Claude de Baissac

Claude Marie Marc Boucherville de Baissac, DSO and bar, CdeG, known as Claude de Baissac or by his codename David (born 28 February 1907, Curepipe, Mauritius; died 22 December 1974) was a Mauritian of French descent who was an agent of the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) organization in France during World War II. The purpose of SOE was to conduct espionage, sabotage, and reconnaissance in countries occupied by the Axis powers, especially Nazi Germany. SOE agents allied themselves with resistance groups and supplied them with weapons and equipment parachuted in from England.

De Baissac was the leader of an important SOE network called Scientist. He worked in the city of Bordeaux and southwestern France from July 1942 to August 1943, organizing and supplying the French Resistance with arms and gathering intelligence on blockade-running ships entering and leaving Bordeaux harbor. He flew back to England when his network was betrayed, but returned to action in Normandy from February to August 1944, carrying out sabotage missions against the Germans after the D-Day invasion of France by the allies. His elder sister Lise was also an SOE agent and worked with him.