Gilbert Norman

Gilbert Maurice Norman (7 April 1915 – 6 September 1944) was a British Army officer who served in the Special Operations Executive in France during World War II.

Gilbert Maurice Norman
Born(1915-04-07)7 April 1915
Saint-Cloud, Paris, France
Died6 September 1944(1944-09-06) (aged 29)
KZ Mauthausen, Austria
Allegiance United Kingdom
Service/branch British Army
SOE
Years of service1940–1944
RankMajor
Service number156759
UnitPhysician/Prosper circuit
Battles/warsWorld War II
AwardsMention in Despatches[1]
Médaille de la Résistance

Norman was born in Saint-Cloud, Hauts-de-Seine, to an English father and a French mother and was educated in France and England. He joined the army, receiving a commission in the Durham Light Infantry in November 1940[2] and was subsequently recruited into the Special Operations Executive (SOE). In November 1942, he was sent into France to join the newly formed Prosper network, but on 24 June 1943 was arrested by the Gestapo, together with cell leader Francis Suttill and courier Andrée Borrel.

Norman was taken to the Paris headquarters of the Sicherheitsdienst at 84 Avenue Foch. The Germans used Norman's captured wireless set to transmit their own false messages to SOE Headquarters in Baker Street. Norman attempted to warn London that he was in captivity by not giving the Germans the second part of his security check, which they did not know about. Omitting the security check from a message was specifically designed to act as a duress code which would warn London that the sender was being coerced. However, Norman was frustrated when London sent a curt reply telling him to correct the omission.

The Germans were thus able to set a trap which resulted in the capture of Jack Agazarian who had been sent with Nicholas Bodington to investigate the fate of the Prosper network. Norman was shipped to Mauthausen concentration camp, where he was executed on 6 September 1944.

Major Gilbert Norman is honoured on the Brookwood Memorial in Surrey, England and as also on the "Roll of Honour" on the Valençay SOE Memorial in the town of Valençay, in the Indre departément of France.

References
Notes
  1. "No. 37450". The London Gazette (Supplement). 29 January 1946. p. 750.
  2. "No. 34995". The London Gazette (Supplement). 15 November 1940. p. 6626.
Bibliography
  • Sarah Helm (May 2005). A Life in Secrets: The Story of Vera Atkins and the Lost Agents of SOE. London: Little, Brown. ISBN 0-316-72497-1.
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