{{misleading|date=August 2012}}{{Infobox military unit |unit_name = Réseau AGIR |image = V-1 1944 - Typical Ski Site.jpg |image_size = 300px |caption = AGIR provided HUMINT on V-1 flying bomb "ski sites", e.g., some had launch ramps ("P", bottom),{{r|Gurney}} here Maisoncelle.{{r|Bauer}}{{Failed verification|reason=Neither Bauer nor Zaloga identify the image site as "Maisoncelle".|date=May 2013}} In 1974, the "Maison-Ponthieu site" still had the treelines and ski-shaped buildings depicted in this diagram.{{Rp|6}} |dates = began 1941{{Citation needed|reason=This information was obtained from the Michel Hollard WIKIPAGE & is also at the fr.wikipedia.org WIKIPAGE FOR Réseau AGIR|date=May 2013}} |country = Occupied France |allegiance = Allies of World War II |type = French Resistance |role = Human intelligence (espionage) |size = >100[1] informants, a few agents{{Citation needed|date=May 2013}} }}
The Réseau AGIR ({{lang-en|ACT Network}}) was a World War II espionage group founded[2] by French wartime resister Michel Hollard that provided human intelligence on V-1 flying bomb facilities.
Intelligence was collected every 3 weeks{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}} directly from volunteer informants.
Hollard smuggled information to the British military attaché in Bern, Switzerland, from Occupied France making ninety-eight trips from 1941 through February 1944 when he was betrayed and arrested.{{r|Jeffery}} After a September 7, 1943, Ultra intercept identified that an agent tasked with gathering V-weapon intelligence had been captured, Réseau AGIR member Olivier Giran was captured and executed in 1943.{{r|Jones}}
On 5 February 1944, Michel Hollard and 4 other AGIR agents (including Henri Dujarier) were arrested during a cafe meeting on the Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Denis{{Citation needed|reason=unsourced info from fr.wikipedia.org/Réseau AGIR WIKIPAGE|date=May 2013}} (Hollard received the "bath treatment" (torture) by the Milice.){{r|Jones}}{{Verify source|reason=Does Most Secret War specifically name the "Milice"?|date=May 2013}}
V-1 espionage
An AGIR railway engineer at Rouen{{Citation needed|reason=This information was previously on the Michel Hollard WIKIPAGE|date=May 2013}} reported in 1943 unusual constructions in Upper Normandy, and Michel Hollard's report of September 1943 to the British Secret Intelligence Service identified six V-1 flying bomb facilities: "{{sic|Bonnetot}} le Faubourg, {{sic|Auffray}}, Totes, Ribeaucourt, Maison Ponthieu and Bois Carré".{{r|AfterTheBattle}} A more detailed report in October about Bois Carré claimed it had "a concrete platform with centre axis pointing directly to London".{{r|Jones}} AGIR reconnoitered 104 V-1 facilities and helped pinpointing{{Verify source|reason=Geolocation of WWII geographical intel was by photoreconnaissance, not HUMINT.|date=May 2013}} the Watten bunker, the first V-2 launching site.{{r|Jeffery}} AGIR also provided sketches of V-1 launching sites such as one by André Comps of Bois Carré ({{lang-en|square woods}}) labeled "La position de Maisons" and B2.{{r|Jones}} Hollard had the site infiltrated by Comps, who copied "the blueprints"{{Rp|3}}—a copy of the compass swinging building blueprint and the Bois Carré sketch were published in 1978.{{r|Jones}}
Post-war
AGIR agents received various British and French military awards (including Hollard's DSO for V-1 espionage),[4] and Hollard's biographies provide AGIR history.[5] In 2009, Joseph Brocard was the last surviving AGIR participant.[6]
References
Citations
1. ^{{harvnb|Lee|2001}} 2. ^{{cite web |language=French |title=Michel Hollard: Heros de la Resistance |url=http://www.michel-hollard.com |accessdate=2010-02-09 }} 3. ^{{cite web |title=V1, V2 & V3 |url=http://www.christianch.ch/history/v1_v2_v3.htm |publisher=christianCH.ch |accessdate=2010-02-11 |language=German}} 4. ^{{cite book |author= |year=1945 |title=Distinguished Service Order citation for Michel Hollard|quote=Hollard, at great personal risk, reconnoitered a number of heavily guarded V1 sites and reported on them with such clarity that models were constructed which enabled effective{{ref|1}} bombing to be carried out.}} 5. ^{{harvnb|Martelli|1960}} 6. ^{{cite web |title=Last remaining member of resistance network dies |url=http://www.rfi.fr/actuen/articles/110/article_2898.asp |publisher=Radio France Internationale |accessdate=2010-02-09}} 7. ^{{cite book |last=Bauer |first=Eddy|year=1972|origyear=1966 |title=Illustrated World War II Encyclopedia |location= |publisher=H. S. Stuttman Inc. |isbn=0-87475-520-4 |pages=2059, 2068 |volume=Vol 15 |quote={{quotation needed|date=May 2013}}}} 8. ^{{Cite book |last=Gurney |first=Gene (Major, USAF) |year=1962 |title=The War in the Air: a pictorial history of World War II Air Forces in combat |location=New York |publisher=Bonanza Books|page=184|quote=The launching ramp (P) had a double track enclosed in concrete walls.}} 9. ^{{cite book|last=Jeffery|first=Keith|title=MI6 : the history of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909-1949|year=2010|publisher=Bloomsbury|location=London : New York|isbn=978-0-7475-9183-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_bZZIVf5YxAC&pg=PA535#v=onepage&q&f=false }} 10. ^{{cite book |last=Jones |first=R. V. |authorlink=Reginald Victor Jones |year=1978 |title=Most Secret War: British Scientific Intelligence 1939-1945 |location=London |publisher=Hamish Hamilton |isbn=0-241-89746-7 |pages=300, 362–3|quote=at Bonnetot le Fauborg [Comps] succeeded in copying the plans of every building at the Bois Carré site}} (p. 362)
[7][8][9][10] }}
Bibliography
{{refbegin|60em}}
{{cite book |last=Lee |first=Bruce |year=2001 |title=Marching orders: the untold story of World War II |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CAN54NcnjcMC&pg=PA226 |accessdate=2010-02-11|ref=harv}}
{{cite book |language=French |last=Martelli|first=George|title=Agent extraordinary: the story of Michel Hollard, D. S. O., Croix de guerre|publisher=Collins |oclc=1349946|ref=harv |year=1960}}
{{refend}}{{DEFAULTSORT:Reseau Agir}}
4 : Spy rings|French Resistance networks and movements|Operation Crossbow|World War II espionage