SOE agent, Muriel Byck (1981-1944), reminds us that while war may be a messy business, it is quite literally, also a dirty and germy business as well. Muriel was born to French Jews in London although she was primarily raised on the continent, first Germany, then later, France. Muriel appears to have bounced back and forth [...]
Noor Inayat Khan
Noor Inayat Khan (1914-1944), another SOE dame, is remembered for being the first female radio operator sent into occupied France during WWII, unfortunately, she is also, incorrectly, remembered for being a princess. Noor has an interesting family lineage in that her father, Hazrat Khan, was descended from a defunct Muslim royal line and was also [...]
Charlotte Gray
A not-great film with some spectacular casting, 2001′s “Charlotte Gray” tells a story of a Scot SOE dame played by Cate Blanchett who joins the infamous unit after her pilot boyfriend is shot down over France. When we first meet Charlotte, she is a returning from her native Scotland to London where she is employed. [...]
Vera Atkins
Leave no man behind. You’ve heard it, I’ve heard, it’s in just about a every war movie of the 20th century. But what we’re talking about here is slightly different. In Intel, especially covert ops, sometimes someone does get left behind, it’s the very nature of the game, but what’s more important is that those [...]
Amy Elizabeth “Betty” Thorpe Pack
I’ve been a little loathe to write of Elizabeth “Betty” Thorpe Pack (1910-1963), famous WWII Spy-Dame, for the simple reason that she is too closely associated with a term this Agent truly dislikes: Sexpionage. Sexpionage, quite simply, is a practice attributed to the dames who use those other “womanly charms” to get the intel or [...]
Violette Szabo
In the intermingled histories of Dames in War, you no sooner research one skirt when another comes to light. So to continue with the apparently British Babes theme that is currently in play, Violette Bushell Szabo (1921-1945) represents one of the more tragic figures of WWII. Violette was born in Paris to a French mother [...]
Pearl Witherington Cornioley
You gotta hand it to the British Broads of WWII. This Agent is losing track of exactly how many stories there are of the dames being deposited behind enemy lines via parachute where they raised all sorts of covert-hell. Pearl Witherington Cornioley (1914-2008) is yet another one of these stories. Pearl, although a British subject, [...]
