The story
At the outbreak of the war, Diana Rowden, a French journalist, joined the French Red Cross.
After fleeing France in the summer of 1941, she joined the SOE in March 1943.
Flown to a location northeast of Angers, she joined the “Acrobat” resistance network in June 1943.
Diana played a major role in delivering messages to other agents of the underground in Marseille, Lyon, and Paris under the noses of the Germans.
She was also pivotal in the planning and execution of an attack on the Peugeot factory at Sochaux, which disrupted tank and plane manufacturing in the area.
In November 1943, her network was betrayed, and Rowden was arrested.
She was sent alongside fellow agents Leigh, Borrel, and Olschanezky to her death (July 6th, 1944) at the Natzwiler-Struthof concentration camp.
There's more to discover
You have arrived at just one small part of Back to Normandy — a personal project dedicated to preserving stories, images, music and memories of the Second World War.
Every record is a doorway to a larger story. Explore Back to Normandy to discover more, or visit Fred Vogels' personal website to learn about the person and the projects behind it.