Nurses, Nuns and Nazis - A tale of capture and escape from war torn France 

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She went on to be awarded a French Croix de Guerre medal on 27th December 1940, however the story of how Miss Darby came to be awarded the medal is a story lifted straight out of the pages of a Hollywood film script.

When the Second World War broke out, Mary Darby joined the Civil Nursing Reserve, after around 6 months of (in her words) inactivity, she enrolled in the Mechanised Transport Corps, volunteering for work abroad. This proved to be a fateful decision, as in the spring of 1940 she was on her way to France.

Once in France, Mary was paired with another English girl, Miss Bessy Myers in an American ambulance, which formed part of an International Red Cross Unit, attached to 6th French Army.

On 8th June 1940 Mary and Bessy received orders to proceed to the frontline in the Marne sector. On their arrival, they found the rest of the column busy repacking for the immediate evacuation the village, moving in the early hours of the morning to another village- Pavon.

The stay in Pavon was equally short, as the orders came through for a total evacuation. They found the road jammed with exhausted soldiers without even rifles, sheep, carts, cows, refugees, military cars and motorcycles. There were two nights and days of conveying the wounded. Suddenly at 1 o’clock in the morning, the unit found itself surrounded by Germans. The rest of the unit saw an opportunity to escape but Myers and Darby, with the engine of their ambulance miss-firing on two cylinders could not keep up, and they were captured by the Germans on June 14th 1940.

Following their capture, in the words of Bessie Myers, the Germans treated them as a colossal joke, not knowing seemingly what to do with two British women in an American ambulance, captured in France. Initially this ambivalence allowed Bessie and Mary to carry on their work, even organising a maternity ward for homeless refugees. Their work was carried out in conditions of unimaginable filth and squalor, (described in detail in an article from The Daily Telegraph, 2nd October 1940). 

However, this was not to last. Whilst working in Soissons a French Doctor denounced Darby as a spy and both women were promptly arrested.

Following their arrest, Bessy and Mary were moved to Paris and interned in the notorious Cherche Midi prison in solitary confinement for over a month. Whilst in prison, both were questioned for hours by the Gestapo and in a slightly surreal turn, were showed kindness by the Mother Superior and the other nuns who worked in the women’s prison. 

Eventually they were moved to another prison and it was here that they made contact with an American called Herman Huffer, whose ambulance they had been driving at the time of their capture. Huffer helped to secure the release of the two women, facilitating their escape to Vichy France, where the pair met Marshall Petain, before travelling to Lisbon and their eventual return to London.

Along with Mary’s medal is an unpublished typed manuscript of Mary Darby’s story ‘Caught in the Tide’, together with a copy of Bessy Myers published book ‘Captured’. Various letters and correspondence relating to their capture and subsequent release as well as photographs of Bessy and Mary beside their ambulance and a charming telegram from Herman Huffer who states how “lucky having had a wonderful unit of Mechanised Transport Corps girls and my heart aches every time I think of the hardships Bessy and Mary went through, my love to both these wonderful girls”.

The lot will be sold in auction on Tuesday 17th March 2026 by Reeman Dansie auctioneers in Colchester, Essex and carries a pre-auction estimate of £200 - 300.

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