Cecily Margot Gordon Lefort (30 April 1899 – February 1945) served in the
Women's Auxiliary Air Force
The Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), whose members were referred to as WAAFs (), was the female auxiliary of the Royal Air Force during World War II. Established in 1939, WAAF numbers exceeded 180,000 at its peak strength in 1943, with over 2 ...
(WAAF) and in France for the United Kingdom's clandestine
Special Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its pu ...
(SOE) during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. The purpose of SOE was to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in occupied Europe against the
Axis powers
The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were ...
, especially
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
. SOE agents allied themselves with
French Resistance
The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...
groups and supplied them with weapons and equipment parachuted in from England.
Lefort arrived in France in June 1943 and was a courier, code named "Alice", for SOE's
Jockey network (or circuit). She was arrested by the
Gestapo
The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe.
The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...
in September 1943 and deported to
Ravensbrück concentration camp, where she was later executed.
Early life
Cicely Margot Gordon was born in London on 30 April 1899 to Margaret Humble Close Gordon (Lefort gave a decoy maiden name – "MacKenzie" – when she joined SOE). Although married to Christian Frederic Gordon, her mother claimed Cicely's father was her husband's older cousin Lord Granville Gordon with whom she was in love. Subsequently, Cicely became the center of a notorious paternity suit, which resulted in her mother fleeing and taking her to France rather than relinquishing custody. Growing up in France, Lefort joined the French nursing corps during World War One. While serving as a nurse's aid, she met her future husband, Dr Ernest Marie Alix Lefort, a soldier and patient in her hospital. They married on 17 June 1924 and resided in an apartment in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
and a villa near the fishing village of
St. Cast along the north coast of
Brittany
Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...
, France. A sportswoman, Lefort enjoyed horseback riding and sailing yachts. An acquaintance recalled that Lefort "had a lot of class ...
asvery smart and cultivated ...
ith
The Ith () is a ridge in Germany's Central Uplands which is up to 439 m high. It lies about 40 km southwest of Hanover and, at 22 kilometres, is the longest line of crags in North Germany.
Geography
Location
The Ith is immediatel ...
friends in high society".
Espionage service
In 1939, Alix Lefort was called up for service in the French army as a medical officer. After the fall of France and at his urging, Lefort escaped to Great Britain via Jersey Island, to avoid arrest as a British National, while her husband remained in France. Later, Lefort spoke with SOE's Naval officer
Captain Peter Harratt
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
and arranged for her villa in Brittany, which possessed a secure, hidden bay to be made available to the SOE. The villa became part of the Var escape line run by SOE agent
Erwin Deman, which enabled nearly 70 men and women to enter and to exit occupied France without capture.
In June 1941, Lefort joined the British
Women's Auxiliary Air Force
The Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), whose members were referred to as WAAFs (), was the female auxiliary of the Royal Air Force during World War II. Established in 1939, WAAF numbers exceeded 180,000 at its peak strength in 1943, with over 2 ...
as Aircraft Woman #452845 and served as a policewoman. Her fluency in French brought her to the attention of the SOE, and in January 1943, she volunteered to be a field agent with the
F Section (France)
F, or f, is the sixth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ef'' (pronounced ), and the plural is ''efs''.
Hist ...
of the
Special Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its pu ...
based in London. Lefort was subsequently seconded to the
First Aid Nursing Yeomanry
The First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (Princess Royal's Volunteer Corps) (FANY (PRVC)) is a British independent all-female registered charity formed in 1907 and active in both nursing and intelligence work during the World Wars. Its members wear a mili ...
(FANY). As women serving in the British armed services were barred by statute from armed combat, there was, according to Sarah Helm, "no legal authority for servicewomen to carry out the kind of guerilla work SOE had in mind." Consequently, women agents were also seconded as members of the FANY, which as a civilian organization was not subject to either armed forces rules or statutes. In February 1943, Lefort began her training at Wanborough House as a field agent. Her training reports were mixed. One Instructor, Lieutenant Tongue, wrote: "This student looks vague; mixed quite well; is interested in the course and could be relied on to be loyal but doubt if she has enough initiative to achieve much." At the next level of instruction, L/Cpl Gordon reported: "Very ladylike, very English in spite of French background, has a wide circle of friends amongst quite well known and influential people, politicians, gens du monde, artists of the Salon School, all very respectable. Inclined to blurt out things in a rather embarrassing way, which she probably would not have said if she thought first." In May, she received appointment to an Honorary Commission of Assistant Section Officer in the WAAF.
France
On the night of 16 June 1943, with fellow SOE agents
Diana Rowden
Diana Hope Rowden (31 January 1915 – 6 July 1944) served in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force and was an agent for the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) during World War II. Rowden was a member of SOE's SOE F Sectio ...
and
Noor Inayat Khan
Noor-un-Nisa Inayat Khan, GC (1 January 1914 – 13 September 1944), also known as Nora Inayat-Khan and Nora Baker, was a British resistance agent in France in World War II who served in the Special Operations Executive (SOE). The purpose of S ...
, she was flown to a landing field in the
Loire Valley where they were met by
Henri Dericourt
Henri is an Estonian, Finnish, French, German and Luxembourgish form of the masculine given name Henry.
People with this given name
; French noblemen
:'' See the 'List of rulers named Henry' for Kings of France named Henri.''
* Henri I de Montm ...
. The assistant F Section Head,
Vera Atkins
Vera May Atkins (15 June 1908 – 24 June 2000) was a Romanian-born British intelligence officer who worked in the France Section of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) from 1941 to 1945 during the Second World War.
Early life
Atkins was ...
, worried about Lefort's poor French accent and Rowden's English looks. The Lysander pilot, Bunny Rymills, also felt Lefort's French "didn't seem that hot." Her field name was "Alice," her operational codename was "Teacher," and her cover name was "Cecile Marguerite Legrand".
Upon arrival in France, Lefort took a seven-mile bicycle ride to the village of Angers and then caught a train to Paris and then took another to Montelimar where she would serve as courier for the "
Jockey network" run by
Francis Cammaerts
Francis Charles Albert Cammaerts, DSO (16 June 1916 – 3 July 2006), code named Roger, was an agent of the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) during World War II. The purpose of SOE was to conduct espionage, ...
. Geographically, Jockey extended down the left bank of the Rhone between Vienne and Aries and eastwards to the Isere Valley along the Mediterranean north to Lyon and across the Swiss and Italian borders. As his courier, Cammaerts noted that Lefort "conducted various missions,
ollectedinformation to be sent secretly to London,
ookedfor dropping grounds for supplying arms and explosives,
cted ascourier, etc". With the
Allied invasion of Sicily
The Allied invasion of Sicily, also known as Operation Husky, was a major campaign of World War II in which the Allied forces invaded the island of Sicily in July 1943 and took it from the Axis powers ( Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany). It bega ...
in July 1943, the Jockey network received more supplies and increased its sabotage of railway lines, power stations and other industrial targets. During a large air drop on 13 August 1943, Lefort was responsible for bringing the plane over the zone and carrying the principal light on the ground to help the pilot locate the drop zone. Her leader,
Francis Cammaerts
Francis Charles Albert Cammaerts, DSO (16 June 1916 – 3 July 2006), code named Roger, was an agent of the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) during World War II. The purpose of SOE was to conduct espionage, ...
, commented that Lefort "was very shy and I think too frail for this hard work she very courageously carried out".
Arrest, imprisonment & death
The increase in sabotage activities drew greater German attention to the Jockey area, and Cammaerts warned the circuit to be very careful and avoid areas such as his former headquarters in Montelimar. Stuck late at night and ignoring the warning, Lefort and the Jockey Circuit sabotage instructor, Pierre Reynaud, on 15 September 1943, went to the home of Raymond Daujat, the local resistance leader in Montelimar. Possibly tipped off, the Gestapo sent some SS men to the house to arrest whoever was there; Reynaud and Daujat escaped while Lefort was arrested hiding in the cellar. Cammaerts, very security conscious, was incensed about Lefort's mistake that led to her capture. Her arrest forced him to disperse his network, immediately relocating himself and his associates to safer places in anticipation that Lefort might reveal secrets to the Germans under interrogation or torture. He would later say that she "ought never to have been sent to France."
Lefort was sent first to a prison in Lyon and then north to the
Fresnes prison
Fresnes Prison ('' French Centre pénitentiaire de Fresnes'') is the second largest prison in France, located in the town of Fresnes, Val-de-Marne, south of Paris. It comprises a large men's prison (''maison d'arrêt'') of about 1200 cells, a smal ...
in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
where she was brutally interrogated. On 1 February 1944, Lefort was deported to
Ravensbruck concentration camp with several hundred other women and while on the trip dropped a note to her husband saying: "Left for Germany, in the convoy of women. Good health, good morale. Warn the Red Cross to send shoes, warm clothes, and food". In the summer of 1944, Lefort sent another message to her husband, giving Ravensbruck as her address, which he duly passed on to the SOE. Lefort arrived at the camp on 3 February, was given the prison number 27.962 and a stitched red political triangle on her prison clothes. While imprisoned, Lefort was discovered to have had either stomach cancer or stomach ulcers, and was successfully operated on by the camp Doctor,
Percival Treite
Percival (, also spelled Perceval, Parzival), alternatively called Peredur (), was one of King Arthur's legendary Knights of the Round Table. First mentioned by the French author Chrétien de Troyes in the tale ''Perceval, the Story of the Gra ...
. Lefort subsequently "thrived" on a thick porridge and vegetable soup in Treite's belief this would cure her. Upon her return to the main camp, Lefort – along with other prisoners – was made to do
hard labour, and by January 1945, she was suffering from extreme malnutrition, diarrhoea and exhaustion.
In early 1945, Lefort volunteered for transfer to the
Uckermark
The Uckermark () is a historical region in northeastern Germany, straddles the Uckermark (district), Uckermark District of Brandenburg and the Vorpommern-Greifswald District of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Its traditional capital is Prenzlau.
Geogra ...
Camp, believing rumors that it was for sick prisoners with better medical facilities, no work requirement and no morning roll call. Located approximately one half-mile from the main camp,
Uckermark
The Uckermark () is a historical region in northeastern Germany, straddles the Uckermark (district), Uckermark District of Brandenburg and the Vorpommern-Greifswald District of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Its traditional capital is Prenzlau.
Geogra ...
was the former youth detention camp or Jugendlager, and was converted into an extermination center under the supervision of
SS-Obersturmführer Johann Schwarzhuber
Johann Schwarzhuber (29 August 1904 – 3 May 1947) was a German '' SS-Obersturmführer'', who was in charge of various concentration subcamps during World War II. His positions included the ''Schutzhaftlagerführer'' of the Auschwitz-Birkenau ...
– the recently arrived deputy commandant of Ravensbrück. A fellow inmate,
Sylvia Salvesen
Sylvia Salvesen (25 January 1890 – 1973) was a member of the high society in Norway, and a resistance pioneer during World War II. She was arrested and sent to the Ravensbrück concentration camp in Germany. She witnessed at the Hamburg Rave ...
, recalled Lefort approaching her about the transfer and wanting her approval: "She blurted all this out in a rush, nervous and excited. Her eyes were terror-stricken and she was nervous of my answer." Despite Salvesen's warning, Lefort and two other English prisoners, Mary O'Shaughnessy and
Mary Young went to the camp. Another British inmate nurse,
Mary Lindell
Gertrude Mary Lindell (11 September 1895 – 8 January 1987), Comtesse de Milleville, code named Marie-Claire and Comtesse de Moncy, was an English woman, a front-line nurse in World War I and a member of the French Resistance in World War II. S ...
De Moncy, told Atkins that she had sent recall messages to the three Englishwomen to return to the main camp, but while O'Shaughnessy did so, Lefort refused to leave Young, who was in a very bad condition. According to O'Shaughnessy, sometime in February 1945, Lefort's name was called out from a selection list during a morning roll, and she was taken away and gassed.
After the war, Dr. Lefort, Atkins and civil and legal authorities questioned several witnesses in an unsuccessful attempt to establish a precise date for Lefort's death. Consequently, Lloyd's of London, the official executor of Lefort's will, accepted the date of 1 May 1945 for "official purposes as the date of her presumed death."
Aftermath
Three other female members of the SOE were executed by either shooting or hanging at
Ravensbrück in February 1945:
Denise Bloch
Denise Madeleine Bloch (; 21 January 1916 – 5 February 1945) was an agent working with the clandestine British Special Operations Executive (SOE) organization in the Second World War. Captured by the Germans, she was executed at Ravensbrück ...
,
Lilian Rolfe
Lilian Vera Rolfe, (26 April 1914 – 5 February 1945) was an Allied secret agent in the Second World War.
Early life
Rolfe and her twin sister Helen Fedora Rolfe were the daughters of George Rolfe, a British chartered accountant working in Pa ...
, and
Violette Szabo
Violette Reine Elizabeth Szabo, GC (née Bushell; 26 June 1921 – February 1945) was a British-French Special Operations Executive (SOE) agent during the Second World War and a posthumous recipient of the George Cross. On her second mission i ...
. Lefort was among 12 female British SOE F-Section agents who were executed at concentration camps. The
War Office
The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...
describes their deaths as
Killed in Action.
Schwarzhuber was convicted by the British at the
Hamburg Ravensbrück trials
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
. He was hanged by
Albert Pierrepoint
Albert Pierrepoint (; 30 March 1905 – 10 July 1992) was an English hangman who executed between 435 and 600 people in a 25-year career that ended in 1956. His father Henry and uncle Thomas were official hangmen before him.
Pierrepoint ...
in
Hameln prison on 3 May 1947.
Honours
In September 1945, Major General
Colin Gubbins
Major-General Sir Colin McVean Gubbins (2 July 1896 – 11 February 1976) was the prime mover of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) in the Second World War.
Gubbins was also responsible for setting up the secret Auxiliary Units, a commando ...
, Head of SOE, recommended that Lefort be appointed a
Member of the Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
(MBE):
This officer (C.M. Lefort) was landed in France by aircraft in June 1943 as courier to an important circuit in the South East. She worked with tireless energy and devotion for three months, often in conditions of grave danger and rendered valuable assistance to her commanding officer. She travelled (sic) extensively throughout South Eastern France carrying messages to the various groups of the organization and showed great coolness and presence of mind in passing many police controls.
On 10 September 1943, S/O LEFORT was arrested by the Gestapo. Although severely interrogated and ill-treated she gave no vital information away. She was last heard of in a concentration camp in Germany, and is still missing.
For her courage, perseverance and devotion to duty it is recommended that this officer be appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (Military Division)
Lefort was
Mentioned in Despatches
To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...
for her services on 13 June 1946 and honoured by the government of France with a posthumous
Croix de Guerre
The ''Croix de Guerre'' (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awa ...
on 14 January 1948. She is listed on the
Runnymede Memorial
The Air Forces Memorial, or Runnymede Memorial, in Englefield Green, near Egham, Surrey, England is a memorial dedicated to some 20,456 men and women from air forces of the British Empire who were lost in air and other operations during World War ...
in
Surrey
Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...
, England, the
Tempsford Memorial
The Tempsford Memorial is a war memorial in the village of Tempsford in Bedfordshire. The village was the home of RAF Tempsford. The memorial commemorates the women who served as secret agents in occupied Europe during the Second World War, the RAF ...
close to
RAF Tempsford
RAF Tempsford is a former Royal Air Force station located north east of Sandy, Bedfordshire, Sandy, Bedfordshire, England and south of St. Neots, Cambridgeshire, England.
As part of the Royal Air Force Special Duty Service, the airfield wa ...
, and on the "Roll of Honor" on the
Valençay SOE Memorial
The Valençay SOE Memorial is a monument in France to the members of the Special Operations Executive F Section who lost their lives working to liberate the country during World War II.
The memorial was unveiled in the town of Valençay, in the de ...
in
Valençay
Valençay () is a commune in the Indre department in the administrative region of Centre-Val de Loire, France.
Geography
Valençay is situated in the Loire Valley. It sits at the end of a plateau. on a hillside overlooking the River Nahon. Valen ...
, France. she is also listed on the FANY memorial at
St Paul's Church, Knightsbridge
St Paul's Church, Knightsbridge, is a Grade II*listed Anglican church of the Anglo-Catholic tradition located at 32a Wilton Place in Knightsbridge, London.
History and architecture
The church was founded in 1843, the first in London to champion ...
, London and on a memorial plaque to the four executed SOE agents at Ravensbruck concentration Camp.
References
Citations
Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lefort, Cicely
French Resistance members
Female wartime spies
Female resistance members of World War II
Women's Auxiliary Air Force airwomen
Executed spies
Spies who died in Nazi concentration camps
1899 births
1945 deaths
Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1939–1945 (France)
People who died in Ravensbrück concentration camp
Special Operations Executive personnel killed in World War II
Executed people from London
British people executed in Nazi concentration camps
People killed by gas chamber by Nazi Germany
Female recipients of the Croix de Guerre (France)
British Special Operations Executive personnel
Royal Air Force personnel killed in World War II