Leigh joined the French resistance after the fall of Paris, helping Allied servicemen trapped behind enemy lines.
Thinking that she could be of more use, Vera fled to England in 1942 and was directly recruited by the SOE despite being 40 at the time (considered a little old for an agent).
Known as a crack shot by her colleagues, she arrived near Tours in May 1943.
Tasked with forming an entirely new network of resistance, Leigh, by chance, met her sister’s husband who ran a safe house for Allied airmen.
She took further risk to herself by also becoming involved in this operation.
On the October 30, Leigh was arrested before she could fully finish her work creating the “Inventor” resistance group.
Although Leigh stuck to her cover story and did not crack, by the end of December all members of Inventor had been arrested.
On 6 July 1944, Leigh, Diana Rowden, Andrée Borrel, and Sonia Olschanezky were taken to the concentration camp at Natzweiler-Struthof. Later that day they were injected with phenol and placed in the crematorium furnace.
