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Mathilde Carré and the Interallié Network
Mathilde Carré, notoriously known as La Chatte, was remarkable for all the wrong reasons. Like most spies she was temperamental, scheming and manipulative – but she was also treacherous. A dangerous mix, especially when combined with her infamous history of love affairs – on both sides.
Her acts of treachery were almost unprecedented in the history of intelligence, yet her involvement in the ‘Interallié affair’ has only warranted a brief mention in the accounts of special operations in France during the Second World War. But what motivated her to betray more than 100 members of the Interallié network, the largest spy network in France? Was she the only guilty party, or were others equally as culpable?
Drawing on material from MI5 files, Double Agent Victoire explores the events that led to her betrayal, who may have ‘cast the first stone’, and their motivations, as well as how the lives and careers of those involved were affected. It reveals a story full of intrigue, sex, betrayal and double-dealing, involving a rich cast including members of the French Resistance, German Abwehr and British Intelligence.
‘A thrilling true tale of lust and deceit set against the backdrop of the Second World War.'
Helen Parkinson, France magazine,
‘Offers some useful lessons on the risks and practices associated with agent recruitment and handling.’ –
Hayden Peake, Studies in Intelligence,
18th April, 2019 in Military
In the summer of 1940 Churchill created the SOE on the edges of the Intelligence Service with the mission ‘to set Europe ablaze’. For obscure reasons, the official account of its activities was forbidden from being translated into French for fifty years after the war. And, due to…
25th January, 2019 in Military
When trying to make sense of the vast kaleidoscope of people, purposes and organisations that made up the French Resistance, it is often a good idea to break the country down into smaller parts. This is just what the F section of the Special Operations Executive (SOE), Churchill’…
14th January, 2019 in Biography & Memoir, Military, Women in History
In September 1940 a beautiful young woman arrived by sea plane and rubber dinghy on the shores of Scotland accompanied by two men. It was to be yet another episode in the Germans’ attempt to penetrate British defences and infiltrate spies into the country. Of all the female spies…
22nd June, 2018 in Biography & Memoir, Military, Women in History
In his book Double Agent Victoire, David Tremain uses official and previously unpublished MI5 documents to explore the betrayal of France’s Interallié network and the woman who served three masters during the Second World War, but ultimately served herself. A cat is mercurial: sh…
18th July, 2017 in Biography & Memoir, Military, Women in History
Mata Hari was a Dutch fantasist, an exotic dancer and a grand courtesan. She was shot on 15 October 1917 as a German spy but what was the basis of the case against her? She had once stated, ‘I loved men: a strongly built male brought me to a state of ecstasy.’ And that was the tr…
13th March, 2017 in Biography & Memoir, Military, Women in History
Born in Amiens as Odette Marie Celine Brailly she assumed a variety of names during the course of her war service. Yet she was universally known to both the British and French public in the post-war years simply as Odette. At a time when it was rare for a woman to step out of the…
9th November, 2016 in Military, Women in History
Forget the abundant spy fiction, espionage is not just a boys’ game. In occupied Belgium and northern France 1914-18 there were several thousand women actively working against the Kaiser’s troops. In the Second World War, women of many nations fought the Nazis, risking the firing…
