckmaster's unit consisted of 8 people, but over time he was able to expand the team to 24. All of his team members had firsthand experience in combat, occupation, or captivity.

In 1942, Buckmaster's group was unable to provide significant assistance to the Resistance, but later, from 1943 to 1944, the number of individual agents and groups airdropped increased, and they were able to provide substantial support in the form of weapons such as machine guns and pistols.

During that period, several hundred agents from Buckmaster's department operated in France. Some of them were killed, but all of them provided significant assistance to the French Resistance. Buckmaster was later accused of intentionally sacrificing a few of his agents to divert attention from more important operatives. Regardless, the work of the SOE cannot be underestimated - Buckmaster and his team accomplished a tremendous and incredibly complex task. According to some information, he personally knew every one of his agents and genuinely cared for their well-being. It is said that he personally saw off each agent on their mission, making sure they were truly ready to carry out their assigned tasks.

It is known that all surviving agents had a very warm opinion of their commander. After the war, Buckmaster returned to work at Ford Motor Company, where he held the position of director of public relations. He wrote two memoirs, 'Special Employed' (1952) and 'They Fought Alone' (1958). In 1969, he gave an extensive interview for the documentary project 'The Sorrow and the Pity'.

Maurice Buckmaster passed away on April 17, 1992, in Forest Row, Sussex, United Kingdom.