I came across this tweet last week. The name Violette Szabo seemed vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t have said who she was. The rest of these incredible stories of bravery and sacrifice were completely unknown to me.
The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organization whose mission was to conduct espionage, sabotage, and reconnaissance, and to aid local resistance efforts.
The descriptions from The Illustrated London News article are transcribed below.
Andrée M. Borrel
A young French student and the first woman to be parachuted into Occupied France (in the autumn of 1942). She worked for the British officer in charge of the Paris region, technically his courier; in fact she assisted at parachute receptions, attacks on railways and was an expert on explosives. Captured in May, 1944, she was taken to Natzweiler, where she was murdered by injection. She was twenty-four.
Denise Bloch
Worked in various French resistance movements and managed to escape to England when the Gestapo grew too hot on her track. Trained as a wireless operator, she dyed her hair and returned by boat to France in the spring of 1944. She was captured two months later and sent to Ravensbrueck in August 1944 and was shot there at the end of January 1945. She was twenty-nine.
Nora Inayat-Khan
Went to France in June 1943 as a W/T operator in the Paris region. Arrived when large-scale arrests were taking place but refused to return to England. After capture she twice tried to escape from Avenue Foch, the Gestapo H.Q. Known to every member of the Paris Gestapo as "Madeleine" and the pluckiest woman to pass through their hands. Shot at Dachau in September 1944. She was thirty.
“Enemy of the Reich: The Noor Inayat Khan Story" is currently streaming on PBS Passport.
Muriel Byck
Young and pretty with delicate features, she became engaged to an American whom she met during training. parachuted into France, she worked as a W/T operator. She was suddenly taken ill with a cerebral haemorrhage and died in a local hospital. She was buried in a civilian cemetery at Romorantin, where her grave was carefully tended and covered in flowers by the French. She was twenty-five.
Yolande Beekman
Married a few months before going out to France as a wireless operator. She worked in the important region of St. Quentin under a Canadian officer. Lived on a farm and was greatly loved by her French friends for her cheerfulness and courage. She was shot in the head in the shadow of Dachau crematorium, kneeling against a mound of earth and holding the hand of one of her unfortunate companions, in September, 1944. She was thirty-two, and was awarded the Croix de Guerre.
Violette Szabo
Posthumously awarded the George Cross. Went to France in the summer of 1943 to act as a courier to an officer on a short liaison mission and returned to England with him. Parachuted into France on her second mission, just after D-day, she was caught with her companions in an ambush a few days after her arrival, open warfare having broken out in the area. She fired her Sten to the last round before being captured. She was moved from Paris to Ravensbrueck in the company of Lilian Rolfe and Denise Bloch, from whom she was never parted. Full of initiative and courage she made plans for escape, but these never materialized, for she was shot with her companions standing against a wall which separated the crematorium from the camp. She was twenty-three.
Eliane Plewman
Married to an Army captain, she was a brilliant young woman used to social success. Parachuted into France in July 1943, to be the assistant of the British officer working the Marseilles region. After a very active period of work she was arrested in April 1944 in Marseilles. After months in prison in Karlsruhe she was taken to Dachau and was shot with her companions in the early morning of September 13, 1944. She was twenty-six and was awarded the Croix de Guerre.
[The photo in The Illustrated London News is in error, btw. This is the correct photo of Eliane Plewman]
Diana Rowden
An officer in the W.A.A.F., she was fair-haired and blue-eyed. Worked as a courier and was arrested following a denunciation. Passed through various French prisons and was sent to the civilian gaol at Karlsruhe and taken from there to the men's camp at Natzweiler. Seen by various prisoners in the camp and recognized as English by her bravery; she tied a tartan ribbon in her hair. Murdered by injection in the prison crematorium in July, 1944. She was twenty-nine.
Vera Leigh
Worked before the war as a milliner in Paris. Went to France in the summer of 1943 to work as a courier to a British officer she had know in Paris before the war. She posed as a milliner and carried an adapted hat-box. Arrested at the end of November, 1943, at a rendezvous with some members of her circuit, she was taken to Natzweiler with Andrée Borrel and Diana Rowden, where she was murdered by injection. She was forty.
Cicely Lefort
Aged forty-four, she was married to a well-known French surgeon. She escaped from France and trained as a courier and was landed in France by aircraft in June, 1943. She worked in the South of France which she knew well. Arrested early in 1944 when the house where she lived was searched. Sent to Ravensbrueck, and when her health broke down and she was incapable of further work, she was sent to the gas chamber in March, 1945.
Lilian Rolfe
A quiet intelligent girl used to comfort and the good climate of South America. Went to France just before D-Day as a W/T operator to a British officer in the Poitiers region. Captured in July 1944. Taken to Ravensbrueck in September, then sent to an outside camp in East Prussia, where heavy work reduced her health until, too weak to walk, she was brought back to Ravensbrueck in January, 1945 and shot a few days later. She was thirty.