The untold story of Churchill's heroine: Female British secret agent who parachuted behind enemy lines and took out 30 German trains during Second World War before being executed in Dachau aged just 26

The incredible heroism of a British agent who parachuted behind enemy lines into France

and who took out 30 German trains during the Second World War will be retold in a new book.

Eliane Plewman, who belonged to Winston Churchill's elite Special Operations Executive (SOE) during the Second World War, was involved in a number of highly successful sabotage missions.

During one daring operation in 1944, the diminutive 5ft agent, together with her brother Albert Browne-Bartroli, evaded German patrols to lay explosives under the Marseille-Toulon railway line.

When they exploded, 30 locomotives were put out of service, hampering the enemy's attempts to move troops and supplies by rail. The explosion caused so much damage that it took Germany four days to clear the line.

But her cover was blown in 1944 and the special agent was imprisoned and tortured at Fresnes prison in France and then transferred to Dachau concentration camp in Bavaria, Germany, before she was executed at the age of 26 by SS trooper Friedrich Wilhelm Ruppert.

Ms Plewman, who was born in Marseille, France, moved to Leicester as a child and had been working in a fabric exporting company at the outbreak of the Second World War.

In 1943, she was accepted to train with the Special Operations Executive as 'an agent in the field' and completed gruelling field training, where she learnt hand-to-hand combat and how to handle explosives.

how to handle explosives.

Eliane Plewman, who was born in Marseille, France, was involved in a number of highly successful sabotage missions during her time with Winston Churchill's elite Special Operations Executive (SOE) during the Second World War

During one operation in 1944, the agent, together with her brother Albert Browne-Bartroli, evaded German patrols to lay explosives under a railway line. The mission caused so much damage that it took Germany four days to clear the tracks — Eliane Plewman, who was born in Marseille, France, was involved in a number of highly successful sabotage missions during her time with Winston Churchill's elite Special Operations Executive (SOE) during the Second World War

The elite group, who were famously ordered them to 'set Europe ablaze' by Sir Winston Churchill, were tasked with using sneaky espionage tactics in order to operate in every enemy-controlled nation in Europe and south-east Asia.

The primary mission of the SOE was to aid resistance fighters in Nazi-occupied Europe by any means possible.

They were made up of a number of independent resistance groups established in France.

In August 1943, the secret agent parachuted out of a Handley Page Halifax bomber aircraft behind enemy line into the Jura region of France from an altitude of just over 1,000 feet.

Upon landing, she found out her support network was not in the region but she still managed to locate a pre-agreed safe house.

Here, she learnt from neighbours that the Gestapo had arrested all the operatives there, so she made her own way to Marseille, more than 300 miles away.

The journey took her two months and once she reached the Mediterranean coast she began working in a secret network know as the 'MONK circuit'.

During her missions, Ms Plewman carried explosives to all the sabotage operation locations, a perilous task which left her vulnerable to being searched.

She was also a courier delivering messages, documents and wireless equipment to the Resistance network around Marseille, which was swarming with German armed forces.

However in early 1944, her cover was eventually blown when the network was infiltrated and she was captured by the Gestapo.

The SOE agent was arrested at a safe house in Marseille in March 1944, when it was raided by the Gestapo.

She was imprisoned and tortured at Fresnes prison in France and then transferred to Dachau concentration camp in Bavaria, Germany.

On September 1944, Ms Plewman was executed at the age of just 26.

Three other SOE agents - Yolande Beekman, Madeleine Damerment and Noor Inayat Khan - were also executed on the same day.

The female agents were taken from their cell and forced to kneel in pairs before being executed by a single shot to the head by executioner Friedrich Wilhelm Ruppert - an SS trooper.

Ms Plewman along with Yolande Beekman, Madeleine Damerment and Noor Inayat Khan was executed by a single shot to the head by executioner Friedrich Wilhelm Ruppert (pictured) at Dachau concentration camp in Germany

Following the special agent's a capture by German forces, a report was sent in an effort to find Ms Plewman. Her cover was blown and she was captured by the Gestapo when the secret network she had been working in was infiltrated

After the war, Ruppert was tried for war crimes and convicted and executed by hanging on May 29, 1946. Continue reading

Comments

The Nazi party girls of Auschwitz: SS women romanced and caroused with death camp guard lovers as they oversaw the murder of thousands of Jews - before paying the ultimate price on the gallows

The biographies of over 200 SS women serving at Auschwitz death camp and their 'after work parties' have been published online in an effort to show the world that it wasn't just men involved. Entitled 'Women working for the SS', the project from the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum documents the women's lives from birth and how they ended up serving Adolf Hitler. One of the women was Maria Mandl, a senior SS guard in Auschwitz from October 1942 to October 1944 who was nicknamed 'The Beast' by prisoners Born in 1912 the daughter of a shoemaker, she first started work in a Nazi concentration camp in Lichtenburg Germany in 1938 before being transferred to the camp for women in Ravensbruk, also in Germany. In 1942 she was sent to Auschwitz where she became infamous for her sadism and sending 'an estimated half a million women and children to their deaths in the gas chambers.' In 1942 she was sent to Auschwitz where she became infamous for her sadism...

A group of prisoners documented the medical experimentations that German doctors were performing on them.

This photo was taken secretly inside the Ravensbrück concentration camp. A group of prisoners documented the medical experimentations that German doctors were performing on them. Joanna Szydłowska traded her bread to another prisoner for a camera. She was one of 74 Polish women subjected to cruel experiments, including unnecessary surgeries. Doctors cut open some women's legs and intentionally infected them to try to simulate battlefield wounds. Some of the women were given no medication when they became desperately ill. Ravensbrück was liberated on this day in 1945 after most prisoners had been evacuated from the camp. Some of the experimentation victims testified at trials after the war. The photos they took were part of the evidence. Continue reading #OTD #OnThisDayinHistory #Holocaust

Fugitive drug lord 'Taliban' who stole cartel's 450lb cocaine shipment is tossed ALIVE into ocean with an anchor tied to his waist

Fugitive drug lord 'Taliban' who stole cartel's 450lb cocaine shipment is tossed ALIVE into ocean with an anchor tied to his waist This is the moment a fugitive Venezuelan drug trafficker known as Taliban is dumped alive in the ocean with his hands zip-tied and an anchor around his waist in revenge for stealing 450 pounds of cocaine - and cash - from a cartel. The footage, shared to social media, shows Fuentes staring at the person recording the video. He is then dumped overboard and left to drown.'.. read and watch the video None of his kidnappers are identified but one is heard in the background of the video saying 'make sure none of our faces can be seen' and another later said 'he has no way to save himself'. Make money online: Paying sites and apps for making cash In an elaborate - and poorly thought out - ruse, Fuentes, a middleman for the Venezuelan Clan del Cartel, earlier had dumped a shipment of narcotics worth $10 million at s...

In the fall of 1944, ten-year-old Thomas Buergenthal found himself all alone in Auschwitz, destined for the gas chamber

In the fall of 1944, ten-year-old Thomas Buergenthal found himself all alone in Auschwitz, destined for the gas chamber. Thomas had already survived the Kielce ghetto and a forced labor camp by the time German authorities deported him and his parents to Auschwitz in August 1944. Typically, children were taken on arrival and murdered in the gas chambers, but, because there was no selection when Thomas and his family arrived there, he managed to survive. His mother was taken to the women's section of the camp, but Thomas and his father remained together. However, Thomas remained in grave danger. The SS guards regularly selected prisoners to be murdered in the gas chambers and as a child Thomas stood out. While he had survived a number of selections by hiding, this time, Thomas had been caught. "They saw me as a child, and they motioned me to go one way, and my father go the other way," Thomas remembered. "And that's the last I saw of ... my father." Thomas and...

In April 1981, the body of a young white woman was found in a ditch on Greenlee Road in Newton Township, Ohio

In April 1981, the body of a young white woman was found in a ditch on Greenlee Road in Newton Township, Ohio. She was wearing a buckskin poncho, so investigators called her the "Buckskin Girl." That same day, her body was examined. It was found that she had suffered serious injuries to her head and neck before being strangled to death about 48 hours before her body was found. Despite many years of hard work by investigators, the identity of the Buckskin Girl remained unknown for over 30 years. On April 9, 2018, the Miami Valley Regional Crime Laboratory announced that they had identified the woman as 21-year-old Marcia Lenore King from Little Rock, Arkansas. Marcia had last been seen by her family in 1980. Although she wasn’t officially reported missing, her family had kept searching for her. The identification was made possible by detailed DNA testing. Sadly, the person who caused her death has still not been found. Continue reading

Outrage as video showing bullies beating schoolgirl, 14, and forcing her to strip naked in public goes viral

Outrage as video showing bullies beating schoolgirl, 14, and forcing her to strip naked in public goes viral Sick clip shows helpless teen taking her clothes off in broad daylight THIS is the shocking moment a helpless teen is forced to strip in public as her laughing tormentors beat her. An uncensored version of the sick video filmed in Bulgaria has gone viral on social media. It sees a girl, 14, dressed in denim shorts and a black top being humiliated in a busy residential complex in the capital Sofia. The girl, named in local media only by her initials A.G, is made to take her clothes off in broad daylight. One of her attackers can be heard saying: "Take off your clothes! Do you hear me?" She pleads with them to not make strip in public before one lunges at her and pushes her to the ground. The person who uploaded it to social media is said to be assisting police, naming two attackers as Laura and Paula and revealing that a male was filming. He is been ...

Julie Keefer’s constant cries put her family in danger. In the end, this may have saved her life.

Julie Keefer’s constant cries put her family in danger. In the end, this may have saved her life. After escaping the Lwów ghetto, Julie, her sister, Tola, and their family hid from the Nazis in a forest hideout for several months. Over time, the girls’ crying put the Jewish family at risk. Their grandfather made the painful decision to place two-year-old Julie and baby Tola with a friend. Soon after they were removed, the Germans discovered the hiding place in the woods and murdered everyone inside. Julie’s grandfather, who was away visiting the girls, was the only survivor. Julie never saw her parents again. During the chaos of the war, Julie and Tola were separated, and Tola was sent to a Catholic orphanage. After the Holocaust, Julie and her grandfather desperately searched for Tola but they were unable to locate the baby. Julie never lost hope of finding her sister. Despite all that she lost, Julie chose to share her story with visitors at our Museum. “For many, many years I did no...

MAN CUTS OFF FOOTBALLER’S GENITALS, SLITS THROAT OVER WHATSAPP PRANK

MAN CUTS OFF FOOTBALLER’S GENITALS, SLITS THROAT OVER WHATSAPP PRANK A footballer found dead with his genitals cut off was tortured and killed “in barbaric fashion” over a drunken whatsapp prank, it is claimed. Daniel Corea's body body was found in the Brazilian city of Sao Jose dos Pinhais on Saturday, October 27. He had been castrated and his throat slit with such force that he was almost beheaded. The 24-year-old, who played for , had been at the 18th birthday party of Allana Brittes at a nightclub in Curitiba before he was killed. Three days later, Allana’s dad, Junior, 39, confessed to killing Correa, telling police he had found the footballer trying to rape his wife Cristiana. On Monday, pictures emerged showing Correa in bed with a sleeping woman, thought to be Brittes’ wife. They had been sent by the footballer to his friends on WhatsApp in his final hours. Police said the pictures were most likely taken as part of an “immature stunt”. Sources added that Correa suffe...

Brunhilda had the worst death due to the way she was killed

Brunhilda had the worst death due to the way she was killed Brunhilda of Austrasia Bruhilda was a Gothic Princess in the Early middle ages who married the King of Austrasia while her sister Galswintha married Chilperic I of Nesutria Brunhilda (c. 534 – 613)[1] was a Visigoth princess. Her father was King Athanagild of Spain. She married King Sigebert I of Austrasia. She ruled the eastern kingdoms of Austrasia and Burgundy in the names of her sons and grandsons. At first she was known as a fair and just ruler. She later became known for her cruelty and vengeful behavior. Before her arrival to the Frankish kingdoms, Brunhilda was an Arian Christian, but later converted to Roman Catholicism. Brunhilda traveled to Austrasia to marry King Sigebert I. King Sigebert I's half brother, King Chilperic I married Brunhilda's sister, Galswintha. However, Galswintha was not happy, and wanted to go home and take back her dowry. King Chilperic refused, and murdered her. King Chilperic remmarri...

“In Auschwitz, I never cried, and people around me never cried.”

“In Auschwitz, I never cried, and people around me never cried.” Irene Weiss was just a teenager when she learned to turn off her feelings in order to survive. When a Nazi officer selected Irene to perform forced labor at Auschwitz-Birkenau, it gave her a chance to survive that was denied to her mother and younger siblings, who were murdered upon arrival. She was assigned to a unit responsible for sorting through the stolen personal belongings of Jews. The storage barracks where she worked were next to one of Auschwitz's gas chambers. Irene often saw the faces of those unknowingly headed toward their deaths. Sometimes they would stop and talk to her. Other times, she heard their screams. “When we worked night shifts … this place was close enough to the train platform that you could hear in the night the whistle of the train and then you would hear the humming noise of large crowds. You could hear people in the distance. Within a few minutes or so the large column of young women, mo...

Major Crimes and True Crime

Search This Blog

Uncovered True Crime and holocaust stories