Anthony Brooks

Major Anthony Morris "Tony" Brooks (4 April 1922 – 19 April 2007) was a British undercover agent in World War II. He received the Distinguished Service Order, Military Cross, Croix de guerre, and Légion d'honneur for his work as a leader of a group sabotaging German reinforcements prior to and during the Normandy invasion. He later worked for the Foreign Office, and MI5 and MI6.

Parents, education
Brooks was born at Orsett, Essex. His father, Douglas, was a businessman who had been involved in intelligence work in the First World War. His parents separated when he was young, and his mother, Beryl, died when he was a teenager. He educated at Chillon College on Lake Geneva and Felsted. He spent much of his youth with relatives in France and Switzerland, and spoke fluent French.

1939
He was deemed too young to join the British Armed Forces in 1939 (he was only 17), and returned to his family in the Jura region of France, where his aunt was helping British servicemen evade capture and return to England. He found out that he was under suspicion from the Vichy regime in May 1941, and escaped to Spain, where he was arrested and interned at the Miranda de Ebro camp. After a few weeks, the British embassy arranged for his release to Gibraltar, and he made his way to England. He was rejected by MI9 and the Secret Intelligence Service also as "too young", but was recruited by the Special Operations Executive.

SOE service
After training, he parachuted back into France without a gun in July 1942, landing at St Léonard-de-Noblat, near Limoges. After recuperating from injuries sustained in a heavy landing, he was involved in setting up the "Pimento" circuit of F Section, based in Toulouse and Lyon. His own codename was "Alphonse". He worked with railway workers in southern France, and he was able to slow the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich under Heinz Lammerding from reaching the front after D-Day by derailing every train that left Marseille for Lyon at least once.

Brooks was both the youngest and longest-surviving F Section organizer started by the Special Operations Executive. He was arrested once, in July 1944, and interrogated at Montluc Prison, but his cover story was sufficiently convincing that he was released. He ended the war as a Major, and was awarded the DSO, MC, Croix de guerre and Légion d'honneur for his service.

After the war
He worked for the Foreign Office after the end of the War, spending time in the British embassy in Paris. He joined the Secret Intelligence Service MI6, serving in Sofia from 1947 to 1950, but refused a posting to Hanoi in 1952 and resigned. After spending time in France, he rejoined MI6 in 1956, and was sent to Suez. He also undertook counter-terrorist operations in Cyprus. He was later British Consul General in Geneva, working again with MI6 in Cold War counter-espionage.

Personal life . . . and death
Brooks married twice, but had no children.

He died of stomach cancer in London, aged 85.

External sources

 * Times, 22 May 2007, Obituary "Anthony Brooks: SOE agent who sabotaged German army movements"
 * Photograph of Tony Brooks on Special Forces Roll of Honour website.