Born: 18 November 1919, France
Died: 6 July 1944
Country most active: France
Also known as: Monique (SOE codename for the Whitebeam operation and subsequent work in France), Denise Urbain (alias while working as an SOE agent in France)
Andrée Raymonde Borrel was a French woman who fought in the French Resistance and worked as an agent for Britain’s clandestine Special Operations Executive during World War II. The purpose of SOE carried out espionage, sabotage, and reconnaissance against the Axis powers (particularly Nazi Germany) in occupied Europe. SOE agents worked with resistance groups, supplying them with weapons and equipment parachuted in from Britain.
On 24 September 1942, Borrel (code name “Denise”) and Lise de Baissac (code name “Odile”) became the first female SOE agents to be parachuted into occupied France. Borrel was a member of the SOE’s Prosper circuit, appointed second in command of the circuit in the spring of 1943. Her work included the creation of circuits in Paris and northern France, sabotage, weapons training, and supervising weapons drops. In June 1943, she was arrested by the Gestapo and subsequently executed at the Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp.