The Polish-run intelligence network known as "F2" had the fighting spirit of an insurrection and the discipline of a military operation. It was a matrix of collaboration between Frenchmen and Poles and between amateurs and intelligence professionals. Over time the relative number of Poles declined but a small Polish team, reporting to Polish Intelligence in London, was always in the driver's seat. The lecture will explore how agents with different backgrounds (French and Polish, amateur and professional) made F2 one of the largest, most enduring and most effective of the allied intelligence networks in wartime France.
The lecture will be delivered by Franciszek Rozwadowski. An economist by profession, he has been working on F2 for a number of years. His interest began with a family connection-his father was "Pascal", F2's chief of intelligence during 1943-44. His research focuses on the network's structure and working methods. He also studied the German counterintelligence effort in occupied France and the Wehrmacht Cipher Department's (OKW/Chi's) attack on F2's encrypted radio traffic.
Photo: Leica parachuted to F2 on 7 July 1944
