Claude de Baissac

Claude Denis Boucherville de Baissac, DSO and bar, CdeG, known as Claude de Baissac or by his codename David (born 28 February 1907, Curepipe, Mauritius; died 22 December 1974) was a Mauritian of French descent who became an agent in the Special Operations Executive (SOE). He organised the important French Resistance network SCIENTIST, in southwest France from August 1942 to March 1943 and in Britanny from February 1944 onwards. His elder sister Lise was also an SOE agent.

His first mission came on 30 July 1942, when he and his radio operator Harry Peulevé were parachuted in from a Halifax near Nîmes to set up and head the SCIENTIST network. However, they were dropped from too low an altitude and landed badly - de Baissac broke his ankle and Peulevé was so badly hurt he had to return to England.

In the following months, de Baissac developed the SCIENTIST network in the Bordeaux region, receiving reinforcements in the form of Roger Landes (codenamed Stanislas, his new radio operator, dropped on 2 November) and Mary Herbert (codenamed Marie-Louise, his liaison officer, landed by boat on 8 November). Certain resistance group concentrated their efforts for a joint attack on the submarine pens in the port and other operations in the Landes countryside.

As explained by Paddy Ashdown in a BBC Timewatch documentary, due to "a Whitehall cock-up of major proportions", de Baissac was preparing to take explosives on board German ships in the harbour of Bordeaux when he heard explosions from the partly successful Operation Frankton. Had the Royal Marines of Operation Frankton cooperated with de Baissac, they could have jointly dealt a stronger blow, but SOE's policy of secrecy even from other parts of the British Forces prevented this.

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