During a mission in France she was captured and imprisoned by the Nazi's. It was there, the next night, that they were arrested by Italian troops and a German security agent. All were terrific spies and each played a key role in deceiving the Germans about D-Day. Sansom wassent to Ravensbrck concentration camp, Germany, in July 1944. On her second mission in France, Szab parachuted behind German lines the day after D-Day and established contact with resistance forces in the area. Born Odette Marie Cline Brailly on April 28, 1912, in France; died in 1995 in England; daughter of Yvonne Brailly and Gaston Brailly (a bank official and soldier); married Roy Sansom, in 1930; married Captain Peter Morland Churchill, in 1947; married Geoffrey Hallowes; children: (first marriage) Franoise (b. As well as Odette Sansom there were numerous other female spies who served in the SOE as secret agents in occupied France they include: Citation: Pettinger, Tejvan. Szabo was shot at Ravensbrck; Khan was brutally interrogated and kept in chains before she was executed at Dachau. In 1942,Odette Sansomwas invited to join 'F' Section of theSpecial Operations Executive(SOE). Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. The forgotten female WWII-era spy who stayed silent under gruesome Nazi torture Odette Sansom was the first woman to receive the UK's second-highest honor for courage under fire. You can unsubscribe at any time. Mahoney, M.H. What happened to Odette Sansom daughters? Her father was a soldier in the French Army and was killed during Her torture was carried out by a "very good-looking young Frenchman" who she believed was mentally ill.[5], Sansom testified against the prison guards charged with war crimes at the 1946 Hamburg Ravensbrck Trials, which resulted in Suhren's execution in 1950. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. This was hard enough for most prisoners and even worse for those suffering from diarrhea which was epidemic in the camps. Odette Hallowes: The WWII British Spy - Forces Network It's 1942 and German troops have occupied most of Europe. However, since she had claimed to be the wife of Peter Churchill, and the Germans were not sure of his relationship with Winston Churchill (there was none), they were reluctant to kill her. Sincerely yours, A Bad Egg. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. This would mean securing an apartment in a specified part of town in France to which the SOE might send other members, either as part of an escape team or to encourage sabotage and action by the French Resistance. https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/sansom-odette-1912-1995, "Sansom, Odette (19121995) When he assures her that he means no harm, Odette reveals to him that she and her companions have been placed under a spell by the wicked Von Rothbart. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1980. [17], In Ravensbruck Sansom was kept in a punishment block cell, on a starvation diet, and could hear other prisoners being beaten. 19471956 related to Winston Churchill. 4659. Those who managed to live for more than a few weeks or months on this diet had figured out a way to get extra food. "Now would you care to tell me Arnaud's address?," the interrogator asked. She is holding Tania Szab , daughter of SOE officer Violette Szab . [20] Bleicher occasionally appeared and suggested that they might go to concerts and visit restaurants together in Paris, in return for which he hoped she could be induced to talk. Perles, Alfred, ed. London replied immediately: "Henri highly dangerousyou are to hide across lake and cut contacts with all save Arnaud [Rabinovich]"[12][13], Churchill was in London consulting with SOE at the time of Bleicher's meeting with Sansom. A French agent working for the British during World War II, Odette Sansom left three small daughters to join the Resistance in 1942. In desperation, some women would scrape soot with their nails from the prison walls to try to blacken the roots of their gray hair hoping to look younger and be spared death during selection. Though not a British national, in February 1941 Atkins joined the French section of the SOE as a secretary. Back in her cell, Sansom ripped her prison cloth into strips to bind her feet. When Sansom would not answer, the man kneeling at her feet fastened pincers around the tip of one of her toenails and pulled. As Sansom had told him she was related to Winston Churchill he took her with him to American forces, thinking that this would help his case. Her first SOE mission was in April 1944 and in July 1944, Szabo was landed by Lysander to spy on the closed zone around the Atlantic Wall. On 16th April, 1943, Sansom and Churchill were arrested by Hugo Bleicher of Abwehr. Odette Hallowes, a British agent tortured by the Gestapo in World War II and the first woman awarded the George Cross, died at her home in Walton-on-Thames on March 13. On . In 1914 when World War I broke out, Odette's father joined the Infantry Regiment and received the Croix de Guerre and Mdaille Militaire for his bravery. I knew kindness as well as cruelty, understanding as well as brutality. Sansom also gave evidence against several ofRavensbrck's staff, which influenced their sentencing. "If I had courage, it was my grandfather's," Sansom told a London Sunday Times interviewer in 1990. Colonel Henri was a German officer who claimed he wished to work for the allies. Weapons and ammunition Walther PPK 1932); Lily (b. She was captured six months later and imprisoned in Fresne, the Gestapo prison in Paris. [5] She adopted an attitude of defiance, and found that this resulted in a degree of respect by her captors and helped her survive the imprisonment mentally. After the war, the organisation was officially dissolved on 15 January 1946. Born 16 Aug 1886 in Abbeville, France, moved to England with her daughter and died in 1960. To every question Sansom simply replied: 'I have nothing to say'. However, the date of retrieval is often important. "Life wisdom learnt in the darkness of a torture cell; Odette Hallowes, GC.," in London Sunday Times. Nancy Wake was the most decorated woman of the Second World War and by 1943 she was the Gestapos most wanted person with a 5 million-franc price tag and lived most of her life on the edge and in constant danger and her story is one of sheer bravery, strength and defiance. She arrived on July 18, 1944, two days before a now-famous failed plot by members of Hitler's inner circle to assassinate him. The purpose of these photos was to determine the exact topography of a particular section. She was awarded not only an Order of the British Empire (Member), but also a Chevalier de la Lgion dHonneur, Frances highest decoration; a George Cross, Britains second highest honor; and five other medals. Odette Sansom Hallowes was born on April 28, 1912 and died on March 13, 1995. U.S. Still Odette refused to speak. Last updated 8 February 2018. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 1993. Winston Churchill, prime minister of Great Britain, proclaimed his faith that France would be free once more, and Charles de Gaulle, leader of the Free French in London, encouraged his nation to fight back. She left her children in a convent and began training with the SOE. Sansom was aided in her endurance in prison by her early blindness and paralysis, and by the example of her grandfather, who "did not accept weakness very easily." [30], She was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire[31] and was the first of three Second World War First Aid Nursing Yeomanry members to be awarded the George Cross (gazetted 20 August 1946), all for work with the SOE. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. For example, Violette Szabo fought a rearguard action with German units before being captured near Limoges. Britain's most prestigious organizations turned out forged papers for them to carry. Odette Sansom (1912 1995) a French/British spy who worked as an SOE operative in occupied France. 19561995 Though the camp was designed to contain a maximum of 6,000 prisoners, after 1943, there were never fewer than 12,000. They summoned her to Avenue Foch 14 times, always pressing her for the whereabouts of SPINDLEs radio operator and the hideout of another circuit leader. Some had only rags to cover their feet as they were forced onto the frozen mud. A British spy who was tortured by Nazis lied to her captors to protect the man she loved, a book about her ordeal reveals. 1940 she made contact with the Free French forces based in London. tortured by the Gestapo she had all her toenails pulled out. To accomplish these tasks, couriers carried messages and money to their associates almost on a daily basis. Agents learned how to place explosive matchboxes or fountain pens where they would do the most damage. That she survived the war was almost miraculous. Sansom, an elegant, vivacious young Frenchwoman who had been living in England, detested the Nazi system, the police state, and Hitler. Odette Sansom Hallowes was born on April 28, 1912. In 1946, Odette Sansom was awarded theGeorge Cross(GC) for refusing to betray her fellow secret agents under torture. Despite a report by the camp doctor that she would not survive such conditions for more than a few weeks, after being found unconscious in her cell she was placed in solitary confinement. It is Odette, Queen of the Swans. In the series Billie (Sarah Shahi) is a housewife living in Connecticut, who has just given birth to her . ." By the end of March 1941, the first members of the French Section were in intensive training in Britain. They were married after just five weeks and Violette gave birth to their daughter Tania on 8 June 1942. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. She spent the rest of the war imprisoned in Ravensbrck Concentration Camp. Eventually, she was sentenced to death and sent to Ravensbruck concentration camp for her execution. 1804 Division St - Morris, IL -For Sale Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features. Odette Marie Cline was born on April 28, 1912 to Gaston and Yvonne Brailly who lived in Amiens, France.Her brother Louis was born a year later in 1913. Then she demanded his revolver, put it into her bag, turned and walked into the nearby village. [3][4], In the spring of 1942, the Admiralty appealed for postcards or family photographs taken on the French coastline for possible war use. He then departed Saint-Jorioz with a plan to return and for them to leave France together clandestinely by aircraft on April 18. Fraser, Antonia, ed. 82. On April 28, 1945, on her 33rd birthday, Sansom was released from Ravensbrck weighing less than 90 pounds. "I resent your hands on me or on my clothes," she said. she married Roy Sansom, a hotel worker, in 1931. Buckmaster played himself in the film, and Sansom, then known as Odette Churchill, wrote a personal message that appeared at the end of the film, which was well received. German field marshal known as the "Desert Fox" In his book Odette: The Story of a British Agent (1949), Jerrard Tickell credits Sansom's survival to "the unassailable dignity in which she enclosed herself." In some cases, hit-and-run guerilla attacks were staged. what happened to odette sansom daughters. SOE circuits were comprised of three agents: circuit leader, courier and radio operator. 1995. where are the children of Odette Sansom now. He was held as a Prisoner of War in 165 POW Camp near Abbeville and succeeded in escaping four times, although he was never able to return to the German lines. God bless you and your children. [2] She had one brother. They also learned how to kill silently. At first, Odette's instructors . He died trying to find two of his men who had gone missing after the Battle of Verdun.

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