the only woman to serve with the french foreign Legion

Tomorrow is for the Brave is a work of fiction and produced entirely from my own imagination. The inspiration for this story, however, came from the lives and experiences of real people and includes real events that took place during the years in which this novel is set. The character of Violet St. Croix was inspired by the life and experiences of Susan Travers, the only woman to officially become a member of the French Foreign Legion. I first discovered Ms. Travers’ extraordinary story while researching the Allied North African campaign of 1942 for my previous novel The Garden of Lost Secrets. 

Born in England and raised primarily in the south of France, Travers first persuaded her parents to allow her driving lessons when she was seventeen. When war broke out in 1939, she volunteered for the French Red Cross, hoping to be assigned to the front lines. She could drive a car and shoot a rifle, and she reasoned that she would be most useful as an ambulance driver. To her dismay, she discovered that she needed to complete her nursing diploma first. In her own words, Travers described herself as “completely hopeless as a nurse,” and describes a bungled surgery to prove it.

In March of 1940, Travers joined the French Expeditionary Forces that traveled from Paris to Finland to assist in the war against the Russians. After France surrendered to Germany in June of 1940, she returned to London to join the Free French forces under the command of General de Gaulle. From there, she traveled to Sierra Leone, Cameroon, and the Republic of Congo where she served as a (reluctant) nurse. 

Finally, Travers headed to North Africa, and it was there that she was moved out of the hospital and assigned as a driver for Commandant Lotte, a medical doctor for the Free French forces. On June 17, 1941, Susan Travers was assigned to (then) French Colonel Marie-Pierre Koenig, whom she would continue to drive throughout North Africa until after the siege of Bir Hakeim.

In February of 1942, the newly formed 1st Free French Brigade (into which Susan Travers had been incorporated) was posted at Bir Hakeim, at the southern end of the Gazala Line. The Gazala Line was a defensive line of “boxes” or forts designed to prevent the Germans and Italians from breaking through in their push east to capture Cairo and the Suez Canal.  Air raids were common, and the destruction that they wrought was severe. The lack of water was always an impediment, and keeping vehicles running under extreme environmental conditions was nothing short of miraculous.

In May, as Rommel’s forces advanced, Bir Hakiem came under siege, which lasted two weeks and was punctuated by multiple demands to surrender. Refusing to turn his men over to the Axis forces, French general Koenig made the difficult decision to retreat from Bir Hakeim nearly a week after the first demand for surrender came, by which time the ammunition, supplies, and water had been exhausted. On the night of May 10, 1942, when the garrison escaped through enemy lines, it was Susan Travers who was tasked with navigating minefields, tracer fire, artillery, and the rough terrain to eventually deliver General Koenig to the rendezvous point the following morning. Her vehicle, when she examined it later, had dozens of bullet holes that had damaged the engine and sheared off pieces of the bodywork. One round had passed directly between Travers and her passenger. She described the escape as “an amazing feeling, going as fast as I could in the dark towards what looked like a mass display of beautifully coloured fireworks dancing towards me, bringing what seemed almost like certain death. This was what I had come for— to feel what it was like to be a man, in the very heat of battle.”

Of the 3600 men and officers originally stationed at Bir Hakeim, approximately 2,400 escaped through enemy lines in the dead of night. What started as a single file, silent retreat devolved into a chaos, carnage-filled battlefield, marked by heavy artillery fire and hand-to-hand combat through and across minefields. When the tallies were finally taken, 763 were reported missing and presumed dead, 72 dead, and 21 wounded. But both General Koenig and Colonel Amilakhvari survived, driven through the horror by Adjutant Susan Travers. 

Bir Hakeim was built almost entirely underground, and when Rommel’s forces finally entered the fort after the French retreat, they discovered over 1200 separate dugouts for men, guns, and vehicles. Veterans of WWI made regular tactical comparisons between Bir Hakeim and the trench warfare two decades prior. And though Bir Hakeim ultimately fell to Rommel’s Axis forces, the tenacity of the Free French bought the British Eight Army a critical window of time to recover and regroup after suffering debilitating losses. It also forced Rommel to extend his fragile supply line south around Bir Hakeim at a significant cost to the Germans, both in supplies as well as men. It’s an important victory for the French from a morale perspective, proving to the world and the Allied forces that the French could contribute to the fight against Germany. Rommel, famous for his military and tactical skill, conceded later that, “Seldom in Africa was I given such a hard-fought struggle.”

Afterward, Travers remained with the French Foreign Legion and served in the Italian Campaign, the Western Front (Germany and France) and later in Indochina. By the end of her military career, she had been awarded the Legion d’Honneur, the Croix de Guerre, Officier de l’Ordre de Nichan Iftikhar, and the Medaille Militaire. At the age of 91, she wrote her memoirs and autobiography titled Tomorrow to be Brave: A Memoir of the Only Woman Ever to Serve in the French Foreign Legion. The title of her memoirs inspired the title for this novel, and the story she tells is as extraordinary as the woman who did the telling.

The historical roles of women in combat during the Second World War have always interested me. When I started my research into the women who served their countries for my  novel, The Paris Apartment, I was introduced early to the biographies and memoirs of women in combat on the Eastern European front, where the war had come to the cities and towns with unspeakable savagery and a shocking numbers of casualties for both civilians and soldiers. 

From this horror emerged lethal snipers such as Klavdiya Kalugina, Lyudmila Pavlichenko, and Roza Shanina. Sergeant Mariya Oktyabrskaya was awarded the Soviet Union’s highest award for bravery during combat at the helm of her tank, and Stalin’s female air force pilots would fly over thirty-thousand combat sorties during the course of the war and produce the world’s only two female fighter aces, Lydia Litvyak and Yekaterina Budanova.

Yet on the Western Front, where The Paris Apartment is set, there were no female snipers or tank gunners or fighter pilots. From the outbreak of the war, women had been serving in a myriad of critical auxiliary capacities with duties that included ferrying planes from factories to airfields, driving ambulances, providing medical care, and assuming positions in factories, trades, and agriculture. But even in 1941, with a dire shortage of able-bodied men in Britain and women being recruited to help man anti-aircraft batteries, there were still combat restrictions. While the “Gunner Girls” excelled at their roles as Spotters, Range Finders, and Predictors, firing of the guns themselves was the responsibility of their male teammates because, even in a war, the government stubbornly maintained it was not appropriate for “life givers to be life takers.” What use could women possibly have in combat?

It wasn’t until 1942 that the first women would enter the war on the Western Front in a combat capacity. At that time, the Special Operation Executive lobbied for, and received, Winston Churchill’s endorsement to recruit and deploy female SOE agents behind enemy lines. Colonel Colin McVean Gubbins, the head of military operation in the SOE, had argued that women would have much greater freedom of movement under the Occupying Nazis, making them the perfect couriers and saboteurs. His arguments were further augmented by the twin realities that Britain was running out of men and able-bodied males had become obvious Nazi targets. At that point, irregular male combatants sent covertly into Occupied Territories had a life expectancy of less than three months. 

The majority of the women recruited by the SOE went to the F (French) Section. Like my character of Sophie Kowalski, these women were identified by their ability with languages – they spoke French like a native of the country. Some were, in fact, French, others had at least one French parent, and most came from very cosmopolitan or unconventional backgrounds. And like Sophie, many expressed the desire to do more—to face the enemy and fight as their father, brothers, or husbands had. 

Once in the F Section, under the guise of a First Aid Nursing Yeomanry member, these women came under the supervision of Vera Atkins. Atkins prepared them for the clandestine role that they were about to embark upon, sharing with each one why they had been chosen, how they might hide their new secret position to friends or family, and how their training would be arranged. For the first time, women would undergo the same combat training that their male counterparts completed. The first three weeks of training near Guilford was an assessment period. From there, the agents were sent to Scotland for paramilitary work that included explosives, weaponry, stalking, and killing. Those who graduated completed parachute training near Manchester. And lastly, at the Beaulieu Estate in Hampshire, the agents began to learn spy craft, including Morse code, coding, resistance to interrogation and torture, and communication. 

The character of Sophie Kowalski was inspired by real agents like Virginia Hall, Nancy Wake, and Pearl Witherington Cornioley. Virginia Hall, an American who had been working in embassies across Europe, was recruited by the SOE for her intelligence and impressive command of both French and German. Nancy Wake, a New Zealand-born journalist working in France, whose husband was executed by the Nazis, was recruited for her knowledge of the country and its underground networks. Pearl Witherington Cornioley, an Englishwoman who had grown up in Paris, joined the SOE with a fierce desire to fight the Nazis and posed as a cosmetics representative while couriering critical information throughout France. 

Each of these women would be pursued and hunted by the Nazis but would ultimately survive to tell their tales. Reading their memoirs and stories, I came to appreciate the extent of the obstacles that they overcame to serve their countries. A total of fifty-five women were deployed, thirty-nine of those into Occupied France, and three were awarded the highest civilian gallantry honour, the George Cross.

So what use could women possibly be in combat? As it turns out, quite a lot. And while The Paris Apartment is a work of fiction, the plot and characters both products of my imagination, there is nothing fictional about the role that these brave women played in the Allied effort against the Nazis. Their courage, tenacity, and resilience will live on, in the pages of memoirs and novels, diaries and biographies. No matter how or where they served their country, they will not be forgotten.

If you’d like a front seat in the real-life experiences of the women who were there, here are some of my favorite memoirs:

Lady Death: The Memoirs of Stalin’s Snipe rby Lyudmila Mykhailvna Pavlichenko

Code Name Pauline: Memoirs of A WWII Special Agent by Pearl Witherington Cornioley and Kathryn Atwood

Wolves at the Door: The True Story of America’s Greatest Female Spy by Judith L. Pearson

A Life in Secrets: The Story of Vera Atkins and the Lost Agents of SOE by Sarah Helm

Red Sky, Black Death: A Soviet Woman Pilot’s Memoir of the Eastern Front by Anna Timofeeva-Yegorova

Whether I'm writing historical romance or historical fiction, one  of my favourite things about writing heroines is my ability to borrow  from the history books when it comes to giving them a passion.  I’ve  created heroines who are mathematicians, doctors, artists, soldiers,  stewards, smugglers, jockeys, and staunch education advocates, all  inspired by real women.

So it always surprises me when readers  tell me that these passions or occupations are unrealistic or  anachronistic for women ‘of that particular time’.  That women ‘would  never have done these things back then’.  Their stories are harder to  find, that is true, but they are there all the same and deserve to be  shared.

I’ve listed below a collection of notable women who did  exactly what no one believed that they ‘should’ or ‘could’ do.  It is by  no means an exhaustive list and I’ll continue to add to it. These women  have not only inspired my writing and my characters, but continue to  inspire me as well.

Rebecca Pennock Lukens (1794-1854)

Steel/iron  magnate, Rebecca owned and managed the iron and steel mill which became  the Lukens Steel Company (Pennsylvania, USA). She is widely considered  America’s first CEO of an industrial company.  She ran the company until  1847 and made it America’s premier manufacturer of boilerplate.
 

Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797)

Mary  was a writer, a philosopher, and an advocate for women’s rights.  She  rejected the idea that women were inferior to men but were portrayed as  such only because of their lack of access to education.  She advocated  for the education of women in fields and subjects that were then  restricted to men.

Ching Shih (1775-1844)

One  of the most prosperous pirate captains in history who headed an armada  called “The Red Fleet”.  There are conflicting reports of the size of  the forces she commanded (300-800 ships and 40,000-80,000 men), however,  historians all agree it was substantial.  Ching Shih took over command  after her husband died and the fleet captain started to scatter.  She is  credited with one of my favourite quotes: “Under the leadership of a  man you have chosen to flee. We shall see how you prove yourself under a  woman.”

Ada Lovelace (1815 – 1852)

Ada  was a gifted mathematician and writer, and is widely regarded as the  first person to recognize the potential of a computing machine.  She  published the first algorithm intended for a computer program in the mid  1800s.

Marie Curie (1867-1934)

A  French/Polish scientist, Marie Curie is probably best known for her  research into radioactivity.  At a time when the education of women in  the fields of chemistry and biology was certainly not encouraged, Marie  Curie was the first woman to receive the Nobel prize for her work.   Further, she was the first person and only woman to win the Nobel prize  twice, and the only person to win the Nobel Prize in two different  scientific fields.

Mary Seacole (1805-1881)

Mary  was a British-Jamaican business woman and nurse who cared for sick and  injured soldiers during the Crimean War.  The British Army refused to  admit her to the war effort because of her gender but she went to the  front lines anyway.  The soldiers she cared for later raised money for  her when she lacked funds.

Jane Austen (1775-1817)

Jane  was a prolific writer who published her work at a time when writing was  considered a ‘manly pursuit’.  Many of her female contemporaries,  including Mary Shelley (who wrote Frankenstein), were forced to publish  their work anonymously to hide their gender.

Anna Nzinga (1583-1663)

Anna  was an early modern ruler of Africa, ruling the Ndongo and Matamba  kingdoms in 17th century Angola.  She was a gifted military tactician,  politician, and worked tirelessly to restrict European intrusion into  her lands.

Murasaki Shikibu (973-1031)

Novelist  and poet at a time when women were traditionally barred from learning  the written language.  She is credited with writing the world’s first  full-length novel, ‘The Tale of Genji”, written between 1000 and 1012.

Sybil Ludington (1761-1839)

While  there is some disagreement from historians about the details, Sybil was  an American Revolutionary War hero.  As a teenager, she rode 40 miles  in a single night across Connecticut to warn soldiers of an imminent  attack on Danbury.  Her ride was two times longer than Paul Revere’s. 

Eleanor of Aquitane (1122-1204)

Queen  of France, Queen of England and one of the most famous rulers of  medieval times, Eleanor was a skilled politician and ruler.  She is  credited with establishing the rules of chivalry and of even greater  effect, credited with inventing the fireplace.

Anne Lister (1791-1840)

Anne  was a wealthy British woman known for her business savvy.  She owned  multiple properties and industry shares.  All of which she shared with  her wife, Ann Walker.

Molly Pitcher, aka Mary Ludwig (1744-1832)

I  picked the tale of Molly Pitcher for this list, and while it has become  somewhat of a legend, it represents the dozens and dozens of women who  have stories just like this one across time and conflicts.  Mary  travelled with her husband to the front and cared for the wounded during  the American Revolutionary war.  When her husband was wounded and  carried off the field, Mary joined his artillery unit loading cannon to  take his place.  It is reported that a British cannonball flew between  her legs at some point, ripping her skirts, but not injuring her.  Her  response before she carried on with her duties: “Well, that could have  been worse.”

Elsie Inglis (1864-1917)

Doctor,  philanthropist, suffragist, healthcare reform advocate, and founder of  Scottish Women’s Hospitals.  Elsie organized all-female medical units,  ready to be deployed during WW1. After the British told her to ‘go home  and sit still’, she deployed her units to assist the French.

Sor Juana Ines la Cruz (1648-1695)

Scholar,  poet, philosopher, and composer.  She was one of the earliest writers  of Mexican literature, and one of the earliest voices in the Americas  calling for women’s right to education and equality between genders.  In  1667, she joined a nunnery and turned her nun’s quarters into a salon,  visited by many of the city’s intellectually elite.  She was highly  critical of the rampant misogyny and hypocrisy of men and that led to  her public condemnation by the Bishop of Puebla.

Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906)

Best  known for her work for women’s suffrage and voting rights.  She was  also a staunch advocate for women’s education after being told that ‘it  was useless for her to learn maths because a woman needs only to know  how to read the bible and count her egg money’.

Ǣthelflaed (870-918)

Lady  of the Mercians, she was a brilliant military strategist and  tactician.  She is largely credited with the expulsion of the Danes from  England after she assumed power upon the death of her husband.

Mary Anning (1799-1847)

English  fossil collector and dealer and paleontologist, Mary is best known for  her discoveries and documentation of Jurassic marine fossils in Dorset,  England.  Her findings were key in the scientific reconciliation of  prehistoric life and the history of the earth.

Catherine Macaulay (1731-1791)

Catherine  is considered the world’s first female historian and was an avid  advocate for the education of women.  She wrote ‘The History of England  from the Accession of James I to the Revolution’ as well as a treatise  titled ‘Letters on Education’. She believed that the perceived  ‘weakness’ of women was due to mis-education.

Edmonia Lewis (1844-1907)

Edmonia (pictured above)  was an American artist and sculptor who worked in Rome.  She achieved  international recognition for her work and is known for incorporating  themes related to indigenous peoples of the Americas and her black  heritage.

Hannah Snell (1723-1792)

Hannah  disguised herself as a man, took her brother in law’s name, and joined  the British Navy in search of her husband. She served with the Marines,  the Army, and upon her return, petitioned the Duke of Cumberland for a  stipend (her husband had already died). She is most famous for taking on  a press gang in later years, challenging the lieutenant who was  attempting to press a family man into service to a fight.  She is quoted  as saying “If they were seamen, they ought to be on board and not  sneaking about as kidnappers” and “But if you are afraid of the sea,  take Brown Bess upon your shoulder and march through Germany as I have  done. Ye dogs, I have more wounds about me than you have fingers.  This  is no false attack.  I will have my man.”    

Sophie Germain (1776 – 1831)

Sophie  was a highly recognized mathematician.  She is known for her  contribution to number theory and theory of elasticity.  She was able to  obtain smuggled lecture notes from the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris  (though she was not allowed to attend class). She originally submitted  her work under an alias but eventually became the first woman to attend  the French Academy of Sciences.

Mary Somerville (1780-1872)

Mary  was a Scottish science writer and polymath.  She studied math and  astronomy and was eventually nominated to become the first female member  of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Elizabeth Stokes aka Lady Bare Knuckles (actively competed 1722-1728)

At  a time when boxing was an entertainment sport for both men and women,  Elizabeth was one of the most famous female bare-knuckle boxers of the  Georgian period.  She also fought with a cudgel and a short sword, and  was wildly popular, achieveing great success.   It is said that she  inspired Lady Barrymore, ‘The Boxing Baroness’ in the 1820’s, who began  boxing to keep fit and amuse her husband.

Mary Katherine Goddard (1738-1816)

Mary  was an American publisher and postmaster.  She was the second printer  to print the Declaration of Independence and the first to include the  names of the signatories.  She continued to publish the Constitutional  Post throughout the Revolutionary War until 1784.