Remembering the Magnificent “Courage and Steadfastness” of Violette Szabo

(Violette Szabo)

As a strong-willed, athletic “tomboy” growing up in 1930s Britain, Violette Szabo liked nothing more than playing “soldiers” with her four brothers, and, as she grew older, accompanying her father on his shooting expeditions.

Little did she know, how she would go from playing “soldiers” to eventually becoming one and, little did she know either, how the shooting skills she learned from her father, would prove invaluable to her future endeavors.

Shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War, she proudly enlisted in the Women’s Land Army. 

Then, she met her future husband – Etienne – who, as a distinguished non-commissioned officer in the French Foreign Legion, was subsequently shipped to North Africa.

When Etienne was sadly killed in action, the war suddenly became personal for Violette.

(Violette with her beloved husband, Adjutant-chef (Chief Warrant Officer) Etienne Szabo. Prior to his deployment to West Africa in September 1940, Etienne distinguished himself fighting with the Allied Expeditionary Force in Norway, before then being evacuated from France during "Operation Dynamo" – The now famous Dunkirk evacuation. Mere weeks after his arrival in the UK, he met Violette, the latter of whom he married following a 42-day whirlwind romance. Just one week after their honeymoon, he shipped out with the 13th Demi-Brigade of the French Foreign Legion to engage Vichy forces based in Senegal, from where, he led his legionnaires to victory in Eritrea and Syria. When he then landed in North Africa, first, he was committed to the defense of the Free French Fort at Bir Hakeim, and then, was thrown into the offensive at El Alamein. It was to the south of there in October 1942 that he was killed in action while heroically trying to save his men in a fateful, one-man diversionary attack at Qarat el Himeimat. Tragically, Etienne never lived to meet his daughter, Tania, but, quite rightly, was bestowed his country’s highest military accolade – the Legion d’Honneur – for his "inspiring leadership and courage.")

Determined to avenge his death, it was an unexpected offer to join the clandestine Special Operations Executive in 1943 that, upon completion of her training, ultimately provided her with the opportunity she was seeking.

Parachuted into Cherbourg at the beginning of April 1944, it was there where she completed her first covert mission gathering intelligence vital to the Allied invasion of France.

(Violette Szabo’s “resistance family” photographed in Southern France, 1944)

Twenty-four hours after the Allies stormed the beaches of Normandy on June 6th of the same year, she jumped into France once again, albeit this time, tasked with sabotaging German communications and supply lines.

All was going to plan for Violette and her resistance contact – Jaques Dufour – until they encountered an SS roadblock on the outskirts of a small town – Salon-la-Tour.

(2^nd Lieutenant Jaques Dafour – SOE Codename: “Anastasie”. At the war’s end, Lieutenant Dafour was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire for “gallantry and services to His Majesty’s Armed Forces”, and subsequently joined the post-War French Army. In 1946, he shipped out to French Indochina, where, tragically, he was later killed in action fighting Ho Chi Minh’s Việt Minh. Then flown back to his hometown of Salon-la-Tour, it was there where he was buried, and now rests alongside members of his family.)

Left with no choice but to try and force their way through on foot, Violette – hampered by an earlier injury – soon found that she was unable to keep pace with Jaques, and so, urged him to go on without her, while she covered his flight.

Following a fierce firefight, she was captured by men of the 2nd SS “Das Reich” Division; transferred to the infamous Fresnes prison, before finally being sent to the notorious concentration camp at Ravensbrück.

(A view of Ravensbrück concentration camp taken by its commandant, SS-Sturmbannführer (Major) Fritz Suhren. Violette is said to have arrived at Ravensbrück on 25^th August 1944, following an unimaginably horrific 18-day journey from the Neue Bremm “torture camp” at Saarbrücken, West Germany. Upon arrival, she was put to work doing slave labor, before then being transferred to a penal camp in Königsberg – present-day Kaliningrad – in October 1944 for having refused to make munitions in support of the German war effort. Returned to Ravensbrück in or around 19^th January 1945, she – along with two of her fellow female SEO agents – Denise Bloch, and Lilian Rolfe – were sent to Strafblock, where it is believed they were brutally assaulted prior to their confinement in separate punishment bunkers. When Violette was dragged from her bunker and murdered two and a half weeks later, she is said to have “not even flinched…” Despite being “aware all the time that her fate awaited her, her spirit was indomitable.”)

Despite a near-successful break for freedom, tragically, a seriously ill and emaciated Violette was dragged out into the open on this day in 1945; forced to her knees, and murdered by her captors.

Posthumously awarded the George Cross for her magnificent “courage and steadfastness”, she was later bestowed the Croix de Guerre by the French Government, along with the Médaille de la Résistance. 

(Violette Szabo’s richly deserved medal haul)

Rightly remembered as one of Great Britain’s greatest SOE agents, her name has not just been commemorated on several monuments, but, her inspirational legacy lives on through her beloved daughter, Tania.

(Four and half year old Tania Szabo wearing her mother’s medals)

Just three years old when she lost her mother, Tania was asked not so long ago, “Do you feel resentful that she left you to go to France?”

“The simple answer is no”, she responded.

“My mother wasn’t only fighting for her country; she was fighting for me and her parents… How could any child resent their mother for that?"

(A bronze bust in honor of Violette Szabo situated in front of Lambeth Palace, London, England)