by Ann Kramer
The realization that women agents had been sent into France captured the public imagination, and a raft of films and books appeared during the post-war years, some highly sensational, some well-researched. The best-known films included Odette (1950), which told the story of Odette Sansom and Carve Her Name with Pride (1958), based on the life of Violette Szabo. There were the books by Jean Overton Fuller and one agent, Anne-Marie Walters wrote her account Moondrop to Gascony immediately after the war.
Even before the war was over Maurice Buckmaster was drafting recommendations for the women agents to be given official recognition of their bravery and contribution to the work of resistance in Nazi-occupied France. Three of the women – Odette Sansom, Violette Szabo and Noor Inayat Khan – were awarded the George Cross, the last two posthumously. Others received MBEs and George Medals. Madeleine Damerment, Andrée Borrel and others, as well as some of the British women agents were awarded the Croix de Guerre, Légion d’honneur and the Médaille de la Résistance. In May 1948, under the banner headline ‘Brave Women Honoured’, The Times announced the unveiling of a tablet at St Paul’s Church, Knightsbridge, London commemorating fifty-two members of the FANY who had lost their lives during the Second World War, among them were women of the SOE. Yvonne Basedon, Vera Atkins, Odette Sansom and Violette Szabo’s then five-year-old daughter Tania were present at the ceremony.
Wider recognition of women’s role in SOE was a long time coming. It was not until 1976 that a memorial to the women who died at Dachau was unveiled. A small plaque had been placed in the Natzweiler crematorium the previous year, and in 1993 Odette Sansom (later Hallowes) unveiled a plaque at Ravensbrück in memory of Violette Szabo, Lilian Rolfe, Denise Bloch and Cecily Lefort. There are memorials and statues in France, and the Imperial War Museum in London contains a permanent exhibition on The Secret War, which displays information and memorabilia about the female agents, including Noor Inayat Khan’s pistol. The public today perhaps only knows a few ‘big names’; in 2010 author Shrabani Basu, who believes that Noor Inayat Khan has been seriously overlooked, founded the Noor Inayat Khan Memorial Trust to raise money for a statue of Noor to stand in Gordon Square, London. It will be the first statue to an Asian woman in London.
Active or passive
Today we probably know as much of the truth as there is to be known about how the women of SOE met their ends, although research never stops and new information may yet come to light. Immediately after the war there was something of an outcry about the fact that women had been sent to France as undercover agents, but that denigrates the choices that the women made. Female spies are often presented as sexual vamps or passive dupes; in 1915 Hamil Grant stated that women were incapable of being good spies because they could not be impersonal and were too inclined to be distracted by romantic involvements, but none of these views apply to the women of SOE. To a great extent their activities are in a continuing tradition of other women, in other times, who have also resisted occupation by an enemy and have done so covertly; there is a thread that connects the women of the SOE and the resistants of La Dame Blanche, who were patriots and brave women in the same way as the SOE agents.
It could perhaps be argued that the women were exploited; that those who sent them out knew they were unlikely to come back – it has been also been suggested that Buckmaster deliberately kept Noor Inayat Khan in Paris in an attempt to convince the listening Germans that the SOE did not know that their agents had been captured – a sort of radio double bluff. It may or may not be true – and both Buckmaster and Vera Atkins were disgusted by the suggestion – but that view belittles the commitment of these brave women.
Whether or not they were exploited; the women described in within the chapters of this book were volunteers. They made a conscious decision to undertake these dangerous missions, and had few illusions about what the outcome might be. Reading their official citations is very moving; the focus in all of them is on their courage and patriotism, as it should be. It could be argued that to some extent this emphasis reflects the imagery surrounding Edith Cavell and might suggest that the women martyred themselves, but nothing could be further from the truth. The women of SOE did not see themselves as martyrs nor were they passive victims any more than the women of La Dame Blanche; a direct contradiction of Hamil Grant’s jaded view. They were committed, idealistic, thoughtful, patriotic and brave, and they single-mindedly risked their lives to fight against oppression and Nazism. Madeleine Brooke, who is named after an aunt she never met, considers Madeleine Damerment to have been a very special and ‘absolutely remarkable’ person. The same could be said of all the women of the Special Operations Executive.
Appendix
SOE women agents with F section, France
SOE sent thirty-nine women from England to France. One agent, Sonya Olschanezky, was recruited in France and did not go to Britain for training.
NOOR INAYAT KHAN (‘Madeleine’ )
Wireless operator, Cinema sub-circuit
Flown to France night 16 June 1943
Captured on or around 12 October 1943
Executed Dachau 13 Sept 1944
Posthumous George Cross, Croix de Guerre
YOLANDE BEEKMAN (‘Mariette’)
Wireless operator, Musician circuit
Flown to France 18/19 September 1943
Captured 12/13 January 1944
Executed Dachau 13 September 1944
Posthumous Croix de Guerre
MADELEINE DAMERMENT (‘Martine’)
Courier, Bricklayer circuit
Parachuted into France 28/29 February 1944
Captured on landing 29 February 1944
Executed Dachau 13 September 1944
Posthumous Légion d’honneur, Croix de Guerre, Médaille de la Résistance
ELIANE PLEWMAN (‘Gaby’)
Courier, Monk circuit
Parachuted into France 13 August 1943
Captured Marseilles on or about 23 March 1944
Executed Dachau 13 September 1944
ANDRÉE BORREL (‘Denise’)
Courier, Prosper circuit
Parachuted into France night 25 September 1942
Captured 22/23 June 1943
Executed Natzweiler July 1944
Posthumous Croix de Guerre
VERA LEIGH (‘Simone’)
Courier/liaison officer, Inventor network
Flown to France 14 May 1943
Captured 30 October 1943
Executed Nazweiller July 1944
SONYA OLSCHANEZKY (‘Tania’)
Courier, Juggler network
Recruited in France, 1942
Captured 22 January 1944
Executed Nazweiler July 1944
DIANA ROWDEN (‘Paulette’)
Courier, Acrobat network
Flown to France 16/17 June 1943
Captured 18 November 1943
Executed Nazweiller July 1944
Poshumous MBE, Croix de Guerre
DENISE BLOCH (‘Ambroise’)
Courier & wireless operator, Clergyman network
Flown to France 2/3 March 1944
Captured 18 June 1944
Executed Ravensbrück January 1945
Posthumous Croix de Guerre, Légion d’honneur, Médaille de la Résistance
LILIAN ROLFE (‘Nadine’)
Wireless operator, Historian network
Flown to France 6 April 1944
Captured 31 July 1944
Executed Ravensbrück 27 January 1945
Posthumous Croix de Guerre
VIOLETTE SZABO (‘Louise’, ‘Corinne’)
Courier, Salesman network
Parachuted into France 5 April 1944, 8 June 1943
Captured 10 June 1943
Executed Ravensbrück 27 January 1943
Posthumous George Cross, Croix de Guerre, Médaille de la Résistanc e
CECILY LEFORT (‘Alice’)
Courier, Jockey network
Parachuted into France 16/17 June 1943
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Captured 15 September 1943
Executed Ravensbrück February 1943
Posthumous Croix de Guerre
YVONNE RUDELLAT (‘Jacqueline’)
Courier, Monkeypuzzle network
Arrived France 30 July 1942
Captured 21 June 1943
Died of typhus Belsen 23 or 24 April 1945
MBE, Croix de Guerre
JULIENNE AISNER (‘Claire’)
Courier, Farrier network
Originally recruited in France, went to England
Flown to France 18 May 1943
Survived the war
FRANCINE AGAZARIAN (‘Marguerite’)
Courier, Prosper network [married to W/T operator Jack Agazarian]
Flown into France 18 March 1943
Returned England 17 June 1943
YVONNE BASEDEN (‘Odette’)
Wireless operator, Scholar network
Parachuted into France 18/19 March 1943
Captured 26 June 1944
Liberated from Ravensbrück, April 1945
Survived the war
SONYA BUTT (‘Blanche’)
Courier, Headmaster circuit
Parachuted into France 28 May 1944
Returned to England October 1944
MBE
MURIEL BYCK (‘Violette’)
Wireless operator, Ventriloquist network
Parachuted into France 9 April 1944
Died of meningitis in France 23 May 1944
MARIE-THERESE LE CHENE (‘Adele’)
Courier, propaganda distribution, Plane circuit
[needs more dates]
Survived the war
BLANCHE CHARLET (‘Christianne’)
Courier, Ventriloquist circuit
Arrived France by felucca 1 September 1942
Arrested October 1942. Escaped from Castres prison 16 September 1943
Brought back to England April 1944
MBE
YVONNE CORMEAU (‘Annette’)
Wireless operator, Wheelwright circuit
Parachuted into France 28 August 1943
Returned to England 23 September 1944
MBE, Légion d’honneur, Croix de Guerre, Médaille de la Résistance
LISE DE BAISSAC (‘Odile’, ‘Marguerite’)
Courier and organizer, Artist & Scientist networks
Parachuted into France 25 September 1942
Flown into France 9/10 April 1944
Survived the war
MBE, Légion d’honneur
YVONNE FONTAINE (‘Mimi’)
Courier, Tinker network Resistant, worked with SOE in France, sent to England for training March 1943
Returned France March 1944
Returned England 16 September 1944
Not commissioned into FANY so not considered by Vera Atkins to be an official SOE agent
CHRISTINE GRANVILLE (‘Pauline’)
Courier, Jockey circuit
SOE missions in Hungary and Egypt
Parachuted into France 7 July 1944
Demobilised Cairo, May 1945
OBE
VIRGINIA HALL (‘Marie’, ‘Diane’)
Courier and organizer, Heckler network, also worked for OSS (Office of Strategic Services, US equivalent to SOE)
Sent to Vichy France August 1941
Joined US Office of Strategic Services (OSS) March 1944 and sent to France again
Distinguished Service Cross
MARY HERBERT (‘Claudine’)
Courier, Scientist circuit
Arrived France by felucca 31 October 1942
Arrested 18 February 1944; imprisoned but released after some months
GINETTE JULLIAN (‘Adèle’)
Wireless operator, Permit network
Parachuted into France 7 June 1944
Returned to Britain 22 September 1944
MARGUERITE KNIGHT (‘Nicole’)
Courier, Donkeyman circuit
Parachuted into France 6 May 1944
Returned to Britain around 12 September 1944
PHYLLIS LATOUR (‘Geneviève’)
Wireless operator, Scientist circuit
Parachuted into France 1 May 1944
Returned to Britain August 1944
MADELEINE LAVIGNE (‘Mariette’)
Courier, Silversmith circuit
Worked with SOE in France, trained in England, parachuted into France 23 May 1944
Died suddenly of embolism, Paris 24 February 1945
King’s Medal for Courage in the Cause of Freedom
EILEEN NEARNE (‘Rose’)
Wireless operator, Wizard network
Flown to France 3 March 1944
Captured 25 July 1944
Survived Ravensbrück, transferred to labour camp Silesia
Escaped labour camp 13 April 1945
Returned to Britain June 1945
Croix de Guerre, MBE
JACQUELINE NEARNE (aka Josette Norville)
Courier, Stationer network
Parachuted into France 25 January 1943
Returned Britain April 1944
MBE
PATRICIA (PADDY) O’SULLIVAN (‘Josette’)
Wireless operator, Fireman network
Parachuted into France 23 March 1944
Returned to England 5 October 1944
MBE
ELISABETH REYNOLDS (aka Devereux-Rochester) (‘Elizabeth’)
Courier, Marksman circuit
Flown into France 18 October 1943
Arrested 20 March 1944
Interned Vittel but released during Allied advance
ODETTE SANSOM (‘Lise’)
Courier, Spindle network
Arrived France by felucca 31 October 1942
Captured 16 April 1943
Survived Ravensbrück; returned to Britain April 1945
George Cross, MBE, Légion d’honneur
NANCY WAKE (‘Helene’)
Courier, Freelance, also leader Maquis
Resistant in France until 1943, escaped to Britain
Parachuted into France 29/30 April 1944
Returned to Britain 16 October 1944
Croix de Guerre, George Medal, US Presidential Medal of Freedom, Médaille de la Résistance
ANNE-MARIE WALTERS (‘Colette’)
Courier, Wheelwright network
Parachuted into France 3/4 January 1944
Returned Britain August 1944
ODETTE WILEN (‘Sophie’)
Wireless operator, Stationer & Labourer circuits
Parachuted into France 11 April 1944
Returned to Britain August 1944
PEARL WITHERINGTON (‘Marie’, ‘Pauline’)
Leader and courier, Stationer circuit
Parachuted into France 23 September 1943
Returned to Britain September 1944
Légion d’honneur, CBE, rejected civilian MBE
Archive References
Chapter 5: Special Operations Executive
Vera Atkins: IWM Sound Archive 9551
Gwendoline Lees: IWM Sound Archive 11087
Odette Brown: IWM Sound Archive 26370
Vera Atkins: IWM Sound Archive 9551
Capt. Selwyn Jepson: IWM Sound Archive 9331
Yvonne Cormeau IWM Sound Archive 7369
SOE training: The National Archives KV4/172
ff Christine Granville: The National Archives HS/9/612
Chapter 6: Behind Enemy Lines
Yvonne Cormeau: IWM Sound Archive 7369
Pearl Witherington: IWM Sound Archive 10447; Guardian obituary, 1 April 2008
Yvonne Rudellat: The National Archives HS 9/1289/7
Yolande Beekman: The National Archives HS 9/114/2
Yvonne Cormeau: IWM Sound Archive 7369
Noor Inayat Khan: The National Archives HS 9/836/5
Chapter 7: Missing
Madeleine Damerment: The National Archives HS 9/1654
Yolande Beekman: The National Archives HS 9/1142
Yvo
nne Rudellat: The National Archives HS 9/1289/7
Vera Atkins: IWM Sound Archive 9551, 18594
Berg deposition: Vera Leigh personal file, The National Archives HS 9/910/3
Brian Stonehouse: IWM Sound Archive 9852
Madeleine Damerment: The National Archives HS 9/1654
Chapter 8: Setting The Record Straight
Noor Inayat Khan: The National Archives HS 9/836/5
Bibliography
Bailey, Roderick in association with the Imperial War Museum, Forgotten Voices of the Secret War: An Inside Story of Special Operations During the Second World War, Ebury Press, 2008
Binney, Marcus, The Women Who Lived for Danger: The Women Agents of the SOE in the Second World War, Hodden & Stoughton, 2002
Crowdy, Terry, The Enemy Within: A History of Espionage, Osprey Publishing, 2006
Escott, Beryl E., The Heroines of SOE F Section, The History Press, 2010
Everitt, Nicholas, British Secret Service During the Great War, London Hutchinson, 1920 (eBook)
Foot, M.R.D, SOE The Special Operations Executive 1940-1946, Pimlico, 1999
Grant, Hamil, Spies and Secret Service: The Story of Espionage, its Main Systems and Chief Exponents, Frederick Stokes, 1915 (eBook)
Grayzel, Susan R., Women and the First World War, Pearson Education Ltd, 2002
Harris, Carol, Women at War: In Uniform 1939-1945, Sutton Publishing, 2003
Helm, Sarah, A Life in Secrets: The Story of Vera Atkins and the Lost Agents of SOE, Abacus, 2006
Hollis, Patricia, Women in Public; The Women’s Movement 1850-1900, George Allen & Unwin, 1979
Knightly, Phillip, The Second Oldest Profession: Spies and Spying in the Twentieth Century, W.W. Norton & Co., 1987