For thousands of years governments have relied on spies to gather information about their enemies. WWII was no different but until the 20th century, most spies were men. During WWII, however, many women became active in the world of espionage. For this assignment you are to research and then write on the life of one of the following female spies during WWII: Yoshiko Kawashima, Hekmath Fathmy or Violette Szabo. In your report, mention how they came to be a spy, their involvement in espionage during WWII, and their fate once they were discovered. After having done research you should also provide opinion on whether or not your chosen spy actually helped the war effort for her side. Please provide a works cited to accompany your report. This response needs to be posted by 8:00am Monday May 2nd.
Kevin Xu
ReplyDeleteMr. Webber Period 6
4/27/11
Modern World History
Yoshiko Kawashima
Yoshiko Kawashima was born as the thirteenth child to the tenth Prince Su, whose name was Shanqi. He ruled as a Manchu ruler in Inner Mongolia, but was just a Japanese puppet. The Prince, Su, gave Yoshiko away to Kawashima Naniwa, the Japanese military advisor at that time, at the age of eight. He raised her as his own daughter, and she was sent to a school in Tokyo that strangely enough, taught judo and fencing. Unfortunately, however, she was raped by Kawashima Naniwa’s father, and had sexual relationships with Kawashima himself. She also had many lovers in her life, both male and female.
Yoshiko’s natural father, Su, died in 1921 when Yoshiko was 15. His concubine also committed traditional suicide, leading Yoshiko to lose interest in all issues concerning China. She still obeyed her father’s arrangements to marry a Mongolian Prince, however, but could not sustain that marriage and left him after 4 months. Throughout her life, Yoshiko was involved in many controversial scenarios. She used her privileges as a royal descent to become invited to the Forbidden city in 1928, where she befriended the empress there very quickly. The empress regarded her to be a “liberated woman,” someone who she wanted to be.
Afterwards, Yoshiko decided to join the Japanese army in Shanghai. Here, her life as an intelligence agent began. She adopted to wearing men’s clothing, like riding breeches and large black leather boots. The head of the Japanese Intelligence in Shanghai, Ryukichi Tanaka, had similar dress habits, and together the two had sexual affairs. As a result, Ryukichi Tanaka had signed Yoshiko into the Intelligence payroll, where Yoshiko began to spy for the Japanese.
Her most famous case as an intelligence agent was the persuasion of Pu Yi, former Qing emperor. He regarded her as a former royal family member and it was through their close friendship that Yoshiko convinced him to take the Emperor seat in Manchukuo, where he became one of Japan’s puppets. Unfortunately, her career was ended when one of her spurned lovers turned her in to Chiang Kai-shek, who in turn declared her a traitor. She was then tried for treason and eventually beheaded.
I would say that Yoshiko was very influential on the final impact on China. Through her dealings with many high-level officials, it is very difficult to predict any sort of outcome had she not existed. She definitely helped Japan conquer China, but Japan would not necessarily have lost if they did not have her. China and Japan were too different militarily in power, and a lot would have had to changed to alter the final outcome of the struggle between China and Japan.
"Kawashima Yoshiko (1906 - 1948) Princess, Intelligence Agent, Traitor." A Gender Variance Who's Who. Web. 27 Apr. 2011. .
Alex Ryan
ReplyDeleteMr. Webber
Modern World History Honors Period 4
4/28/11
Violette Szabo was a star operative in the British espionage service during World War Two. Born in Paris to a French mother and English father, she grew up in London and at the age of 19 married a highly decorated French officer. Only two years later, he was killed in action in the North African campaign. It was his devastating death that led her to the Special Operations Executive, the British wartime spy service that existed to organize resistance and sabotage enemy countries. It has been said that her husband’s death gave her the hatred of the enemy necessary to accept her one-in-four chances of death. After undergoing multiple interviews, she was accepted and received extensive training in paramilitary, hand-to-hand fighting, weapons, and demolitions skills, eventually becoming the best shooter in the SOE. Once she recovered from a minor training injury, she was deemed ready for her first mission: researching the strength of the Resistance in France. She parachuted into France, and after being caught by and escaping from the police twice, she managed to execute her mission properly. She was extracted successfully and went back to England to recover. At nightfall in D-Day, she again parachuted into France for what would be her final mission. Her task was to find, organize, and lead the local resistance forces to delay the arrival of German reinforcements at the coast. After successfully making contact with the Resistance, she was stopped by a surprise SS roadblock in the car with a local Resistance leader. Although her contact was able to escape, Violette twisted her ankle and was not able to join him. Grabbing a nearby submachine gun and some ammunition, she took cover in a nearby house and held off the SS troops until she ran out of bullets and collapsed. After being taken to the division headquarters, she was transferred to the Gestapo in Paris and tortured for months. Eventually, she was sent to the Ravensbrück concentration camp in northern Germany. There, along with two fellow female SOE agents, she was executed on February 5th, 1945. She was awarded the
Seeing this information, it seems unequivocally clear to me that Violette Szabo materially contributed to the Allied war effort during WWII. Sending back invaluable data during both missions, Szabo specifically contributed information about German troop positions that allowed the Allied command to plan the D-Day invasion. Even subjected to, in the words of King George VI, “continuous and atrocious torture,” she never gave up any information to the Germans, a fact that has been verified. Finally, the Resistance actions that she helped coordinate slowed down the arrival of the crack German reinforcements by more than a week, and caused them so much harm that they had to take another week to regroup. Those extra two weeks probably saved hundreds of Allied lives on the beaches of Normandy, and undoubtedly contributed to the overall success of D-Day. Overall, Violette Szabo’s actions saved lives and significantly furthered the Allied war effort.
Works Cited
Rigby, Rosemary. "The Violette Szabo Museum." The Violette Szabo Museum, 10 May 2010. Web. 24 Apr. 2011. .
Sarkar, Dilip. "Violette Szabo GC - The Unbroken Spirit." Das Reich Home Page - 2nd SS Panzer Division. 1999. Web. 24 Apr. 2011. .
Szabo, Tania. "Violette Szabo, George Cross." The Official Violette Szabo GC Site, 2008. Web. 24 Apr. 2011. .
Jake Smith
ReplyDeleteMr. Webber, Period 6
World History
April 27, 2011
Violette Szabo
Violette Szabo was born as Violette Reine Elizabeth Bushell in Paris, France on June 26, 1921. She grew up and went to school in London and when World War II began she was working at a perfume counter in a department store. Violette met her future husband Etienne Szabo at the Bastille Day parade in London in 1940. Violette was 19 and Etienne was 31 when they married after a 42- day romance. Shortly after the death of their daughter, Etienne died of chest wounds during the battle of El Alamein. Etienne died without seeing his daughter.
After the death of her husband, Violette joined the British Special Operation Executive. She passed both the fluency test in French and a series of interviews. She was then trained in night and daylight operations, escape and evasive. She was trained in hand-to-hand combat as well as German and Allied weapons use. It did not stop there; she was also trained in demolition, explosives, communications and cryptography.
In her first mission she was parachuted into German-occupied France, near Cherbourg. Going by the name “Louise,” with her team they reorganized a French Resistance network, which was formerly destroyed by the German forces. With her team they inflicted confusion and mayhem to the German forces. This mission was a complete success and she returned to England unharmed.
Violette’s second mission however was quite different. She was to fly into Limoges, France on June 7, 1944. Her mission was to sabotage German communication lines and slow down the German war effort. However en route to her destination, the car she was traveling as passenger in was gathering suspicion from German troops. Shortly after a gun battle occurred between Violette and her small team and the German troops. Her team was lucky to escape but Violette was trapped by the Germans, but still put up a strong fight, until running out of ammunition.
After capture she was transported to SD in Limoges, where she endured four days of interrogation in which she said nothing. On the fifth day she was moved the Fesnes Prison in Paris, where she endured more interrogation and torture. August 1944 after no success in getting the truth from her, she was moved to Ravensbrück concentration camp, where more than 92,000 women died. However Szabo survived.
ReplyDeleteOn February 5, 1945 Violette Szabo was executed, she was 23 years old. Szabo was the second women to receive the George Cross, an award for her willingness to die for her country. Szabo was also put on France’s “Roll of Honor.” There is also a museum, music award, book, exhibition room and blue plaque all dedicated to her. Violette Szabo, fought and died for her country.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWorks Cited
ReplyDeleteLimoges, Taken To. "Violette Szabo." Spartacus Educational - Home Page. Web. 29 Apr. 2011. .
"Violette Szabo - Master Spy - Spymuseum.com." Spymuseum.com - 300 Years of Espionage - Now Declassified!!!! Web. 29 Apr. 2011. .
Violette Szabo and Etienne Szabo. Web. 29 Apr. 2011. .
"Violette Szabo." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 29 Apr. 2011. .
Claire Nassif
ReplyDeleteMr. Webber
History, Period 4
29 April 2011
Yoshiko Kawashima, a Manchu princess, was born in Beijing as the 14th daughter to Shanqi, the 10th son of the Prince Su of the Manchu imperial family. At the age of eight, she was adopted by her father’s friend who was a Japanese Espionage agent and mercenary adventurer. Yoshiko was raised and educated in Matsumoto, Nagano, Japan by her adoptive father. At the age of 17, she attempted suicide, yet failed, and later began to wear mens’ clothing because she claimed that her adoptive father raped her. However, it is also possible that she was transgender and practiced cross-dressing.
In 1927, she married the son of a general for the Inner Mongolian Army, yet the marriage ended in divorce after two years. Kawashima went on to become a spy for Japan in China sometime before World War II. After moving to Shanghai, Yoshiko met a Japanese intelligence officer, Ryukichi Tanaka, and lived with him until he left for duty in Japan. She continued to serve as a spy for Major-General Kenji Doihara of the Japanese Army. Kawashima worked uncover in Manchuria, mostly disguised as a man- she was known for being very attractive with a bold personality. Qing Emperor Pu Yi regarded Yoshiko as part of the royal family and became a well-known figure in Manchukuo.
During the Pacification of Manchukuo, which was an attempt to quell resistance to the new formation of Manchukuo between the Anti-Japanese Volunteer Armies of Manchuria and Imperial Japanese Army, Yoshiko formed an alliance. In 1932, Yoshiko created the counter insurgency cavalry force, which involved roughly 5,000 former bandits and pursued anti-Japanese guerrilla bands. Seemingly, she had a large impact on Manchukuo as the book, Battle Cries and Lullabies: Women in War from Prehistory to the Present, said, “When her name was mentioned, it invoked victory and inspired the troops” and that she was called by some newspapers, the “Joan of Arc of Manchukuo.”
Kawashima became an extremely popular figure by appearing on radio broadcasts and recording songs. Because of her new popularity, she became less of an asset for intelligence. Also, Yoshiko became increasingly critical and vocal about Japan’s corrupt policies in Manchukuo against China. As a consequence of this, she gradually lost recognition as she faded from public awareness until she was finally arrested on November 11, 1945 in Peking by Chinese counter-intelligence officers. Three years later, Yoshiko Kawashima, a supposed Chinese citizen, was tried and executed as a traitor by the Nationalist Government of China. Kawashima has been portrayed in several films, which shows the legend she produced.
Works Cited
DePauw, Linda Grant. Battle Cries and Lullabies Women in War from Prehistory to the Present. Norman: Univ. of Oklahoma, 2000. Print.
Yamamuro, Shin'ichi. Manchuria under Japanese Dominion. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 2006. Print.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteKyla King
ReplyDeleteMr. Webber
Honors World History, Period 7
29 Apr. 2011
Women Spies during WWII: Violette Szabo
Violette Reine Elizabeth Bushell was born on June 26, 1921 in England to a French mother and a British father. She and her family moved back and forth between France and England but finally settled in Brixton, South London, England. Her ability to speak both English and French fluently would be very helpful when Violette later became an agent. She wanted to help war efforts, so in April 1940 she worked for the dig-for-victory campaign, in which British citizens were encouraged to grow as much of their own food as possible in case of German U-boat blockades. She met the French Foreign Legion soldier Etienne Szabo, married him, and had a daughter named Tania in June of 1942. Etienne was killed at the Battle of El Alamein while on duty in Africa. After her husband was killed, Violette Szabo signed up for unspecified war work with the desire to avenge Etienne. Because she was a good shot and bilingual, Violette was made an agent of the French Section of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) in July 1943. She was parachuted into France in April 1944 under the code name Louise. Her mission, which she completed successfully, was to assess the stability of local French resistance forces that had been broken up by German troops. After her return to England, she was assigned on another mission. On the night of June 7, 1944, just after D-day, Violette was sent to France again with an agent known as Anastasia. Anastasia was a local leader of the Maquis, a group of French resistance fighters. Violette and Anastasia’s car was ambushed by German troops within days of their arrival, and Violette was captured. The story of how Violette was captured varies. Some accounts state that she allowed Anastasia to escape by using only her Sten gun to hold off 400 German troops, while others say that she was unarmed and no Germans were killed. Either way, Violette acted heroically during her imprisonment. She was tortured by the Gestapo, the German secret police, but she never gave any information away to the enemy. Violette was then moved from Limoges to Paris and then to the Ravensbrück concentration camp with other prisoners by train. It was bombed by Allied aircraft, and she managed to leave the train compartment in order to get water for her fellow prisoners. Violette saved the life of prisoner Hortense Daman-Clews, a Belgian resistance fighter, while at Ravensbrück concentration camp. Violette was put to work in the concentration camp doing slave labor, and on January 26, 1945 she was executed. Violette was awarded the George Cross, the United Kingdom’s highest award for civilian bravery, in 1946. The film Carve Her Name with Pride was created in 1957 about Violette’s life. Violette died for her country and inspired hope in the people she saved. Her selfless actions during captivity helped the Allied war effort, and she will be remembered for many years to come.
Works Cited
Moss, Paul. "BBC NEWS | UK | Secret Agents' Memorial Unveiled." BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. Web. 28 Apr. 2011.
Peter, Millar. "Violette, woman at the heart of the legend." Sunday Times, The n.d.: Newspaper Source. EBSCO. Web. 26 Apr. 2011.
"Szabo, Violette." World Book Advanced. World Book, 2011. Web. 26 Apr. 2011.
"Violette: A secret story of wartime bravery; BRITISH AGENT TORTURED AND KILLED AT THE AGE OF 23" The Free Library 16 June 2002. 26 April 2011.
"VIOLETTE SZABO - HISTORY OF THIS BRITISH SOE AGENT." VIOLETTE SZABO LIFE and MUSEUM. Web. 28 Apr. 2011. "Violette Szabo - Special Operations Executive (SOE) Agents in France." Nigel Perrin - Author's Website. Web. 28 Apr. 2011.
Madison Catchpole
ReplyDeleteMr. Webber
Honors Modern World History
4/29/11
Violette Szabo
Violette Bushell was born on June 26th in France 1921. She spent her early childhood in France, but her family moved to London later. At age fourteen she became a hairdressers assistant, and later became the assistant at Woolworths, a department store. During WWII Violette met officer of the French Army, Etienne Szabo. They got married on August 21st, 1940 and soon after Etienne was sent to battle in North Africa. After giving birth to their daughter Tiana, Violette learned that her husband had been killed in battle in El Alamien. Violette was furious and wanted revenge against the Germans. She did this by joining the SOE, the Special Operations Executive. The SOE officers had doubts about Violette because she spoke French with an English accent. Her mission was to obtain information about a possible resistance in France. Despite being arrested by French police, after six weeks in France Violette returned to England successful in her mission.
In 1944 Violette returned to France and was working with Jaques Dufour, a member of the French resistance. While with Jaques, they were ambushed by a German patrol. Violette provided cover for Jaques while he escaped. Violette was captured and was taken to Limoges, then to Paris. After being tortured by the Gestapo, Violette was brought to the Ravensbruck Concentration Camp in Germany where in 1945 she was killed.
I think that Violette Szabo was not of a very large importance to the success of World War two because she didn’t do anything. All she did was save a revolutionaries life, but that revolutionary was not very important. But while she was tortured, she gave up no information about the revolutionaries or the British government. So in a way, she was somewhat helpful.
Works Cited
"Violette Szabo." Spartacus Educational - Home Page. Web. 29 Apr. 2011. .
Winters, Richard. "VIOLETTE SZABO - HISTORY OF THIS BRITISH SOE AGENT." VIOLETTE SZABO LIFE and MUSEUM. 10 May 2010. Web. 29 Apr. 2011. .
Aisin Gioro Xianyu was born in Beijing as 14th daughter to Prince Su of the Imperial Manchu family. After her father's death, She was adopted at the age of eight by her father's friend, Naniwa Kawashima, who at the time was a Japanese espionage agent. He brought her up as his own daughter and re-educating her as Japanese, adopting the name Kawashima Yoshiko. She later accused him of raping her at the age of seventeen, and went on to become a spy in China for Japan. After divorcing the son of the Inner Mongolian Army General, she moved to the foreign concession in Shanghai and met Japanese military attache and intelligence officer Ryukichi Tanaka, who utilized her contacts with the Manchu and Mongol nobility to expand his network. Before the start of the Sino Japanese War in 1937, she collected information for the Japanese and was instrumental in engineering a series of incidents that created excuses for the Japanese army to attack China and to set up a series of puppet states. When she was recalled to Japan, she continued to serve as a spy for Major- General Kenji Doihara and undertook secret missions in Manchuria often in disguise. Former Qing Emperor Pu Yi regarded Kawashima as a member of the Royal Family, enabling her to manipulate his feelings and persuading him to return to Manchuria as head of the newly Japanese- created state of Manchukuo. During her time in Manchukuo, Kawashima served as an army commander in Manchukuo and harbored dreams of restoring the Qing dynasty. However, the Japanese thwarted her plans of creating her own army for Qing restoration who saw Manchukuo as a mere puppet state and nothing more.
ReplyDeleteWhen the Japanese surrendered in 1945 and ended WWII, Manchukuo also collapsed. Two weeks after, the Kuomintang government of China arrested Kawashima. During her trial, she insisted that she was Japanese for a less harsher punishment, but the court did not admit her insistence nor did the Japanese government acknowledge her as one of their subjects. She was charged with treason and handed the death sentence in 1947. Her execution was carried out on the morning of March 25th, 1948, and she died as an executed war criminal.
ReplyDeleteHer espionage efforts during World War Two contributed to Japan's expansion into China. Her connections with intelligence officers such as Tanaka and the former emperor of the Qing dynasty Pu Yi gave Japan an extensive amount of information about China throughout the war. Even though Kawashima's effort did helped Japan to take over China, Japan's immense , powerful army and bushido ideals could have contributed to conquering parts of China such as Manchuria without her help. Even so, her dedication to her job as a spy truly impacted the war effort on her side.
Works Cited:
Lee, Lillian (1992). The Last Princess of Manchuria. William Morrow & Co.
Michaela Fisher
ReplyDeleteMr. Webber
Modern World History, Period 7/4
30 April 2011
Violette Szabo was born Violette Reine Elizabeth Bushell in Paris, France on 26 June 1921. Her mother was French and her father was English. At the age of 14, she moved to London. At the star of World War II, she was working at the perfume counter of a Woolworths on Oxford Street of Brixton.
Violette Szabo’s involvement in the war can be attributed to her relationship with a French officer of Hungarian descent named Etienne Szabo. They met at the Bastille Day parade in London in 1940. They married on 21 August 1940. Etienne returned to war, and shortly after the birth of their only child, Etienne died form chest wounds at the Battle of El Alamein in October 1942. After his death, Szabo decided to offer her services to the British Special Operations Executive (SOE). She told a fellow recruit, "My husband has been killed by the Germans and I'm going to get my own back."
To be accepted into the SOE, Szabo had to pass a series of interviews and an assessment of French language fluency. After that, she received intensive training in the night and daytime niavigation. The focus of her training was in escape and evasion, Allied and German weapons, unarmed combat, demolitions, explosives, communications, and cryptography. She became one of the few women in the force allowed to move out of housekeeping, transportation, clerical or signals tasks into actual warfare. Most SOE women worked in the field as messengers and liaison officers, known as couriers, or as wireless operators. They often provided invaluable and courageous support for the organizers. The SOE historian Professor MRD Foot described Szabo as “fiery” and amongst SOE's “outstanding characters”. She had a minor accident during parachute training that deplayed her deployment, but she entered the field on 5 April 1944. She was parachuted into German-occupied France near Cherbourg. There she had the task of gaining information about the resistance possibilities in the Rouen area. She completed her mission successfully and returned to England after six weeks.
Her second mission involved flying tot the outskirts of Limoges, France in June 1944. There, she coordinated the activities of the local Maquis, led by Jacques Dufour, in sabotaging communication lines during German attempts to stem the Normandy landings. Then, she was ambushed by a German patrol. By providing covering fire, Szabo enabled Dufour to escape. She was then captured, tortured by the Gestapo in Paris, and sent to Ravensbruk Concentration Camp in Germany. In the spring of 1945, Violette Szabo was executed.
After her death, she was awarded the Croix de Guerre, the Médaille de la Résistance,
and the George Cross. Through the inhuman torture and horrifying conditions at the concentration camp, Szabo did not give up any information about the Allied forces. Her mission at Limoges also aided the Allies greatly in planning the D-Day attack. She was an extremely brave force for the Allies, and her contribution did make a difference.
Works Cited
Sarkar, Dilip. "Violette Szabo." Dasreich.ca. 1999. Web. 30 Apr. 2011.
Simkin, John. "Violette Szabo." Spartacus Educational. Web. 30 Apr. 2011.
"Violette Szabo." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 30 Apr. 2011.
Sean Straw
ReplyDeleteWebber
7th Period
Violette Szabo was a British spy during World War II. Born in France in 1921, she went through school and was working at a shop when World War II started. She married a Hungarian Officer in 1940 who died in 1942, just after the birth of their first child. After her husbands death, she looked to help the British Intelligences at the Special Operations Executive. She was tested for fluency and began her training with SOE, working on all sorts of different tactics for surveillance. She was deployed for the first time in 1944 into Cherbourg where she worked to re-organize a French surveillance network, leading a campaign of sabotage and bomb target painting. The target painting provided helpful insight into the locations of enemy factories. Her second mission, after D-Day, was to work with the sabotage of communication lines used in the Normandy Landing coordination. However, while in a car stopped by a roadblock, she was detained. A shootout followed, ending the the capture of Violette Szabo. She was interrogated for 4 days in a department of the SS, moved to the Gestapo for interrogation and torture, and then moved to the Ravensbrück, where she was sentenced to hard work and labor. She was killed sometime in February, 1945 at the age of 23.
Her contributions to the war were helpful but not essential. While she worked to destroy communication lines and successfully conducted sabotage. However, I do not believe her contributions were essential. It is likely that had she not become a spy, America would still eventually come in to rout the German's yet again. Despite this, it is the small individual contributions that add up to a victory. As such, her work as a spy was not essential but helped Britain work to hold off the German war machine.
Works Cited:
http://www.violetteszabo.org/
http://www.nigelperrin.com/violetteszabo.htm
http://www.violette-szabo-museum.co.uk/
Violette Szabo was born on 26 June 1921 in England to an English father and French mother. She spent most of her time growing up in France, but later she moved back to London to attend Secondary School. At the age of 14 she left school to become work as a hairdresser’s assistant. During WWII, she met Etienne Szabo, a French officer. They married on 21 August, 1940. Soon they found out that Etienne was to be sent to North Africa to fight. After Violette gave birth to her daughter, she received a notice that Etienne had been killed at El Alamein, a battle in Egypt. This was the deciding factor in her decision to join the war effort; she eventually joins the SOE (Special Operations Executive) and was deployed on her first mission on 5 April 1944. Her mission was to obtain information about possible locations of French resistance and also factories producing war materials for the Germans. Despite being arrested by French police, Szabo eventually completed her mission successfully and returned to France after 6 weeks in German occupied territory. She returned shortly afterwards with Jacques Dufour to sabotage German communication lines around the time of the Normandy landings. Their vehicle was ambushed by a German patrol. Szabo provided cover for Dufour, allowing him to escape while she herself was captured when her gun ran out of ammunition. After her capture she was tortured by the Gestapo at Fresnes prison in Paris. She did not reveal any information, and was eventually moved to Ravensbrück concentration camp where she was executed in the spring of 1945. She posthumously received the George Cross, the Croix de Guerre, and the Médaille de la Résistance. The citation for the George Cross read: “Violette Szabo was continuously and atrociously tortured, but never by word or deed gave away any of her acquaintances or told the enemy anything of value.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Violette Szabo did help the Allied war effort because her work during her first mission allowed French resistance groups to cause chaos among German supply and communication lines while her reconnaissance on German factories provided bombing targets. Although not completely essential to the victory over the Axis powers, Violette nonetheless contributed to the fight against German expansion.
Works Cited
Millar, Peter. "Violette, Woman at the Heard of the Legend." The Sunday Times 23 Jan. 2000. Print.
Simkin, John. "Violette Szabo." Spartacus Educational - Home Page. Web. 01 May 2011. .
"VIOLETTE SZABO - HISTORY OF THIS BRITISH SOE AGENT." VIOLETTE SZABO LIFE and MUSEUM. Web. 30 Apr. 2011.
Dillon Lerach
ReplyDeleteHonors Modern World History
Mr. Christopher Webber
30 April 2011
Born in Paris to a British father and French mother but raised in Britain, Violette Bushell (Szabo) was one of the most famous British spies during the Second World War. Credited with helping to reestablish the Norman French resistance and helping to cut German communication lines so that the Germans would not be able to respond effectively to the Allied invasion of France (Operation Overlord), Szabo was posthumouslyawarded the Croix de Guerre and the Medaille de la Résistance from the French Government and the George Cross and Member of the Order of the British Empire from the British Government.
During World War II, at age 19, Szabo met and shortly thereafter married Etienne Szabo, a free French captain of Hungarian descent (they reportedly met at a Bastille parade and celebration). Etienne was shipped to North Africa and Violette joined the Auxiliary Transport Service. Violette had just given birth to daughter Tania when Etienne was killed at El Alamein in October 1942, never seeing the baby. In part to avenge her husband’s death, Violette offered her services to the British Special Operations Executive. She was interviewed and ultimately accepted because of her ability to speak French fluently and her knowledge of France.
After extensive training in weaponry she parachuted into Cherbourg in the Normandy area of France in April 1944. In neighboring Rouen, she carried out her mission code-named “Louise,” in which she helped re-establish a French resistance unit to sabotage road and railway bridges. She also conducted surveillance and was able to report to SOE headquarters on local factories producing German war materials that later established Allied bombing targets in the area. After six weeks she had successfully completed her first mission and returned to London.
On June 7, 1944, immediately after D-Day, she parachuted into Limoges on her second mission. Assigned to coordinate resistance efforts, she effectively scrambled German communication lines to help the Allied effort in Normandy. She was captured by the SS Das Reich Panzer Division and turned over to the Gestapo in Paris for interrogation. She was brutally tortured, sexually assaulted, and eventually sent to the Ravensbrück concentration camp, a women’s camp where 93,000 women perished, north of Berlin. Continuing to endure interrogation and torture, along with malnutrition and the most abysmal conditions, the officials at the camp decided to execute her on February 5, 1945 at age 23. Three fellow female spies were also executed. Her efforts helped to impede German troops’ response to the allies' D-Day invasion.
Szabo was instrumental in the anti-German war effort in France and helped to scramble the German response to D-day, undoubtedly saving many allied lives and ensuring its success.
Works Cited
Ezard, John. "Museum Celebrates Heroine's Name with Pride." Guardian.co.uk. 29 Apr. 2000. Web. 01 May 2011. .
"Violette Szabo - Master Spy." Spymuseum.com - 300 Years of Espionage - Now Declassified!!!! Web. 01 May 2011. .
Violette Szabo and Etienne Szabo. Web. 01 May 2011. .
Radmer van der Heyde
ReplyDeleteMr. Webber
Honors world history 7
5/1/2011
Violette Szabo was a British spy during World War II. Born to British father and French mother, she lived most of her life in either France or England. At 19 she married Etienne Szabo of the free french force. They had a child together called Tania, but four months after her birth Etienne was killed in action near El Alamein. His death inspired her to become a spy for the British. She was recommended by Henry Pauleve for the Special Operations Executive(SOE), and after numerous interviews she was excepted. Her training for the SOE consisted of paramilitary training, weaponry, hand to hand combat and demolition. Apparently she became the best shot in the SOE. Her first mission for the SOE consisted of researching the strength of the French resistance. She was flown into Paris in April on 1944 and after 21 days of investigations, discovered that a hundred members of the resistance had been rounded up by the Gestapo. She then concluded that the resistance was beyond repair. She was successful estracted and returned to England on April 30. After this successful action she was promoted to Ensign. However, because D-day was fast approaching she was quickly sent out on another mission. This time her job was to rebuild the resistance, so that it could slow the German’s preparation of defenses for Operation Overlord. She parachuted into France on June 7. She and another agent were to then go by car south to locate another resistance circuit that could be of help. However, a SS road block outside Salon-la-Tour forced them to retreat, but due to a bad ankle from a parachuting injury, Violette Szabo was captured. She was transferred to a prison and extensively tortured, but revealed no information about d-day or the SOE. After being tortured extensively she and two other SOE agents were transferred to the Ravensbruck prison camp where they were eventually executed. Violette received post humunously the English George Cross and the French Croix de Guerre.
Violette Szabo did have some impact on the war. Had she not discovered that the resistance was destroyed, England could have wasted money and man power trying to help it. However, like the majority of spies, she did not last very long, and she also failed her second mission of reorganizing the resistance. Therefore, he affect on the war was minimal at best.
Works Cited:
"Szabo, Violette." World Book Advanced. World Book, 2011. Web. 26 Apr. 2011.
"Violette Szabo." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 29 Apr. 2011.
Victoria Mansfield
ReplyDeleteMr. Webber
Honors World History/Period 6
1 May, 2011
Violette Szbao was born in France on 26 June of 192, but eventually, she and her family had moved to London. When Violette was 19, she met 31 year old Etienne Szabo, a French officer of Hungarian descent and after 42 days, the two married on 21 August, 1940 . Shortly after the birth of their only child, Tania, Etienne died in October 1942 at El Alamein from chest wounds. It is believed that it was his death which motivated Violette to offer her services to the British Special Operations Executive (SOE). She had to go though a series of interviews and also was assessed on her knowledge of the French language. Because she was born in France, she was fluent in the language which helped her get into the SOE where she received intensive training. Once she completed her training, she was parachuted into France for her first mission and had the task of obtaining information about the resistance possibilities in the Rouen area. She was arrested by the French, but despite this,she completed her mission successfully. After being in occupied territory for six weeks, she returned to England on April 30, 1944. For her second mission, she had to fly to the outskirts of Limoges, France in late June of 1944. Her mission was to coordinate the activities of the local Maquis with Jacques Dufour in order to sabotage the German communication lines during German attempts to stem the Normandy landings. The car Violette was in raised suspicions of German troops and she was then ambushed by a German patrol. A brief gun battle resulted and Violette was able to provide cover for Dufour, who was able to escape. Unfortunately, Violette ran out of ammunition and ended up being captured and tortured by the Gestapo in Paris. Eventually she was sent to Ravensbruk Concentration Camp in Germany. On February 5 of 1945, Violette Szabo was executed at the age of 23 years old. However, Violette has become the most celebrated of all SOE agents and is well respected for her contribution to the war effort. In 1946 Violette was awarded the George Cross, and was also awarded an MBE, along with the French Croix de Guerre and Médaille de la Résistance. I respect Violette for her work and contribution and I believe she helped the Allied war effort in a way, however, I do not believe she made an enormous impact on the war.
Works Cited
Simkin, John. "Violette Szabo." Spartacus Educational. Web. 30 Apr. 2011.
"Violette Szabo." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 30 Apr. 2011.
Violette Szabo was a spy for the Special Operations Executive during World War II. She was of French and British descent, and she was raised in London. Throughout her childhood years, she had a tomboyish personality and excelled at almost all sports. In 1940, she met and married a French officer, Etienne Szabo, who was on leave from North Africa at the time. They had a “whirlwind wartime romance,” that unfortunately ended with the death of Captain Etienne at the Battle of El Alamein. This death left Violette Szabo thirsty for revenge. During the Captain and Violette’s romance, the Special Operations Executive, an organization formed by Churchill wage a war of espionage, was formed, and needed recruits quickly. The fact that Violette Szabo was athletic and bilingual caught the newly formed agency’s eye, and she was recruited in 1940. After undergoing intense training in combat, code, and parachuting, she was sent on a mission to France to determine the viability of the French Resistance after a series of Gestapo arrests. While she was in France, she reorganized and led the resistance in many campaigns of sabotage, while notifying her superiors of the German factory locations, prime targets for the Allied fighters. After her relatively successful mission, the Special Operations Executive wasted no time in sending her back to France; this time only hours after Operation Overlord had begun. Her objective was to help the resistance sabotage the Das Reich Panzer division, which was en-route to Normandy at the time. This elite tank division was known for its ruthless conduct, and committed many atrocious crimes on its way to Normandy. Violette Szabo helped coordinate the various sabotage attempts against the Germans, slowing them down tremendously. It took fifteen days for the elite division to arrive in Normandy and mobilize to fight, giving the Allied troops time to secure the beach heads and start their advance into Europe. Unfortunately, she was captured by the same elite panzer division that she helped slow down, and was sent to the Ravensbrük camp to be eventually executed. During this time, she worked in extremely poor conditions, and had to experience relentless torture from the Germans.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, Violette Szabo contributed significantly to the war effort, despite the fact that her second mission was not a success. Her reorganization of the resistance led to the hampering of the Das Reich’s progress to Normandy, preventing even more deaths at D-Day than there already are. Operation Overlord is arguably the most significant Allied campaign of the war, and if it failed, the liberation of Europe would have entirely fell upon the shoulders of the Russians, making World War II a one-front war for Germany.
Works Cited
Perrin, Nigel. "Violette Szabo - Special Operations Executive (SOE) Agents in France." Nigel Perrin - Author's Website. 29 Sept. 2005. Web. 01 May 2011. .
Sarkar, Dilip. "Violette Szabo." DAS REICH HOME PAGE - 2nd SS Panzer Division. 40 Feb. 1999. Web. 01 May 2011. .
Keri McGlothlin
ReplyDeleteWorld History, Per. 6
Mr. Webber
May 1, 2011
Violette Szabo was a spy for Britain in France against Germany. She was born in France with a French mother and a British father. She was raised mainly in France but at the age of fourteen her family was in London and she went to school there. When Violette was nineteen she met Etienne Szabo and after only forty-two days they got married and were in love, Etienne was thirty-one at this time. Together they had one daughter but they were not able to have any more because shortly after Etienne died of from a chest wound from fighting in World War II, and he never got to see his daughter. Due to her husband’s death due to WWII, Violette wanted to help the war effort against the Germans. She became a spy for the British army. She would be spying for Britain in France where Germany took over to gather information about what Germany is doing. Her past background from living in France helped her become a spy here; she had to take an assessment on how well she knew the language and then became a Special Operations Executive.
She landed in France on her first mission April 30th 1944. Her first mission there was a great success; she reorganized the French Resistance network in France and used this group to get rid of German means of transporting weapons such as the railroads. However on her second mission she was found out by German troops. She was captured when her ammunition ran out, but her Maquis escaped safe. She was then interrogated for four days, after she was transferred to Paris for further questioning and torture. In the end she was transported to a concentration camp, here she did help to save the life of a Belgium resistance courier. On February 5th 1945 Violette was executed at the age of 23.
I believe that Violette helped the war effort by doing small things that helped in the long run; such as stopping transportation of German goods to the troops by blowing up a railway and regrouping resistance efforts will go a long way.
Works Cited
Limoges, Taken To. "Violette Szabo." Spartacus Educational - Home Page. Web. 29 Apr. 2011.
Moss, Paul. "BBC NEWS | UK | Secret Agents' Memorial Unveiled." BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. Web. 28 Apr. 2011.
"Violette Szabo." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 29 Apr. 2011.
Yoshiko Kawashima, a Japanese spy, was born as Gioro Xianyu in Beijing into the Manchu Imperial family on May 24, 1907. At the age of eight, Yoshiko’s father’s friend, Naniwa Kawashima who was a Japanese espionage spy and mercenary, adopted her. She was raised and educated in Matsumoto, Nagano, Japan. At the age of seventeen she attempted suicide and began to wear men’s apparel after allegedly being raped by her stepfather.
ReplyDeleteLater, Yoshiko married Ganjuurjab, the Inner Mongolian Army General Jengjuurjab’s son. Ganjuurjab lead the Mongolian-Manchurian Independence Movement in Ryojun. The marriage lasted approximately two years. After her divorce, Yoshiko moved to Shanghai. There, at a dinner party, she met Major General Takayoshi Tanaka of the Shanghai Special Service Organ. She agreed to work with Tanaka who used Yoshiko’s contacts with Manchu and Mongol nobility to “expand his network.” As Tanaka was recalled to Japan, Yoshiko began working with “the mastermind spy” Major-General Kenji Doihara who was a close colleague to Tanaka. Doihara sent Yoshiko on various undercover espionage missions in Manchuria and China. Yoshiko often times disguised herself as a man in order to fit in without attracting too much attention.
As a spy, one of her most notable tasks was her manipulation of the former Chinese Qing Dynasty emperor Pu Yi. Pu Yi regarded Yoshiko Kawashima as part of the Royal Family and openly accepted her into his household. Through Yoshiko and Pu Yi’s positive relationship, Yoshiko was given the opportunity to coerce Pu Yi to return to his homeland of Manchuria. By doing so, Yoshiko was able to further persuade him into becoming the emperor of Japan’s newly created state Manchukuo. Manchukuo was deemed as a Japanese puppet-state and, therefore, the instillation of Pu Yi was beneficial to the Japanese.
Yoshiko Kawashima continued to be instrumental in the Japanese control over Pu Yi and Manchukuo, and for some time, was mistress to Major General Hayao Tada, who was chief military advisor for Pu Yi. In 1932, Yoshiko Kawashima created an “Anti-Bandit Force” consisting of 3,000 to 5,000 former bandits to pursue any anti-Japanese bandits or guerrilla bands during the Pacification of Manchukuo. Yoshiko quickly earned the title the Joan of Arc of Manchukuo from the Japanese newspapers. In 1933, she offered her force to the Japanese Kwantung Army for Operation Nekka, but the army refused. The Kwantung Army soon began regarding Yoshiko Kawashima as an unneeded “intelligence asset” due to her gaining popularity in the Manchukuo society through her participation in radio broadcasts and songs. Yoshiko also began to voice opposition of the Japanese military’s manipulative policies in Manchukuo against China in the Second Sino-Japanese war. As a result, she began to fade from public sight until November 11, 1945 when a news agency reported that Chinese counter-intelligence officials had arrested Yoshiko Kawashima in Peking. In 1948, Yoshiko was tried and later executed as a traitor by the Nationalist Government in China.
Works Cites:
"Yoshiko Kawashima - Biography." The Biographicon. Web. 29 Apr. 2011. .
"Yoshiko Kawashima." Plumbot. 2010. Web. 29 Apr. 2010. .
Women as Spies in World War II
ReplyDeleteEmily Leposky
World History Honors
Webber pd. 4
Violette Szabo was born in Paris, France on June 26 1921 and was the 2nd child of a French mother and an English taxi-driver father. Violette met her future husband, Etienne Szabo, who was French officer, at a parade in London. They were soon married. Violette was only 19 when she got married, while her husband was 31. Soon after they had their first child Tania. A few months after the birth of Tania, Etienne died fighting in the Battle of El Alamein. The death of her husband Etienne was what inspired Violette to pursue becoming a spy to help in the war effort. She felt that she had a duty to her country, the memory of her husband and as well as her child to do what she could to assist in the war. She was soon accepted into the Special Operations Executive (SOE) branch of the military. The SOE was a program designed to facilitate espionage and sabotage the Axis powers behind enemy lines. Violette’s first mission, much like that of a male soldier, she parachuted into France in order to obtain information about the enemy. Although she was caught twice by the police during her first mission, she completed her task within the six week time span. She eventually returned to England after her mission was complete. Violette returned to France on her second mission on June 8th where she fought in a gun battle against Germans. After her ammunition was exhausted she was captured and taken to Limoges. At Limoges she was tortured and interrogated and then she was moved to Ravensbruck concentration camp. At the camp over 90,000 women died. Violette experienced malnutrition, and hard labor before her execution in February of 1945. Although Violette Szabo only fully completed her first mission I believe that she did help progress the war effort for the allied forces. She was a woman ready to stand up for what she believed in and act on those beliefs. It was said that she was an inspiration to all of the women in the Ravensbruck camp. Although she died in the concentration camp I believe her actions and sacrifice inspired other women and men to follow in her footsteps and ultimately assisted the allies to prevail in World War II.
Limoges, Taken To. "Violette Szabo." Spartacus Educational - Home Page. Web. 28 Apr. 2011.
Sarah Means
ReplyDeleteYoshiko Kawashima
Yoshiko Kawashima was a spy for the Japanese during World War II. She was born on 24 May 1907 in Japan. She was a Manchu princess. She was adopted at age 8 by Naniwa Kawashima, her father's friend, a Japanese espionage agent. She was raised and educated in Matsumoto, Nagano, Japan. At the age of 17 she failed a suicide attempt and began wearing men’s clothing. It is rumored that this is because her adoptive father raped her or she was trans-gender.
In 1927, Kawashima married Ganjuurjab, the son of an Inner Mongolian Army General. They divorce after only two years, and Kawashima moved to the foreign concession in Shanghai where she met Japanese military attaché and intelligence officer Ryukichi Tanaka, who utilized her contacts with the Manchu and Mongol nobility to expand his network. They began living together. After Tanaka was recalled to Japan, Kawashima continued to serve as a spy for Major-General Kenji Doihara.
The former Qing Emperor Pu Yi regarded Kawashima as a member of the Royal Family and made her welcome in his household during his stay in Tianjin. Kawashima was able to persuade Pu Yi to return to the Manchu homeland as head of the newly Japanese-created state of Manchukuo. Kawashima was the mistress of Major General Hayao Tada, who was chief military advisor for Pu Yi. In 1932 she formed an independent counter insurgency cavalry force to hunt down anti-Japanese guerilla bands during the Pacification of Manchukuo. This force was made up of 3,000-5,000 former bandits. She offered the unit to the Japanese Kwantung Army for Operation Nekka In 1933, but it was refused. So she stayed in command of the unit until the late 1930’s.
Yoshiko Kawashima was very popular and began making radio broadcasts and issuing records of her songs. Many stories of her exploits were published in newspapers and in the pulp fiction press. This popularity created problems with the Kwantung Army because she could no longer be used as an intelligence asset and because she was critical of Japanese military's exploitative policies in Manchukuo as a base of operations against China, her value as propaganda symbol was compromised. She began to fade out of the public’s eye.
After the end of World War II, on 11 November 1945, it was reported that she was arrested Peking by the Chinese counter-intelligence officers. In 1948, Kawashima was tried and executed as a traitor by the Nationalist Government under her Chinese name, Jin Bihui.
Works Cited:
Lee, Lillian (1992). The Last Princess of Manchuria. William Morrow & Co.
Violette Szabo was born in 1921 to a French mother and English father. She married Etienne Szabo, who was killed in the Battle of El Alamein by German forces. Her hatred for the British and the loss of her husband made her believe that she should avenge her husbands death by becoming a secret agent for the British military. During this mission, she was arrested twice by German troops, but somehow managed to get away each time.
ReplyDeleteIn 1943 she joined the Special Operations Executive, and soon became the best shooter in the SOE. After being tested for language fluency, she was given her first mission. Her first mission was to spy on the closed zone around the Atlantic Wall. Szabo completed her first mission and returned to Britain in June 1944.
Her strategy was to keep moving, parachuting into new areas. This worked in that she was unable to be cornered or fought, until she dropped exhausted. It was only then that she was caught for good.
She then parachuted into Limoge later in 1944. Her task was to help coordinate work on the French Resistance after D-Day, in France. This task included organizing and leading the French Resistance to delaying German attack on D-Day. After making contact with the Resistance, she was stopped by local police. Her partner managed to get away, but she was unable to do the same. She took cover in a local house, where she killed and wounded many men, but it was not enough to secure her escape. TheSS ‘Das Reich’ captured her and interrogated her under torture. She was sent to a concentration camp where she suffered from malnutrition, rape, sexual assault, and was eventually executed. Through all of this, she did not give away any information that would betray the allied forces’ spies.
Violette Szabo sent back information that helped the allied forces plan their attack on D-Day. Violette Szabo was one of the greatest assets that the SOE had. She was reliable and quick, and her information that she brought back to England, no doubt helped secure the British attack on D-Day.
Mr. Webber - not quite sure why there is so much space between my paragraphs
ReplyDeleteWorks Cited:
Limoges, Taken To. "Violette Szabo." Spartacus Educational - Home Page. Web. 28 Apr. 2011.
Violette Bunshell was born on June 26th, 1921 in France and, later, moved to and educated in London. Her mother was French and her father was British. In April 1940, she wanted to participate in World War 2 and went to work in the fields as a “land girl” as part of the dig-for-victory campaign.
ReplyDeleteSoon, Violette met Etienne Szabo, a Free French Army Officer, and married him. However, he was sent off to work in the war after their marriage. In October 1942, Etienne was killed and Violette was pregnant. His death triggered her interest for full involvement in the war.
Violette joined the Special Operations Executive, a group of civilians who wanted to fight against Germany with Britain, and began training. She told a fellow recruit: “My husband has been killed by the Germans and I’m going back to get my own back.” Violette had “excellent shooting skills” and was quickly sent on her first mission. She was sent France to “obtain information about the resistance possibilities in Rouen area.” She returned to England successfully. On her second mission, Violette left just after D-day. The Germans captured her. The Gestapo tortured and enslaved her. Then, she was sent to the Ravensbruck Concentration Camp in Germany. In the spring of 1945, Violette was executed just as the allied forces were closing in on Nazi Germany.
After her death, she received the Croix de Guerre, which was awarded to soldiers mentioned in dispatches by a general or commanding officer. She also was awarded the George Cross, the “highest civil decoration of the United Kingdom.” When her daughter received the George Cross award form the King in 1946, she answered: I’ll keep it until mummy gets home.”
While most of the details of her life are muddled and open to question, many of the solid facts decorate and mystify Violette’s life and only add to her popularity. Peter Millar summarizes the interest taken into her life: “Whether or not it is true has as little importance as some of the other embroidery in the history of the SOE: fostering a mythology was part of their mission.”
England considers Violette to be a wartime hero. She was a very successful woman and extremely brave. Throughout England, there is “no doubting her bravery.” England’s fascination spread and Violette was immortalized through a book and later film called Carve Her Name With Pride. She was a successful spy; however, due to the questionable information, I believe no one can fully understand her significance during WWII and the asset she was to France and Britain. Therefore, while her bravery was incredible, she was not completely helpful to WWII.
Works Cited
Millar, Peter. "Violette, Woman at the Heart of the Legend." The Sunday Times 23 Jan. 2000, Features-News Review sec.: 6. EBSCO. Web. 28 Apr. 2011.
"Violette Szabo." Spartacus Educational - Home Page. Web. 01 May 2011.
David Claxton
ReplyDeleteApril 28, 2011
History, per. 7
Violette Szabo was born in England on the 26 of June in the year 1921. But they promptly moved to France where she became fluent in the language and customs of the French people. She grew up there but then later returned to England to live in the capital city of London. She remained there till the outbreak of World War II. She wished to help out so she went to work as a “land girl” for the war effort. After the fall of France she was devastated but she then around that time she met a French Foreign Legion soldier who later would become her husband. He was then sent to North Africa to fight, but he was killed at the battle of El Alamein. She was then motivated to help out the war effort even more, so she signed up for unspecified war work. She was a Special Operations Executive(SOE) and was a good operative. Her natural talent and French familiarity made her a prime asset to help the free French forces as an asset. She was parachuted behind enemy lines and preformed many missions for the British war effort, committing to guerilla warfare and espionage against the Nazi forces in France. She was captured by German troops, but there is no official report of how she was captured, though many stories vary. She was then shipped by train to Ravensbruck concentration camp and her reputation preceded her with stories of how she helped her fellow prisoners. She worked for months in slave labor at the Ravensbruck concentration camp until she was executed by German troops a couple weeks before the allied armies liberated the concentration camp. She was awarded the George Cross, by the king, for her actions which was presented to her 4 year old daughter. In my opinion Violette Szabo greatly contributed to the British war effort, working in acts of espionage and guerilla warfare in the French countryside helping to cripple the German war machine.
Peter, Millar. "Violette, woman at the heart of the legend." Sunday Times, The n.d.: Newspaper Source. EBSCO. Web. 28 Apr. 2011.
Noury Fekini
ReplyDeleteWorld History Period 4
May 2011
Violette Bushell, better known as Violette Szabo, was born on the 26th of June 1921, in France. She spent her early childhood in Paris where her father drove a taxi for a living. Her and her family later moved to London and she studied at Brixton Secondary School. At fourteen she left school to become a hairdresser’s assistant. She later found work as a sales assistant at Woolworths on Oxford Street. During the WWII, Violette met Etienne Szabo, an officer in the Free French Army. The two got marries before Etienne was about to leave for war in North Africa. After giving birth to a daughter, Tania Szabo, Violette heard that her husband had been killed at El Alamein. From this, she had a serious desire to become involved in the war effort and eventually joined the Special Operations Executive (SOE). In the beginning, the SOE officers doubted that they should send Violette to France. After completing her training, the head of SOE’s French operations overruled the previous officers decisions and had her parachuted into France with the task of obtaining information about resistance possibilities in the Rouen area. Though the French police arrested her, she completed her mission successfully, then after being in occupied territory for six weeks she returned to England. Violette returned to France in June 1944 while with Jacques Dufour. Dufour, a member of the French Resistance, was ambushed by a German patrol. Szabo covered Dufour, allowing him to escape, while Szabo was take to Limoges and then to Paris. After being profusely tortured by the Gestapo, she was sent to Ravenbruck Concentration camp in Germany. Spring of 1945, Violette Szabo was executed by Nazis. In my opinion, Violette Szabo was truly an inspirational figure, but I wouldn’t say that her efforts contributed all that much to the total British war efforts during WWII.
Works Cited
Limoges, Taken To. "Violette Szabo." Spartacus Educational - Home Page. Web. 01 May 2011. .
Violette Szabo and Etienne Szabo. Web. 01 May 2011. .
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteViolette Szabo was born in France on June 26th, 1921 to an English Father and a French Mother. At a young age, Violette and her family moved to England. At the age of 14, Violette dropped out of school and had many various jobs. She spend some of her teenage years as a hairdresser’s assistant, then she worked as a shop assistant at a department store. In July 1940, Violette’s mother offered her to go to London to find a French Soldier for Bastille Day. As a result she met Captain Etienne Szabo. The couple married a month later. Almost immediately, the couple was parted when Captain Etienne was deported to North Africa with the rest of his unit. Consequently, Violette joined the Auxiliary Transport Service and soon after became a member of HAA regiment. Her Battery Commander, Lieutenant Colonel JW Naylor remembered:
ReplyDeleteShe was tiny, about five feet tall, very slim and very attractive. Szabo became a really excellent predictor who, because of her lack of height, always seemed to stand on tiptoe when at her instrument. She was very popular with all the girls on her site, and her officers and NCOs always spoke highly of her as both a soldier and comrade. Whatever she did, she did with 100% enthusiasm, whether at site concerts, guard duties, inspections, games or whatever, she was always the example and leading spirit.
When her husband returned for a week’s visit, Violette found out she was pregnant. Sadly, she had to leave the battery because of her pregnancy. A few days before her 21st birthday she gave birth to a baby girl named Tania. Unfortunately, her husband was killed in and accident during the Battle of El Alamein on October 24th, 1942.
After the death of her husband, Violette joined the SOE, a small but tough British Secret service. It’s role was to support and stimulate resistance in occupied countries. As the secret service was top secret, direct advertising would not be acceptable. From time to time, the services put out what were apparently routine enquiries to identify foreign language speakers. Violette was found because she could speak both English and French.
After intense training, she was recruited and earned the code-name Louise. She reorganized a French Resistance network that had been smashed by Germans and she led a group in sabotaging road and railway bridges. On June 7th, 1944, Szabo immediately coordinated a plan to sabotage communication lines between the German in order to stem the Normandy Landings. However, a passenger in a car that Szabo was riding in raised suspicion. Unfortunately, Violette was captured once she ran out of ammunition when trying to defend herself. She was bounced around and held in custody of many different countries where she was heavily interrogated. And in August of 1944 she was sent to the Ravensbruck concentration camp where many woman died. Sadly, Violette was executed on February 5th 1945.
I believe that she was very useful in helping the war for her side. She tried to interfere with German communication and tried to figure out German plans before they happened. She wanted to help both Britain and France and did so by becoming a spy and fighting for her country. She contributed in many ways and was a very valiant leader. She is still remembered today for her hard work and she even has a movie and a book dedicated to her.
Works Cited:
Sarkar, Dilip. "Violette Szabo." DAS REICH HOME PAGE - 2nd SS Panzer Division. Web. 01 May 2011. .
Limoges, Taken To. "Violette Szabo." Spartacus Educational - Home Page. Web. 01 May 2011. .
"VIOLETTE SZABO - HISTORY OF THIS BRITISH SOE AGENT." VIOLETTE SZABO LIFE and MUSEUM. Web. 01 May 2011. .
Violette Szasbo was a notable and stellar operative in the British Espionage Service during World War Two, as well as a key player in the victory on D-day. Violette was born in June of 1921 in Paris France. Her parents were of mixed nationality. Her father was an Englishmen while her mother was French. The fact her parents were of mixed nationality gave her a chance to become fluent in both French and English as well as become culturally fluent in British culture and French culture. This dual cultural “asset” would prove vital for her survival as a British agent. At the age of 14 Violette moved back to Britain and began living in south London. While living in Britain she began to develop a strong nationalistic bond to England. As life went on she fond herself working in a salon. Later in life, at the age of 19, Violette met and married a highly honored and decorated French officer. Soon after this they conceived a daughter, Tania. Immediately after giving birth to young Tania Violette was notified that her husband had been killed in North Africa in the battle of El Almien.
ReplyDeleteAt this point Violette became angry and wanted to get involved in the allied war effort. As a result, she signed up for service for the British Special Operations Executive. After being rigorously interviewed to check for her cultural fluency she was ultimately accepted and began training soon after. Violette was extensively trained with various weapons and espionage techniques. After she had finished her training she was given her first mission in April. Violette was to obtain intelligence as to where German factories were and to identify enemy troop instillations. She was parachuted into the North of France and began the mission. After successfully providing information on the location of German factories and sabotaging some communication lines, she returned to London. Once in London she was honored for her valiant work in France and given a promotion.
After being recognized for her work she was deployed again. This time she was parachuted into Limoges immediately after D-day. Her goal was to scramble German communication lines so as to help the allied invasion at Normandy. After landing she effectively completed her task but was unfortunately captured by a Panzer division. After successfully wounding many and warding the Germans off for a while she became exhausted and ran out of ammunition. The Panzer division picked her up and handed her over to the Gestapo. Once in the hands of the Gestapo she was brutally pressed for information regarding allied positions. After being tortured for days Violette never gave in and told the Germans nothing. She was then transported to a work camp and eventually executed after being brutally exploited.
In my opinion Violette was key in the allied war effort. Explicitly, Violette provided intelligence that was eventually used for the good of the allies. For example, she provided targets that were bombed. These targets were then no longer operational which greatly hindered the enemy. Also she helped disorient the Germans in the invasion of Normandy. Therefore less German troops would be fighting the allied troops, which could have saved lies. Essentially, Violette’s seemingly small actions greatly affected the war; therefore, Violette was an integral part of the war effort.
ReplyDelete"Violette Szabo." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 30 Apr. 2011.
"Violette Szabo - Master Spy." Spymuseum.com - 300 Years of Espionage - Now Declassified!!!! Web. 01 May 2011. .
Violette Szabo and Etienne Szabo. Web. 01 May 2011. .
Violette Szabo
ReplyDeleteViolette Bushell was born on June 26 1921 in Paris France to a French mother and an English father. During her childhood her family moved between France and England which led to her becoming fluent in both French and English. At fourteen, she had been working as a hairdresser’s assistant in London.
In 1940, soon after WWII started, Nineteen year old Violette married met then quickly married the French captain, Etienne Szabo. Soon afterwards Etienne was sent to North African front while Szabo joined the Auxiliary transport service. Only a few months after she had given birth to her their daughter, Tania Szabo, her husband was killed in the battle of El Alamein. Violette was devastated by the loss of her husband, and decided to volunteer for the SOE. She was accepted into the force, and flew through the training with ease. She was apparently the best shot in the entire SOE. Soon afterwards she was sent on her first mission along with her partner Phillippe Liewer. They were parachuted into France to determine how many resistance fighters there were in France. Upon completing this mission she returned to England where she demanded that she be sent back on another mission. Her wish was granted, and she was sent behind enemy lines almost immediately after D-Day, with Jacques dofour in an attempt to sever the German lines of communication. Unfortunately while driving through France, they were stumbled upon by a German patrol. A desperate gun battle ensued, where Szabo used her Sten gun to hold off the Germans while Jacques made his escape. While she put up a huge resistance, she was eventually taken captive when her ammunition ran out.
After her capture she was sent to the Gestapo headquarters (the Gestapo were the German Secret police) where she was tortured and even raped. However she managed to keep quiet and did not give away any information to the Germans. Because of her stubbornness, she was sent to the concentration camp where she suffered from some of the worst torture imaginable, along with starvation and forced labor. Throughout all of this she never told the Germans anything. Eventually she was executed in April of 1945. Two years later she was posthumously awarded the George cross the highest award for a member of the British public (since she was not technically part of the Military she could not receive the Victoria cross).
While she was not very important to the overall impact of the war I do believe that Szabo had some usefulness. Her first mission, and the intelligence it brought back was very important in dictating how the allies aided the resistance and her efforts to scramble the German’s communications doubtlessly saved hundreds of lives. However, in the grand scheme of things these triumphs are fairly minor, and while she was useful she was not essential.
Works Cited
"VIOLETTE SZABO - HISTORY OF THIS BRITISH SOE AGENT." VIOLETTE SZABO LIFE and MUSEUM. Web. 01 May 2011. .
"Violette Szabo - Master Spy - Spymuseum.com." Spymuseum.com - 300 Years of Espionage - Now Declassified!!!! Web. 01 May 2011. .
Yoshiko Kawashima was a Manchu princess who was brought up in Japan. She was born on the 24th of May 1907 and died on the 25 of March 1948. Kawashima was born in Beijing, China by the name of Aisin Gioro Xianyu. She was the 14th daughter of the imperial family, with her father being Shanqi, the son of Prince Su. At a young age of eight, Naniwa Kawashima, who later raped her, adopted her. Due to her torture as a child she tried to commit suicide but failed. Naniwa Kawashima, her foster father, was an espionage agent and because of this Yoshiko started to work as a spy. Yoshiko finally got serious in the business of espionage after she met Japanese intelligent officer Ryukichi Tanaka. While in Shanghai Yoshiko continued to cross-dress and work as an undercover agent. She used this cross-dressing to become better partners with males and to fit into tight groups without attracting too much attention. Once Yoshiko stopped working as an undercover agent she joined the film and music industry. She made multiple appearances on radio broadcast and in newspapers. However, she was her use as a propagandas symbol diminished due to her increasingly critical tone toward the Japanese military policies in Manchukuo. Since she was no longer as an intelligence agent and no longer a propaganda symbol she slowly faded out of public sight and media. In 1948 Yoshiko Kawashima was tried and executed as a traitor. The Chinese government tried her under her Chinese name Jin Bihui.
ReplyDeleteYoshiko Kawashima greatly assisted Japan in her works as an undercover spy. Her consistent infringement in Chinese government and her close relations with the government proved a great asset to the Japanese. Even though the conquering of China can not be accredited to Yoshiko, it can be said that she played a vital role in the conquering of Japan. Both militaries were viciously strong but it was individuals like Yoshiko that helped bring victory to their home countries.
"Yoshiko Kawashima (1906–1948)." Www.encyclopedia.com. Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Web. 1 May 2011. .
Ciara Corbeil
ReplyDeleteH. Modern World History
Mr. Webber
5/1/11
Violette Reine Elizabeth Bushell was born in Levallois, Paris in 1921. For most of her childhood (until the age of 11) she travelled between England and France until her family settled in Stockwell, south London. Her father was British and her mother was French. Violette was only five foot and five inches and beautiful. She hated pursuits that were traditionally feminine, such as household chores and needlework, but beat her brothers in all sort of athletics. She left school at the age of fourteen to become a shop assistant in Brixton.
In 1940, Violette met Etienne Szabo, a French Foreign Legion officer from Marseille who was serving in the Free French Forces. She married Etienne and enlisted in the Auxiliary Territorial Service soon after. In 1942 their daughter Tania was born and Etienne was killed near El Alamein. Deeply grieving for the loss of her husband, Violette joined the Special Operations Executive where she earned the honorary title of best shot in the company. Although her instructors worried about Violette’s impulsiveness, they desperately needed more female couriers for the D-Day invasion. She went to Paris with Philippe Liewer in April 1942 to investigate the disappearance of Liewer’s deputy. Violette discovered that he and about a hundred resisters had been captured by the Gestapo. She returned to report the mission a lost cause to Liewer and they returned to England.
Violette was soon promoted to Ensign and returned to France in June. Between June 7th and 8th, Violette and Liewer parachuted into Limoges, which is in west/central France, to set up a new SALESMAN circuit there. A DIGGER agent, Jacques Dufour met them there and left with Violette. However, the two were stopped at a SS checkpoint and Violette—injured from the parachute drop—was unable to escape. She was taken to the Limoges prison, but the SS transferred her to Fresnes, foiling Liewer and Dufour’s plans for her escape. Violette was interrogated at Fresnes; however, historians have no evidence that she gave the Germans any information.
From June to the following January, Violette was transferred to prisons at Saarbrücken, Ravensbrück, Torgau, and Königsberg where she was forced to help build a new runway in the dead of winter. En route to Königsberg, the train Violette was incarcerated on was attacked by Allied aircraft. Violette and other women spies who had been captured broke out of their cells in the mêlée and brought water to the soldiers who were riding with them. At Torgau Violette nearly escaped, but someone told her captors about her plans. Finally, Violette was returned to Ravensbrück where she was executed on January 27th.
After her death, Violette was awarded the George Cross, MBE, Croix de Guerre, and the Médaille de la Résistance. She has been honored in several biographies such as Carve Her Name with Pride and Young, Bold, and Beautiful.
"Violette Szabo - Special Operations Executive (SOE) Agents in France." Nigel Perrin - Author's Website. 2009. Web. 02 May 2011. .
Violette Szabo was born in Paris, France on June 26, 1921. She had a French mother and an English Father. When she was fourteen years old she moved from France to England. Violette’s passion for England and France can be attributed to one person. Etienne Szabo was a French officer in World War II. They quickly married and had a kid together. Unfortunately, the Germans in battle killed Etienne and from that day forward Violette decided to help the French and the British in any way possible.
ReplyDeleteViolette’s grudge against the Germans was enough to send her into the most dangerous position in the Military. Violette decided to join the British Special Operation Executive “SOE.” Here, Violette, learned espionage tactics and the German language. Violette excelled in categories such as evasion, demolitions, explosives, and communications. Violette was clearly a level above most women in the SOE. Most women in the SOE at the time worked in transportation or housekeeping. Violette’s passion for her countries gave her a leg up above others.
Violette’s first important mission was to be parachuted into a part of France that was occupied by the German’s. Her goal was to gain as much information as possible about the German’s future plans. Her mission was successful and she returned to England after being gone for six weeks. Her second mission was also to fly to France to cut communication lines during the storm on Normandy. She was somewhat successful in this but she was captured and tortured. She was executed and given Croix de Guerre, the Médaille de la Résistance, and the George Cross.
Although her missions were courageous I do not think that they were vital in ending World War II. I think that no matter what happened on a personal scale, Germany would be eventually out powered by the United States and the rest of the world.
Yoshiko Kawashima
ReplyDeleteYoshiko Kawashima spied for Japan in China in the early 1930’s to the late 1940’s. Originally born as Aisin Gioro Xianyu in Beijing, Yoshiko was adopted by a friend’s father at age 8 - Naniwa Kawashima. Naniwa was a Japanese espionage agent and mercenary. After suspected rape by her foster father at age 17, Yoshiko tried to kill herself. Her failed attempt at suicide is believed to be one of the reasons why she began cross-dressing. In 1927, Yoshiko Kawashima married Ganjuurajab, the son of a prominent Mongolian general. She divorced Ganjuurjab after only two years, and moved to Shanghai, where she met Japanese Intelligence Officer Ryukichi Tanaka. They lived together during the Shanghai incident, a short war that served as a precursor to the Second Sino-Japanese War. When Tanaka had to go back to Japan, Yoshiko remained in China and spied for Japanese Major-General Kenji Doihara. She performed many undercover missions in Manchuria, often dressing up a man – however, whether she dressed up to fit into guerilla groups more easily, or if she did it because of a personal reason, is unknown. Yoshiko convinced her close friend ex-Qing Emperor Pu Yi to return to Manchukuo and rule there. She was the mistress of Pu Yi’s chief military advisor for a short while. As time progressed Yoshiko Kawashima became less and less of an asset to Japan. Although she had independently created a counter-insurgency cavalry force to hunt down anti-Japanese guerilla units, the Japanese government refused to utilize her or her troops in any of their official military operations. As she gained fame, Yoshiko appeared on radio broadcasts, in magazines, newspapers, and short semi-fiction novels. Hailed as the “Joan of Arc of Manchukuo”, Yoshiko Kawashima became a very popular and public figure. Due to her fame, however, she was no longer a viable espionage agent – everyone knew her! Yoshiko could not even be used as a political figurehead, as she began publicly voicing negative opinions about Japanese military rule. Yoshiko Kawashima was executed by the Chinese National People’s Party, or Kuomintang on March 25, 1948. I believe that Yoshiko Kawashima played an important role in helping to orchestrate Japan’s conquest of China, but by no means was Yoshiko vitally necessary – everything that she helped to do would have eventually been accomplished, albeit maybe slower or at a higher cost of lives. Yoshiko Kawashima was significant, but not indispensible.
Works cited:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoshiko_Kawashima
"Kawashima Yoshiko (1906 - 1948) Princess, Intelligence Agent, Traitor." A Gender Variance Who's Who. Web. 27 Apr. 2011. .
Violette Szabo was a secret agent for the Special Operations Executive of WWII, and participated in missions in Nazi-occupied France. Szabo was born in France in 1921 to a French mother and English father, and settled in London in 1932. In 1940, she met Etienne Szabo, an officer in the French Foreign Legion, and married him within the same year. They had a daughter whom they named Tania in 1942, and in the same year, Etienne died in the Battle of El Alamein. Vowing to avenge her husband’s death, Violette decided to try and to join the Special Operations Executive (SOE) to participate in special operations missions and have a more active role in the war. Szabo’s opportunity came a friend who was a candidate for the SOE recommended her to SOE scouts. Szabo was interviewed by recruiters in 1943, and was accepted into training. After completing training, Szabo parachuted into France for her first mission in 1944. Under the code name “Louise,” she examined a French Resistance network that had been exposed by the Germans, and reported back to her handler that the network was beyond repair. She flew back to England after nearly a month in France to conclude her first mission. Her next mission began when she landed two days after the Allied invasion of France on June 6th, better known as D-Day. She was tasked with establishing a new resistance circuit; however, while riding in a car with French Resistance Forces on June 10th, she encountered a Nazi SS roadblock and a gunfight started. Szabo used her Sten gun to cover the escape of her allies, and was captured when her ammunition ran out. She was transferred between two prisons in France and interrogated by the Gestapo. She did not give any information away to her interrogators, and was sent to Ravensbruck concentration camp where she was killed in January, 1945. Personally, when asked whether Violette Szabo actually helped the war effort for the allies, I would have to reply no, but only because of the short time she had spent in the field. Even during the mission and a half Szabo completed, she gathered valuable intelligence on German targets for bombings, and allowed Resistance members to fight another day. Overall, she did not change the outcome of history, but the information she gained and her heroic actions definitely could have saved the lives of many Allies.
ReplyDeleteWorks Cited
"VIOLETTE SZABO - HISTORY OF THIS BRITISH SOE AGENT." VIOLETTE SZABO LIFE and MUSEUM. Web. 02 May 2011. .
"Violette Szabo." Spartacus Educational - Home Page. Web. 02 May 2011. .
"Violette Szabo - Special Operations Executive (SOE) Agents in France." Nigel Perrin - Author's Website. Web. 02 May 2011. .
Violette Szabo Tristan Saggese
ReplyDeleteBorn in Paris France in 1921, Violette Szabo moved with her family to London, England at a veryyoung age. Szabo quickly became attuned to the British lifestyle and attended school at Brixon in London. Szabo’s parents met during World War One. Ironically, Violette and her fiancé would meet during world war two during the Bastille Day parade in London. Her husband’s name was Etienne Szabo. Etienne was a Frenchmen at heart but his family came from Hungary. The two lovers got married only after a short-term relationship of 42 days. Oddly, when the two were married Etienne was 31 years of age and Violette only 19. But age did not matter; the two loved each other very much and would soon produce their only child. Etienne would never see his child. He was away fighting for the British army when his wife went into labor and he would die fighting in the Battle of El Alamein before returning home to greet his new daughter. As an act of revenge Violette would decide to join the United Kingdom’s Special Operations Executive. Her allegiance for Britain and France remained intact while her hate for Britain’s enemies (at the time the Germans and the Italians). Violette trained brutally and tirelessly for the position she was yet to earn: a position as a French spy. She was taught about the weaponry of the Allies and of the Axis powers, the art of spying, evasion and escape and more. Finally, in 1944 Violette began her first mission as a spy. Violette rebuilt a “French Resistance” group that would attack German forces and cause trouble to the Germans. In addition, Violette and her French team discovered the locations of important German factories in France that produced weapons to be used by the Germans. Szabo relayed this information to her British allies and they then strategically bombed the Germans’ factories. Violette’s second mission consisted of her flying to Limoges, France and assisting French forces in interfering with the Germans’ means of communication (in France) so as make dealing with the Normandy invasions for the Germans more difficult. In France Szabo, when conducting another (less important) sabotage act, was seen by some German troops in a car that blocked the road and was suspected to be an enemy of the Germans. The Germans fired shots on her and she retaliated with her own gunshots. She ran out of ammunition and was taken hostage by German forces. Still in 1944, the Germans moved Szabo to Limoges where she was interrogated for four days. Then Szabo was moved to a concentration camp at Ravensbrück where she starved and suffered and worked and where in 1945 she would be executed by the Germans. She died at the age of only 23.
Violette Szabo was a courageous woman, more so than many women who lived during the WWII era. She sacrificed her body for the greater good of her “home” countries, France and Britain. She was successful in many acts of sabotage and terrorism against the Axis powers. She did play a role in the invasion of Normandy and because of her the British were able to destroy key German factories. Violette Szabo’s work as a spy did help the Allies’ war efforts in WWII. She might be a less significant character than a front-line British, Allied officer but she still did play some role in the Allies success.
Works Cited
ReplyDeleteCross, George. "Violette Szabó." Violette Szabó, George Cross. Network Solutions, 2008. Web. 1 May 2011. .
Sarkar, Dilip. "Violette Szabo." DAS REICH HOME PAGE - 2nd SS Panzer Division. Web. 02 May 2011. .
"Violette Szabo." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 02 May 2011. .
Connor Asbill
ReplyDeleteViolette Szabo was born in Paris France on June 26, 1921. She was the daughter to a French mother and an English father. This gave her the chance to become fluent in both English and French. This would become a very important skill later in her life. At a very young age Violette’s family moved to London. While living in London Violette went to school in Brixton until she turned 14. She then went to work at a perfume counter in a department store at the start of World War Two. During this time Violette began to develop a strong nationalistic bond with England. However later in life, at the age of 19 she married Etienne Szabo who was a French officer of Hungarian descent. They met during the Bastille Day parade in London of 1940 and quickly married afterwards. Etienne died however shortly after their only daughter, Tania, was born. Etienne had died from a chest would at the Battle of El Alamein in 1942 having never seen his daughter. This death caused Violette who was previously part of the Auxiliary Territorial Service to join the British Special Operation Executive.
In this new division, after passing an assessment for fluency in the French language Violette received intensive training in numerous different aspects of combat. She learned things such as escape and evasion and night and daylight navigation. She also received training in communications, cryptography, demolitions, explosives, unarmed combat, as well as Allied and German weapons training. Unfortunately, during this training a parachute accident her deployment was delayed. However on April 5 of 1944 she was parachuted into the currently German occupied France. During this mission Violette lead a group in sabotaging bridges as well as railways. She also gave information back to England about German factories producing war materials so that they could quickly be bombed. On April 30, 1944 she returned back to England after completing a successful mission. This break ended shortly when she went back on her second mission on June 7, 1944. In this mission she coordinated activities to sabotage communication lines during German attempts to stem the Normandy landings. Unfortunatly during this mission she was caught in a car that raised suspicions of German troops at a roadblock. This caused a quick gun battle which led to her capture after she ran out of ammunition.
Violette was then sent to Limoges and was interrogated for four days. After she was moved to Fresnes Prison in which she was again tortured and interrogated. After all the interrogation Violette was sent to Ravensbruck concentration camp. Violette was then executed on Febuary 5, 1945. For all her efforts in the war Violette was awarded the George Cross and the Croix de Guerre as well as the Medaille de la resistance. In my opinion Violette help in the war effort. She provided necessary intelligence that helped the Allied forces destroy factories helping the German war machine as well as ruin communications in the invasion of Normandy. These seem like small actions but these small actions could have been major contributors to the winning the war in the end
Works Cited
"Violette Szabo." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 02 May 2011.
Limoges, Taken To. "Violette Szabo." Spartacus Educational - Home Page. Web. 02 May 2011. .
"Violette Szabo - Master Spy - Spymuseum.com." Spymuseum.com - 300 Years of Espionage - Now Declassified!!!! Web. 02 May 2011. .
Women as Spies in World War II
ReplyDeleteIan Torbett
Violette Szabo
In World War II, various countries began implementing women as spies, in order to gain information about their enemies. One woman in particular, Violette Szabo, was one of the few women spies employed by the British government. She became a national hero and icon for the allies in World War II. Szabo was born on June 26th, 1921, and died in February of 1945; she was of French and English decent. Even thought she worked for the British, Szabo lived part of her life in Paris, France. Her life revolved around wars; her father was a soldier in World War I, her husband was a soldier in World War II, and her baby died in one of the various battles in World War II. She was already enlisted in the women’s Auxiliary Territorial Service, but later joined Britain’s Special Operations Executive. The SOE was a espionage organization during World War II for the British. They coordinated many spies, and sabotage missions against the Germans. After she joined the Special Operations Executive, Szabo began intense training with the program to become a female spy. With her new set of skills, Szabo was deployed in German occupied France. The mission was successful. She reorganized the local French resistance, sabotaged railroads, and German buildings; Szabo also gained information on the locations of German factories, producing war machines and materials. She returned from the mission unscathed, and victorious. Closely after her first mission, Szabo was sent on another mission, immediately after D-Day, into the heart of German held France, in order to sabotage German communication lines. As her mission continued, she was snuffed out by German soldiers as a spy. Before her capture, she had a brief gun battle with German troops, where she got captured. However, her counterpart escaped the Germans. After being captured, she was sent to a prison camp for spies. Szabo was brutally tortured by the Germans, as she was interrogated for four days, before she was sent to a labor camp. In the labor camp, she endured severe malnutrition, and exhaustion. On February 5th, 1945, German soldiers executed Szabo. Even though she died, Szabo made critical contributions to the Allied war effort, and her death was not in vein. Following her death, she received multiple medals from the British and French governments. She received the George Cross, the Member of the Order of the British Empire, and the Croix de Guerre.
Works Cited
Works Cited
Sarkar, Dilip. "Violette Szabo." DAS REICH HOME PAGE - 2nd SS Panzer Division. Web. 30 Apr. 2011.
Violette Szabo and Etienne Szabo. Web. 29 Apr. 2011.
"Violette Szabo." History Learning Site. Web. 30 Apr. 2011.
Cara Hoffman
ReplyDelete5/1/11
Honors World History, P.6
Violette Szabo
Violette Reine Elizabeth Bushell was born in Paris, France on June 26th, 1921 to a French mother and English father. Before she started school, the family moved to London and she attended school in Brixton until she was 14, and at the start of the Second World War she worked in the Bon Marche department store in Brixton on the perfume counter. For her first mission she was inducted as a Special Operations Executive (SOE) where she received intensive training in navigation, escape and evasion, both Allied and axis weapons, unarmed combat, demolitions, explosives, communications and cryptography. A minor accident during parachute training delayed her deployment into the field until April 5th, 1944 when she parachuted into German-occupied France near Cherbourg. Her code-name Louise, she reorganized a French Resistance network that had been smashed by the Germans. She led the new group in sabotaging road and railway bridges and through this sabotage she was able to hinder German production of war materials which were essential to the Germans to establish Allied bombing targets. After this mission she returned to England on April 30th, 1944. For her second mission she flew to the outskirts of France just after D-Day. Right after she arrived she coordinated the sabotage of communication lines during German attempts to stem the Normandy landings. She was a passenger in the car that German troops captured at an unexpected roadblock that had been set up to find someone else. After a brief gun battle, Szabo was captured when she ran out of ammunition. German documents of the incident recored no German injuries or casualties. She was then treansferred to the custody of the SD in Limoges where she was interrogated and tortured for four days. She then, was moved to Fresnes Prision in Paris and brought the Gestapo headquarters for continued interrogation and torture. After this bought of suffering she was moved to Ravensbruck concentration camp where over 92,000 women died where she endured lahard labour and malnutrition. However through the suffering she helped to save the life of a Belgian resistance courier named Hortense Clews. Violette Szabo was executed on February 5th, 1945 and her body was disposed in the crematorium. She was 23 years old. Violette was not the only women from the SOE who was executed at this concentration camps, and of the Special Operations Executive’s 55 female agents, 13 were killed in action or died in concentration camps.
Violette Szabo most definitely helped the war effort on her side (the allies.) Although only completing about one and one half missions, she was able to harm the enemy. In the grand scheme of things, her contribution was fairly minimal, but as was many participants in the war. And without those smaller contributions, the war would not have been won. Szabo showed great courage and prowess at such a young age and most certainly contributed to the war effort of the eventually victorious allies.
Works Cited:
http://www.violetteszabo.org/
http://www.nigelperrin.com/violetteszabo.htm
Women Spies in WWII
ReplyDeleteViolette Szabo
Violette Szabo, born to a British father and French mother, was born in France but moved to England at age eleven. Her ability to speak both French and English fluently allowed Violette to leave school at age fourteen and work as a saleswoman for a fancy French perfume shop. Violette was a vibrant and temperamental character that could beat her brothers in any sport. At age nineteen she met and married her husband Etienne Szabo, a French Foreign Legion officer. They had their first and only child, a girl named Tania. Four months after her birth, Etienne was fatally wounded while fighting near El Almein.
After marriage, Violette had served on an anti-aircraft battery for the Auxiliary Territorial Service. To avenge her husbands death, Violette entered the British Special Operations Executive. In 1944, Violette literally parachuted into a German-occupied city in France for one month. She returned to France for a second mission immediately after D-Day in 1944. Although there are many variations of the end of her life, it is understood that she was in a car captured by German troops. Some say she brought down 400 men before being captured, and others say she held off the Germans for two days until she ran out of ammunition, however, German records report no injuries. For the next month, she was interrogated and tortured by the German Gestapo. She was then sent to the Ravensbruck concentration camp, where she saved the life of a Belgian resistance officer, Hortence Clews, and survived for a year. After attempts to escape Ravensbruck, Violette was executed with her fellow members of the Special Operations Executive in 1945. After death, she was awarded the George Cross by the king.
Violette did commit her whole life to the war effort for the Allies through the ATS and the SOE, unarguably contributing to the war effort. Her first mission in France was highly successful; she reorganized a resistance network that had been destroyed and invaded by Germans and led them on a journey to sabotage infrastructure. On top of her early feats, I consider her life in Ravensbruck to be the most contributing to the Allies. It is not just heroic acts, but it is silence that made Violette’s career successful. Through the horrors of the concentration camp and the countless hours of torture she endured, Violette did not relent; she did not utter one word about the Allies or their secrets, and gave up her life to the war.
Works Cited
Nigel, Perrin. "VIolette Szabo." N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2011.
Peter, Millar. "Violette, woman at the heart of the legend." Sunday Times, The n.d.: Newspaper Source. EBSCO. Web. 2 May 2011.
Violette Szabo was not a woman to get in the way of. Born in France to a French mother and British father, Violette met a French man and married him, all in the span of 42 days. Violette was not a woman to be stopped, and her husband’s 12-year age difference did nothing to deter her love for him.
ReplyDeleteIn October 1942, Violette’s beloved husband sustained a bullet in the chest on the battlefield. Violette was enraged at the axis powers for murdering her husband before he even saw their first-born child. Violette did nothing to try and put out the flames of hate in her heart, instead, she lived for the idea of revenge.
Violette immediately went to applying herself as a spy. She did everything in her power to be the best spy she could be to bring down the men who killed her husband. Only two years after her husband’s death (longer than it should have been due to a minor parachuting accident), Violette set off on her first mission.
In opting for her mission, many superiors questioned whether Violette should be sent to France, as she had a hint of an English accent, but after further training and much application, Violette was able to iron out her accent. In April of 1944, Violette was parachuted in France. Despite being arrested by the French police at one point in her mission, Violette managed to successfully reorganize a fallen French resistance group that had been formerly obliterated by the Germans. Once they were organized, Violette helped the group to carry out much mayhem on bridges around the city. In addition to helping wreak havoc, Violette also gave the Allies important information through her reports.
After an intense but successful first mission, Violette returned to England, but there was still revenge to be taken. Violette set out on her second mission in France. Upon her arrival however, everything went wrong. Her car had raised suspicions and then been pulled over, resulting in a brief gun battle. Violette held up a sturdy cover fire, and allowed to get her comrades to get away. She would have gotten away herself, specters remarked, had she not run out of ammunition. With no further weapon, she was taken captive. She was then transferred through multiple French prisons until she wound up in a concentration camp where she suffered malnutrition and heavy labor until she was executed.
http://www.violetteszabo.org/
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/SOEszabo.htm
http://www.violette-szabo-museum.co.uk/foyer.htm
Yokoshiko Kawashima was born in China as the fourteenth daughter of a
ReplyDeleteManchu prince. She was adopted at age eight by her father’s friend
Naniwa Kawashima. Naniwa was a Japanese spy after the Shanghai
uprising. After being adopted, her name was changed to Kawashima
Yoshiko. Raised in Matsumoto, Nagano, she effectively became a
Japanese citizen. When she was only seventeen years old, she attempted suicide, and failed. After this she began to wear men’s clothing. Many believe that her foster father raped her, and that this caused her change in persona. In 1927 she married Ganjuurjab, the son of an important Mongolian general. However, this marriage only lasted two years. After divorcing Ganjuurjab, she moved to Shanghai, and met Japanese military ambassador Ryukichi Tanaka, and helped him expand his informant network. When Tanka had to return to Japan, Kawashima moved on and continued to assist the Japanese. She served under General Kenji Doihara and went undercover in Manchuria. When Kawashima was undercover, she continued to cross dress and this aided her in her deception. While in Manchuria, Kawashima used her relationship with former emperor Pu Yi to influence his decision to return to the newly created state Manchukuo. Pu Yi was established as emperor and Kawashima continued to stay connected with him. In 1931, she formed a counter insurgence group created to hunt down anti Japanese Guerilla forces in Manchukuo. She offered the unit up to the Japanese army in 1933, but it was refused and disallowed to participate in the Japanese campaigns in China. This is most likely because the unit was primarily comprised of former bandits. After all of her success in Manchukuo, Kawashima was no longer a covert operative, and she became a popular public figure. She makes regular appearances on radio shows, and recorded music. After World War II had ended and the Japanese left China, Kawashima was discovered by Chinese counter intelligence in Peking. She was tried for treason in 1948 and executed. Yokoshiko Kawashima seems to have had a large impact on small affairs within the Sino-Japanese wars. However, it is unclear how she affects the bigger picture of World War II. I believe that her actions did not affect the outcome of World War II, and merely aided the Japanese in their attempted conquest of Asia.
Works Cited
Li, Bihua. The Last Princess of Manchuria. New York, NY: Morrow, 1992. Print.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteRochelle Dong
ReplyDeleteWebber
Modern World History
25 April 2011
Yoshiko Kawashima
Yoshiko Kawashima, also known as Jin Bihui and Aisin Gioro Xianyu, was a Manchurian princess brought up as a Japanese and excuted as a Japanese spy. She was the 14th daughter of Shanqi, the 10th of hereditary Prince Su of the Manchu imperial family, but she was given over to Japanese mercenary and spy after the Xinhai Revolution. She was renamed as Yoshiko Kawashima and educated in Japan as she grew up there; thus she felt stronger bonds to Japan than to her native China.
Yoshiko was later re-sent back to Manchuria as a Japanese spy. She often disguised herself as a man, and one theory states that this was due to an incident where she was raped by her foster father. In Shanghai, she met Major General Takayoshi Tanaka of the Shanghai Special Service Organ who was working closely with the mastermind spy in China, Major-General Kenji Doihara. Yoshiko was able to play an effective espionage role with many of Doihara's spy network in China. She was also well acquainted with Emperor Pu Yi and it was through this close bond that she was able to persuade the boy-emperor Pu Yi to return his homeland Manchuria and become the Emperor of the newly Japanese-created state of Manchukuo. This was extremely beneficial to the Japanese, and Yoshiko continued to be instrumental in helping Japan control Manchukuo. In 1945, she was later captured by Chinese counter-intelligence officials and was tried and executed as a traitor by the Nationalist party in 1948.
"Yoshiko Kawashima - Biography." The Biographicon. Web. 29 Apr. 2011.
Niraj Madhani
ReplyDeleteWomen as Spies Blog
Yoshiko Kawashima, though her real name is Aisin Gioro Xianyu, was a Manchu Princess born to Prince Su (Shangqi) in Beijing, 1907. She was born into the Machu imperial family, but at the age of eight Naniwa Kawashima, a friend of Prince Su, adopted her. Naniwa Kawashima, a Japanese espionage agent and mercenary adventurer, changed her name to Yoshiko Kawashima. Yoshiko was then raised and educated in Japan with her adoptive father. At age 17 she tried to commit suicide but failed – one theory as to why she tried to commit suicide is that her adoptive father raped her. After her failed suicide attempt, she began wearing menswear.
Her spy career began later; in 1921 when she married Ganjuurjab who was the son of the Inner Mongolian army General. Gunjuurjab was the leader of the Mongolian-Manchurian Independence Movement in Ryojun and his marriage with Yoshiko ended in a divorce after two years. After the divorce, Yoshiko moved to Shanghai where she met the Japanese military attaché and intelligence officer, Ryukichi Tanaka. He expanded his network by using Yoshiko’s contacts with the Manchurian and Mongolian nobility. However, Tanaka was recalled to Japan and Yoshiko then worked with Major General Kenji Doihara. While working under Doihara, Yoshiko went on undercover missions in Manchuria and China, usually in disguise as a male. She would have a dominating personality allowing her to fit in with the guerilla groups.
One of her greatest achievements was manipulating the last Chinese emperor, Pu Yi, to return to Manchuria and become the Emperor of Manchukuo, the Japanese created state. Pu Yi regarded Yoshiko as a member of the royal family and kept a good relationship with her. Yoshiko used this to her advantage and convinced Pu Yi to return to Manchuria. After Pu Yi became Emperor of Manchukuo, Yohiko continued her espionage work. She was even the mistress to Major General Hayao Tada for some time, the chief military advisor for Pu Yi. She also set up a counter insurgency cavalry in 1932 to hunt down anti-Japanese guerilla forces and was offered a unit of the Japanese Kwantung Army for Operation Nekka, but she refused.
Over the years Yoshiko gained popularity in Manchukuo, but this created problems with the Japanese Kwantung Army. The army saw no longer saw value in her as an intelligence asset and she had critical tone against the Japanese military’s exploitation in Manchukuo. At the end of the Second World War, the Chinese government arrested Yoshiko and in 1948 she was tried and executed as a traitor.
Yoshiko did have a big impact on Japan’s military efforts. Her relationships with the Chinese emperor and officials along with Manchurian nobility allowed Japan t have an upper hand. During World War II, her espionage career aided Japan's military expansion into China.
Works Cited
"Kawashima Yoshiko (1906 - 1948) Princess, Intelligence Agent, Traitor." A Gender Variance Who's Who. Web. 27 Apr. 2011. .
Meghan Bacher
ReplyDelete1 May 2011
Violette Szabo
Violette Szabo was born in Paris on June 26, 1921 to a French mother and a British father. After a few years of living in France, she and her family moved to London. She was a vivacious girl who was not afraid to get dirty. Eventually she married a French soldier by the name of Captain Etienne Szabo and just before she turned 21, she gave birth to a girl who she called Tania. Sadly her husband never met Tania daughter due to the fact that he was killed in the battle of El Alamein before he had the chance.
After this tragic loss Szabo felt that she must do something to help the war effort. As a result Violette joined the British SOE as a secret agent. The goal of SOE was to organize resistance movements within Axis occupied territories. Since Szabo spoke French, she was stationed in the French section of the SOE began her training to become a First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY). FANY was a cover job for agents in the SOE. Once her training was complete Violette went out on her first mission.
Her first task was to evaluate the possibility of organizing a resistance in the Rouen with her partner, Philippe Liéwer. To get past the German patrols who occupied France, she and her partner parachuted in to survey the town. While in Rouen she connected with various underground resistance fighters and then connected them with British Intelligence.
With this initial assignment complete, she promptly took another one. Back in France she and Philippe touched base with another agent to travel by car to a different part of France. While on their way the agents encountered a German patrols and after a brief firefight, Szabo was captured, put in prison, and then repeatedly moved around to different concentration and work camps. Later she was interrogated by the SS and and was reportedly raped and tortured. Despite all of this she her resolve did not crack and she did not divulge any information to the Germans. At some point Violette was transferred to Ravensbruck concentration camp and although she and other captured agents tried to escape, informers always foiled the attempts. In the end Violette Szabo along with countless other agents was shot in the neck several times ending her career as a resistance informer.
Violette Szabo had a big impact the war effort. People like her helped rekindle hope into occupied countries like France. She was worked with a group that helped raise resistance fighters and helped inspire people to stand up to their occupiers. Every little bit of resistance helped bring down the Nazi’s. Even after Szabo died she remained and inspiration to people to remain strong and stand up for what is right. Finally she illustrated that women could help the war effort too; she showed that men weren’t the only ones who could fight.
Works Cited
Perrin, Nigel. "Violette Szabo - Special Operations Executive (SOE) Agents in France." Nigel Perrin - Author's Website. Web. 02 May 2011. .
Sarkar, Dilip. "Violette Szabo." DAS REICH HOME PAGE - 2nd SS Panzer Division. 1999. Web. 02 May 2011. .
"VIOLETTE SZABO - HISTORY OF THIS BRITISH SOE AGENT." VIOLETTE SZABO LIFE and MUSEUM. 10 May 2010. Web. 02 May 2011. .
Chris Chen, Period 7
ReplyDeleteViolette Szabo was born on June 26, 1921 in Paris to an English Father and a French mother. She initially lived in France as a young girl, but settled in the London suburb of Brixton when she was eleven. She had a strong command of the French language from an early age, and this helped her land several jobs as a young woman. At the outbreak of World War II, Violette desperately wanted to contribute to the war effort. She joined the “Dig-for-Victory” campaign, in which the British government enlisted the help of civilians to grow food for the country. After the fall of France Violette was devastated, but at the same time she met her future husband, Etienne Szabo, a French Foreign Legion soldier from Hungary. They married in August of that year, and Violette enlisted in anti-aircraft forces as Etienne was sent to East Africa. In June of 1942, Violette gave birth to their daughter, Tania Szabo. Four months later, Etienne was killed in action near El-Alamein.
Wanting revenge, Violette was referred to the Special Operations Executive, and was accepted into the training program. She proved to be extremely capable, and was trained in various offensive and evasive techniques. It was discovered that she was an extremely good shot, and this quickly lead to her advancement. Her knowledge of France and the French language made her an obvious choice to be deployed to France to help the resistance against German occupation. However, she and her companion quickly discovered the state of the resistance circuit was irreparable, and both were flown back to Britain by the end of April. She immediately signed up for a subsequent mission. She was parachuted back into France on July 8, 1944. This time her objective was to establish another resistance circuit, however, things went awry. Her vehicle was ambushed by German troops, but sources claim she made a valiant stand against the Nazis and held them off before she ran out of ammunition, and was shortly thereafter apprehended. She was sent to a prison near Paris, and interrogated but resisted giving out any information. She was then deported to a German concentration camp. There she made several escape attempts but was stopped each time. On January 27, 1945, she was executed at the age of 23, and her body was disposed of at a crematorium.
Violette Szabo has become one of the most famous and romanticized spies of this era. Her life was dramatized in the movie ¬Carve Her Name in Pride, based on a book of the same name. Her daughter Tanya also wrote a book reconstructing her mother’s two missions. She was the second woman to be awarded the George Cross, and she was also awarded the Croix de Guerre and the Medaille de Resistance.
Works Cited
Millar, Peter. "Violette, Woman at the Heart of the Legend." The Sunday Times 23 Jan. 2000, Features sec.: 6. Print.
Perrin, Nigel. "Violette Szabo - Special Operations Executive (SOE) Agents in France." Nigel Perrin - Author's Website. Web. 28 Apr. 2011. .
Violette Szabo was born in Paris, France on June 26, 1921. Her mother was French but her father was English. She lived in France for most of her childhood before later moving to London, England. While there, she attended secondary school until the age of fourteen. When World War II started she was working in At the age of nineteen, Violette married Etienne Szabo in late August of 1940. They had a daughter named Tania, but before she was even born, Etienne died in an Egyptian battle from chest wounds. Etienne’s death was the breaking point and when she decided to dedicate her life to serving for her country and became a spy. She becomes part of the Special Operations Executive, a British secret service, in April 1944. She was codenamed Louise, trained in night/day navigation, Allied and German weapons, explosions, and cryptography. During her first mission she was in charge of a team that would destroy bridges, streets, and forms of transportation in Germany. During her many missions she used guerilla warfare tactics and attacks on the Nazi forces. She used her knowledge of French culture to become a valued spy. While trying to coordinate sabotage on the German’s communications, doubts rose and Violette was caught. At first she was in custody with many different countries but she was eventually brought to a labor camp. It was called Ravensbruck concetration camp, and it was the place where she died in 1945. I think that her job with the secret service was useful and important for the effects of France in World War II. Works Cited
ReplyDeleteViolette Szabo and Etienne Szabo. Web. 02 May 2011. .
"Violette Szabo." Spartacus Educational - Home Page. Web. 02 May 2011. .
Tony Ibrahim
ReplyDeleteProfessor Christopher Webber
Period 4, History
2 May 2011
Women As Spies In World War II
“For thousands of years governments have relied on spies to gather information about their enemies. WWII was no different but until the 20th century, most spies were men. During WWII, however, many women became active in the world of espionage” (Webber). This statement captures the essence of being a spy in World War II, particularly a woman; however, in this write-up we will take a very close look at a woman spy by the name of Yoshiko Kawashima to truly understand their involvement in the Second World War.
Yoshiko Kawashima lived from 1906 to 1948 and had a very disturbing childhood as well as difficult life. She was the thirteenth child and was then given up at the age of eight to be raised by a military advisor for the Japanese Army by the name of Kawashima Naniwa. She was raped by Kawashima’s father and she also had an affair with Kawashima himself. In the year 1921, Yoshiko Kawashima birth father died and she gave up in all things pertaining to Chinese.
From broken marriages to rich lovers, Yoshiko Kawashima had a very complicated love life and alternated by having affairs with both men and women. By the year 1928, Yoshiko Kawashima used her ability to love to her advantage and got invited into the Forbidden City. In this city is where Yoshiko Kawashima made close friends with the empress. As time passed, Yoshiko Kawashima started to wear men’s clothing. Not only did this allow Yoshiko Kawashima to fit in more easily with the surrounding men around her, but it also allowed her to take on a new sexual and personal identity. Yoshiko Kawashima’s main position was working for the Japanese colony in Shanghai, particularly for the Japanese Intelligence in Shanghai. Yoshiko Kawashima’s biggest accomplishment as a spy was convincing the last of the Chinese emperors to be the “puppet ruler” of the city of Manchuria. Yoshiko Kawashima continued to have many sexual affairs and interactions. Little did she know that these pleasurable interactions would be her demise.
When the war ended in 1945, Yoshiko Kawashima had gained a considerable amount of waited as well as contracted a sexually transmitted disease called syphilis. Yoshiko Kawashima was then later accused and convicted of espionage and betrayal Chiang Kai-shek army. One of her previous lovers turned her in due to relationship issues and Yoshiko Kawashima was found guilty and ultimately beheaded. In my opinion, Yoshiko Kawashima played a major role as one of many women spies during World War II, but I believe her as a person did not contribute significantly to the war efforts going on. Though she convinced the emperor, I believe she could have focused her work much more on espionage and on the war efforts rather than on her fetishes for having sexual encounters with both men and women.
Works Cited
"Kawashima Yoshiko (1906 - 1948) Princess, Intelligence Agent, Traitor." A Gender Variance Who's Who. Web. 27 Apr. 2011.
Rigby, Rosemary. "The Violette Szabo Museum." The Violette Szabo Museum, 10 May 2010. Web. 26 Apr. 2011.
Brian Haist
ReplyDeleteMr. Webber
Honors Modern World History
April 2, 2011
Violette Reine Elizabeth Bushell was born in Paris on June 26, 1921, and was the daughter of an English taxi-driver and a French mother. Though she was of French descent, she and her family moved to Brixton in London a few years after she was born. As a child, she surpassed her three brothers and cousins in the sports that they played, and she was remembered for being a dare-devil. At the age of fourteen, Violette left her Secondary School to work as a hairdresser's assistant and then as a shop assistant in a department store.
On July 1940, Violette met the 30 year old Captain Etienne Szabo that was serving in the French Foreign Legion. The two were in love, and married about a month later on August 21, 1940. Soon after, Etienne had to go to North Africa to fight with his unit. While Etienne was away, Violette gave birth to Tania Szabo on June 8th, 1942. Shortly afterwards, Violette got news that her husband, Captain Etienne Azabo, was killed in action at El Alamein on October 24th, 1942. At this news, Violette instantly became passionate in the war efforts in an attempt to avenge her husband's death. This led to her operations in the SOE (Special Operations Executive) when a letter from “Mr. Potter” arrived to invite her to the SOE.
Though her co-workers in the SOE had doubts of her abilities, she was deployed at the request of Colonel Maurice Buckmaster, the head of the SOE's French Operations. Her first mission was in the April of 1944 where she was deployed to France. There, she was arrested twice by the French police but still managed to complete her mission that she was to do. After returning, she was later re-deployed in a Citroën where she was detected by German patrol. After being discovered, she was taken to the Ravensbrück concentration camp where she was tortured and then executed sometime in January of 1945. Despite her tortuting, she did not tell the enemy any information that could be of any value. Upon her death, she was rewarded the Croix de Guerre and the George Cross.
Because she was so new to the SOE, she could not do as much as she could have done in the WWII efforts. What she did accomplish, however, was a definite help to the SOE and Britain. Though she did not get much intel, the information that she got helped the SOE and was therefore a benefit to the war effort. Her execution in Ravensbrück was not an uncommon one, so little changed because of her discovery.
Works Cited
Simkin, John. "Violette Szabo." Spartacus Educational. Web. 1 May 2011.
The Violette Szabo Museum. "Violette Szabo - History of This British SOE Agent." VIOLETTE SZABO LIFE and MUSEUM. Web. 01 May 2011.
Sarkar, Dilip. "Violette Szabo GC - The Unbroken Spirit." DAS REICH HOME PAGE - 2nd SS Panzer Division. 1999. Web. 02 May 2011.
Casey Tirshfield
ReplyDeleteHonors World History
Mr. Webber
2 May 2011
Violette Szabo was born in France, and later moved to England. In 1941 she responded to requests by the War Office for people to send photographs of France. These photographs encouraged the War office to recruit Odette into the Special Operations Executive.
After undergoing basic training in England, she was stationed in France in the October of 1942. For over a year, Odette, using the codename Lise, worked as radio operator. Radio Operators was one of the most dangerous tasks, as the Gestapo were always on the lookout for radio signals.
In the April of 1943 she was finally captured, betrayed by the double agent Colonel Henri. She was taken to Fresnes Prison in Paris, where she was interrogated and tortured on many separate occasions. The torture was brutal yet, despite it and other pressure she remained firm to her story. She maintained she, not Peter Churchill, was the leader; she also refused to give any information about other members. She, eventually, was sentenced to death and sent to a concentration camp for her execution. However, her execution was never carried out. The Gestapo believed that her 'husband' Peter Churchill was related to Winston Churchill. The SS wanted to keep her as a bargaining tool. When the camp was overrun however, she won her freedom.
For her service, Odette was awarded the George Cross. I personally believe that her actions were an integral part in the war effort, and the combined effort of her and other female spies was a substantial piece of the intelligence community during WWII. After the war she briefly married, Peter Churchill, before marrying her third husband Geoffrey Hallowes, and died in 1995 at the age of 83.
Works Cited:
"VIOLETTE SZABO - HISTORY OF THIS BRITISH SOE AGENT." VIOLETTE SZABO LIFE
and MUSEUM. Web. 01 May 2011. .
Jaclyn Hirbawi
ReplyDeleteWebber
Modern World History Period 7
2 May 2011
Hekmath Fathmy, also spelled Hekmet Famy, was a German spy during World War II. Born in Egypt in 1920, she grew up as the niece of the great actress Aziza Amir and started her own career as an exotic dancer with the touring groups. According to sources, Hekmath performed in front of many German leaders including but not limited to Hitler and Mussolini. As an Egyptian nationalist, she used her charms to undermine the British troops with the help of Johann Eppler. The motive behind becoming a spy arose from her hatred of Britain’s occupation of Egypt, which was the region she lived in. Eppler, the main German intelligence effort in Cairo, played an important role in Hekmath’s work of espionage. Although he was born a German, he actually grew accustom to Egyptian customs. The German Intelligece, the Abwehr, decided to send him back to Cairo on a spy mission in 1940. Hekmath Fathmy was employed as a belly dancer at the time and in fact was Eppler’s former girlfriend. Once in Cairo, he located her and asked if she’d use her “intimate” contact with several British officers to aid the German information group. While this notorious woman successfully transmitted useful information to the Germans during World War II, she was also eventually imprisoned for spying activities in 1942 for 2 years. However, I do not believe her contributions were essential. It is likely that had she not become a spy, Germany would have kept the ‘vigor’ it had during the war. Despite this, it is the small individual contributions that always make a difference. As such, her work as a spy was not essential but helped Germans fight the British.
Work Cited
ReplyDelete"Hekmet Fahmy - the Bellydancer Spy." Bellydance Pictures, Listen to Oriental Dance Music and Middle Eastern Music. Web. 02 May 2011. .
http://mshworldhistory10.wikispaces.com/file/view/chap11.pdf