- Blanche Charlet
Infobox Military Person
name=Blanche Charlet
caption=
born=
died=
placeofbirth=
placeofdeath=
nickname=Agent Japonica & Ventriloquist
allegiance=United Kingdom ,France
branch=Special Operations Executive ,French Resistance
serviceyears=1942-1944
rank=Field agent and guerrilla commander
unit=
commands=Japonica, Ventriloquist
battles=
awards=
relations=
laterwork=Blanche Charlet was a member of the
Special Operations Executive (SOE) during World War II and worked as a courier for the French Section.Charlet took over the work carried out by fellow SOE agent
Virginia Hall and worked withBrian Stonehouse .On
October 24 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.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 resistanteSuzanne Charisse . Blanche and Suzanne reached open country and, helped by a local farmer, took refuge in aBenedictine monastary. 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. [Liane Jones , "A Quiet Courage: Women Agents in the French Resistance", London, Transworld Publishers Ltd, 1990. ISBN|0-593-01663-7 ]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.
References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.