Émilienne Moreau - Evrard Émilienne Moreau - Evrard ( June 4 , 1898 – January 5 , 1971 ) was a French heroine of World War I , a high - profile female member of the “ Brutus ” Resistance network during World War II and later , a member of the " “ Assemblée consultative provisoire ” " . Moreover , she is one of only six women recipients of the Ordre de la Libération . Life . Émilienne Moreau was born on June 4 , 1898 at Wingles , in the Pas - de - Calais département . In 1914 , her father , a retired miner , opened a grocery store in Loos - en - Gohelle , close to Lens whilst World War I was breaking out . World War I . Émilienne Moreau , who was starting a teaching career , witnessed the German invasion of the north of France during October 1914 . In December of the same year , her father died whilst the German soldiers were housed in their village . In February 1915 , she created , in a basement , an improvised school for the local children . During the same month , on the 25th , whilst Scottish soldiers of the Black Watch counter - attacked her village , Émilienne , who was only 17 years old , went to meet them and gave them the precise location of the German positions in a small , impregnable fort . Thanks to this information , the allies were able to go around the small fort , reducing the German effectiveness in this particular corner of the battlefield , with very few casualties . Further to this attack , Émilienne organised a first aid post in her house with the help of a Scottish doctor , to take care of the wounded , but the Germans tried to take back the village . To save a British soldier who was under enemy fire in the village , she went out of her home with explosives and succeeded , with the help of some British soldiers , in forcing the Germans to flee from their position in the neighboring house . Later on , she shot two German soldiers though a closed wooden door . Eventually , the village was under the sole control of the allies . Evacuated , she was awarded the Croix de guerre 1914 - 1918 with an army acknowledgement given directly by Marshal Ferdinand Foch and the Croix du Combattant by the French Army . Moreover , the British army awarded her the Military Medal , the Royal Red Cross ( first class ) and the Venerable Order of Saint John . This last award is rarely given to a woman . She was personally invited to meet the President of the French Republic Raymond Poincaré and later the King of the United Kingdom , George V . The French newspaper " Le Petit Parisien " wrote in detail all her exploits , making her a national hero . The army and the press used her image to buck up the civilians and the fighting people . A bit later , the story of an Australian - made movie entitled " The Joan of Arc of Loos " ( 1916 ) recounted her accomplishments but it received much criticism for using such a revered name for the title . After graduating , she ended the war teaching in a boys ' school in Paris . After the war , she went back to the Pas - de - Calais in the north of France and got married in 1932 to the socialist activist Just Evrard . In 1934 , she became the General Secretary of the women ' s socialist movement of her department . World War II . When World War II was declared , Émilienne was living with her husband and her two children , Raoul and Roger , in the city of Lens . As with many people in northern France , they fled from the war zone , but after the French Armistice , she went back to Lens with her family . Émilienne , who was famous for her former military actions during World War I , was quickly placed under house arrest in Lillers . However , she was permitted to return home after some time . There , in Lens , she started to distribute propaganda brochures against Marshal Philippe Pétain and his capitulation and made contact with the British Intelligence Service , giving them crucial information . At the end of 1940 , Emillienne and her husband created a secret section of her socialist party in Lens . Émilienne Moreau is known in the French resistance under two names : “ Jeanne Poirier ” and “ Émilienne la Blonde ” . She was in charge of linking “ Brutus ” in Switzerland with CAS ( in English : Socialist Action Committee ) , combining this with some specific missions in Paris . Then she joined the resistance movement named “ France au Combat ” ( in English : “ The Fighting France ” ) founded in 1943 by André Boyer . There she worked with Augustin Laurent , André Le Troquer and Pierre Lambert . In March 1944 , at Lyon , she was about to be arrested , following the case of the " “ 85 de l ’ Avenue de Saxe ” " . In this affair , seventeen of her friends in the resistance network were arrested by the Gestapo . Two months later , still in Lyon , she escaped yet again from another series of raids by the Gestapo . In one of these , Nazi soldiers were waiting for her near her house and when they saw her , they fired in her direction but missed . She quickly escaped using a basement in the neighbourhood . Now officially hunted down , she tried several times to escape to England , finally getting away on August 7 , 1944 . Back in France in September 1944 , she sat in the “ Assemblée consultative ” where she embodied the French female way . For her work in the French resistance , she was awarded the rare title of Compagnon de la Libération by Général Charles de Gaulle in Béthune in August 1945 . When World War II was over , she became a politician in the French Socialist Party . Émilienne Moreau - Evrard died on January 5 , 1971 and was buried in Lens , aged 72 years old .