| Réseau AGIR | |
|---|---|
AGIR provided HUMINT on V-1 flying bomb "ski sites", here Maisoncelle.[1][2] In 1974, the "Maison-Ponthieu site" still had the treelines and ski-shaped buildings depicted in this diagram.[3]:6 |
|
| Active | began 1941 |
| Country | Occupied France |
| Allegiance | Allies of World War II |
| Type | French Resistance |
| Role | Human intelligence (espionage) |
| Size | >100[4] informants, a few agents |
The Réseau AGIR (English: ACT Network) was a World War II espionage group founded[5] by French wartime resister Michel Hollard that provided human intelligence on V-1 flying bomb facilities).
Intelligence was collected every 3 weeks directly from volunteer informants who gathered information in their normal jobs (e.g., through the position as station masters, barkeepers, hotel managers, dock workers. To obtain travel permits, a few full-time AGIR agents were registered salesmen of Hollard's employer. Hollard paid the AGIR expenses and smuggled information to the British military attaché in Bern, Switzerland, from Occupied France making ninety-eight trips from 1941 through February 1944 when he was betrayed and arrested.[6]
One member of the network, Olivier Giran, was taken and executed in 1943.[7]:364 On 5 February 1944, Michel Hollard and 4 other AGIR agents (including Henri Dujarier) were arrested during a cafe meeting on the Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Denis. Hollard received the "bath treatment" (torture) at the hands of the Milice and was imprisoned until the end of the war. Jules Mailly died at a Mauthausen camp 4 months after his arrest, and Joseph Legendre led AGIR after he and Robert Rubenach were released.
An AGIR railway engineer at Rouen reported in 1943 unusual constructions in Upper Normandy, Michel Hollard's report of September 1943 to the British Secret Intelligence Service identified six V-1 flying bomb facilities: "Bonnetot [sic] le Faubourg, Auffray [sic], Totes, Ribeaucourt, Maison Ponthieu and Bois Carre".[3]:3 A more detailed report in October about Bois Carré (1.4 km east of Yvrench)[8] claimed it had "a concrete platform with centre axis pointing directly to London".[7][9] AGIR reconnoitered 104 V-1 facilities and helped pinpointing the Watten bunker, the first V-2 launching site.[6] AGIR also provided complet sketches of V-1 launching site such as one by André Comps of Bois Carré (In English: "square woods") labeled "La position de Maisons" and B2.[7]:362 Hollard had the site infiltrated by Comps, who copied "the blueprints"[3]:3—a copy of the compass swinging building blueprint and the Bois Carré sketch were published in 1978.[7]:362-3
AGIR agents received various British and French military awards (including Hollard's DSO for V-1 espionage),[10] and Hollard's biographies provide AGIR history.[11] In 2009, Joseph Brocard was the last surviving AGIR participant.[12]