Pearl Witherington
| Pearl Cornioley | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Nickname(s) | Agent Wrestler, Marie, Pauline |
| Born | 24 June 1914 |
| Died | 24 February 2008 |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom, France |
| Service/branch | Special Operations Executive, First Aid Nursing Yeomanry |
| Years of service | 1940–1944 / 1943–1944 (SOE) |
| Unit | Wrestler |
| Awards | MBE, CBE, Legion d'honneur |
Cecile Pearl Witherington Cornioley CBE (24 June 1914 – 24 February 2008) was a World War II SOE agent born in Paris to British parents.
Pearl Witherington was born and raised in France, but was a British subject. She was employed at the British embassy in Paris and engaged to Henri Cornioley (1910–1999) when the Germans invaded in May 1940. She escaped from occupied France with her mother and three sisters in December 1940. She eventually arrived in London, where she found work with the Air Ministry, specifically the Women's Auxiliary Air Force. Determined to fight back against the German occupation of France, and wanting a more active role in the fight, she joined the Britain's Special Operations Executive (SOE) on 8 June 1943. In training she emerged as the "best shot" the service had ever seen.
Given the code name "Marie", Witherington was dropped by parachute into occupied France on 22 September 1943. There she joined Maurice Southgate, leader of the SOE Stationer Network. Over the next eight months, posing as a cosmetics saleswoman, she worked as Southgate's courier.
After the Gestapo arrested Southgate in May 1944 and deported him to Buchenwald concentration camp, Witherington became leader of the new SOE Wrestler Network, under the new code-name "Pauline", in the Valencay–Issoudun–Châteauroux triangle. She reorganised the network with the help of her fiancé, Henri Cornioley, and it fielded over 1,500 members of the Maquis. They played an important role fighting the German Army during the D-Day landings. They were so effective that the Nazi regime put a ƒ1,000,000 bounty on Witherington's head. The Germans even ordered 2,000 men to attack her force with artillery in a 14-hour battle. Cornioley reported, "We were attacked by 2,000 Germans on the 11th June [1944] at 8 o'clock in the morning and the small maquis, comprising approximately 40 men, badly armed and untrained, put up a terrific fight, with the neighbouring communist maquis which numbered approximately 100 men."
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