The Heroines of SOE

Author: Beryl E Escott
Publisher: The History Press
ISBN: 0752462458
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 267

Book Description
Britain’s war in the shadows of male spies and subterfuge in the heart of occupied France is a story well known, but what of the women who also risked their lives for Britain and the liberation of France?In 1942 a desperate need for new recruits, saw SOE turn to a previously overlooked group – women. These extraordinary women came from different backgrounds, but were joined in their idealistic love of France and a desire to play a part in its liberation. They formed SOE’s F Section.From the famous White Mouse, Nancy Wake, to the courageous, Noor Inayat Khan, they all risked their lives for King, Country and the Resistance. Many of them died bravely and painfully, and often those who survived, like Eileen Nearne, never told their stories, yet their secret missions of intelligence-gathering and sabotage undoubtedly helped the Resistance to drive out their occupiers and free France. Here, for the first time is the extraordinary account of all forty SOE F women agents. It is a story that deserves to be read by everyone.

Lonely Courage

Author: Rick Stroud
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1471155676
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 408

Book Description
‘A fascinating, superbly researched and revelatory book – told with tremendous pace and excitement’ William Boyd ‘Rick Stroud writes brilliantly about war … an astonishing book … a wonderful story’ Ben Macintyre 'Enthralling, edge-of-smart exciting and also heart-breaking...Stroud's book is a reminder and fitting testimony to their immense bravery' James Holland On 18 June 1940 General de Gaulle broadcast from London to his countrymen in France about the catastrophe that had overtaken their nation – the victory of the invading Germans. He declared: ‘The flame of French Resistance must not and will not be extinguished.' The Resistance began almost immediately. At first it was made up of small, disorganised groups working in isolation. But by the time of the liberation in 1944 around 400,000 French citizens, nearly 2 per cent of the population, were involved. The Special Operations Executive (SOE) set up by Winston Churchill in 1941 saw its role in France as helping the Resistance by recruiting and organising guerrilla fighters; supplying and training them; and then disrupting the invaders by any means necessary. The aim of this work was to prepare for the invasion of Europe by Allied forces and the eventual liberation of France. It was soon decided that women would play a vital role. There were 39 female agents recruited from all walks of life, ranging from a London shop assistant to a Polish aristocrat. They all knew France well, were fluent in French and were prepared to sacrifice everything. The women trained alongside the men, learning how to disappear into the background, how to operate a radio transmitter and how to kill a man with their bare hands. Once trained, they were infiltrated behind the lines; some went on to lead thousands of Resistance fighters, while others were arrested, brutally interrogated and sent to concentration camps. Lonely Courage tells their remarkable story and sheds new light on what life was really like for these brave women.

Mission France

Author: Kate Vigurs
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300258844
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 352

Book Description
The full story of the thirty-nine female SOE agents who went undercover in France Formed in 1940, Special Operations Executive was to coordinate Resistance work overseas. The organization’s F section sent more than four hundred agents into France, thirty-nine of whom were women. But while some are widely known—Violette Szabo, Odette Sansom, Noor Inayat Khan—others have had their stories largely overlooked. Kate Vigurs interweaves for the first time the stories of all thirty-nine female agents. Tracing their journeys from early recruitment to work undertaken in the field, to evasion from, or capture by, the Gestapo, Vigurs shows just how greatly missions varied. Some agents were more adept at parachuting. Some agents’ missions lasted for years, others’ less than a few hours. Some survived, others were murdered. By placing the women in the context of their work with the SOE and the wider war, this history reveals the true extent of the differences in their abilities and attitudes while underlining how they nonetheless shared a common mission and, ultimately, deserve recognition.

Nancy Wake

Author: Russell Braddon
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Guerrillas
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description

SOE Heroines

Author: Bernard O'Connor
Publisher: Amberley Publishing Limited
ISBN: 1445673614
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 774

Book Description
The amazing stories of 38 female spies who operated in occupied France and Vichy France, many told for the very first time.

The Heroines of SOE

Author: Beryl E. Escott
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Spies
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
"A tribute to the female agents whose war in the shadows saved thousands of lives, this is the first-ever to tell the story of all 40 SOE female agents of F Section, including Nancy Wake The history of SOE's war in the shadows has been told many times, and much is known about the men who fought underground. However, less is known about the women who also risked their lives for Britain and the liberation of France. By 1942 SOE was in desperate need of new recruits for their dangerous missions in France and they turned to a previously unexplored group--women. These female recruits came from all levels of society and were often motivated by an idealistic love of France and a desire to play a part in its liberation. Many displayed unexpected qualities. Some proved good leaders, like Pearl Witherington, others like Nancy Wake laughed their way through the war, many others like Noor Inayat Khan showed astonishing courage through terrible privations, and many of them died bravely and painfully. Without doubt their contributions to secret missions of resistance and sabotage saved numerous lives. Here, for the first time the story of all 40 of these extraordinary women is told."--Publisher description.

Woman in Arms

Author: Russell Braddon
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 232

Book Description

I Heard My Country Calling

Author: Sue Elliott
Publisher: The History Press
ISBN: 0750966491
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 298

Book Description
After a tragic childhood among the Great War cemeteries of Flanders Fields, a troubled young woman searches for love and meaning in war-ravaged Europe. Elaine Madden's quest takes her from occupied Belgium through the chaos of Dunkirk, where she flees disguised as a British soldier, into the London Blitz, where she finally begins to discover herself. Recruited to T Section of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) as a 'fast courier', she is parachuted back to the country of her birth to undertake a top-secret political mission and help speed its liberation from Nazi oppression. Elaine Madden never claimed to be a heroine, but her story proves otherwise. Its centrepiece – war service as one of only two women SOE agents parachuted into enemy-occupied Belgium – is just one episode in an extraordinary real-life drama of highs and lows, love, loss and betrayal. Relayed to the author in the final years of her life, Elaine's true story of courage and humour in testing times is more intriguing, more compelling than fiction.

The Spy Who Loved

Author: Clare Mulley
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
ISBN: 1250030331
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 448

Book Description
The Untold Story of Britain's First Female Special Agent of World War II In June 1952, a woman was murdered by an obsessed colleague in a hotel in the South Kensington district of London. Her name was Christine Granville. That she died young was perhaps unsurprising; that she had survived the Second World War was remarkable. The daughter of a feckless Polish aristocrat and his wealthy Jewish wife, Granville would become one of Britain's most daring and highly decorated special agents. Having fled to Britain on the outbreak of war, she was recruited by the intelligence services and took on mission after mission. She skied over the hazardous High Tatras into occupied Poland, served in Egypt and North Africa, and was later parachuted behind enemy lines into France, where an agent's life expectancy was only six weeks. Her courage, quick wit, and determination won her release from arrest more than once, and saved the lives of several fellow officers—including one of her many lovers—just hours before their execution by the Gestapo. More importantly, the intelligence she gathered in her espionage was a significant contribution to the Allied war effort, and she was awarded the George Medal, the OBE, and the Croix de Guerre. Granville exercised a mesmeric power on those who knew her. In The Spy Who Loved, acclaimed biographer Clare Mulley tells the extraordinary history of this charismatic, difficult, fearless, and altogether extraordinary woman.

Code Name Pauline

Author: Pearl Witherington Cornioley
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
ISBN: 1613744900
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 218

Book Description
Pearl Witherington Cornioley, one of the most celebrated female World War II resistance fighters, shares her remarkable story in this firsthand account of her experience as a special agent for the British Special Operations Executive (SOE). Told through a series of reminiscences—from a difficult childhood spent in the shadow of World War I and her family's harrowing escape from France as the Germans approached in 1940 to her recruitment and training as a special agent and the logistics of parachuting into a remote rural area of occupied France and hiding in a wheat field from enemy fire—each chapter also includes helpful opening remarks to provide context and background on the SOE and the French Resistance. With an annotated list of key figures, an appendix of original unedited interview extracts—including Pearl's fiancé Henri's story—and fascinating photographs and documents from Pearl's personal collection, this memoir will captivate World War II buffs of any age.