Blanche Charlet

Valentine Blanche Charlet MBE (1898–1985) was a member of the Women's Transport Service who served with the Special Operations Executive (SOE) during World War II and worked as a courier for the French Section.

Blanche Charlet
Birth nameValentine Blanche Charlet
Nickname(s)Agent Japonica & Ventriloquist
Born(1898-05-23)23 May 1898
Westminster, London, England
Died11 October 1985(1985-10-11) (aged 87)
Camden, London, England
Allegiance United Kingdom
 France
Service/branchSpecial Operations Executive
French Resistance
Years of service1942–1944
RankField Agent and Guerrilla Commander
Commands heldJaponica
Ventriloquist
Battles/warsWorld War II
AwardsMember of the Order of the British Empire

She was born in London, England on 23 May 1898.[1][2]

Charlet took over the work carried out by fellow SOE agent Virginia Hall and worked with Brian Stonehouse. She arrived by felucca[3] on 1 September 1942.[4]

On 24 October 1942 German D/F (detector) vans picked up Stonehouse's radio signals while he was transmitting to London. They tracked him down to his safe house and arrested him. Before the Germans left, Charlet arrived for a pre-arranged meeting with Stonehouse and she too was arrested by the Milice in Chateau Hurlevent near Lyon, 69.

In November 1942 she was interned in Castres Prison for her SOE activities. In September 1943 she found a sympathetic wardress and got hold of pistols and spare keys and took part in a mass break-out with French resistante Suzanne Charisse. Blanche and Suzanne reached open country and, helped by a local farmer, took refuge in a Benedictine monastery. There they sheltered in a guest house for two months before the monks took them to the escape line in the Pyrénées, but as it was winter heavy snow stopped them from crossing to Spain.[5]

In April 1944 a message from Blanche reached the SOE Headquarters in Baker Street and a pick-up was arranged from Brittany. From there she crossed the channel back to Britain.

Honours and awards

On 19 February 1946 she was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) by King George VI for services in France during the enemy occupation.[6]

References
  1. General Register Office index of births registered in July, August and September 1898 – Name: Charlet, Valentine Blanche. District: Westminster Volume: 1A Page: 501.
  2. General Register Office index of deaths registered in October 1985 – Name: Charlet, Valentine Blanche. Birth Date: 23 May 1898. District: Camden. Volume: 14 Page: 1777.
  3. M. R. D. Foot, SOE in France. An Account of the Work of the British Special Operations Executive in France 1940-1944, London, 1966.
  4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 20 August 2008. Retrieved 29 January 2011.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. Liane Jones, A Quiet Courage: Women Agents in the French Resistance, London, Transworld Publishers Ltd, 1990. ISBN 0-593-01663-7
  6. "No. 37473". The London Gazette (Supplement). 19 February 1946. p. 1015.
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