A British bravery medal awarded to a female spy who parachuted into France during World War II and was executed by the Nazis was sold with her other awards on Wednesday for £260,000 ($406,000, 373,000 euros). Violette Szabo, the daughter of a British father and French mother, was one of only four women to receive the George Cross, the second highest British honour. She was twice sent behind enemy lines with Britain’s secret Special Operations Executive, firstly to confirm reports that one of its sabotage operations had been compromised and then to arrange a similar set-up elsewhere. Slight, pretty, and with a determination and fearlessness that struck all who met her, Szabo was arrested a few days into the second mission in June 1944, but not before engaging in a lengthy gun battle with German soldiers. She was interrogated and tortured by the Gestapo before being sent to a succession of German camps. She was killed at Ravensbruck

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