Muriel Byck
Encyclopedia
Muriel Byck
Muriel Byck (4 June 1918, Ealing
, London
, England
, UK – 23 May 1944, Romorantin
, France
) was a heroine of the Special Operations Executive
(SOE) during the Second World War.
Her SOE file revealed that from 1923-24 she had lived with her family in Wiesbaden
, Germany
. The family must have moved to France in 1926 as she went to school at the Lycee de Jeunes Filles, St Germain, France, before moving to England in 1930 as Byck attended the Lycee Francais in Kensington
, London, SW7, where she took the Baccalaureate
in 1935 and then proceeded to the University of Lille
.
Byck worked as a secretary from 1936-38 in London before becoming an Assistant Stage Manager at the Gate Theatre
in 1937. At the outbreak of war, joined the Red Cross as a voluntary worker and the WVS
. She moved to Torquay
in 1941 where she worked as National Registration Clerk and was also an ARP Warden.
in December 1942 as a General Duties clerk (Service number 2071428) working in the records office, later being promoted to the rank of Section Officer
. As she spoke excellent French
, she was recruited into the SOE in July 1943. She began initial training in September 1943 at Winterfold, Cranleigh
, in Surrey
. From here she proceeded to para-military training at Meoble Lodge, Morar
, Invernesshire until October and wireless operator training at Thame Park, Oxfordshire
in November and December 1943. She was chosen by Major Philippe de Vomécourt to be his assistant.
Byck was graded 'average' as a General Agent by her SOE instructors, but gained a high intelligence rating (eight out of nine), and high grades for Morse
and Mechanical Aptitude. She was described by her instructors on her SOE file as:
After three aborted attempts to fly from Tempsford airfied, Byck parachuted into France on the night of 8/9 April 1944 with three other SOE agents: Captain Stanisław Makowski, Captain C. S. Hudson - who was her CO until de Vomecourt arrived by plane - and Captain G. D. Jones. She worked on the SOE Ventriloquist Circuit as the wireless operator and to train any wireless operators recruited locally and inform London with the details about these new recruits so they could be given code names and status. Byck was additionally tasked with establishing post-boxes for contact should wireless transmission break down. Her codename was Violette.
Byck lodged at a safe house in the town of Salbris
owned by French Resistant Antoine Vincent. She sent her transmissions back to England from a shed behind a garage in Limoges where German trucks and cars came in for repairs. While at this location, she aroused the suspicion of a German soldier, but by the time the local Gestapo returned Byck had moved to a new location. She changed her cover story, posing as a Parisian secretary on sick leave; to disguise her night time activities sending messages though to London, she said she had to take medicine every few hours even at night. She later moved again to the home of a blacksmith in Vernou.
and told them that hospitalisation was her only chance. This posed a problem as the Germans kept a check on hospital admissions and scrutinised the papers of all people entering. It was decided that the cover story was Byck and de Vomécourt (as her uncle) were evacuees from Paris. Byck was admitted to Romorantin
Hospital which was run by nuns. She was given a lumbar puncture
, but very shortly afterwards she died on 23 May 1944, aged 25.
She was buried in Romorantin and for many years her grave was tended by the local people. The townsfold of Romorantin commemorated the Anniversary of her death as a heroine of the Resistance. Later, her grave was moved to the Pornic
War Cemetery, France with the other dead from the British services.
as well as the war memorial
at the Lycee Francais
in Kensington.
Muriel Byck (4 June 1918, Ealing
Ealing
Ealing is a suburban area of west London, England and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Ealing. It is located west of Charing Cross and around from the City of London. It is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. It was historically a rural village...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, UK – 23 May 1944, Romorantin
Romorantin
Romorantin is a traditional French variety of white wine grape, that is a sibling of Chardonnay. Once quite widely grown in the Loire, it has now only seen in the Cour-Cheverny AOC. It produces intense, minerally wines somewhat reminiscent of Chablis....
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
) was a heroine of the Special Operations Executive
Special Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was officially formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on 22 July 1940, to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Axis powers and to instruct and aid local...
(SOE) during the Second World War.
Early life
Muriel Tamara Byck was the daughter of French Jews, Luba Besia (née Golinska) and Jacques Byck, who had both taken British nationality. She was born in London.Her SOE file revealed that from 1923-24 she had lived with her family in Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden is a city in southwest Germany and the capital of the federal state of Hesse. It has about 275,400 inhabitants, plus approximately 10,000 United States citizens...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. The family must have moved to France in 1926 as she went to school at the Lycee de Jeunes Filles, St Germain, France, before moving to England in 1930 as Byck attended the Lycee Francais in Kensington
Kensington
Kensington is a district of west and central London, England within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. An affluent and densely-populated area, its commercial heart is Kensington High Street, and it contains the well-known museum district of South Kensington.To the north, Kensington is...
, London, SW7, where she took the Baccalaureate
Baccalauréat
The baccalauréat , often known in France colloquially as le bac, is an academic qualification which French and international students take at the end of the lycée . It was introduced by Napoleon I in 1808. It is the main diploma required to pursue university studies...
in 1935 and then proceeded to the University of Lille
University of Lille
The original university in the Lille region of France was the University of Douai established in 1559 in Douai and that was moved to Lille in 1887.University campuses in the Academy of Lille are members of the Université Lille Nord de France and European Doctoral College Lille Nord-Pas de...
.
Byck worked as a secretary from 1936-38 in London before becoming an Assistant Stage Manager at the Gate Theatre
Gate Theatre
The Gate Theatre, in Dublin, was founded in 1928 by Hilton Edwards and Micheál Mac Liammóir, initially using the Abbey Theatre's Peacock studio theatre space to stage important works by European and American dramatists...
in 1937. At the outbreak of war, joined the Red Cross as a voluntary worker and the WVS
WRVS
The WRVS is a voluntary organisation concerned with helping people in need throughout England, Scotland and Wales....
. She moved to Torquay
Torquay
Torquay is a town in the unitary authority area of Torbay and ceremonial county of Devon, England. It lies south of Exeter along the A380 on the north of Torbay, north-east of Plymouth and adjoins the neighbouring town of Paignton on the west of the bay. Torquay’s population of 63,998 during the...
in 1941 where she worked as National Registration Clerk and was also an ARP Warden.
WAAF & SOE Mission
Muriel joined the WAAFWomen's Auxiliary Air Force
The Women's Auxiliary Air Force , whose members were invariably referred to as Waafs , was the female auxiliary of the Royal Air Force during World War II, established in 1939. At its peak strength, in 1943, WAAF numbers exceeded 180,000, with over 2,000 women enlisting per week.A Women's Royal Air...
in December 1942 as a General Duties clerk (Service number 2071428) working in the records office, later being promoted to the rank of Section Officer
Section Officer
Section Officer may be:*The equivalent rank to Flying Officer in the British Women's Auxiliary Air Force*The equivalent rank to Sergeant in some British Special ConstabulariesDefinition:...
. As she spoke excellent French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, she was recruited into the SOE in July 1943. She began initial training in September 1943 at Winterfold, Cranleigh
Cranleigh
Cranleigh is a large village, self-proclaimed the largest in England, and is situated 8 miles south east of Godalming in Surrey. It lies to the east of the A281 which links Guildford with Horsham; neighbouring villages include: Ewhurst, Alfold and Hascombe....
, in Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
. From here she proceeded to para-military training at Meoble Lodge, Morar
Morar
Morar is a small village on the west coast of Scotland, south of Mallaig. The name Morar is also applied to the wider district around the village....
, Invernesshire until October and wireless operator training at Thame Park, Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
in November and December 1943. She was chosen by Major Philippe de Vomécourt to be his assistant.
Byck was graded 'average' as a General Agent by her SOE instructors, but gained a high intelligence rating (eight out of nine), and high grades for Morse
Morse
Morse can refer to:* Morse code, a method of coding messages into long and short beeps-Places:Canada* Morse , Saskatchewan* Morse, Saskatchewan, a hamlet* Morse No...
and Mechanical Aptitude. She was described by her instructors on her SOE file as:
a quiet, bright, attractive girl, keen, enthusiastic and intelligent. Alert but not very practical and as yet lacks foresight and thoroughness. She is, however, self-possessed, independent and persistent, and warm in her feelings for others... a girl of considerable promise who will require much training to help her to overcome her lack of experience, her complete ignorance of what the work really involves and her general guilelessness. Her temperament would appear to be suitable for work as a courier, or possibly propaganda.
After three aborted attempts to fly from Tempsford airfied, Byck parachuted into France on the night of 8/9 April 1944 with three other SOE agents: Captain Stanisław Makowski, Captain C. S. Hudson - who was her CO until de Vomecourt arrived by plane - and Captain G. D. Jones. She worked on the SOE Ventriloquist Circuit as the wireless operator and to train any wireless operators recruited locally and inform London with the details about these new recruits so they could be given code names and status. Byck was additionally tasked with establishing post-boxes for contact should wireless transmission break down. Her codename was Violette.
Byck lodged at a safe house in the town of Salbris
Salbris
Salbris is a commune in the Loir-et-Cher department of central France....
owned by French Resistant Antoine Vincent. She sent her transmissions back to England from a shed behind a garage in Limoges where German trucks and cars came in for repairs. While at this location, she aroused the suspicion of a German soldier, but by the time the local Gestapo returned Byck had moved to a new location. She changed her cover story, posing as a Parisian secretary on sick leave; to disguise her night time activities sending messages though to London, she said she had to take medicine every few hours even at night. She later moved again to the home of a blacksmith in Vernou.
Death
Byck was working extremely hard sending her transmissions, so it was no surprise when she started to look pale and was tired. However when she collapsed at the blacksmith's house and lost consciousness, it was decided she required urgent medical attention. De Vomécourt took her to a Doctor known to the Resistance as safe; he diagnosed meningitisMeningitis
Meningitis is inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, known collectively as the meninges. The inflammation may be caused by infection with viruses, bacteria, or other microorganisms, and less commonly by certain drugs...
and told them that hospitalisation was her only chance. This posed a problem as the Germans kept a check on hospital admissions and scrutinised the papers of all people entering. It was decided that the cover story was Byck and de Vomécourt (as her uncle) were evacuees from Paris. Byck was admitted to Romorantin
Romorantin
Romorantin is a traditional French variety of white wine grape, that is a sibling of Chardonnay. Once quite widely grown in the Loire, it has now only seen in the Cour-Cheverny AOC. It produces intense, minerally wines somewhat reminiscent of Chablis....
Hospital which was run by nuns. She was given a lumbar puncture
Lumbar puncture
A lumbar puncture is a diagnostic and at times therapeutic procedure that is performed in order to collect a sample of cerebrospinal fluid for biochemical, microbiological, and cytological analysis, or very rarely as a treatment to relieve increased intracranial pressure.-Indications:The...
, but very shortly afterwards she died on 23 May 1944, aged 25.
She was buried in Romorantin and for many years her grave was tended by the local people. The townsfold of Romorantin commemorated the Anniversary of her death as a heroine of the Resistance. Later, her grave was moved to the Pornic
Pornic
Pornic is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique département in western France.-Breton language:The municipality launched a linguistic plan through Ya d'ar brezhoneg on 1 March 2006.-Climate:...
War Cemetery, France with the other dead from the British services.
Legacy
Muriel Byck was posthumously Mentioned in Despatches for her conduct, and she is commemorated on the Knightsbridge and Valençay memorialsValençay SOE Memorial
The Valençay SOE Memorial is a monument to the members of the Special Operations Executive F Section who lost their lives for the liberation of France. The memorial was unveiled in the town of Valençay in the Indre département of France on May 6, 1991, marking the fiftieth anniversary of the...
as well as the war memorial
War memorial
A war memorial is a building, monument, statue or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or to commemorate those who died or were injured in war.-Historic usage:...
at the Lycee Francais
Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle
The Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle is a large French primary and secondary school situated in South Kensington, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London...
in Kensington.