World War II Database

Contributor: Alan Chanter

ww2dbaseBorn Violette Reine Elizabeth Bushell in Paris, France, daughter of a British Army driver and a French dressmaker, Violette attended a school in Brixton, South London, England, United Kingdom and subsequently worked as a shop assistant of a department store in Brixton. In early 1940 Violette joined the Women's Land Army but soon changed her employment to work in an armament factory. In July she met French Foreign Legion non-commissioned officer Étienne Szabo, and after a 42 day whirlwind romance the couple were married just days before Étienne Szabo's unit was posted overseas.

ww2dbaseWhen Étienne Szabo was killed during the great 1942 tank battle at El Alamein in Egypt, Violette Szabo vowed to devote her life to killing as many Nazis as possible. In July 1943 she volunteered to join the Special Operations Executive; was accepted and began her tough training to become an agent for covert missions in occupied France. Her first mission, in April 1944, which she completed, was to act as courier to Philippe Liewer, whose resistance network in the Rouen area of France had been uncovered by the German Gestapo organization. She was to check whether one of the Prosper network sub-chains had been compromised. Dropped by parachute near Cherbourg, she travelled to Rouen and on to Dieppe before flying back to England by Lysander bringing back much useful information.

ww2dbaseHer second mission occurred in early June 1944, just two days after the D-Day invasion of Normandie, France. Again she was parachuted back into France as a part of a four-man team with the intention of liaising with Maquis resistance groups in order to disrupt German communications. But shortly after landing, while in the company of French resistance fighter Jacques Dufour and Jean Bariaud, their car ran into a German roadblock. With exceptional courage Szabo and Dufour laid down covering fire to allow the unarmed Bariaud to escape. Szabo and Dufour then retreated to a nearby wood, exchanging fire with the pursuing enemy troops. Unfortunately, Szabo had suffered an ankle injury during her training and during the chase it gave way, forcing her to a standstill. With just 90 rounds for her Sten submachine-gun (qv) she engaged in a firefighting with some forty Germans in a heroic bid to allow her companions to escape. Eventually she was overwhelmed and captured. Interrogated and tortured by the Gestapo in Paris she was moved to the notorious disease-ridden Ravensbrück concentration camp for women, north of Berlin, Germany where she and other starving inmates were compelled to work as forced labourers. Once, during the daily roll-call she even stepped forward and, instead of giving her name, performed a rendition of the show tune "Lambeth Walk". She was executed at the camp on the 5 February 1945 aged just 23.

ww2dbaseHer heroism saw her become the second woman to be awarded the George Cross, the highest honour given to civilians, which was bestowed posthumously on 17 December 1946; her citation stating that while she was brutally tortured she never surrendered any significant information. Her exploits are remembered in the 1958 film, "Carve Her Name with Pride", starring Virginia McKenna and based on the 1956 book of the same name by R. J. Minney.

Violette Szabo Interactive Map

Photographs

Violette Szabo Timeline