'Angel of Dieppe' nun who stood up to Nazi soldiers who saved British and Canadian soldiers' lives after disastrous Allied raid on occupied French port dies aged 103
- Sister Marie-Agnès Valois looked after Allied soldiers in France during WWII
- Thousands died or were wounded in the disastrous Dieppe Raid in 1942
- She also protected them from Nazi soldiers who wanted to murder prisoners
- Sister Valois awarded high honours by both France and Canada for her work
A French Augustian nun who became known as 'the Angel of Dieppe' for saving the lives of numerous British and Canadian troops following the disastrous Dieppe Raid during World War II has died at the age of 103.
On one occasion Sister Marie-Agnès Valois stood between a Nazi officer brandishing a pistol and a Canadian soldier and told the German if he shot the young man the bullet 'would have to go through me'.
Another time she was asked by a wounded man to kiss him the same way his mother would have done. She granted his request just before he died.
Sister Marie-Agnès Valois, known as 'the Angel of Dieppe', has died at the age of 103
She is credited with saving the lives of numerous British and Canadian troops following the disastrous Dieppe Raid during WWII
The invaders were mowed down by German machine gunners in concrete 'murder holes' and war photographs depicted the Dieppe beach strewn with corpses
Sister Agnès in 2010 recalled burying the severed arm of a soldier in a garden because he had asked her to take care of it.
On the 19th August 1942, 6,000 allied soldiers launched a raid on Nazi occupied Dieppe, a port on the French Channel coast opposite the south of England.
The attack occurred two years before D Day and was adjudged premature and a military disaster by historians.
The invaders were mowed down by German machine gunners in concrete 'murder holes' and war photographs depicted the Dieppe beach strewn with corpses.
Just over half of the soldiers were captured or killed and the large majority were Canadian.
Later Sister Agnès was to declare of the infamous raid, 'It wasn't war. It was a massacre'.
She was born in 1914 in Rouen and became an Augustinian nun in her hometown .
Together with 10 other nurses she was to treat and care for soldiers wounded during the Dieppe raid on the beach.
He loving care earned her the title 'the Angel of Dieppe'.
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On one occasion she stood between a Nazi officer brandishing a pistol and a Canadian soldier and told the German if he shot the young man the bullet 'would have to go through me'
Another time she was asked by a wounded man to kiss him the same way his mother would have done. She granted his request just before he died
Ms Valois lays down flowers in front of a memorial near Dieppe mayor, Sebastien Jumel (L) during the 70th anniversary ceremony of the Dieppe Raid on August 19, 2012
The Dieppe Raid was a catastrophic Allied attack on the German-occupied French port on August 19, 1942
Retired Canadian captain Tim Fletcher told the National Post: 'They loved her and she loved them. Whenever she met what she called 'my Canadians' she had a great big smile on her face'.
Marie-Agnès Valois continued to care for the sick and injured in hospitals before retiring due to ill health.
She was awarded the French National Order of Merit and became a Knight of the Legion of Honour in 1996. In 1998 Canada awarded her the Meritorious Sevice medal.
Dieppe flags were flown at half-staff in her honour.
The attack occurred two years before D Day and was adjudged premature and a military disaster by historians
The aim of the raid was to test German defences, practice Allied assault techniques, force the enemy to divert military resources from the Eastern Front as well as to acquire valuable intelligence
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