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Sonya Esmée Florence Butt (14 May 1924 – 21 December 2014), also known as Sonia d'Artois, code named ''Blanche,'' was an agent of the clandestine
Special Operations Executive The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its pu ...
during the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
. SOE agents allied themselves with groups resisting the occupation of their countries by
Axis powers The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were ...
. The purpose of SOE was to conduct espionage, sabotage, and reconnaissance in occupied countries. The SOE supplied resistance groups with weapons and equipment parachuted in from
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
. Butt worked as a courier for the
Headmaster A head master, head instructor, bureaucrat, headmistress, head, chancellor, principal or school director (sometimes another title is used) is the staff member of a school with the greatest responsibility for the management of the school. In som ...
network of SOE. She was the youngest agent of either sex sent by the SOE to work in France.


Early life

Sonya Butt was born in
Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
on 14 May 1924. When war broke out in 1939, she was 15 years old, though by then the family had moved to
Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in northwest Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'' and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement o ...
.


Service in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force

Butt was only a schoolgirl at the start of the war, and would not be due to join up for at least a couple of years. Her preference was for the
Women's Auxiliary Air Force The Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), whose members were referred to as WAAFs (), was the female auxiliary of the Royal Air Force during World War II. Established in 1939, WAAF numbers exceeded 180,000 at its peak strength in 1943, with over 2 ...
(WAAF), as her father had served in the RAF himself, but the minimum age join the WAAF was 17½. Butt joined up the very day she became eligible: 14 November 1941, becoming 454240
Aircraftwoman Aircraftman (AC) or aircraftwoman (ACW) is the lowest rank in the British Royal Air Force (RAF) and the air forces of several other Commonwealth countries. In RAF slang, aircraftmen are sometimes called "erks". Aircraftman ranks below leading a ...
(ACW) Butt. She served in the Administrative Branch. In 1941, women were banned from front-line service. In April 1942, however, this provision was changed and one of the first organisations to take advantage of this was the Special Operations Executive (SOE). SOE trained teams to operate 'behind the lines' in countries under Nazi occupation. The role of courier was particularly important, as movements around a district were likely to encounter German check-points, and a male of military or working age attracted adverse attention; a woman on a bicycle, however, was less likely to be suspected, and if she attracted attention at all, it was usually the sort that makes a besotted sentry forget to check papers and luggage properly. SOE began to look for potential female couriers, but the work was highly dangerous and required toughness mind and body to perform under such pressure, so SOE had to be very demanding, very selective and very secretive. It did not advertise its vacancies and recruited by 'the usual methods': word of mouth, and other quiet and roundabout means; a skill in the appropriate language was a good starting point. Whilst working at
RAF Gosforth The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
(alongside another future SOE agent,
Patricia O'Sullivan Maureen Patricia O'Sullivan (3 January 1918 – 5 March 1994) was a member of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) during World War II and worked as a wireless operator for the French Section. Born in Dublin, Ireland in 1918, the daught ...
), Butt had been advertising her fluency in French in an attempt to get attached to the Free French squadrons and escape her dreary routine. She failed in this bid, but this did bring her to the attention of SOE, and she was soon accepted for training. She was given an honorary commission as an Assistant Section Officer.


Special Operations Executive

Butt joined SOE, aged 19, on 11 December 1943. Her training followed the usual programme of tough outdoor training to develop stamina and basic soldiering skills, followed by specialist training according to the operation requirements, plus familiarisation with the routine of life in occupied Europe. Recruits could not discuss their training with outsiders, and in any case, this sort of training was unheard of for women, so at the time few would understand or even believe the full details of the armed and unarmed combat training they received. Only fellow students could give meaningful support. Sonya's colleagues in the SOE included
Nancy Wake Nancy Grace Augusta Wake, (30 August 1912 – 7 August 2011), also known as Madame Fiocca and Nancy Fiocca, was a nurse and journalist who joined the French Resistance and later the Special Operations Executive (SOE) during World War II, and ...
and
Violette Szabo Violette Reine Elizabeth Szabo, GC (née Bushell; 26 June 1921 – February 1945) was a British-French Special Operations Executive (SOE) agent during the Second World War and a posthumous recipient of the George Cross. On her second mission i ...
, as well as the French-Canadian army officer
Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
Guy D'Artois Major Lionel Guy d'Artois (9 April 1917 – 15 March 1999) was a Canadian Army officer and SOE agent. Biography Lionel Guy (generally known by his second name) d'Artois was born in Richmond, Quebec in 1917. He joined the Militia (part-time a ...
, whom she would later marry. On 28 May 1944, Butt was parachuted into the department of the
Sarthe Sarthe () is a department of the French region of Pays de la Loire, and the province of Maine, situated in the ''Grand-Ouest'' of the country. It is named after the river Sarthe, which flows from east of Le Mans to just north of Angers. It had ...
in the area of
Le Mans Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le ...
to work as a courier, under the codename "Blanche", for Christopher Hudson (codename Albin), the organizer of the Reseau (Circuit)
Headmaster A head master, head instructor, bureaucrat, headmistress, head, chancellor, principal or school director (sometimes another title is used) is the staff member of a school with the greatest responsibility for the management of the school. In som ...
. She was one of the last WAAFs landed in France before the Allied invasion, only nine days before D-Day. After one of the other agents dropped with her was shot during a battle between the Maquis and the Germans, Sonya took on the additional role of weapons instructor. She later said, "I filled in wherever the need arose." As a courier, her primary responsibilities were to carry money, pass messages and maintain contact with the SOE agents, Maquis and local operatives working with the circuit. In June 1944, whilst delivering messages around the countryside, she was stopped by two Germans and detained for questioning. This was a very dangerous moment, but her cover story and false papers withstood the examination, and she was eventually released. In due course, the Allied ground forces broke out from Normandy and Sonya's district was liberated. In October 1944, she returned to England on the successful completion of her mission.


Honours and awards

Her work and bravery were recognised with the award of the MBE and a
Mention in Dispatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...
. She was still only 20 years old.


Postwar life

Much to the annoyance of her superiors, Butt left without signing off. After the war, Sonya and Guy went to live in Canada. Guy d'Artois had parachuted into another district of France about the same time as Butt. For the success of his mission, he was awarded the
Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typi ...
and the
Croix de Guerre The ''Croix de Guerre'' (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awa ...
. In 1947, he received another very senior decoration, the
George Medal The George Medal (GM), instituted on 24 September 1940 by King George VI,''British Gallantry Medals'' (Abbott and Tamplin), p. 138 is a decoration of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth, awarded for gallantry, typically by civilians, or in circ ...
(GM) for his work in rescuing an injured missionary in northern Canada. After a tour in Japan, Guy served in the
Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top: ...
, before the couple settled down again in Canada. Guy and Sonia (an alternative spelling of her name) had six children, three boys and three girls. In Canada, she also used the name Toni D'Artois. Butt's husband died at the Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue Veterans hospital in March 1999.D'ArtoisLG
/ref> Sonya Butt died on 21 December 2014 at the age of 90. She was survived by the couple's six children. She was described, incorrectly, in her obituary of being the last surviving female British spy of the Second World War.


See also

*
Lilian Rolfe Lilian Vera Rolfe, (26 April 1914 – 5 February 1945) was an Allied secret agent in the Second World War. Early life Rolfe and her twin sister Helen Fedora Rolfe were the daughters of George Rolfe, a British chartered accountant working in Pa ...


Notes


References

*
Squadron Leader Squadron leader (Sqn Ldr in the RAF ; SQNLDR in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly sometimes S/L in all services) is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence. It is als ...
Beryl E. Escott Beryl E. Escott is a Canadian-born writer specializing in the history of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force. A native of Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the eastern ...
, ''Mission Improbable: A salute to the RAF women of SOE in wartime France'', London, Patrick Stevens Limited, 1991. *
Marcus Binney Marcus Hugh Crofton Binney (born Simms; 21 September 1944) is a British architectural historian and author. He is best known for his conservation work regarding Britain's heritage. Early and family life Binney is the son of Lieutenant-Colonel F ...
, ''The Women Who Lived for Danger: the Women Agents of SOE in the Second World War'', London, Hodder and Stoughton, 2002. * Liane Jones, ''A Quiet Courage: Women Agents in the French Resistance'', London, Transworld Publishers Ltd, 1990.


External links


Sonya Butt's entry on the 64 Baker Street site


{{DEFAULTSORT:Butt, Sonya British Special Operations Executive personnel Women's Auxiliary Air Force officers Members of the Order of the British Empire English emigrants to Canada 1924 births 2014 deaths