Harry Alfred Rée, DSO, OBE (15 October 1914 – 17 May 1991) was a British educationist and wartime member of the

Special Operations Executive The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its pu ...

. Of the more than 400 SOE agents who worked in France during World War II,

M.R.D. Foot Michael Richard Daniell Foot, (14 December 1919 – 18 February 2012) was a British political and military historian, and former British Army intelligence officer with the Special Operations Executive during the Second World War. Biography The ...

, the official historian of the SOE, named Rée as one of the half-dozen best male agents. Harry Rée was born in England, the son of Dr. Alfred Rée, a chemist who was from a Danish Jewish family, and Lavinia Elisabeth Dimmick, the American-born great granddaughter of chemist and industrialist Eleuthère Irénée du Pont. He was educated at

Shrewsbury School Shrewsbury School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13 –18) in Shrewsbury. Founded in 1552 by Edward VI by Royal Charter, it was originally a boarding school for boys; girls have been admitted into the ...

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corpo ...

, and the

Institute of Education IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society (IOE) is the education school of University College London (UCL). It specialises in postgraduate study and research in the field of education and is one of UCL's 11 constituent faculties. Prior to m ...

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

. In 1937 he became a language master at

Bradford Grammar School Bradford Grammar School (BGS) is a co-educational independent day school located in Frizinghall, Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. Entrance is by examination, except for the sixth form, where admission is based on GCSE results. The school g ...

, and later at Beckenham and Penge County School for Boys. In 1940 he married Hetty, daughter of Eardley Vine, of

Beaconsfield Beaconsfield ( ) is a market town and civil parish within the unitary authority of Buckinghamshire, England, west-northwest of central London and south-southeast of Aylesbury. Three other towns are within : Gerrards Cross, Amersham and High W ...

. They had three children, Janet, Brian and the philosopher Jonathan. In the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Rée was registered in 1940 as a

conscientious objector A conscientious objector (often shortened to conchie) is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. The term has also been extended to object ...

conditional upon working in the

National Fire Service The National Fire Service (NFS) was the single fire service created in Great Britain in 1941 during the Second World War; a separate National Fire Service (Northern Ireland) was created in 1942. The NFS was created in August 1941 by the amalga ...

, but in 1941 re-registered for military service and was called up into the army. He later volunteered for the

, receiving a captaincy in the Intelligence Corps and the codename "César". In April 1943 he was parachuted into France and joined the Acrobat Network around

Montbéliard Montbéliard (; traditional ) is a town in the Doubs Departments of France, department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region in eastern France, about from the border with Switzerland. It is one of the two Subprefectures in F ...

. Later he became active in the Stockbroker Network around

Belfort Belfort (; archaic german: Beffert/Beffort) is a city in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in Northeastern France, situated between Lyon and Strasbourg, approximately from the France–Switzerland border. It is the prefecture of the Territo ...

. Rée spoke against

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

bombing in France, arguing that it was turning French

public opinion Public opinion is the collective opinion on a specific topic or voting intention relevant to a society. It is the people's views on matters affecting them. Etymology The term "public opinion" was derived from the French ', which was first use ...

against the Allies. He suggested that SOE agents could organise effective

sabotage Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. One who engages in sabotage is a ''saboteur''. Saboteurs typically try to conceal their identitie ...

of factories on the ground. He organised the destruction of the

Peugeot Peugeot (, , ) is a French brand of automobiles owned by Stellantis. The family business that preceded the current Peugeot companies was founded in 1810, with a steel foundry that soon started making hand tools and kitchen equipment, and the ...

factory at

Sochaux Sochaux () is a commune in the Doubs department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France. Geography Sochaux lies east of Montbéliard, and southeast of Paris. Population Inhabitants are known as ''Sochaliens''. Economy Soc ...

by convincing the local director, who was already resisting, to co-operate with SOE. The local director's sabotage was more efficient, and he managed to share tactical information on the Wehrmacht projects they had had to become involved in (especially the

V-1 V1, V01 or V-1 can refer to version one (for anything) (e.g., see version control) V1, V01 or V-1 may also refer to: In aircraft * V-1 flying bomb, a World War II German weapon * V1 speed, the maximum speed at which an aircraft pilot may abort ...

). On 5 November 1943 Rée organised a decoy attack on compressors and transformers at Sochaux to transfer the blame. Therefore, the RAF did not bomb the factory. The Germans tried to capture Rée, who escaped a Feldgendarmerie group after being shot four times and, according to his own account, had to swim across a river and crawl through a forest. He managed to reach

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

and still keep some contact with his organisation. In May 1944 he was replaced by an American officer, E.F. Floege, and returned to Britain. He starred in the film ''Now it Can be Told'' (aka '' School for Danger''), produced by the RAF Film Unit, which told the story of SOE's activities in France. The Imperial War Museum has an on-line recording of Rée praising the role of the passive supporters who also risked their lives. In 1951, Rée became headmaster of

Watford Grammar School for Boys Go Forward with Preparation , established = 1884 ( Single-sex) , type = partially selective academy , religious_affiliation = , president = , head_label = Headmaster , head = Ian A. Cooksey , r_head_label = , ...

. He appeared occasionally on the BBC Television "Brains Trust" programme. In 1962 he became the first professor of education at the

University of York , mottoeng = On the threshold of wisdom , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £8.0 million , budget = £403.6 million , chancellor = Heather Melville , vice_chancellor = Charlie Jeffery , students ...

. Rée wrote a biography of the educator and creator of Village Colleges, Henry Morris titled ''Educator Extraordinary: The Life and Achievements of Henry Morris'' (

Longman Longman, also known as Pearson Longman, is a publishing company founded in London, England, in 1724 and is owned by Pearson PLC. Since 1968, Longman has been used primarily as an imprint by Pearson's Schools business. The Longman brand is also ...

, 1973), and produced a compilation of Morris' talks and articles titled ''The Henry Morris Collection'' (

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press A university press is an academic publishing hou ...

, 1984). He also wrote The Three Peaks of Yorkshire a walking guide.Henry Morris – infed.org
/ref> He died in 1991.

Bibliography

References

External links

Index of personal papers and recordings
at the

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ree, Harry 1914 births 1991 deaths Academics of the University of York Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Du Pont family Schoolteachers from Hertfordshire English conscientious objectors Heads of schools in England British Special Operations Executive personnel British Army personnel of World War II Alumni of the UCL Institute of Education People educated at Shrewsbury School Intelligence Corps officers Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Officers of the Order of the British Empire English people of Danish descent English people of Jewish descent English people of French descent English people of American descent

Bibliography

References

Further reading

External links