PARIS: French secret agent Robert “Bob” Maloubier, a sabotage specialist for Winston Churchill’s Special Operations Executive during World War II, has died at the age of 92, his wife said on Tuesday.

“His final battle was against his illness and he fought to the end,” widow Marie-Helene France said, adding that Maloubier died late on Monday. Maloubier was a key asset for the SOE, set up in 1940 by prime minister Churchill to carry out spying and sabotage missions behind German lines.

“Bob”, as he was known by his British handlers, twice parachuted into occupied France, once the day after D-Day, and had a string of narrow escapes from capture by the Nazis. One of his missions was designed to help convince the Germans that the D-Day landings would take place at Calais instead of Normandy. “The war for me represented the best years of my life, because I survived,” he said last year.

Born on Feb 2, 1923 in a chic suburb outside Paris, Maloubier was recruited by the British while he was attempting to reach London via Algiers at the age of 19.

Published in Dawn, April 22nd, 2015

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