Giliana Virginia Balmaceda Provasoli was born in
Chile in 1910. She had worked as an actress in
Paris, where she met Englishman,
Victor Gerson, a dealer in fine rugs and carpets, whom she married. On 18 June 1940, at the signing of the armistice, the couple escaped to England, where both joined the
Special Operations Executive. Her husband,
Victor Gerson, proposed setting up a line of helpers to simplify the exit and entrance of SOE agents, and Balmaceda volunteered to reconnoitre the possibility. In May 1941 she became the first female SOE agent to be sent to France. She proved adept at distinguishing between those who genuinely wanted to help escapees and those who claimed loyalty to the allies even though they were informing the counterintelligence police. She preferred to find older couples who were usually at home and who were willing to provide a spare bedroom for the cause. During her three weeks in Vichy France she collected "information about timetables, curfews, the papers civilians had to carry, and the extent of bus and railway controls." The administrative documents used in occupied France, such as
ration cards which she collected could be reproduced in London for use by agents on clandestine missions in France. On 21 April 1942, her husband, Victor Gerson landed by submarine at
Antibes to organise the VIC Escape Line, which provided an escape route from France via Spain back to England for downed airmen, SOE agents, and others. == References ==