Violette Szabo at AllExperts

Violette Szabo
Violette Reine Elizabeth Bushell Szabo,G.C.,M.B.E.,CdG (June 26,1921 – c.February 5,1945) was aWorld War II secret agent.
Violette Szabo was the daughter of aFrench mother and anEnglish father, born Violette Bushell inParis, France. She was a secret agent inOccupied France. Her wartime activities were dramatised in the filmCarve Her Name with Pride, based on the book of the same name byR.J. Minney. Her spymaster during her time in theSpecial Operations Executive (SOE) wasLeo Marks, who gave her what is now thought of as the definitive World War IIcode-poemYours.
In1940, Violette married Etienne Szabo, a French officer of Hungarian descent. Shortly after the birth of their only child, Tania, he was killed at theBattle of El Alamein. This was the event that caused Violette to offer her services to the SOE. Parachuted into France by the SOE, nearCherbourg she reorganized a resistance network that had been smashed by the Germans. She led them in sabotaging bridges and her reports to SOE headquarters on the factories producing war materials for the Germans were extremely important to establish bombing targets.
She returned to England and quickly was sent back toLimoges in France where she coordinated the localMaquis to sabotage German communication lines in preparation forD-Day.
She was captured by German soldiers, most likely from the 1st battalion of the Deutschland regiment, around mid-day on the 10th of June, 1944, near Salon-la-Tour, while they were searching for one of their missing officers. In R.J. Minney‘s biography of her, she is described as putting up fierce resistance with herSten gun. German documents of the incident record no injuries or casualties to German soldiers. She was transferred to theSD inLimoges.
She was interrogated undertorture, then sent toRavensbr眉ck concentration camp where she was forced into hard labour and suffered terribly from malnutrition and exhaustion.
Violette Szabo was executed by the Germans on or aboutFebruary 5,1945 and her body disposed of in thecrematorium. At Ravensbr眉ck, three other female members of the SOE were executed by the Germans:Denise Bloch,Cecily Lefort, andLilian Rolfe.
Szabo was the second woman[1] to be awarded theGeorge Cross; this was awarded posthumously onDecember 71946. TheCroix de Guerre was awarded by the French government in1947. As one of the SOE agents who died for the liberation of France, Sub-lieutenant Szabo is listed on the "Roll of Honor" on theValen莽ay SOE Memorial in the town ofValen莽ay, in theIndre depart茅ment.
The Violette Szabo GC Museum is in "Cartref", Tump Lane,Wormelow Tump,Herefordshire, HR2 8HN, England.