📷 Giliana Balmaceda, c. 1941
She came before Virginia Hall.
Before Violette Szabo.
Before Nancy Wake.
She came, did her job, and disappeared back into the shadows.
Giliana Balmaceda Gerson never became a household name.
Even within SOE circles, she’s often referred to as “the big unknown.”
And yet — she was the first woman sent by SOE into occupied France. In 1941.
Chilean by birth. Fluent in languages. A trained actress. Married to a resistance fighter.
She used her skills not just on stage, but on the front lines of espionage — delivering messages, testing routes, gathering intel when no one was yet sure how Churchill’s new secret organization would function.
When she returned to England, she didn’t write a memoir. She never even had a codename. She helped quietly behind the scenes, preparing other - much more famous - agents for the field. Then she vanished from the historical record. Her story is largely lost, but I, searcher of lost female stories, find myself drawn to her.
Maybe the next book I write should be hers. The title I already have: The Spirit of Exploration, Codename Scout.
What do you think? Would you want to read her story? Answer in the comments. 👇
Yes Indeed and I love the title.
I would love to read more about her contributions to WWII. Looking forward to this book. Please write it!