They were not expected to carry out acts of sabotage or to join in guerilla operations, though there were exceptions. Odette Sansom returned to the UK and in 1945, she became the recipient of a MBE and the year after, she received the George Cross. (Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images). Stafford, David. Her conditions only improved in December 1944, when she was moved to a ground floor cell. She wrote to the War Office indicating that she had lived in Boulogne for four years and that she knew the area well. Mahoney, M.H. 1936). Her first mission was to set up a wireless operation at Auxerre. Both Churchill and Sansom were therefore retained in Fresne and frequently interrogated for another eight months. 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. She had a convent education and was considered difficult, perhaps because of her illnesses. The journalist summed up the experience: Everyone remembers that Odette had her toe-nails torn out by the Gestapo. They hoped that this story would help Around February 5th 1945 Violette Szabo was executed by a shot in the back of her head aged just twenty three. When she did, he pulled back the material and pressed a red-hot poker to her spine. Yet she was a trained killer. Its agents were mainly tasked with sabotage and subversion behind enemy lines. she married Roy Sansom, a hotel worker, in 1931. I won't let them have me." Mrs Odette Marie Celine Hallowes (see Sansom) (28 Apr 1912- 13 Mar 1995). As a result she was recruited by the Special Operations Executive In their striped uniforms, with bristling hair on their shaved heads, Sansom and the other women had to stand at attention for two to six hours until the count was complete. She was captured, interrogated and tortured, and in July 1944, sent to Ravensbrck concentration camp in Germany. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. She was treated harshly, and was once kept in the dark on her own for three months and 11 days. She was captured by the Gestapo and sent to Ravensbruck concentration camp, but survived the war. The infirmary doctor gave her an injection and she was returned to her cell. Since Sansom (code name "Lise") spoke French, she could plan and execute the night parachute resupply drops and arrange for secret transportation of the agents. Each country, including France, had its own section in London. "And this is Fritz Shren," she said, "commandant of Ravensbrck concentration camp. Odette's other companions remained at Karlsruhe until September when they were taken to Dachau concentration camp. Yet, only one of their answers Epcot's "Frozen Ever After" overlapped. In 1951, her home was burgled and the George Cross stolen. She had already made three unsuccessful attempts to get to France. "How do you feel?," the interrogator asked. The couple moved They would later have Lily in 1934 and Marianne in 1936. She was subjected to torture. This act of selfless bravery saved him from interrogation but it was the start of Sansom's ordeal. At one point toward the end of the war, she witnessed an instance of cannibalism of a dead inmate by starving prisoners. As a child she contracted serious illnesses which blinded her for three and a half years, as well as polio, which resulted in her being bedridden for months. Most online reference entries and articles do not have page numbers. Despite, Odettes suspicions, his involvement led to her arrest. Wartime heroine of the French resistance Odette Churchill (1912 - 1995) at home in Hampshire, 15th February 1947. Women also died from malnourishment, overwork, exposure, lethal injections or obscene experimental surgery. 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 was to land on the Mediterranean coast and work her way north, where SOE hoped to establish a new circuit. But, eventually, the camp was overrun, and she won her freedom as the Camp commandant tried to use her as a hostage. On May 26, 1943, Sansom was taken to the headquarters of the German security service. Held by the Gestapo. //
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