Andrée Borrel
| Andrée Borrel | |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Agent Prosper, Denise |
| Born |
18 November 1919 Louveciennes, Yvelines, France |
| Died | 6 July 1944 Natzweiler-Struthof, France |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom, France |
| Service/branch | Special Operations Executive, French Resistance |
| Years of service | 1942-1944 |
| Rank | Field agent and guerrilla commander |
| Commands held | Scientist |
| Awards | Croix de Guerre |
Andrée Raymonde Borrel (18 November 1919 – 6 July 1944) was a French heroine of World War II.
Andrée Borrel was born into a working-class family in Louveciennes, Yvelines in the suburbs of Paris, growing up an active girl who liked hiking and most other outdoor activities. At the age of fourteen she left school to work in a bakery shop.
When World War II broke out, the then nineteen-year-old girl went to the Mediterranean port city of Toulon where she trained as a nurse's aid with the "Association des Dames de France" (ADF). Following her training, she worked in Beaucaire treating wounded soldiers. After France fell to the Germans in June 1940, the ADF came under the control of Marshal Pétain, and Borrel, who was not willing to accept her country's defeat, joined the French Resistance helping British airmen shot down over France to escape through the "underground railway" back to Britain. With Maurice Dufour, she established a villa in Perpignan near the Spanish border and co-operated with the escape network of Albert Guérisse.
In December 1941 Borrel's resistance group was uncovered and she fled to Lisbon, Portugal. There, she worked at the Free French Propaganda Office for a short time until April 1942 when she travelled to London. From General de Gaulle's Free French bureau she learned about the French Section of the Special Operations Executive and immediately signed up.
On the night of 24 September 1942, Borrel and fellow SOE agent, Lise de Baissac (Odile) became the first female agents to be parachuted into occupied France. They were flown in from RAF Tempsford. Borrel dropped first. In the darkness, Baissac dropped near Poitiers while Borrel dropped into a field near the village of Mer, not far from the Loire River and was picked up by members of a local resistance team.
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