Violette Reine Elizabeth Bushell was born in Levallois, Paris in 1921, to a British father and French mother. Her early life was spent on the move between Britain and France, but at the age of eleven her family settled in Stockwell, south London. Although petite (5 feet 5 inches tall) and very attractive, Violette's character was far more robust than her looks suggested: spirited and strong-willed, Violette detested needlework and domestic chores, but could outperform her brothers in any athletic pursuits. At the age of fourteen she left school, and at the outbreak of war was working as a shop assistant in Brixton.

In 1940 she met Etienne Szabo, a dashing French Foreign Legion officer from Marseille, who was serving with de Gaulle's Free French forces. They were married in August, and the following year Violette enlisted with the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS), serving with an anti-aircraft battery. In June 1942 she gave birth to a daughter, Tania, but four months later Etienne was killed in action near El Alamein.

Determined to avenge his death, it was a chance meeting that offered Violette the opportunity to join SOE. In June 1943 she met Harry Peulevé, who had recommended a mutual friend for interview by the French Section. Her family background disqualified her from being taken on, but she mentioned Violette as another possible candidate. After meeting SOE recruiting officer Selwyn Jepson in July, Violette was accepted and began training as a courier the following month.

She turned out to be a crack shot - reputedly the best in SOE - but her instructors' reports were mixed, suggesting that she was too temperamental for secret work. Yet with D-Day just months away there was an urgent need for more female couriers: she was allowed to finish the courses and accompanied the organiser of the SALESMAN circuit, Philippe Liewer, to Paris in April. Liewer had been told that his deputy had recently been captured in Rouen and could not risk returning to the area, but instead sent Violette to assess the damage and make contact with the surviving members. After three weeks of investigations Violette had found out that nearly a hundred resisters had been rounded up by the Gestapo, and she reported back to Paris to tell Liewer that the circuit was beyond repair. They flew back to England by Lysander on 30 April.

After being promoted to the rank of Ensign in the FANY (First Aid Nursing Yeomanry, a cover used by female SOE agents), she volunteered for a second mission with Liewer. Parachuting on the night of 7/8 June, their objective was to establish a new SALESMAN circuit around Limoges in west-central France. Soon after landing Liewer decided to ask for help from Jacques Poirier, who commanded the DIGGER circuit to the south, and sent Violette with another agent, Jacques Dufour, by car. Outside the village of Salon-la-Tour they encountered an SS roadblock and attempted to retreat, but Violette was hampered by an earlier parachute injury and captured. Dufour managed to escape and report back to Liewer the next day, and they immediately began working on a plan to free Violette from Limoges prison, but she was transferred to Fresnes prison near Paris before they could act. Interrogation by the Sicherheitsdienst (SS security service) followed at their headquarters in Avenue Foch, but there is no good evidence that she gave anyone away.

In August Violette and fellow French Section agents Denise Bloch and Lilian Rolfe were deported to Saarbrücken transit camp just inside the German border, along with 37 male prisoners. When their train was attacked by Allied aircraft, Violette, Denise and Lilian managed leave their compartment and fetched water for the imprisoned men, an act which left a deep impression on those who survived. After ten days the women were transferred to Ravensbrück concentration camp in northern Germany, then to a smaller camp at Torgau. Here Violette came close to mounting an escape attempt, but an informer foiled her efforts at the last moment, and in October they were moved yet again, this time to a derelict camp south of Königsberg on the River Oder. Put to work building a new runway, the conditions were brutal and the effects of the bitter winter reduced them all to a pitiful state.

In January Violette and her companions were returned to Ravensbrück - like other SOE agents, they had been earmarked for execution by the SS before any possibility of liberation. Around 27 January, Violette, Denise and Lilian were taken to the crematorium yard, where an SS officer shot each of them in the back of the neck. The bodies were then cremated.

In 1946 Violette was posthumously awarded the George Cross, along with two other F Section women, Odette Sansom and Noor Inayat Khan. She was also awarded an MBE, along with the French Croix de Guerre and Médaille de la Résistance.

Violette Szabo has become the most celebrated of all SOE agents. A biography by R.J. Minney, Carve Her Name with Pride, was published in 1956, followed by a film adaptation in 1958 starring Virginia McKenna and Paul Scofield. More recent biographies include Susan Ottaway's The Life That I Have (2001), and Young, Brave and Beautiful (2007), written by Violette's daughter Tania. Her poem code, 'The Life That I Have', written by the head of SOE's coding section Leo Marks, has also been published separately.

A blue plaque was erected at Violette's family home in Stockwell in 1981, and her name is included on memorials at Ravensbrück, Brookwood Memorial Cemetery and St Paul's Church, London. In 2009 she was also chosen as the 'face' of the SOE memorial, unveiled on London's Albert Embankment. There is a Violette Szabo museum at Wormelow, Herefordshire.