page_title: Arthur Steele (SOE agent)
section_title: Special Operations Executive
hierarchical_section_title: Arthur Steele (SOE agent) / Special Operations Executive
caption_attribution_description: English: 1939-1945 War Cross (France) Reverse Français&#160;: Croix de Guerre 1939-1945 (France) Revers
context_page_description: Arthur Steele, was a British soldier who joined Special Operations Executive to operate in occupied France during the Second World War as a wireless operator carrying out sabotage and spying missions until he was taken prisoner. He was tortured for information unsuccessfully by the Gestapo and subsequently killed by the SS.
context_section_description: Steele commenced training at Wanborough Manor near Guildford in the autumn of 1942 and participated in his SOE initial security course from 5 October 1942 until 30 October 1942.  He was classed as "exceptionally keen and conscientious" and signed the Official Secrets Act on 16 November 1942. Steele was commissioned on 1 January 1943 as second lieutenant on the General List with service number P/263403. Suffering quite serious illness he was hospitalised for several weeks in Oxford after Christmas 1942. On discharge from hospital he married Isabelle Bowhill in Watford in March 1943. Steele completed his SOE training to join SOE F Section networks and was promoted acting lieutenant effective 19 June 1943 and lieutenant on 1 July 1943.
  Steele was parachuted into France by No. 161 Squadron RAF on an SOE special duties mission on 19 June 1943, to act as network radio operator for the "MONK" network run by Charles Skepper who worked under the code name "Bernard" in the Marseille district. His code name was "Waiter" or "Laurent" and he was using the cover name Arthur Saulnier and later Arthur Clermont. He was active in the Barjols area where he lodged with the manager of a gasoline station.  Steele installed six transmitters in the hills around Barjols and Saint-Martin-de-Pallières in places only accessible to knowledgeable local people.  Each day from July 1943 to March 1944 he made contact with London passing and receiving about 400 messages. Steele arrange for a new agent Eliane Plewman to be parachuted in to Jura to join their team on the night of 13–14 August 1943. On several occasions Italian and German intelligence teams tried to locate the source of the radio signals but they had no effective local guides and were unable to reach his location on each attempt. The MONK circuit were able to carry out repeated acts of sabotage with explosives parachuted in from British bombers, (see article on Charles Skepper).  In early March 1944 due to local changes he had to leave Barjols to join the group in Marseille.
caption: Reverse of the 1939–1945 War Cross
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