The Heroines of SOE: Britain's Secret Women in France: F SectionBritain'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. 'They were the war's bravest women, devoted to defeating the Nazis yet reluctant ever to reveal their heroic pasts. Now a new book tells their intrepid tales.' Daily Express Squadron Leader BERYL E. ESCOTT served in the RAF and is one of the foremost experts on the women of SOE. |
Contents
5 | |
Introduction | 7 |
BeginningsGillian Gerson | 31 |
Virginia Hall | 34 |
Yvonne Rudellat | 39 |
Blanche Charlet | 44 |
Andrée Borrel | 49 |
Lise de Baissac | 54 |
AnneMarie Walters | 135 |
Madeleine Damerment | 140 |
Denise Bloch | 143 |
Eileen Nearne | 149 |
Yvonne Baseden | 153 |
Maureen OSullivan | 158 |
Yvonne Fontaine | 162 |
Lilian Rolfe | 166 |
Mary Herbert | 59 |
Odette Sansom | 64 |
MarieThérèse Le Chêne | 69 |
Sonia Olschanezky | 74 |
Jacqueline Nearne | 78 |
Francine Agazarian | 83 |
Julienne Aisner | 87 |
Vera Leigh | 92 |
NoorunNisa Inayat Khan | 97 |
Cecily Lefort | 103 |
Diana Rowden | 107 |
Elaine Plewman | 111 |
Yvonne Cormeau | 115 |
Yolande Beekman | 121 |
Pearl Witherington | 125 |
Elizabeth Reynolds | 130 |
Violette Szabo | 171 |
Muriel Byck | 176 |
Odette Wilen | 181 |
Nancy Wake | 185 |
Phyllis Latour | 190 |
Marguerite Knight | 194 |
Madeleine Lavigne | 198 |
Sonya Butt | 203 |
Ginette Jullian | 207 |
Christine Granville | 211 |
Imprisonment | 216 |
Epilogue | 228 |
Glossary | 234 |
235 | |
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The Heroines of SOE: F Section, Britain's Secret Women in France Beryl E Escott Limited preview - 2010 |