SOE captains in a french village

[VALERY226]

Bonjour,

Back to the forum after few months of hard work, I'm bringing a picture that I found among a huge box of photos in a little flee market. Unfortunately, it was the only of this era.


The captain on the right has a very strange beret with two eyelets behind the artillery cap badge when two more "snaps?" appear in the back.

We could observe the wings on the left chest worn at this place after a combat jump.

It is interesting to see the Forces Françaises de l'Intérieur armband (London type) worn by the man in the back.

If you have more infos, you're welcome...

Cheers

Valery

[lnijherald]

Looks like a General Service Cap to me? Great picture by the way!

Luc

[seebee1]

A very good image Valery, however what makes you believe that it is connected with Special Operations Executive? The Jump Wing on the breast of the fellow on the left would not necessarily indicate this surely. The Armband is interesting, seems the same as the pattern I will attach with my reply. This particular example came from a Jedburgh veteran some years ago. Regards, Clive.

[uscob]

Looks like a General Service Cap to me? Great picture by the way!

Luc

It is! (I mean both)

[VALERY226]

Bonsoir gentlemen,

I agrre with you, this beret looks like a GS, and I think it's a GS but little bit strange.

Have a look to the close up:


- on the left side of the bomb flame there's an eyelet (no eyelet on usual GS) ;
- two more hole at the right of the insignia
- male snaps in the back

Cheers

Valery

[byterock]

My first impression was 'Fusiliers Mont-Royal ' but the shoulder flashes are not correct.

[Dudley]

How do you know that these men are 'SOE captains'?

[VALERY226]

Bonjour,

According to the seller who removed all the pictures from the photo album in order to make much money as possible , told me that the former owner came from the center of the country. Unfortunately, no more infos.
After, SOE is my assessment, perhaps wrong.
However, here is some clues :
- geographical area of the former owner, far from the british area of operation,
- of course, the wings on the chest
- no unit insignias on the two BD (not so commonly seen for british forces in France in 1944),
- the captain on the right really looks like to captain Kenneth Yves Marcel Mackenzie.

Cheers

Valery

[force136]

Soe

Ya, my opinion is SOE. Reason, if they were anything else, they would have other insignia ie. French SAS. Remember special units were also dropped in AFTER operations or during the conclusion of operations. Some were civil administrators, SOE/SFHQ liaison, SOE sabotuers, Jedburgh teams ( which included SOE members not assigned to a Jed team ). Many pre-D-Day SOE dropped with their uniforms but did not wear them until the liberation or until they felt it was safe to do so due to the situation they found themselves in. The apparent artillery badge worn on the beret and lack of other insignia on these uniforms hints of SOE.

Ken

Bonjour,

According to the seller who removed all the pictures from the photo album in order to make much money as possible , told me that the former owner came from the center of the country. Unfortunately, no more infos.
After, SOE is my assessment, perhaps wrong.
However, here is some clues :
- geographical area of the former owner, far from the british area of operation,
- of course, the wings on the chest
- no unit insignias on the two BD (not so commonly seen for british forces in France in 1944),
- the captain on the right really looks like to captain Kenneth Yves Marcel Mackenzie.

Cheers

Valery