Jeanne Robert (11 August 1914 – 7 September 2017) was a member of the

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 ...

. Robert began her opposition to the Nazis by helping

allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

troops to make their way to the

Dunkirk evacuation The Dunkirk evacuation, codenamed Operation Dynamo and also known as the Miracle of Dunkirk, or just Dunkirk, was the evacuation of more than 338,000 Allied soldiers during the Second World War from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk, in the ...

; this included helping them to obtain false identity documents. With France occupied, she fed intelligence to the British

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). She and her partner Maurice Rouneau moved to

Vichy France Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its ter ...

, where they founded the resistance network "Victoire" in April 1942; this network became the largest in South West France. A teacher, she maintained her career as a cover and once had to escape from 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 ...

who had been waiting for her at the school gates. In October 1943, with the threat of capture being too great, she escaped France to England via Gibraltar. Having reached the safety of London in December 1943, she joined the '' Bureau Central de Renseignements et d'Action'' (BCRA), the Free French intelligence service. She returned to France following the

liberation of Paris The liberation of Paris (french: Libération de Paris) was a military battle that took place during World War II from 19 August 1944 until the German garrison surrendered the French capital on 25 August 1944. Paris had been occupied by Nazi Germ ...

in August 1944. In recognition of her war service, she was awarded the

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 ...

. Considered overlooked by the post-war government, she was made a

Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

in 2016. She died in 2017, having reached the aged of 103.

References

1914 births 2017 deaths French Resistance members Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur Members of the Bureau Central de Renseignements et d'Action French centenarians Female resistance members of World War II French women in World War II Women centenarians 20th-century French women {{France-activist-stub