Andre Dewavrin

Andre Dewavrin, the son of a businessman, was born in France in 1911. He graduated from the Ecole Polytechnique as an army engineer. He taught at St Cyr and fought in Norway before joining General Charles De Gaulle in England in 1940.

Promoted to the rank of major, Dewavrin was placed in charge of the French military intelligence unit. Adopting the code name "Passy", he helped organize the resistance movement in France.

On 23rd February 1943, Dewavrin and his deputy Pierre Brossolette parachuted into France and began the negotiations that eventually led to Jean Moulin establishing the Conseil National de la Resistance (CNR) in May 1943.

Later that year Dewavrin's organization was merged with the French army's conventional secret services to form the DGSS operating under Jacques Soustelle. For the next six months Dewavrin worked as Soustelle's technical adviser until becoming head of the organization in October 1944.

In 1946 Dewavrin was accused of corruptly using money intended for the French Resistance. He was arrested and jailed for four months before the charges were dropped. Dewavrin published three volumes of memoirs in 1947, 1949 and 1951 and went into business. Andre Dewavrin died on 22nd December, 1998.