Wednesday 21 September 2022 04:56 PM The WW2 spy who led daring sabotage missions in the heart of Nazi-occupied ... trends now

The secret archive of 'Britain's bravest spy' in World War Two has been unveiled for auction - 77 years after his execution by the Nazis.

Major Francis Suttill, a criminal barrister before the war, built an underground resistance army in Nazi-occupied Europe after being parachuted behind enemy lines.

The Special Operations Executive (SOE) operative recruited hundreds of men and women to his top-secret network from his base in Paris.

SOE agents risked their lives behind enemy lines, spying on the Germans, carrying out daring acts of sabotage and arming resistance groups.

Major Suttill's network - nicknamed Prosper - destroyed a large stock of aviation fuel for German bombers attacking London, blew up a power station and derailed three trains carrying enemy troops.

The success of Prosper made him a number one target for the Gestapo who ruthlessly hunted him down.

He was eventually captured in 1943 and later executed after enduring months of torture at the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp.

Maj Suttill was executed by the Nazis in March 1945.

Now a remarkable trove of his bravery medals, letters to his wife, and personal effects are being sold by his son, Francis Suttill Jr, who has preserved them for decades.

The collection also includes a wartime supply canister that contained weapons and ammunition that was dropped by the British for Maj Suttill's network.

It was delivered to a farmer in Langlochere, near Paris, and kept for years by his son who used it as a bucket.

Decades later he offered it as a souvenir to Mr Suttill who had it expertly restored on BBC's The Repair Shop in 2020.

The archive, which has never been released to the public, is tipped to sell for £70,000 at London-based auctioneers Spink.

It includes his 'historically important' medal set which consists of a Distinguished Service Order, a 1939-1949 Star, and Defence and War medals.

More than 100 previously unseen pictures of Maj Suttill will also be sold with the bundle as well as 16 poignant letters between him and his wife, Margaret.

Mr Suttill, from Herefordshire, said: 'We felt as a family the time was right to pass the artefacts that represent the service of my late father onto their next custodian - and that this person or museum will further explore and promote his story.

'We also hope that the sale might promote the work of the amazing men and women of the SOE who served shoulder-to-shoulder with my father in their highly dangerous and important missions in Nazi-occupied France.'

Marcus Budgen, a specialist at Spink, said: 'The medals of Francis Suttill are without doubt of the highest national importance. He ranks as perhaps the most influential and successful male field agent for the SOE during the Second World War.

'What makes this collection so unique is the massive and highly poignant archive of original letters, paperwork and other material, besides the fact it is being sold by his surviving son.

'We have high hopes that it will be snapped up by a passionate collector or a national institution - as his story, service and ultimate sacrifice deserve it.'

Maj Suttill was born in France, to an English father, William, and a French mother, Blanche Marie-Louise Degrave.

He studied at Stonyhurst College, Lancs, and then read law at the University of Lille before returning to Britain where he worked as a barrister in London.