Brossolette, Pierre

1903–1944

   Brossolette was a French resistance leader, closely associated with the Gaullists. He was a journalist of libertarian socialist views who came to England in April 1942. He was trained by the Special Operations Executive (SOE) and with Jean MOULIN and Wing Commander YEO-THOMAS went on a mission to set up a Conseil National de la Résistance in Paris in March 1943. Their mission was to give central direction to all anti-Nazi groups and during his stay in France, Brossolette remained under constant surveillance escaping arrest on many occasions. In February 1944 he tried to return to England by boat but he was shipwrecked and picked up by Germans. He did not have any papers and it took some time for the Gestapo to recognize him and transfer him to the Avenue Foch. There he tried to escape through a lavatory window and fell to his death, probably trying to make sure he would not talk under torture.