Georges Bégué

Georges Bégué (1911 - 1993) was a French engineer and agent in the Special Operations Executive.

Georges Bégué was born November 22 1911 in Périgueux, France. His father was a railway engineer and the family moved to Egypt when Begue was a child. Begue also trained as an engineer University College of Hull where he learned English and met his wife. He went through his military service as a signaller.

At the outbreak of the Second World War, Begue was recalled to his unit. Because of his knowledge of English he was assigned to liaison with the British troops. He eventually escaped to Britain during the Dunkirk evacuation. After the surrender of France, he joined the Royal Signals as a sergeant.

In 1940 SOE recruited Begue to the new French section, and gave him the alias George Noble. After a short training course he was parachuted to Indre on the night of May 5 1941 with a heavy transmitter in a suitcase. He was the first SOE agent in France. He contacted socialist Max Hymans in Valencay and eventually convinced him that he was not a trap.

Begue settled in Châteauroux with his transmitter and sent the first message to London May 9 1941. SOE sent three other agents, including Pierre de Vomecourt, to join him. During the following six months Begue helped to establish resistance network and agents in France and arranged arms drops. Begue was the main contact to SOE in London and sometimes transmitted three times a day. His suggestion that BBC overseas service would be used to send pre-arranged coded messages was accepted and led to widespread use.

One SOE agent Gerry Morel went off his own way to recruit resistance members and Milice, the Vichy France police, arrested him at Limoges on October 3 1941. His arrest led to more arrests and eventually to Begue who was arrested October 24 in a Marseilles safe house. He was sent to join other SOE agents in the Beleyme prison in Périgueux. They were later transferred to prison camp in Mauzac on March 1942. Begue managed to create a duplicate key and the group escaped July 16 1942.

Begue and others hid in Mauzac in the middle of a forest and continued to Lyon in July 23 in separate groups. They contacted Vic escape network and eventually walked to neutral Spain over the Pyrenees. Begue was interned at Figueras and sent to Miranda do Ebro prison camp but were later released to continue his way to Britain. He arrived to London in October 1942.

Begue was appointed Signals Officer in the F section under Maurice Buckmaster. He was also awarded Military Cross.

After the war Begue emigrated to the United States. He worked in a number of menial jobs before he could officially become an electronics engineer. He also took US citizenship.

George Begue died December 18 1993 in Falls Church, Virginia.