12 Facts About Eliane Plewman

Eliane Sophie Plewman was a British agent of the Special Operations Executive and a member of the French Resistance working as a courier for the "MONK circuit" in occupied France during World War II.

On 28 July 1942, Eliane Plewman married Thomas Langford "Tom" Eliane Plewman in Lutterworth, Leicestershire.

In mid-February 1943, Eliane Plewman joined the Special Operations Executive and was accepted on 25 February 1943 for training to serve as an "agent in the field".

Eliane Plewman signed the Official Secrets Act on 29 March 1943 and a second time on 19 April 1943 and commenced training at Wanborough Manor at the start of May 1943.

Eliane Plewman learnt weapons handling, hand-to-hand combat, techniques for sabotage, clandestine survival, security, orientation, radio communications.

Eliane Plewman passed the psychological tests set for future agents by the various officers in charge of evaluating candidates, tests which assessed their determination and mental fortitude.

Eliane Plewman worked for Captain Charles Milne Skepper, the organiser of SOE's Monk circuit, in which she was to be the courier in the area of Marseille, Roquebrune and St Raphael, providing the communications link between groups of saboteurs and intelligence gathering agents, Monk's wireless operator Arthur Steele, and other involved groups.

For six months Eliane Plewman worked as a courier and her untiring devotion to duty and willingness to undergo any risk largely contributed to the successful establishment of her circuit.

Eliane Plewman travelled constantly maintaining liaison between the various groups, acting as guide to newly arriving agents and transporting wireless telegraphy equipment and compromising documents.

Eliane Plewman survived the war and was awarded a Distinguished Service Order.

Eliane Plewman was regarded as impulsive by her colleagues and, despite suspicions that the safe house was compromised, she rang the doorbell.

Eliane Plewman is remembered on the Brookwood Memorial in Surrey, and the F Section Memorial, in Valencay, France.