Nicola Trahan, who has died aged 97, joined the French resistance as a schoolgirl and was awarded the Croix de Guerre avec Palme for her bravery during “numerous dangerous missions”, in particular a series of battles between her Maquis and the notorious 2nd SS Panzerdivision Das Reich. After the second world war she settled in the UK, where she served with the Soldiers’, Sailors’ and Airmen’s Families Association (SSAFA) for 50 years.
Aged 16, while still at school in Valençay, Indre, in central France, she joined the Forces Françaises de l’Intérieur (FFI), the resistance organisation run by the Gaullist French authorities in London and known as the Armée Secrète.
