Hugo Bleicher

(1899 - 1982)

Hugo Bleicher was born in Germany in 1899. A businessman with a good knowledge of languages, he was recruited by Abwehr during the Second World War.

Based in France, he arrested Mathilde Carre and persuaded her to work as a double agent. In Paris, he posed as a colonel in German intelligence who wanted to defect to the Allies. This resulted in him being able to capture Peter Churchill and Odette Sansom in April 1943.

Working with the double agent, Henri Déricourt, Bleicher was able to infiltrate the Prosper Network. This led to the arrest of Francis Suttill, Yvonne Rudelatt, Andrée Borrel, Gilbert Norman and Jack Agazarian.

At the end of the war, Bleicher was arrested by the Dutch police in Amsterdam and was imprisoned by an Allied court. In 1954, Bleicher published his memoirs, Colonel Henri's Story.

Sources: Spartacus Educational