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Paul Badré

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Paul Badré
Paul Badré in 1945
Born(1906-05-22)May 22, 1906
Saint-Saëns, Seine-Maritime
DiedAugust 10, 2000(2000-08-10) (aged 94)
La Ferrière-Bochard, Orne
Service/branch Air Force
Years of service1929 – 1946
RankColonel
Battles/warsWorld War II
Alma materÉcole polytechnique

Paul Badré (pɔl badʁe, 1906-2000) was a French aircraft pilot and aeronautical engineer who fought in the Second World War.

A member of Georges Ronin's intelligence service, he radioed information to the Allies from his village of Bellerive, near Vichy. His clandestine broadcasts continued until his departure for Algiers after Operation Torch. He was sent to London in 1943 as liaison officer with MI6 and Colonel Passy’s BCRA. In the summer of 1944, he commanded a bomber squadron during Operation Dragoon.

Biography

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Paul Badré was born in Saint-Saëns on May 22, 1906. He was the son of Claire Maire (1884-1934) and forester Louis Badré (1875-1969), officer of the Legion of Honour[1][2]. He was the eldest of six children: Louis Badré[3] (director of the National Forests Office[4][5]), Jean Badré (Vicar for the French Army and Bishop of Bayeux), Jacques Badré (priest of Semallé[6]), Charles Badré (known as Father Jean, a Benedictine monk killed in Cambodia by the Khmer Rouge in 1975[7]) and Marie Badré.

In 1926, Paul Badré entered the École Polytechnique in Paris[8]. Two years later, he joined the French Air Force, serving as a second lieutenant at the Military and Aeronautical School in Versailles. He obtained his pilot's license in 1929 and joined the 21st Aviation Regiment in Nancy[9].

Test Pilot

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In the spring of 1935, Paul Badré was transferred (at the same time as Constantin Rozanoff) to the Aircraft test center of the Villacoublay Air Base. He flew on Bloch MB.220, Douglas DC-2, Potez 540 and Leo 45 prototypes.

At the time of the Munich Agreement, in September 1938, he carried out a reconnaissance mission for the Secret Intelligence Service and the “Air” section of the Deuxième Bureau (commanded by his friend Georges Ronin). Captain Badré photographed the Alps and the Po Valley 10 kilometers above the ground, aboard a Potez 540[10].

WWII

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At the start of the French Mobilization, on September 1, 1939, he was assigned to the Orléans Air Base. In December, he was sent to Scotland (at RAF Leuchars, then commanded by Brian Edmund Baker) for flight testing of new radar technologies. In the spring of 1940, at the request of the Air Staff, he visited bomber squadrons in the South-West of France to monitor pilot training on Leo 45[11]. On the eve of the Armistice, he took off for Oran (Algeria). There, he reunited with Georges Ronin, who decided to rebuild an intelligence service in France in touch with the British.

As a German speaker, Paul Badré was assigned in mid-August to the Armistice Commission, where he served as liaison officer with the Luftwaffe[12]. His mission lasted until January 1941. He then settled with his family in Bellerive-sur-Allier, a village near Vichy.

Vichy

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He became a member of the semi-clandestine intelligence service set up by Georges Ronin[13][14]. In March 1941, Frederick Winterbotham (codename Summer), a Royal Air Force and MI6 officer in charge of the Ultra intelligence, sent Ronin's network transceivers concealed in diplomatic bags. From his villa in Bellerive, Paul Badré (code name Beard) clandestinely established radio communications with England (Greenland)[15].

He recruited several agents, including Robert Masson, whom he put in contact with Ceux de la Libération in Paris[16]. Crossing the demarcation line, Masson brought him information every month. Badré obtained from Colonel Jean Touzet du Vigier[17] that weapons be secretly delivered in the occupied zone to Ceux de la Libération and Alfred Heurteaux's resistance network[18].

In spring 1942, PTT engineer Robert Keller[19] and his team were able to tap German telephone communications between Paris and Berlin, intercepting the exchanges of high-ranking Kriegsmarine, Luftwaffe, Wehrmacht Heer and Gestapo officials. They even managed to listen to the voice of Adolf Hitler[20]. This intelligence source was codenamed K (for Keller). Transcripts of the collected conversations were delivered by doctor Victor Dupont to Bellerive, where Beard communicated them to the Allies[21]. He notably transmitted information on German troop movements towards the Soviet Union. In the summer of 1942, his station carried out a daily radio broadcast with London, Madrid and Algiers. Ronin’s organization was also put in touch by Count Potocki with the Polish service of Stanisław Gano, for whom a second link with London was set up.

In early October, Paul Badré was summoned by General Revers (Chief of the Denfense Staff) who warned him that, with Pierre Laval's agreement, the Abwehr and the Gestapo were preparing to send mobile teams into the free zone, to identify clandestine posts using radio direction finding[22]. This operation was codenamed Aktion Donar. On the morning of October 19, 1942, German secret services were circulating in his village of Bellerive. Alerted in time by one of his technicians[23], he interrupted the broadcast in progress, dismantled his set and burned the compromising papers.

After this incident, informed of the imminent Operation Torch, the service suspended its broadcasts. On the night of November 9-10, 1942, hours before the invasion of the free zone, the main officers of Ronin's network flew to Algeria on two Dewoitine D.338 provided by General d’Harcourt[24].

London

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Colonel Ronin sided with General Giraud and took command of the Secret Service alongside Louis Rivet and Paul Paillole. Ronin visited Winterbotham in London on December 20, shortly before the assassination of Admiral Darlan. Upon his return to Algiers on January 3, 1943, he appointed Major Badré as liaison officer with MI6 and colonel Passy’s BCRA (General de Gaulle's secret service).

Accompanied by two French recruits of the Special Operations Executive[25], Badré left for London on January 30[26]. Initially housed in Albemarle Street, in Claude Dansey’s apartment[27] (where he made the acquaintance of Colonel Passy), MI6 then moved him to a villa near Wimbledon Common[28]. In Westminster, at 12 Caxton Street, he worked with Wilfred Dunderdale's Circus, which gathered intelligence on the Eastern Front.

In March, Badré broke his leg after a parachute jump at Ringway[29]. While in hospital, he was visited by Robert Masson, who had made his way to England after having crossed Spain illegally. Masson (Samson) was parachuted over Normandy on the next full moon. Another agent was parachuted, André Duthilleul (Oscar)[30].

On 20 May 1943, Major Badré arranged the aerial exfiltration of General Georges at the request of Churchill’s cabinet[31]. Robert Masson was added to the operation and left France after creating the Samson organization.

On June 3, 1943, the armies of General de Gaulle and General Giraud united under the authority of the French Committee of National Liberation. At 37 years old, Badré still considered himself fit to pilot and fight. He submitted his resignation to Stewart Menzies (head of MI6) and left London on June 27, a few days before Operation Husky.

Mediterranean

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Commanding the 2/52 bombardment group in the Mediterranean, Badré was stationed in the Oran region, with General du Vigier’s division. His troops were assigned for the winter to Mediouna, Morocco. In the spring, they trained in the region of Constantine, at Teleghma. It was only at the end of June that his group became operational, after the delivery by the United States Army Air Forces of 16 brand new Martin B-26 Marauder. On 19 July, the 2/52 was sent to Sardinia, at the base of Villacidro. He received a visit from Saint-Exupéry, shortly before the writer’s death[32].

On August 3, 1944, Major Badré bombed a bridge in Asti with his squadron. Three days later, a 72-aircraft Franco-American formation attacked a railway bridge in Arles[33]. The bombs from his Marauder fell on a cemetery where the German Flak had positioned itself. On August 15, the first day of Operation Dragoon, 72 bombers (36 from the French Liberation Army and 36 American Flying Fortresses) had the mission to destroy bridges over the Buëch and the Durance. The weather was unfavorable and during a manoeuvre to avoid a collision, a USAAF pilot accidentally dropped several bombs on the town of Sisteron, causing the death of about 100 civilians.

On August 18, Badré's group attacked the coastal artillery near Toulon and suffered heavy losses. Two days later, they tried a stealthier tactic which proved successful[34]. The 2/52 then fought in Italy[35].

Post-war aeronautical industry

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Promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in September 1944, he was appointed head of the Fifth Bureau ("programs") of the Air Force General Staff. He supervised the mission d’information scientifique et technique[36] (MIST), which sent a commando to the American occupation zone in Germany to capture Willy Messerschmitt and seize his work, which were microfilmed by students of polytechnique before being returned to the Americans[37]. The MIST also took possession of a V-2 rockets launch station hidden in the forest between Sigmaringen and Lake Constance[38].

On August 1, 1945, Paul Badré was the first Frenchman to fly a jet aircraft (a german Messerschmitt Me 262) on national territory, during the inauguration of the Brétigny-sur-Orge flight test center.[39]. He left the army in October 1946, shortly before the outbreak of the Indochina War[40].

In civilian life, Paul Badré was first in charge of flight tests for the Snecma, (the national manufacturer of aircraft engines). Georges Glasser recruited him in 1948 as the production director of the SNCASO[41]. He was involved in the development of three fighter aircraft by Marcel Dassault (the Ouragan, the Mystère II, and the Mystère IV) as well as in the production of the supersonic Vautour and the Djinn helicopter by SNCASO.

When Sud Aviation was created, he became the president of Sferma[42] (1957-1965) and then of Maroc-Aviation[43] (1966-1972). He was also on the board of Ratier Figeac (1962–1979) and Jean Bertin’s company (1965–1981), whose Aérotrain project was set aside by the French government following the 1973 oil crisis[44].

Paul Badré died at the age of 94, on August 10, 2000, in La Ferrière-Bochard (Orne). He was married to Cécile Cordier (1909-2005). Ten children were born from their union.

He was an honorary member of the French Air and Space Academy and a Fellow of the British Royal Aeronautical Society[45].

Awards

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References

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  1. ^ Louis Badré was a veteran of the Great War, decorated with the US Army Distinguished Service Medal and the War Cross.
  2. ^ Louis Badré's file (1875-1969) at the National Archives [1]
  3. ^ Brother-in-law of général Zeller. They were the parents of Denis Badré, and the grandparents of businessman Bertrand Badré.
  4. ^ Louis Badré’s file (1907-2001) at the BNF bnf.fr/en/12587186/louis_badre/en.pdf
  5. ^ “A History of French Forest”, Le Monde of December 8, 1983 [2]
  6. ^ Local residents celebrate Father Badré's 100th birthday [https: //www. ouest-france.fr/normandie/semalle-61250/des-habitants-fetent-les-100-ans-du-pere-badre-3227029]
  7. ^ With Paul Tep Im Sotha.
  8. ^ Paul Badré, Alumni de l'École Polytechnique le=2021-08-09
  9. ^ Marcel Catillon, Qui était qui ? Mémorial de l'aéronautique, Nouvelles Editions Latines, 2004, vol 2, p.18-19.
  10. ^ Jean Bezy, Le SR Air, éditions France Empire, 1979, p.22.
  11. ^ At this time he made the acquaintance of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
  12. ^ The Luftwaffen-Kontrolkommission II, based in Lyon and commanded by the Oberst Karl Kettembeil, was in charge of making an inventory of aeronautical equipment and infrastructure in the occupied zone. Captain Badré served as interpreter.
  13. ^ Claude d’Abzac-Épezy. Les services de renseignements clandestins de Vichy : l'exemple du S.R. Air. In: Revue Historique des Armées, n°195, 1994. Libération et Résistance. pp. 58-67. [3]
  14. ^ Before November 1942: a first nucleus of resistance in the armistice army [4]
  15. ^ Jean Bezy, Le SR Air, éditions France Empire, 1979, p.38.
  16. ^ Robert Masson, Mes missions au clair de Lune, 1975, p.17-23
  17. ^ He was introduced to Colonel du Vigier by his brother-in-law Henri Zeller, head of the third bureau of the Armistice Army staff.
  18. ^ Robert Masson, Mes missions au clair de Lune, 1975, p.39
  19. ^ Denounced by René Bousquet to Carl Oberg, Robert Keller was arrested by the Gestapo on Christmas Day 1942. He was deported to Germany, where he died on April 14, 1945 at Bergen-Belsen, the day before the concentration camp was liberated by the British.
  20. ^ Hitler sur table d'écoute, documentary by Laurent Bergers, 52 min, 2018.
  21. ^ Jean Bezy, Le SR Air, éditions France Empire, 1979, p.58.
  22. ^ Jean Bezy, Le SR Air, éditions France Empire, 1979, p. 61
  23. ^ Lemoine, who had come to relieve Gourriou at the radio station, arrived on his bicycle and informed them of the presence of the suspicious vans (Robert Masson, Mes missions au clair de Lune, 1975, p.41).
  24. ^ Jean Bezy, Le SR Air, éditions France Empire, 1979, p.90.
  25. ^ Two recruits named Lejeune and Lerat. Badré was briefed in Algiers by two SOE officers, Tony Keswick and Jacques Vaillant de Guélis.
  26. ^ A Douglas C-47 Skytrain dropped him off at Gibraltar where he was welcomed by John Alfred Codrington. An ocean liner then took him to Glasgow.
  27. ^ Robert Masson, Mes missions au clair de Lune, 1975, p.94 .
  28. ^ Home to Émile Champion (husband of Gilberte Champion, whom Badré would decorate with the Légion d'honneur after the war), André and Madeleine Chelley (a couple of Dunderdale agents) and Prince Golitsyn (Jean Bezy, Le SR Air, éditions France Empire, 1979, p.113-114).
  29. ^ After Lerat's accidental death, he decided to go on a skydiving course to reboost the morale of the young French recruits of the Special Operations Executive (Jean Bezy, Le SR Air, éditions France Empire, 1979, p.116). He arrived just in time to prevent a team of young French Canadians from being sent to France, where they had imagined they would go unnoticed with their accent and vocabulary.
  30. ^ A former agent of Alfred Heurteaux, recruited in 1941. Oscar was sheltered in Paris by Jean Badré (Paul’s brother). He was caught in a Gestapo mousetrap on Christmas Day 1943, shot while trying to escape, tortured, then deported to Germany. He died in 1945, after the liberation, his German-flagged ship being accidentally sunk by the RAF.
  31. ^ Jean Bezy, Le SR Air, éditions France Empire, 1979, p.118.
  32. ^ Saint-Exupéry asked him the following question: Why, when we stand in front of a mirror, do we see our right arm represented by the left arm in the image, and vice versa, but not our head in place of our feet? They invoked Riemann, Lobachevsky and Gauss, without finding a satisfactory answer. On July 31st, Saint-Exupéry's plane disappeared off the coast of Marseille, probably shot down by a German fighter (Paul Badré, "Survol," Versailles, 1971, p.281).
  33. ^ They were escorted by 48 Thunderbolt fighters. Simultaneously, 72 American bombers were attacking the bridge of Tarascon.
  34. ^ His planes, in waves of three (instead of six previously), gained altitude and dived sharply just before the bombing, to limit their exposure to anti-aircraft guns. The 2/52 squadron also bombed the island of Ratonneau.
  35. ^ During a mission in the Apennine Mountains, their squadron suffered ten minutes of Flak fire. On August 25, during a bombing near Bologna, an artillery shot was deflected by his co-pilot's knee, which saved him from receiving it directly in the head. In Rome, Pope Pius XII received him along with ten other French soldiers for a private audience at the Vatican City.
  36. ^ The MIST was commanded by Albert Mirlesse, one of the creators of the Fighter Squadron 2/30 Normandie-Niemen, active alongside the Soviets between 1942 and 1945.
  37. ^ Paul Badré, Survol, Versailles, 1971, p.291.
  38. ^ Paul Badré, Survol, Versailles, 1971, p.293.
  39. ^ During World War II, Maurice Claisse was the first Frenchman to fly a jet plane, in 1943 at the Royal Aircraft Establishment in Farnborough, when he participated in the development of the prototype Gloster E.28/39.
  40. ^ Journal officiel de la République française du 10 octobre 1948 [5]
  41. ^ He was responsible for the factories in Suresnes, Saint-Nazaire, Nantes, Rochefort, Bordeaux, and Châteauroux. He traveled to the USA to negotiate with the executives of Lockheed Corporation and Douglas Aircraft Company (Paul Badré, "Survol," Versailles, 1971, p.308).
  42. ^ He visited the United States several times at the invitation of Beechcraft and Rocketdyne, who showed him the prototypes of the F-1 rocket engine commissioned by NASA. In 1962, he obtained from the US Air Force the management of the Châteauroux factory, next to the NATO air base (Paul Badré, Survol, Versailles, 1971, p.325-326). He recruited Robert Masson as his sales director.
  43. ^ General Puget, president of Sud-Aviation, decided to absorb Sferma in 1965. As president of Maroc-Aviation, Badré was welcomed into the kingdom by General Oufkir (who was assassinated after the failed 1972 coup attempt against King Hassan II of Morocco). Maurice Papon, who succeeded Puget as president of Sud-Aviation during the Ben Barka scandal, was replaced after May 68 by Henri Ziegler. Paul Badré was allowed to retire in 1969, while Ziegler marketed the Concorde and founded the Aérospatiale, ancestor of Airbus and Ariane (Paul Badré, Survol, Versailles, 1971, p.328-330).
  44. ^ Who’s who : Paul Badré (1906-2000) [6]
  45. ^ "Paul Badré, BNF". Retrieved 2021-08-09.
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