George Reginald Starr
Lieutenant-Colonel George Reginald Starr DSO MC (6 April 1904 – 2 September 1980), code name Hilaire, was a British mining engineer and an agent of the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) organisation in World War II. He was the organiser (leader) of the Wheelwright network in southwestern France from November 1942 until the liberation of France from Nazi German occupation in September 1944. The purpose of SOE was to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in occupied Europe against the Axis powers. SOE agents in France allied themselves with French Resistance groups and supplied them with weapons and equipment parachuted in from England.
George Starr DSO MC | |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Hilaire |
| Born | 6 April 1904 London, England |
| Died | 2 September 1980 (aged 76) Senlis, France |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom/France |
| Service/ | Special Operations Executive, |
| Years of service | 1940–1944 |
| Rank | Lt. Colonel |
| Unit | Wheelwright Network |
| Awards | Legion d'honneur, Medal of Freedom |
He is continually making aggressive contradictions and assertions and is the worst type of know-all, namely one who is often right and can seldom be proved wrong.
An SOE trainer on Starr
Yes, by Christ, I was a martinet. I had to be. I laughed and joked, but if somebody made a mistake, I'd cuss them. If it was serious out they went.
Starr on himself
Starr's accomplishments include building up a large network of resistance groups, carrying out a number of sabotage operations in the months leading up to the Normandy invasion on 6 June 1944, rescuing from imprisonment about 50 important resistance leaders and allied airmen shot down over France, and participation as a leader in the liberation of southwestern France from German occupation. By mid-1944 Starr had more than 20 SOE agents working for him, second in numbers only to the earlier (and defunct) Prosper or Physician network.
In the estimation of M.R.D. Foot, the official historian of the SOE, Starr was one of the half-dozen best agents of the SOE in France. He was one of only three SOE agents to be promoted to the rank of Lt. Colonel, along with Richard Heslop and Francis Cammaerts. One of the French agents of the SOE, Philippe de Gunzbourg, compared Starr as a leader to Lawrence of Arabia. Starr's wartime record was not, however, without controversy. He had a confrontation with Charles de Gaulle after the liberation of France, and one of his agents, Anne-Marie Walters, accused him of permitting the torture of captured collaborators.
Starr's brother, John Renshaw Starr, was also an SOE agent.