Sunday, 7 February 2021

HEROINES OF THE SPECIAL OPERATIONS EXECUTIVE - ODETTE SANSOM HALLOWES GC, MBE

 

She was French born

But served as an agent for the SOE

In April 1943 “Lise”

Was betrayed to the Germans

Along with her future husband

Peter Churchill

And The SD interrogated them at

84 Avenue Foch, their HQ in Paris

Though tortured with red hot pokers

They kept to their cover story

That he was both her husband

And Winston Churchill’s nephew

Which seemed to do the trick

With confirmation from London

But she was condemned to death in June 1943

But was transferred to Germany

To be imprisoned at Ravensbrück

The Churchill’s nephew story stuck

And when the allies got close

The Camp commandant Fritz Suhren

Drove Sansom to the allied lines

To surrender to the Americans

Hoping to save his own neck

Which didn’t work

Odette testified in 1946

At the Hamburg Ravensbrück Trials

And he was hanged in 1950

Odette was subsequently awarded

A British George Cross, an MBE and

A French Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur

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WHEN KITCHENER CALLED

When they hear the recruiter’s call And they take the King’s shilling They’re trained and uniformed And marched towards the killing