That is one reason why war tales have been a popular genre and World War Two has been a fertile field for all kinds of writing. While doing some browsing on the subject I came upon the astonishing fact that in the Second World War the greatest number of recipients of the Victoria and George Cross medals, the highest British awards for bravery, were Indians. Of course, one knew that the Gurkha regiments had been awarded the greatest number of Victoria Crosses but it was a revelation that all South Asians had taken their colonial obligations so seriously! Or is it that bravery and valour comes naturally to the South Asian soldier? Whatever the reason, I wish more had been written by Indians about their role in the war and its campaigns.

A theatre of war that has always interested me because of its individual stories of outstanding bravery under extreme odds, has been the work of the Special Operations Executivethe SOEwhich played such an important role after the occupation of France in maintaining close links with the Resistance. The agents who were parachuted into occupied France also included many women who braved the danger of espionage under Nazi occupation. The cover unit for the women agents was called the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry or FANY and the FANY women became known for their outstanding courage and bravery so much so that one of their supervisors catching sight of a book titled "Remarkable Women" said that the book would have to be rewritten "after these girls have done their stuff!"

There is an anonymous memorial on the wall of a chapel in Kensington to six FANY women all of whom died in concentration camps. Violette Szabo is one of the names and she is one of my favourite FANY heroines. She was posthumously awarded the George Cross, which was presented to her four year old daughter Tania Szabo by King George VI on January 28, 1947. She was also awarded the Croix de Guerre by the French Government in the same year. The best book about her is R.J. Minney's "Carve Her Name With Pride" (Pan Books, 1956). There was also a 1958 film of the book starring Virginia McKenna and Paul Scofield but I haven't seen a DVD of it around so my younger readers may not have seen it.

In order to be dropped into occupied France, the SOE operatives had to be bilingual and even multilingual, speaking French and German like natives, so that they could masquerade as ordinary Frenchmen and women. Violette Bushell was one such girl, born of a French mother and English father, who had spent her early years in France and was comfortable in both languages. Her photos show a very attractive young woman whose eyes shine with vitality and compel a second look. Her friends recalled a popular girl who showed signs of derring do and high spirits from a very early age. About the time that the Second World War began, Violette met and fell in love with a captain in the French Foreign Legion, Etienne Szabo. They were married within a few weeks almost as if they knew what the future had in store and were frantic to snatch a few precious days and weeks together.

The premonitionif there was oneturned out to be accurate because they were fated to see very little of each other. Just a week or two during Etienne's leave in England and then he was killed in the North Africa campaign leaving behind a pregnant Violette to mourn her handsome husband. She soon had a beautiful daughter, Tania to console her and give her a reason to live but it seems that she took Etienne's death very hard. When she was singled out in the typical SOE manner because of her bilingual background she did not hesitate to join the FANYs. As the book tells it she was asked by a Mr. Potter to come for an interview to an anonymous office in Whitehall. One can imagine the scene which has been immortalized by Le Carre in his Cold War spy novels about the British Secret Service, its eponymously named office the Circus and that amazing man, George Smiley. Someone like Smiley, a shadowless, grey man would have interviewed her in a cold and bare office. He would barely look up at the pretty young girl yet register every nuance of her appearance. She in turn would be nervous yet excited at the meeting with some inkling, surely, of what was to be suggested. The interviewer would murmur quietly that her knowledge of France and fluency in French could be useful. He would explain that he was looking for people to do "dangerous work" in occupied France. "You mean spying?" she would ask. "No, not spying, but similar," he would say in the typical British understated manner "We want people with special qualities to be trained and go into enemy occupied territory to make life very unpleasant for the Germans."

Violette would soon be too caught up in the excitement of espionage to give the danger inherent in the mission much thought. I wonder whether she had trepidations about leaving little Tania behind with her parentsdid she fear that she would never return and Tania would grow up without either parent. If she did have these thoughts it did not deter her from accepting the offer and go into training at the secure SOE training centers dotted about the British countryside. The time soon came to be dropped into France and Violette returned from her first mission successfully. Did that inspire courage or did she feel the danger more acutely? We will never know because the second mission was to end in a debacle.

Let me quote the dry and formal language of the citation printed in the London Gazette on December 17, 1946 which awarded her the George Cross.

"Madama Szabo volunteered to undertake a particularly dangerous mission in France. She was parachuted into France in April 1944, and undertook the task with enthusiasm. In her execution of the delicate researches entailed she showed great presence of mind and astuteness. She was twice arrested by the German security authorities, but each time managed to get away. Eventually, however, she was surrounded by the Gestapo in a house in the south-west of France.

Resistance appeared hopeless, but Madame Szabo, seizing a Sten gun and as much ammunition as she could carry, barricaded herself in part of the house, and, exchanging shot for shot with the enemy, killed or wounded several of them. By constant movement she avoided being cornered and fought until she dropped, exhausted.

She was arrested and had to undergo solitary confinement. She was then continuously and atrociously tortured, but never by word or deed gave away any of her acquaintances or told the enemy anything of value. She was ultimately executed. Madame Szabo gave a magnificent display of courage and steadfastness."

This dry account hardly does justice to the dramatic events it describes. One has to imagine the sheer rush of adrenaline that fuelled Violette during these dangerous missions and the courage it took to make that futile stand against the Nazi troops. However, greater physical courage than ever was needed to withstand the cruel and unimaginable torture and interrogation that was to follow and to give up no vital fact or name. The young girl must have reached deep into her being to call up reserves of strength and determination to assist her in the ordeal.

After weeks of interrogation she was finally taken to Ravensbrück concentration camp where another FANY agent, Odette Hallowes, was also confined at the time. Odette survived the ordeal and gave details of the end to the authorities at the close of the war. Imagine that cold morning when the story came to an end. With two other women SOE agents, Violette was taken out through the courtyard to a bloody patch against the wall where all three were made to kneel and then shot through the back of the neck, one by one, ending the shining story of valour and bravery. Violette was only 23 years old.

I cannot end without quoting the poem made famous by the book and the film as having been written to Violette by her husband. However war documents claim that it was really written by a code-master of the SOE Leo Marks, and was used by Violette as a code poem whilst she was on the mission.

The Life That I Have
The life that I have is all that I have,
And the life that I have is yours.
The love that I have of the life that I have,
Is yours and yours and yours.
The sleep I shall have, a rest I shall have,
Yet death will be but a pause.
For the peace of my years in the long green grass,
Will be yours and yours and yours

Yasmeen Murshed is a full-time bookworm and a part-time educationist . She is also the founder of Scholastica School.