Remembering the "Great Bravery" of Lieutenant Andrée Raymonde Borrel
“The idea of women entering the line of battle”, Sir Winston Churchill wrote in 1938, “is revolting to us…”
Yet, “if the barbarous times return”, he added, and “human beings fall to the level of wolves in their pitiless ferocity… women will fight by the side of their men.”
Less than a year after Sir Winston penned those words, Adolf Hitler plunged Europe into another “black abyss of savagery” and, almost immediately thereafter, women, like Andrée Raymonde Borrel, were fighting alongside their men…
Born the daughter of a “proud French patriot”, in November 1919, Andrée began her service in the summer of 1940, when, during the ill-fated Battle of France, she volunteered as a nurse, treating wounded soldiers on the front line.
Rather than surrender when the front collapsed, Andrée was quite unwilling to accept the new regime…
Joining the French Resistance, she quickly became one of its leading figures, helping to organize and operate escape routes, not just for downed Allied airmen but, as time went by, Jewish families fleeing arrest and deportation.
When betrayal left Andrée with no choice but to flee herself, she set sail for Great Britain, where, within hours of making landfall, she was whisked away by British intelligence…
Deemed an “ideal candidate” for the clandestine “Special Operations Executive”, she was later assigned to the organization’s “F-Section”; with whom, she was to embark upon her debut mission, serving as a courier for a new SOE “circuit” in Paris.
Led by the “suave and charismatic major”, Francis Alfred Suttill, the “PROSPER” circuit got to work soon after Andrée’s arrival…
Posing as "agricultural consultants", the "consulting duo" traversed all four corners of German-occupied France, establishing not only a string of farms that could be used for resupply and refuge; but also, recruiting and training hundreds of "associates" for their covert campaign of sabotage and subversion.
While, however, the rapid growth of “PROSPER” enabled them to yield such tremendous successes, it likewise made them unwittingly vulnerable...
Tragically, neither Andrée nor Francis had reason to suspect that one of their “loyal associates” was, in fact, a double agent for the Gestapo, who, acting on his information, launched a catastrophic crack-down against them…
Culminating in Andrée’s arrest, on this day in 1943, she was held and tortured in multiple prisons, before being transported to a remote concentration camp in the Vosges mountains…
There, an SS-doctor told Andrée that she was to be “vaccinated” against the dangers of Typhus; only, instead of vaccinating her, injected her with a lethal dose of phenol.
Hailed by her commanding officer as “a perfect lieutenant”, Major General Sir Colin Gubbins ensured Andrée’s selfless sacrifice did not go unrecognized…
“For her great bravery and devotion to duty”, Sir Colin expressed in 1945, “I am honored to recommend she be appointed a Member of the British Empire.”
Addendum 1: -
The sadist who administered the lethal dose of phenol that, it's believed, killed Andrée – SS-Obersturmführer (1st Lieutenant) Werner Rohde.
Beginning his medical career as a dentist, in January 1930, Rohde closed his practice in 1938 to study medicine.
While studying for his degree, he transferred from Adolf Hitler’s Sturmabteilung paramilitary to the dictator’s fast-growing Allgemeine Schutzstaffel, where, in August 1942, he became an SS military doctor.
Following lengthy stints at Buchenwald and Auschwitz, Rohde arrived at Natzweiler-Struthof in 1944…
There, he not only murdered countless numbers with the phenol he injected Andrée and three of her SOE comrades with; but, he also killed many more by way of the human medical experimentation he “perfected” at Auschwitz.
Later arrested and put on trial by a British military tribunal, the latter ultimately sentenced Rohde to death by hanging.
Taken to the gallows on October 11th, 1946, the “doctor” maintained his innocence to the end...
“We were working under a state of emergency”, he told his executioner.
“I only did what was expected of me.”
Addendum 2: -
Andrée’s SOE comrades who, on July 6th, 1944, were murdered alongside her by SS-Obersturmführer Werner Rohde – Vera Leigh (left); Sonia Olschanezky (center); and Diana Rowden (right).
Immediately after injecting them with the lethal dose of phenol, which he believed was “strong enough to kill them”, Rohde ordered Andrée, Vera, Sonia, and Diana to be burned in the camp’s crematorium.
Manned by a German criminal, Franz Berg, the latter stated in his post-war trial testimony that, despite the injections, “the women were still conscious” when he “placed them in the furnace…”
According to another prisoner – a Pole by the name of Walter Schutz:
“When the last woman” - Andrée’ – “was halfway in the oven (she’d been put in feet first), she’d come to her senses and struggled…”
“As there were sufficient men there”, Walter added, “they were able to push her into the oven, but not before she had resisted”.
For the murderous role he played in pushing Andrée, Vera, Sonia, and Diana “into the oven”, Franz was sentenced to just five years in prison.
When evidence came to light, however, of additional crimes committed while working as a “willing helper” at Natzweiler, Franz was sentenced to death, and hanged on the same day as Rohde.
Addendum 3: -
Members of the French Resistance inspecting the crematorium where Andrée, Vera, Sonia, Diana, and countless others were murdered.
Addendum 4: -
A recent photograph of the crematorium where Andrée, Vera, Sonia, Diana, and countless others were murdered. The memorial on the right hangs in blessed memory of Andrée, Vera, Sonia, and Diana. The memorial on the left hangs in blessed memory of the known resistance fighters who were killed there.
Addendum 5: -
The entrance to the remote concentration camp Andrée was deported to in the Vosges mountains – Konzentrationslager Natzweiler-Struthof.
Opened in May 1941, Natzweiler-Struthof evolved into a sprawling complex of 70 subcamps which, by the time of Andrée’s arrival, in July 1944, housed no fewer than 30,000 prisoners.
Although almost all were forced to work in the nearby quarries, digging for granite and other stones, many labored in the on-site armament factories, manufacturing aircraft engines, weapons, and munitions.
All told, more than 20,000 men and women are known to have been murdered by way of slave labor at Natzweiler-Struthof.
Thousands more, though, were killed not only by beatings and shootings; but, by asphyxiation and medical experimentation inside of the camp’s gas chamber.
Addendum 6: -
One of the many prisons Andrée was held and tortured – Fresnes Prison in Paris.
Located in the southern suburbs of the city, Fresnes opened its doors in 1898 and, to this day, remains the second-largest penitentiary in France.
Seized by the German Wehrmacht in the summer of 1940, it was then commandeered by the “Geheime Staatspolizei”.
Used by the Gestapo to hold, torture, and murder agents of Great Britain’s “Special Operations Executive”, French resistance fighters, and political prisoners opposed to National Socialism, the killings continued through to the Allied liberation of Fresnes, on August 24th, 1944.
Addendum 7: -
The man widely believed to have betrayed Andrée and Francis – Henri Déricourt.
Recruited by British intelligence in August 1942, Déricourt was parachuted back into his native France in January 1943.
There, the former air force pilot was entrusted with building “FARRIER” – an SOE resistance “circuit” that, working in conjunction with Francis and Andrée’s, facilitated the aerial infiltration of newly trained agents, equipment, and supplies.
Even before Francis and Andrée’s arrest, credible suspicions were raised in respect of Déricourt’s allegiance; and yet, time and again, the warnings were ignored.
Recalled to London in 1944, he remained there until the end of the war, when he returned to France.
Although put on trial for treason there, in 1948, he was quickly acquitted owing to a supposed “lack of evidence”.
Shortly after his acquittal, Déricourt told the late British author, Jean Overton Fuller, that he did work for the Germans; albeit, on the “instructions of another British agency” – MI6.
Later finding nefarious employment as a drug runner – smuggling shipments in and out of Laos – it was there, Déricourt was killed when, on November 21st, 1962, the plane he was flying came down in “mysterious circumstances”.
Addendum 8: -
The “suave and charismatic major” – Francis Alfred Suttill.
A criminal barrister by profession, French-born Francis traded his robes for a uniform as soon as he heard:
“Great Britain is at war.”
Joining the ranks of his local unit – the East Surrey Regiment – Francis was quickly singled out for a commission, which, after he obtained in May 1940, brought him to the attention of the SOE.
Parachuted into France on October 1st, 1942, Francis was tasked with building “PHYSICIAN” – a Paris-based resistance “circuit” that, by the time he rendezvoused with Andrée, in November, he’d renamed to reflect his moniker – “PROPSER”.
Arrested at the same time as Andrée, they were later transported to the horrific confines of Fresnes Prison, where they both suffered, yet withstood, the most sadistic of tortures.
Then deported to the horrors of Sachsenhausen, it was there, Francis endured until late March 1945, when, mere weeks before the camp’s liberation, he was dragged from his cell, and murdered.
Hailed by Major General Colin Gubbins as “a magnificent leader”, whose “achievements were quite unparalleled”, Francis and his “outstanding bravery” was posthumously honored with the Distinguished Service Order.
Addendum 9: -
Andrée’s commanding officer – Major General Sir Colin Gubbins.
Commissioned on the eve of the Great War, in 1914, Sir Colin served the Royal Artillery with distinction for the duration of the conflict.
Then deployed first, to civil war Russia, and then to Ireland, his service battling Communists and Republicans taught him a “valuable lesson:”
“The art of irregular warfare”.
Soon after the fall of Poland, in September 1939, Sir Colin was sent to Paris, where, as head of a military intelligence mission, he remained until his transfer to Norway.
There, he commanded the forerunner of the commandos – the “Independent Companies” – with whom, he narrowly escaped capture during the German invasion of April 1940.
Subsequently seconded to the SOE, it was there, he became its “mainspring”, building, organizing, and co-ordinating Britain’s covert operations through to the war’s end.
Ultimately retiring to his home on the Hebrides, the “Highland Toughie” spent his final years hiking, fishing, and shooting, before passing away just shy of 80.
Although remembered as “one of the war’s unsung heroes”, Sir Colin is perhaps best memorialized by the words his closest comrades used to describe him:
“Bloody brilliant.”
Addendum 10: -
Andrée on the eve of her 20th Birthday, cycling in the French city of Toulon.
Born and raised in the Parisian suburb of Bécon-les-Bruyères, Andrée moved to Toulon with her beloved mother, Eugenie, and her older sister, Léone, in October 1939.
Nine years prior, in 1930, she lost her dearest father, Louis, who, as a “proud French patriot”, imparted his patriotism to both his cherished children.
Following Louis’ sad and premature passing, Andrée abandoned her schooling to learn the art of dressmaking, which, in turn, enabled her to support her impoverished mother financially.
Although she later took a “sabbatical” from dressmaking to fight in civil war Spain, she arrived to discover a Republican Army on the verge of collapse, and Generalissimo Franco on the cusp of victory.
Soon after returning to France, Andrée volunteered to work with the Red Cross, with whom, she completed the “crash course” in nursing that qualified her to serve as a nurse when, in May 1940, her country was invaded by Hitler’s Germany.
Addendum 11: -
A detailed map illustrating the escape routes Andrée helped organize and operate before her forced departure from France.
Of the three escape routes illustrated on this map, Andrée is best known for her work with the “Pat Line” – an “underground railway” founded by Belgian Army doctor, Major General Albert Guérisse.
Naming his “railway” after his nom de guerre – “Pat O’Leary” – the Pat Line stretched from Paris to Marseille, from where, Allied airmen, Jews, and other “undesirables” were smuggled by selfless souls like Andrée across the Pyrenees into Generalissimo Franco’s Spain.
Believed to have been betrayed by one of her fellow rescuers – former British soldier turned French Resistance courier, Harrold Cole – the latter very nearly destroyed the Pat Line when, following his capture in December 1941, he gave the Germans intelligence that led to a brutal crackdown.
Resulting in the arrest of several of her comrades, Andrée managed to escape their fate, first, by going into hiding, and then, by using the Pat Line to cross the Spanish frontier.
Eventually finding her way to British Gibraltar, it was there she secured a place aboard a Polish crewed Felucca – the “Seawolf – that, in turn, ferried her to Great Britain.
Addendum 12: -
Upon making landfall in Great Britain, in late April 1942, Andrée was spirited away to the Royal Patriotic School in Wandsworth, London.
Seen here in a recent photograph, the building was then home to British Intelligence, whose officers, “from a security point of view”, noted that they could “find nothing against Mademoiselle Borrel.”
Shortly after her “meeting” with MI5, Andrée attempted to enlist with the Corps des Volontaires Françaises of the Free French Forces; only to be rejected by the all-female corps for her refusal to divulge information relating to the Pat Line in France.
Then approached by the Special Operations Executive, the latter believed that she’d “make an excellent addition” to their own “Corps Féminin”; and so, invited her to join in May 1942.
Addendum 13: -
Like most women who were chosen to work as SOE field operatives, Andrée was enrolled in the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry.
Founded in 1907 as a “first aid link between [military] field hospitals and the frontline”, the “FANY” was crucial to the SOE’s success during the Second World War.
Not only did it serve as the perfect cover for female agents like Andrée but, as can be seen in this photograph, showing “FANYs” hard at work decrypting German military communications, it also provided the Special Operations Executive with a wealth of administrative, logistical, and technical support.
Addendum 14: -
The magnificent “Mémorial aux Héros et Martyrs" of Konzentrationslager Natzweiler-Struthof at the site where the camp once stood.
Officially inaugurated by French President, General Charles de Gaulle, on July 23rd, 1960, the "Memorial to the Heroes and Martyrs perpetuates the heroism and martyrdom of soldiers without uniforms – freedom fighters – who, through the worst tragedy, saved their honor.”