A French national, Violette moved to London before the start of the war. It was here that she met, fell in love with, married, and had a child with Etienne Szabo, a French Foreign Legion Officer serving with Free French forces.
After Szabo was killed in 1942, Violette joined SOE to avenge his death (a common theme that might suggest making enemies of women was the downfall of Nazi Germany).
Replacing Philippe Liewer, an agent who had been uncovered and was hiding in Paris, she helped to completely restructure and reorder the shattered resistance movement in Normandy in June 1943.
She also led sabotage missions against roads and railways as well as spotted potential bombing targets for the British.
After briefly returning to Britain, she went on a second mission into France in which her car was ambushed.
After holding off German troops with 64 rounds of ammunition so that her colleague could escape, she was captured and deported to Saarbrucken along with two other female agents and 37 male prisoners.
During the transit, she used the cover of an Allied air raid to gather water for the imprisoned men in her final valorous act before she was executed on January 27, 1945.
