Borrel, Andrée (1919–1944)
Borrel, Andrée (1919–1944)
French spy. Name variations: Andree Borrel; SOE code name, Denise. Born Nov 18, 1919, near Paris, France; killed July 6, 1944, at Natzwiller, Bas-Rhin, France.
At start of WWII, trained as a nurse's aid with Association des Dames de France; worked in Beaucaire, treating wounded soldiers; with fall of France, joined the French resistance, helping British airmen who had been shot down over France to escape; with Nazis closing in, fled to Lisbon (Dec 1941), then London (April 1942); joined the French section of the Special Operations Executive (SOE); with Lise de Baissac, parachuted into France (Sept 24, 1942), the 1st female agents to do so; became 2nd in command of Paris network; captured and held at Fresne (June 1943); shipped to the Natzwiller-Struthof concentration camp in Alsace (May 1944). Awarded the Croix de Guerre.