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| Jeannie Rousseau, who has died aged 98, was a spy for the French resistance Alliance network who sent crucial information to British intelligence about the development of the V-1 flying bomb and V-2 rocket. This enabled the British to severely dent the impact of these war-changing weapons. She was deported to the women’s concentration camp of Ravensbrück, which she barely survived. After the second world war she said almost nothing about her exploits and only latterly gained the recognition she deserved. | Jeannie Rousseau, who has died aged 98, was a spy for the French resistance Alliance network who sent crucial information to British intelligence about the development of the V-1 flying bomb and V-2 rocket. This enabled the British to severely dent the impact of these war-changing weapons. She was deported to the women’s concentration camp of Ravensbrück, which she barely survived. After the second world war she said almost nothing about her exploits and only latterly gained the recognition she deserved. |
| In 1943 Rousseau was working in Paris for a public relations agency liaising between the German occupying forces and French industrialists who were tied into the German war economy. She had regular meetings with the German military command at their headquarters at the Hotel Majestic, Avenue Kléber, near the Arc de Triomphe. | In 1943 Rousseau was working in Paris for a public relations agency liaising between the German occupying forces and French industrialists who were tied into the German war economy. She had regular meetings with the German military command at their headquarters at the Hotel Majestic, Avenue Kléber, near the Arc de Triomphe. |
| Young, attractive and fluent in German, she was regularly invited to the Germans’ drinking parties, where they talked indiscreetly about their work. She never played what she called “Mata Hari games” – selling sex for secrets – but she used her wits and false naivety to winkle military secrets out of them. | Young, attractive and fluent in German, she was regularly invited to the Germans’ drinking parties, where they talked indiscreetly about their work. She never played what she called “Mata Hari games” – selling sex for secrets – but she used her wits and false naivety to winkle military secrets out of them. |
| “I teased them, taunted them, looked at them wide-eyed,” she said in 1998, “insisted that they must be mad when they spoke of the astounding new weapon that flew over vast distances, faster than any aeroplane. I kept saying, ‘What you are telling me cannot be true!’ I must have said that a hundred times. ‘I’ll show you,’ one of the Germans said. ‘How?’ I asked, and he answered, ‘It’s here on a piece of paper.’” | “I teased them, taunted them, looked at them wide-eyed,” she said in 1998, “insisted that they must be mad when they spoke of the astounding new weapon that flew over vast distances, faster than any aeroplane. I kept saying, ‘What you are telling me cannot be true!’ I must have said that a hundred times. ‘I’ll show you,’ one of the Germans said. ‘How?’ I asked, and he answered, ‘It’s here on a piece of paper.’” |
| He showed her a plan of the experimental station of Peenemünde, on the Baltic island of Usedom, which was being used to test the V-2. She had a photographic memory and conveyed to her resistance network details of what she called the “stratospheric bomb” and the team of Colonel Max Wachtel developing it. | He showed her a plan of the experimental station of Peenemünde, on the Baltic island of Usedom, which was being used to test the V-2. She had a photographic memory and conveyed to her resistance network details of what she called the “stratospheric bomb” and the team of Colonel Max Wachtel developing it. |
| The “Wachtel report” found its way to the Oxford physicist and military intelligence expert Reginald Jones, and thence on to Churchill’s desk. In October 1943 Rousseau reported on the V-1 launching ramp at Bois Carré in the Somme, and in December on the transfer of Wachtel’s HQ to Creil in northern France. | The “Wachtel report” found its way to the Oxford physicist and military intelligence expert Reginald Jones, and thence on to Churchill’s desk. In October 1943 Rousseau reported on the V-1 launching ramp at Bois Carré in the Somme, and in December on the transfer of Wachtel’s HQ to Creil in northern France. |
| Jeannie was born in Saint-Brieuc on the north coast of Brittany, the only child of Marie (nee Le Charpentier) and Jean Rousseau. Her father was a foreign office official and mayor of Paris’s 17th arrondissement. She attended the elite École Libre de Sciences Politiques (Sciences-Po) and finished top of her class in 1939. | Jeannie was born in Saint-Brieuc on the north coast of Brittany, the only child of Marie (nee Le Charpentier) and Jean Rousseau. Her father was a foreign office official and mayor of Paris’s 17th arrondissement. She attended the elite École Libre de Sciences Politiques (Sciences-Po) and finished top of her class in 1939. |
| When the Germans invaded France in 1940 her father evacuated the family to their country house in Dinard, Brittany, confident that the Germans would never get that far. They arrived in weeks, and Field Marshal Walther von Reichenau established a base there to plan the invasion of Britain. When the local mayor looked for an interpreter to liaise with the French administration, her father volunteered Jeannie. | When the Germans invaded France in 1940 her father evacuated the family to their country house in Dinard, Brittany, confident that the Germans would never get that far. They arrived in weeks, and Field Marshal Walther von Reichenau established a base there to plan the invasion of Britain. When the local mayor looked for an interpreter to liaise with the French administration, her father volunteered Jeannie. |
| As if to express her independence, she began to gather intelligence, and forwarded it to a resistance network. Arrested by the Gestapo in January 1941, she was interrogated in the prison at Rennes. Nothing could be pinned on her, but she was obliged to leave the sensitive coastal area. | As if to express her independence, she began to gather intelligence, and forwarded it to a resistance network. Arrested by the Gestapo in January 1941, she was interrogated in the prison at Rennes. Nothing could be pinned on her, but she was obliged to leave the sensitive coastal area. |
| Back in Paris, Rousseau found a job liaising between French industrialists and the German military, which was placing orders with French firms for its war economy. By chance, on a night train in 1941, she encountered Georges Lamarque, a mathematics graduate working for the Alliance network, which was headed by Marie-Madeleine Fourcade. She had asked him to set up a sub-group, called the Druids, specialising in military intelligence, and he recruited Rousseau, under the codename Amniarix. | Back in Paris, Rousseau found a job liaising between French industrialists and the German military, which was placing orders with French firms for its war economy. By chance, on a night train in 1941, she encountered Georges Lamarque, a mathematics graduate working for the Alliance network, which was headed by Marie-Madeleine Fourcade. She had asked him to set up a sub-group, called the Druids, specialising in military intelligence, and he recruited Rousseau, under the codename Amniarix. |
| In the light of her subsequent reports the British wanted to bring her to London for debriefing, but her attempt to escape by boat from Tréguier, on the Breton coast, was foiled on 28 April 1944, and she was captured. She was deported to Ravensbrück, and then to the work camp at Torgau, where she refused under the Geneva Convention to make ammunition, to a punishment camp in Königsberg, and then back to Ravensbrück. | In the light of her subsequent reports the British wanted to bring her to London for debriefing, but her attempt to escape by boat from Tréguier, on the Breton coast, was foiled on 28 April 1944, and she was captured. She was deported to Ravensbrück, and then to the work camp at Torgau, where she refused under the Geneva Convention to make ammunition, to a punishment camp in Königsberg, and then back to Ravensbrück. |
| When Rousseau was rescued from Ravensbrück by the Swedish Red Cross on 23 April 1945 she weighed only 31kg (70lb). She was suffering from tuberculosis and was sent to recover in a Swedish sanatorium. There she met Henri de Clarens, a resister who had survived Buchenwald and Auschwitz. They married and she became the Vicomtesse de Clarens. She went on to work as an interpreter for the United Nations. | When Rousseau was rescued from Ravensbrück by the Swedish Red Cross on 23 April 1945 she weighed only 31kg (70lb). She was suffering from tuberculosis and was sent to recover in a Swedish sanatorium. There she met Henri de Clarens, a resister who had survived Buchenwald and Auschwitz. They married and she became the Vicomtesse de Clarens. She went on to work as an interpreter for the United Nations. |
| After the war, those who had done least in the resistance often spoke the most, while those who had done the most spoke the least. Female resisters were particularly modest, and Rousseau claimed that “others did much more. I was a small stone.” | After the war, those who had done least in the resistance often spoke the most, while those who had done the most spoke the least. Female resisters were particularly modest, and Rousseau claimed that “others did much more. I was a small stone.” |
| While Lamarque, who had been shot by the Germans in September 1944, was named one of de Gaulle’s thousand-strong Compagnons de la Libération, Rousseau – described by Fourcade as “the most remarkable young woman of her generation” – received only the Resistance medal and the Croix de Guerre. “Amniarix’s reports stand brilliantly in the history of intelligence,” wrote Jones in Most Secret War (1978). | While Lamarque, who had been shot by the Germans in September 1944, was named one of de Gaulle’s thousand-strong Compagnons de la Libération, Rousseau – described by Fourcade as “the most remarkable young woman of her generation” – received only the Resistance medal and the Croix de Guerre. “Amniarix’s reports stand brilliantly in the history of intelligence,” wrote Jones in Most Secret War (1978). |
| He and she were jointly awarded the Seal Medallion by the CIA in 1993. The French made her a Commandeur of the Légion d’honneur in 1996 and a Grand Officer in 2009. | He and she were jointly awarded the Seal Medallion by the CIA in 1993. The French made her a Commandeur of the Légion d’honneur in 1996 and a Grand Officer in 2009. |
| Henri de Clarens died in 1995. Jeannie is survived by a daughter, Ariane, a son, Pascal, and four grandchildren. | Henri de Clarens died in 1995. Jeannie is survived by a daughter, Ariane, a son, Pascal, and four grandchildren. |
| • Jeannie Yvonne Ghislaine Rousseau, French resistance agent, born 1 April 1919; died 25 August 2017 | • Jeannie Yvonne Ghislaine Rousseau, French resistance agent, born 1 April 1919; died 25 August 2017 |