Henri Frager

Henri Jacques Paul Frager (3 March 1897, in France – 5 October 1944, in Buchenwald concentration camp) was a member of the French Resistance during World War II . He was in succession, second in command of the CARTE network (under André Girard), then head of the SOE (F section) network DONKEYMAN, rising to the rank of major within SOE. He was betrayed to the Germans, deported and executed.

The son of Alphonse Jean Frager and Eugénie Louis Adolpine Frager née Sauvier, he married the Russian-born Louba Frager and worked as an architect in Nice in civil life. On 25 November 1940 he dined with André Girard in a restaurant in Antibes. Girard wanted to develop a local network, whereas Frager was then preparing to get to London via Algeria. He reached Algeria in December that year but, after several failed attempts to get from there to London, returned to Antibes in April 1941 and got back into contact with Girard, who recruited him into CARTE as his second in command under the codename Louba. With André Gillois and Colonel Vautrin, Girard and Frager recruited others for the growing network, and on 19 September 1941 Girard had his first meeting with an SOE agent, Francis Basin (codename Olive).

Exploring the possibilities for CARTE-SOE cooperation, SOE summoned Girard or any other officer of CARTE to come to London. Not wanting to go himself, Girard sent Frager and on 30 June 1942 the Polish trawler Tarana took on Frager and brought him to Gibraltar, from where he flew to England by plane. In London that July, at Orchard Court, he met SOE's chiefs (Maurice Buckmaster, Nicholas Bodington, and probably Charles Hambro and Colin Gubbins). In Girard's name, Frager set out CARTE's needs (means of communication, arms, etc.). Wanting to know more, SOE sent him back to France with Nicholas Bodington (codename Jean-Paul or PROFESSOR) to study the possibilities of cooperation, clarify the confused situation in the Lyon region and organised possible parachute drop-zones (SPRUCE). They were landed at Cap d'Antibes on the night of 29/30 July 1942 from the boat Seadog, with agents Harry Despaigne (MAGNOLIA) and Yvonne Rudellat (SOAPTREE), and on 12 September Bodington returned to England to make a highly favourable report on CARTE.

...
Wikipedia