France Antelme

Major Joseph Antoine France Antelme OBE (12 March 1900 – 1944) was one of 14 Franco-Mauritians who served in the Special Operations Executive (SOE), a World War II British secret service that sent spies, saboteurs and guerrilla fighters into enemy-occupied territory.

After spying in Vichy-held Madagascar ahead of the allied landings there in May 1942, Antelme joined the SOE F (France) section in England. He undertook two missions in occupied France. On this third mission, on 29 February 1944, he parachuted into a Gestapo reception committee and was captured. He was murdered, with 18 other captured SOE officers, at the Gross-Rosen concentration camp in Lower Silesia in July or August 1944.

France Antelme was born on 12 March 1900 in Curepipe, Mauritius, to an influential family of planters and politicians. After attending the Royal College, Curepipe, he embarked on a career as broker and trader, travelling extensively between Mauritius, Réunion, Madagascar and South Africa. In 1932, he settled in Durban as Madagascar's trade representative in South Africa. The following year he married Doris O'Toole. He was survived by his sons, Michel and Gaston.

Antelme was recruited by the SOE in November 1941 in Durban, South Africa where he was serving with the South African artillery. He formed part of the Todd mission, led by Lt. Col. J.E.S. Todd, whose task it was to gather intelligence on Madagascar and to try to win political leaders to the allied cause ahead of the British landing at Diego Suarez, Operation Ironclad, on 5 May 1942. He was landed by boat near Majunga (Mahajanga), Madagascar on February 8, 1942 and brought back political and military intelligence from the island, where he had many contacts. After serving at the Todd mission's operational headquarters in Dar es Salaam, Antelme was sent to England where he joined the SOE F section on 1 July 1942. He underwent training at Beaulieu and at Arisaig, Scotland.

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