| Eileen Nearne | |
|---|---|
| Born 1921 | |
| Nickname | Rose |
| Place of birth | London |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom, France |
| Service/branch | Special Operations Executive, First Aid Nursing Yeomanry |
| Years of service | 1943-45 (SOE/FANY) |
| Unit | Wizard |
| Relations | Jacqueline Nearne, Francis Nearne |
Eileen Nearne (born 1921) was a member of the UK's Special Operations Executive (SOE) during World War II. She served in occupied France as a radio operator under the codename 'Rose'.
Born in London to an English father and Spanish mother, she was the youngest of three children; her older sister, Jacqueline Nearne, and brother, Francis Nearne would also become SOE operatives. In 1923, the family moved to France. When France fell, she made her way to England with her sister, via Portugal and Gibraltar. On her arrival in England she was offered service in the WAAF working on barrage balloons, but turned this down and was recruited by the SOE, from which she was commissioned in the FANY.[citation needed]
Eileen was flown by Lysander to a field near Les Lagnys on night of 2 March/3 March 1944 to work as a wireless operator for the Wizard network with Jean Savy as part of Operation Mitchel. Her cover story was that she was Madamoiselle du Tort (also using the aliases Jacqueline Duterte and Alice Wood). In July 1944 her transmitter was detected and she was arrested. She reportedly managed to convince her captors that she had been sending messages for a businessman, unaware that he was British.[citation needed]
On 15 August she was sent to Ravensbrück concentration camp, and then transferred to a forced labor camp in Silesia. On 13 April 1945 she escaped with two French girls from the working gang by hiding in the forest, later traveling through Markkleeberg, where they were arrested by the S.S. but released after fooling their captors and reportedly hidden by a priest in Leipzig until the arrival of United States troops. After the war she lived in London with her sister Jacqueline.
|
|