Agent Rose

The life and poignant death of one of Britain's bravest women. In September 2010 the body of Eileen Nearne was found in a flat in Torquay. With no known friends or relatives, a council burial was arranged. A police search of her belongings found wartime French currency, and wartime medals. Further investigation revealed that she was one of 40 women sent into France by the SOE, the Special Operations Executive, Churchill's top secret wartime 'spook' organisation. Her story and her poignant death as a recluse became an international media sensation. Being fluent in French Eileen was identified early in the war by the SOE as a potential agent. After spending time as a wireless operator picking up transmissions from agents in the field and decoding them, she was chosen to be parachuted into occupied France, underwent paramilitary training and was assigned the codename 'ROSE'. After working in dangerous conditions in Paris for several months, she was captured, interrogated and tortured. Keeping to her story that she was an unwitting French girl caught up in resistance work, she was transferred to a series of concentration camps in Germany. She miraculously escaped from a concentration camp in early 1945. Eileen had difficulty adjusting to living in post-war Britain, suffered from a nervous breakdown and eventually became a recluse. Includes 40 illustrations, 10 in colour.