Adolphe Rabinovitch
Encyclopedia
Adolphe Rabinovitch was a Special Operations Executive
agent during the Second World War. He rose to the rank of captain.
and became an SOE agent. He was first parachited into France on 27/28 August 1942 as a radio operator for the SPINDLE network (codename Arnaud), with Peter Churchill
and Odette Sansom, and managed to evade capture when that network collapsed. With Victor Hazan (codename Gervais), he got back in contact with the network's contacts around Annecy and on the Côte d’Azur before returning to England via Spain. There he became the assistant to Jean de Lattre de Tassigny
before being parachuted back into France on the night of 2/3 March 1944 with Roméo Sabourin
. His orders were to set up and command the BARGEE network, but the landing site was under German control and he was wounded and captured in as he landed. He was deported to Germany and executed at Gross Rosen in August or September 1944, il est exécuté à .
Special Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was officially formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on 22 July 1940, to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Axis powers and to instruct and aid local...
agent during the Second World War. He rose to the rank of captain.
Life
A Russian-Egyptian Jew, he studied in Paris before settling in the United States of America. In 1939 he volunteered in the Foreign LegionFrench Foreign Legion
The French Foreign Legion is a unique military service wing of the French Army established in 1831. The foreign legion was exclusively created for foreign nationals willing to serve in the French Armed Forces...
and became an SOE agent. He was first parachited into France on 27/28 August 1942 as a radio operator for the SPINDLE network (codename Arnaud), with Peter Churchill
Peter Churchill
Peter Morland Churchill DSO Croix de Guerre was an SOE Officer in France during World War II.He was a brother of Group Captain Walter Churchill DSO DFC and Major Oliver Churchill DSO MC who was also an SOE Officer during World War II.-Biography:...
and Odette Sansom, and managed to evade capture when that network collapsed. With Victor Hazan (codename Gervais), he got back in contact with the network's contacts around Annecy and on the Côte d’Azur before returning to England via Spain. There he became the assistant to Jean de Lattre de Tassigny
Jean de Lattre de Tassigny
Jean Joseph Marie Gabriel de Lattre de Tassigny, GCB, MC was a French military hero of World War II and commander in the First Indochina War.-Early life:...
before being parachuted back into France on the night of 2/3 March 1944 with Roméo Sabourin
Roméo Sabourin
Roméo Sabourin is a Canadian hero of World War II.Lieutenant Sabourin joined the Canadian Army, serving in the Canadian Intelligence Corps...
. His orders were to set up and command the BARGEE network, but the landing site was under German control and he was wounded and captured in as he landed. He was deported to Germany and executed at Gross Rosen in August or September 1944, il est exécuté à .
Distinctions
- UK: Mentioned in Despatches.
- France : Croix de guerre 1939-1945 with Étoile de Vermeil.
Monuments
- His name is on the SOE memorialValençay SOE MemorialThe Valençay SOE Memorial is a monument to the members of the Special Operations Executive F Section who lost their lives for the liberation of France. The memorial was unveiled in the town of Valençay in the Indre département of France on May 6, 1991, marking the fiftieth anniversary of the...
at ValençayValençayValençay is a commune in the Indre department in central France.-Geography:Valençay is situated in the Loire Valley on a hillside overlooking the River Nahon.-History:...
, Indre, France. - Brookwood Memorial, Surrey, panel 21, column 3.
Sources and external links
- Michael Richard Daniell Foot, SOE in France. An account of the Work of the British Special Operations Executive in France, 1940-1944, London, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1966, 1968 ; Whitehall History Publishing, in association with Frank Cass, 2004.