Band of Sisters: Madeleine Pauliac, the Women of the Blue Squadron, and Their Daring Rescue Missions in the Last Days of World War II

Screenwriter and film executive Maynial pays homage to his aunt, Madeleine Pauliac, and 12 other women for their efforts during the last days of World War II and its immediate aftermath in France. In the last months of the war, Charles de Gaulle, the French military commander and statesman, asked Pauliac and 12 Red Cross volunteer nurses and ambulance drivers to rescue French service members and civilians who had been captured, injured, or stranded. They agreed to the request, came to be known as the Blue Squadron, and drove all over Europe on rescue missions. They also helped a group of nuns who had been raped and impregnated by Russian soldiers. When the assignment ended, the Blue Squadron had completed 200 rescue missions and repatriated 1,000 French people. After that, Pauliac headed up a project to work in Poland, where she died in 1946.