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Eileen Nearne

1921–2010

Nationality
United Kingdom
Occupation
spy

Eileen Mary "Didi" Nearne MBE, Croix de Guerre (15 March 1921 – 2 September 2010 (date body found)) was a member of the UK's Special Operations Executive (SOE) in France during World War II.

Biography

Eileen Mary "Didi" Nearne MBE, Croix de Guerre (15 March 1921 – 2 September 2010 (date body found)) was a member of the UK's Special Operations Executive (SOE) in France during World War II. The purpose of SOE was to conduct espionage, sabotage, and reconnaissance in countries occupied by Nazi Germany and other Axis powers. SOE agents allied themselves with resistance groups and supplied them with weapons and equipment parachuted in from England. Nearne served as a radio operator under the codename "Rose." (French Resistance operative Andrée Peel was also known as Agent Rose.) She was captured by the Germans and imprisoned in Ravensbrück concentration camp, but survived the war.