Giliana Balmaceda became Giliana Gerson (1910 - ) was a Special
Operations Executive agent during the Second World War. She was the
first female SOE agent to be sent to occupied France.Balmaceda was
born in Chile in 1910. She had worked as an actress in Paris, where
she met Englishman, Victor Gerson, a dealer in fine rugs and carpets,
whom she married.On 18 June 1940 at the signing of the armistice, the
couple escaped to England, where both joined the Special Operations
Executive. Her husband, Victor Gerson, proposed setting up a line of
helpers to simplify the exit and entrance of SOE agents, and Balmaceda
volunteered to reconnoitre the possibility. In May 1941 she became the
first female SOE agent to be sent to France. She proved adept at
distinguishing between those who genuinely wanted to help escapees and
those who claimed loyalty to the allies even though they were
informing the counterintelligence police.Balmaceda, ostensibly on
holiday, travelled freely on her Chilean passport in Vichy France, not
yet occupied by Nazi Germany. and compiled a long list of names and
addresses of those willing to help and who she believed could be
trusted. She preferred to find older couples who were usually at home
and who were willing to provide a spare bedroom for the cause. During
her three weeks in Vichy France she collected "information about
timetables, curfews, the papers civilians had to carry, and the extent
of bus and railway controls." The administrative documents used in
occupied France, such as ration cards which she collected could be
reproduced in London for use by agents on clandestine missions in
France. She returned to the United Kingdom through Spain and to the
British base at Gibraltar.
Operations Executive agent during the Second World War. She was the
first female SOE agent to be sent to occupied France.Balmaceda was
born in Chile in 1910. She had worked as an actress in Paris, where
she met Englishman, Victor Gerson, a dealer in fine rugs and carpets,
whom she married.On 18 June 1940 at the signing of the armistice, the
couple escaped to England, where both joined the Special Operations
Executive. Her husband, Victor Gerson, proposed setting up a line of
helpers to simplify the exit and entrance of SOE agents, and Balmaceda
volunteered to reconnoitre the possibility. In May 1941 she became the
first female SOE agent to be sent to France. She proved adept at
distinguishing between those who genuinely wanted to help escapees and
those who claimed loyalty to the allies even though they were
informing the counterintelligence police.Balmaceda, ostensibly on
holiday, travelled freely on her Chilean passport in Vichy France, not
yet occupied by Nazi Germany. and compiled a long list of names and
addresses of those willing to help and who she believed could be
trusted. She preferred to find older couples who were usually at home
and who were willing to provide a spare bedroom for the cause. During
her three weeks in Vichy France she collected "information about
timetables, curfews, the papers civilians had to carry, and the extent
of bus and railway controls." The administrative documents used in
occupied France, such as ration cards which she collected could be
reproduced in London for use by agents on clandestine missions in
France. She returned to the United Kingdom through Spain and to the
British base at Gibraltar.
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