George Starr
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George Starr (1904-1980), born in Shropshire, was a British mining engineer and member of SOE during World War II.
After the Dunkirk evacuation, Starr joined the army and SOE recruited him for his language skills. He was given a code name Hilaire and dispatched to help French Resistance in November 1942. Starr adopted an identity of a Belgian mining engineer who had created a fortune in Congo. He was based in Castelnau and formed a resistance network dubbed "Wheelwright".
Starr spied on the German 11th tank division near Bordeaux. The group he led also cut telephone and power lines and sabotaged power stations. He managed to persuade anticommunist and communist resistance member to join forces to fight the German occupiers. One of his team was Denise Bloch.
In 1944, before the Normandy Invasion, Starr created an armed group called the "Armagnac battalion" in Toulouse. During the invasion they destroyed communication and transportation lines. When the SS Panzer division "Das Reich" tried to reinforce the German forces in Normandy, Starr's troops resisted and delayed it so it arrived too late to stop the landings.
During the Liberation Starr's group too control of Toulouse area. When Charles de Gaulle visited the area, he had a spirited argument with Starr, threatening to imprison him, until de Gaulle apparent changed his mind and shook Starr's hand.
Starr eventually returned to Britain. After the war George Starr received the award the French Legion of Honor, Croix de Guerre and military cross. He also helped to rebuild German coalmines.
Starr died in 1980.
