Diana Rowden
Diana Rowden | |
|---|---|
In WAAF uniform (circa 1942). | |
| Nickname(s) | Paulette, Chaplain and Marcelle (SOE codenames), Juliette Thérèse Rondeau (alias while working as an SOE agent in France) |
| Born | 31 January 1915 England |
| Died | 6 July 1944 (aged 29) Natzweiler-Struthof, France |
| Allegiance | Britain |
| Branch | Women's Auxiliary Air Force Special Operations Executive |
| Years of service | 1941-1944 |
| Rank | Section Officer (WAAF) |
| Unit | Acrobat (SOE) |
| Battles / wars | Second World War |
| Awards | Croix de Guerre Mentioned in Despatches |
Diana Hope Rowden (31 January 1915 – 6 July 1944) served in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force and was an agent for the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) in France during World War II. The purpose of SOE was to recruit resistance groups and supply them with arms and material in order to carry out sabotage against Nazi Germany. From June to November 1943, Rowden was a courier for SOE's Acrobat circuit in occupied France. She was arrested by the Gestapo in November 1943. In May 1944, along with several other captured women agents, she was transported to Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp in Germany. She was executed there by fatal injection on 6 July 1944.