• Operation Postmaster (1942)

Date of birth:

December 28th, 1907 (Antwerp/Antwerpen, Belgium)

Date of death:

September 5th, 1988 (Bern/Bern, Switzerland)

Service number:

182267

Nationality:

Belgian

Louis Franck, a Belgian banker born in 1907, won a silver medal at the Ice Hockey European Championships in 1927. He began his career at the National Bank of Belgium before being seconded to the Bank of England in the 1930s. His talent soon brought him to Samuel Montagu & Co., where he would later transform the firm into one of London’s leading merchant banks.

After the German occupation of Belgium in 1940, he masterminded the daring evacuation of the Belgian central bank’s gold and silver reserves, transporting them by barge across the North Sea to Britain. Once in London, the bullion was secured in Montagu’s vaults.

Franck then joined the Special Operations Executive (SOE), where he became one of the most active financial operatives in occupied Europe. He oversaw clandestine payments to resistance networks, ensuring that underground movements had the resources to fight. His wartime networks later proved invaluable in rebuilding postwar financial flows when exchange controls restricted international transfers. He relinquished his command on 1 August 1945.

After 1945, Franck expanded Montagu’s bullion trade and founded the Louis Franck Scholarship to back young British bankers with international training. He also represented Belgium with Sailing at the 1948 Summer Olympics.

Franck retired to Gstaad in the early 1970s and died in 1988.

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Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Rank:

Temporary Colonel

Unit:

SO(M), Special Operations Executive (SOE), British Government

Awarded on:

November 29th, 1945

"Col. FRANCK was from 20 December 1944 to 16 Apr 1945 Acting Commander, and from 17 April 1945 to May 1945 Commander, of all British military formations charged with special operations behind enemy lines in the Mediterranean theatre of war. During his above period of command, and the preceding period of four months when he was second-in-command of this large specialist formation, Col. FRANCK has displayed most outstanding ability, a vigorous and imaginative outlook; and an exceptional capacity for swift and efficient reorganisation of the composite and specialist forces he commanded, to meet the changing strategic situation.

His tastes included the special training and administrative aspects, as well as the operational direction in conjunction with Army and Army Group commanders under the Supreme Allied Commander, Mediterranean, of the British agencies responsible for clandestine operational activity in enemy occupied territory, including particularly the organisation and material support of patriot resistance movements.

The success of the extensive operations, which have made so valuable a contribution to the Allied Victory in the Mediterranean theatre, and particularly in ITALY has been greatly enhanced by the inspiring quality of Col. FRANCK's leadership.

Signed Chief of Staff A.F.H.Q"

• - LETT, B.G., Ian Fleming and SOE's Operation POSTMASTER, Pen & Sword Military, 2012.
  - MID Recommendation
  - The London Gazette 14-6-1945
  - The London Gazette 3-8-1945
  - HS 9/538/2

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Operation Postmaster (1942)