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- Francis Alfred Suttill DSO (born, France, 17 March 1910 – executed, c. 23 March 1945), code name Prosper, was an agent of the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) organization in World War II. Suttill was the creator and organiser (leader) of the Physician or Prosper network (or circuit) in and around Paris, France, from October 1942 until June 1943. The purpose of SOE was to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in occupied Europe and Asia against the Axis powers, especially Nazi Germany. SOE agents allied themselves with French Resistance groups and supplied them with weapons and equipment parachuted in from England. Under Suttill's leadership the Prosper network was SOE's most important network in France, notable for its rapid growth, wide circle of contacts and collaborators, and the geographical reach of its operations "from the Ardennes to the Atlantic." The fall began in April 1943 and was as fast as its rise. The network was too large, diverse, and security too lax. The Germans penetrated and used Prosper for their own purposes. The Air Operations officer for Prosper, Henri Déricourt, would later be accused of being a double agent for the Germans. Maurice Buckmaster, the leader of the French section at SOE's London headquarters, failed to recognize clear signs that the Germans had infiltrated Prosper. In what has been called SOE's "catastrophe of 1943," Suttill was captured by the Germans on 24 June 1943 and later executed. By the end of August 1943, the Germans had captured many of the nearly 30 SOE agents associated with him and hundreds of local French people working with or cooperating with SOE. Many were killed, executed, or died in concentration camps. (en)
- Francis Alfred Suttill , né le 17 mars 1910 à Mons-en-Barœul (Nord), mort le 23 mars 1945 à Sachsenhausen (Allemagne) est, pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, un agent secret britannique du Special Operations Executive, section F. À la tête du réseau action Prosper-PHYSICIAN, il mène d'octobre 1942 à juin 1943 des actions de soutien à la Résistance en France, zone Nord. Arrêté par les Allemands, déporté, il fut finalement exécuté au camp de concentration de Sachsenhausen. (fr)
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- Prosper was magnificent, strong, young, courageous and decisive, a kind of Ivanhoe; but he should have been a cavalry officer, not a spy. (en)
- The truth is that Prosper's downfall, tragic as its consequences were, was brought on in spite of their bravery by the agents' own incompetence and insecurity...The real wonder is not that Suttill and his friends were caught, but that it took so long for so many Germans to catch them. (en)
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- Francis Alfred Suttill , né le 17 mars 1910 à Mons-en-Barœul (Nord), mort le 23 mars 1945 à Sachsenhausen (Allemagne) est, pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, un agent secret britannique du Special Operations Executive, section F. À la tête du réseau action Prosper-PHYSICIAN, il mène d'octobre 1942 à juin 1943 des actions de soutien à la Résistance en France, zone Nord. Arrêté par les Allemands, déporté, il fut finalement exécuté au camp de concentration de Sachsenhausen. (fr)
- Francis Alfred Suttill DSO (born, France, 17 March 1910 – executed, c. 23 March 1945), code name Prosper, was an agent of the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) organization in World War II. Suttill was the creator and organiser (leader) of the Physician or Prosper network (or circuit) in and around Paris, France, from October 1942 until June 1943. The purpose of SOE was to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in occupied Europe and Asia against the Axis powers, especially Nazi Germany. SOE agents allied themselves with French Resistance groups and supplied them with weapons and equipment parachuted in from England. (en)
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