Eliane Plewman

Éliane Sophie Plewman (6 December 1917 – 13 September 1944) was a British agent of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) and a member of the French Resistance working as a courier for the "MONK circuit" in occupied France during World War II. SOE's objective was to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance against the Axis powers, especially Nazi Germany in occupied Europe and to aid local resistance movements. Plewman was captured by the Gestapo, and later executed by the SS in Dachau.

Pre-war life Plewman was born Éliane Sophie Browne-Bartroli in Marseille, France. The daughter of Eugene Henry Browne-Bartroli, an English manufacturer based in France, and his Spanish wife Elisa Francesca (née Bartroli), she was educated in England and in Spain at the British School in Madrid. Plewman's brother Albert Browne-Bartroli was also an SOE agent in France. He survived the war.

When she finished college she moved to Leicester to work for a clothing and fabric import/export company in Albion Street, using her language skills in English, French, Spanish and some Portuguese.

World War II Lt T. L. Plewman (l) with Bdr O. Seman, July 1944, Caen, Normandy After the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, Plewman worked for the Press Section of the British Embassies in Madrid and Lisbon until 1941. In 1942, she returned to Britain to work for the Spanish Press section of the Ministry of Information. Their home was at 14 Queen's Gate Terrace, Leicester.

Special Operations Executive In mid-February 1943, Plewman joined the Special Operations Executive (SOE) and was accepted on 25 February 1943 for training to serve as an "agent in the field". Plewman signed the Official Secrets Act on 29 March 1943 and a second time on 19 April 1943 (this time as second lieutenant Auxiliary Territorial Service) and commenced training at Wanborough Manor at the start of May 1943. Despite her sylph-like figure and tiny frame – she was just over five feet tall – Plewman took the same training course near Inverness as the men did, showing determination in every exercise. She learnt weapons handling, hand-to-hand combat, techniques for sabotage, clandestine survival, security, orientation, radio communications. Her cover name was "Eliane Jacqueline Prunier", her codenames were "Gaby" and "Dean", or sometimes "Madame Dupont". Plewman worked for Captain Charles Milne Skepper (alias "Henri Truchot"), the organiser of SOE's Monk circuit, in which she was to be the courier in the area of Marseille, Roquebrune and St. Raphael, providing the communications link between groups of saboteurs and intelligence gathering agents, Monk's wireless operator Arthur Steele, and other involved groups.

Major General Colin Gubbins Head of SOE wrote as a part of his recommendation for Plewman's gallantry award: "She was dropped in the Jura and was separated from her circuit for some time. Instead of remaining in hiding she showed outstanding initiative and made several contacts on her own which were later of great value to her circuit. For six months Plewman worked as a courier and her untiring devotion to duty and willingness to undergo any risk largely contributed to the successful establishment of her circuit. She travelled constantly maintaining liaison between the various groups, acting as guide to newly arriving agents and transporting wireless telegraphy equipment and compromising documents." He survived the war and was awarded a Distinguished Service Order. Tiburce received, on 14 July 1944, the biggest parachute drop of arms ever made to the maquis in daylight. In 1998 the Mayor of Marseille unveiled a plaque on 8, rue Mérentié to commemorate the place where Plewman, Charles Skepper and Arthur Steele, all Monk agents, were arrested by the Gestapo; and, in the 13th arrondissement, a street was named in her honour.

King's Commendation for Brave Conduct awarded posthumously in the London Gazette 20 August 1946. "For services in France during the enemy occupation". Croix de Guerre 1939-1945 with bronze star (France) on 16 January 1946.