Died in the UK August 1945. Important Preface Although this article is dated July 2019 this is the date it first appeared on this blog and was written several years previously. This circuit was so successful the Gestapo put 1 million francs on her head. During their advanced interview potential field agents were told if they were captured they were liable to be tortured and then executed and were given the opportunity to reject special employment. Five months before the BEF was sent to France. In so doing, in addition to the material in the first edition, the author has had access to previously closed government . As the situation was becoming more confused every day and further arrests may have resulted in other circuits being compromised, as Noor was the only wireless operator in Paris she rejected Buckmasters plan for an emergency extraction by Lysander. During the Second World War the SOE sent 470 agents into France including 39 women. Consequently, the following is an overview of events leading to the deaths of an unknown number of agents and French citizens of which Suzanne Warenghem, who later changed her surname to Warren, was unaware until her husband was exposed by other agents. Codename: Georges, Ernest. Instrumental in gathering intelligence and important documents such as rations cards for implementing safe houses, routes, and sustenance for field agents. Since these editions were published, other material on SOE has become available. British commendation to acknowledged brave acts by civilians and members of the military in non-warlike circumstances during a time of war or in peacetime where the action would not otherwise be recognised by an existing award. ARTICLES. Most highly decorated woman in WWII. When she arrived at the address the contact refused to assist her and without his help it was impossible to establish the safe houses. The Valenay SOE Memorial in Valenay, France lists the names of 91 men and 13 women who were killed, executed, or died in prison while serving as SOE agents.. Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window). She was taken to a black Mercedes and told to sit next to the Camp Commandant, Fritz Suhren, on the rear seat. Shortly after her arrival Yolande and the representative were arrested and within a few hours some 50 members of the resistance were in the hands of the Gestapo. As far as we can gather, on 12 September Yolande, Plewman and Damerment joined Noor Inayat Khan on a train to Dachau Concentration camp. Vera Atkins, as we now know, was not a person to mess with, she was determined to know what had happened to her agents and demanded that anyone responsible for war crimes should pay with their life. Due to conspiracy theories and published accounts which vary considerably the story of Suzanne Warenghem and her treacherous husband Harold Cole is complex and beyond the scope of this short article. She was immediately sent to a cell in the basement without windows and Suhren ordered she must remain in darkness and put on a starvation diet. One or more aliases for work in the field, a name based on a trade and a cover name for all wireless transmissions. When she reached the American lines she identified herself as a British agent, personally accepted Suhrens surrender and his pistol and asked the American solider to arrest him for war crimes. She gave evidence against him at the Nuremburg Trials and Suhren was convicted and hung for his crimes. Although Jaqueline died of cancer in 1982, more is known about her than her sister. Killed on duty in June 1943 to Tanus (Tarn) in France. Its agents were mainly tasked with sabotage and subversion behind enemy lines. The result was the Special Operations Executive - the SOE. Then Acorn Technology may have the position for you. After contacting SOE in London via a wireless link they were involved in a very long and dangerous trek across France which required putting into practice all the escape and evasion skills they had been taught whilst knowing they were on the wanted list and their prison photographs were being circulated. Click a photo to read more. Code name, Member of the Shetland gang. Foot, who can be considered as the SOEs official historian, says that many of their records remain secret and are kept by the Foreign Office whilst others were deliberately destroyed. After arriving in Gibraltar, the British Consulate arranged food, clothing and accommodation where they stayed for two weeks in order to recover from their ordeal and then boarded a ship which was part of a convoy with Royal Navy escorts bound for England. There are also many accounts of RAF aircrews, which at the time was very cosmopolitan, being rescued by civilians who were aware if they were caught by the Germans they would be executed, and their families were also in mortal danger from being used as deterrents. After assessing the situation Claud decided he would require the assistance of the DIGGER circuit which was operating south of Limoges and sent Violent and one of his new resistance members, Jacques Dufour, by car to ask for assistance. On the night of 16/17 June she boarded a Lysander at RAF Tangmere in Sussex, bound for a landing field near Angers in north-western France. The organization's greatest presence was in France, where the SOE dispatched 1,800 agents from May 1941 to September 1944. Alias: Georges Louis. However, candidates were expected to talk their way out of being arrested, better still, talk their way out of a police station. Harold Cole was born in the east end of London on 24 January 1906 and after leaving . On her arrival at Ravensbruck, on 26 July, the Camp Commandant, Fritz Suhren, had already heard and believed Odette was connected to the British Prime Minister by marriage. This government information film, Now the Truth Can be Told basically looks at some of the unclassified work they were involved in during their time with the SOE. SOE Wireless Operator/Courier Odette Wilen (neeStar). French order that is the highest decoration in France. The new organization became known as Special Operations Executive (SOE) and the staff were given an office at 64 Baker Street in London. The narrative then recounts the adventures of its agents who worked on French soil. Noor and her family friends were arrested. Most were killed or captured but some were rescued by the escape lines and made it safely back to England. Sister of SOE agents Eileen & Francis Nearne. Although no indication was given as to what the job entailed, Noor wanted to do something more interesting and accepted the position. The organization's F section sent more than four hundred agents into France, thirty-nine of whom were women. The second highest civil decoration of the United Kingdom It awards civilian gallantry in the face of enemy action and brave deeds more generally. Brother of SOE agents Eileen & Jacqueline Nearne. After cycling 50 miles she came across a bridge which was heavily guarded by German soldiers. Although there was a rank structure SOE was run on self-discipline, there were no social barriers and gender equality was seen as paramount. She was stationed in Paris as a radio operator in 1943, linking French resistance fighters with British intelligence. From throughout-the-year events and new installations in Copenhagen, the UNESCO World Capital of Architecture, to the long awaited opening the underground bunker museum REGAN Vest in North Jutland. After successfully making contact with Peter Churchill (Raoul) who ran the SPINDLE Circuit (who she married after the war), he gave her the address of a contact who was vital for her operation. Recruited: February 1943 (F Section Wireless Operator), Code name: Yvonne de Chauvigny, Mariette, Wireless transmission Kilt. The Abwehr (German Military Intelligence), Gestapo and Milice were always competing for the recruitment of double agents and collaborators from the small number of morally bankrupt members of society who were willing to sell people to the Germans and were not concerned those they informed on were likely to be executed or deported to concentration camps. Following the creation of SOE's F Section in the summer of 1940, it became eventually apparent that French anti-German sentiment was not as simple as once thought and effectively fell into two camps - those who supported de Gaulle and those who did not. Senior Abwehr and Gestapo officers also discovered the structure of the escape network presented a number of security issues they could exploit. Another tactic the SOE agents used was to claim they were married and related to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, in the hopes that would make them more valuable prisoners. Alfred Newton. Fate: Survived. Code name: Unknown, Wireless name unknown. Code names: Cover Micheline Rabatel. The incredible heroism of a British agent who parachuted behind enemy lines into France and who took out 30 German trains during the Second World War will be retold in a new book.. Eliane Plewman . Everything about SOE was unorthodox and the organisation was like a club membership by invitation only. She displayed formidable skills as an interrogator. Yvonne Rudellat PHYSICIAN Died Belsen April 1945 following ill treatment. She was also noted for her cockney accent and wild sense of humour. [3], Approximately 470 SOE agents served in France during World War II. She saw every agent off to their operation, she kept in contact with their next of kin and organised coded messaged on the BBC so they could be kept informed about people they had left behind. Marcel Defence. But throughout her terrible internment, she never once gave away a single secret. . As FARMER had no leadership or wireless operator Yolande was ordered to keep London informed of the developments and problems associated with both circuits: this resulted in a large increase in wireless traffic and increased possibilities of detection. FANY, SPRUCE. His brother, George Larcher, was also an SOE agent. It was also essential to setup lines of communications with neighbouring circuits in order to be support the planned Allied invasion. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. The . View all posts by Alan Malcher, Been to Dachau a few times and was looking forward to reading your book,Im surprised you havent written about the phantom squad,sir Gordon Richards,David Niven and ex commissioner Sir Robert mark whose HQ was at Pembroke lodge Richmond park London look after yourself,Kelvin (BTP) . Change). The SOE was formed in July 1940 on the orders of Churchill. Thirty-nine of the 470 SOE agents in France were women, with an additional sixteen deployed to other areas. Yeo-Thomas was captured by the Gestapo on 21 March 1944. SOE agents, with a few exceptions, were trained in the United Kingdom before being infiltrated into France. The True History of the Women of SOE. When she was away for several weeks at a time this allowed her to tell inquisitive people she had been driving senior officers around the country. While Dericourt made his secret arrangements for the landings of SOE F-Section agents, preparations for the insertion of other members of the Prosper network began. This intricate tale concentrates on the work of the 400 hand-picked . It is highest gallantry award for civilians as well as for military personnel in actions which are not in the face of the enemy or for which purely military honours would not normally be granted. Injured in road accident in Germany, May 1945. Some two days later, without warning Odette was moved to a normal cell with a window and given food and water. Odette Sanson/Churchill/Hallowes (George Cross). After volunteering for guerilla operations should the Germans occupy Britain, he transferred to SOE. Foot provides some background to the origins and nature of the SOE and describes the operations of agents who worked on French soil. Vera was also known for her deep humanity and sense of responsibility to those she was sending to possible death inside occupied France. After completing her compulsory military training she was sent to the SOE Wireless School at Thames Park and them to the finishing school at Beaulieu. The only secure transmissions from the Paris area were from Noor and she was the now the only person London could trust. They were sisters, Eileen and Jacqueline Neame. A quarter of them did not return. More information about this seller Although trained to keep their transmissions as brief as possible in order to make detection more difficult, many went over the recommended time limit to ensure London received vital information. Noor Inayat Khan. Madam Szabo gave a magnificent example of courage and steadfastness. Roger Landes. In Flames, Rita Kramer tries to unravel the knotty tale of the French Section of the SOE (Special Operations Executive) during World War II. It is known she was repeatedly half drowned in a bath full of water but continued to maintain her innocence. Sixty years after qualifying and being parachuted into occupied France she was finally awarded her wings and remarked, I was tickled pink because I was somewhat muffed that no one thought to give me them all those years ago..(Telegraph 3 September 2015), Recruited: May 1943 (F Section Wireless Operator). Instituted September 6, 1886. Associazione Nazionale Carristi d'Italia. This film can be seen at:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEhwZ9C1jgA. Most agents entered France by parachute or ferried in unarmed Lysander aircraft with the pilot relying on torch lights from members of the resistance to mark the remote landing strip. Escaped back to England and survived war. After a failed attempt to escape Noor was sent to Ravensbruck Concentration Camp. Wireless Operator. Large networks sometimes had more than one courier and wireless operator. She married former SOE agent Geoffrey Hallowes. Apart from all circuits having code names, every SOE agent had several code names. . Minutes before the Gestapo broke down the door she had burned her messages and codes. After discovering his real name and informing MI9 of Coles string of convictions which included burglary, fraud, theft and various swindles MI9 decided to disregard his long criminal background because he was helping British and allied military personnel to escape and there was no indication this was simply a continuation of his criminal career rather than patriotism. In charge of "Operation Osprey" that parachuted in Rogaland county on Dec. 10 1943. She arrived on the night 2/3 November 1942. By January 1943 the SPINDLE Circuit had been infiltrated by a double agent and the Gestapo knew the names of its members, passive supporters, the locations of their safe houses and mass arrests followed. Established February 9, 1943 by General Charles de Gaulle awarded to individuals who participated in actions against the Axis powers on French soil. Denise Bloch, the only daughter of Parisian Jews, Jacques and Suzanne Block who had taken an active part in the early Resistance movement. Eventually, however, with other members of her group, she was surrounded by the Gestapo in a house in the south-west of France. Deported to and, Organised the Vic escape line in France into neutral Spain. White Eagle Resistance Group in Poland during World War Two. White Eagle Resistance Group in Poland during World WarTwo. Agents who had shown an aptitude for Morse code, after being reminded of the risks, were given the opportunity to be trained as a wireless operators at STS51, the Thames Park Wireless School. Military Historian and Freelance Defence Journalist. Forty-three circuits were no longer existent at that time of which 31 had been destroyed by the Germans. British police photograph of Harold Cole dated 13 February 1939. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Your email address will not be published. Formed in 1940, Special Operations Executive was to coordinate Resistance work overseas. His next mission was to Switzerland via Occupied France to assist SOE agents in France and also deal with couriers from F Section SOE who used Switzerland as a channel for communicating with London.After many adventures, Van reached Switzerland where he carried out his task until the end of the war in Europe. On 11 September Noor, along with SOE agents Yoland Beekman, Elaine Plewman and Madeline Damerment were transported to Dachau Concentration Camp and that night Beekman, Plewman and Damerment were shoot in the head. A typical SOE network had three agents: (1) Circuit organiser: leader, planner, and recruiter of new members. He was captured but escaped from prison and into Spain in 1942. After moving to London, Yolande quickly became fluent in English, French, and German. 1939-1945 Star, Africa Star, Defence Medal, Italy Star, War Medal 1939 - 1945, Palestine Police Medal, MiD, Shadow Force - under command of Sir Anthony Quayle, Albania Section plus. Also, she made no mention of Henri Dricourt! Operation Asymptote was mounted in February 1944, while the Operational Instructions were quite clear, the disguised . M.R.D. Special Operations Executive Agent in Italy, 1943-45 by Charles Macintosh (William Kimber, 1982). Noor Inayat Khan was posthumously awarded the George Cross. Andree Borrell (Denise) PHYSICIAN Executed Natzweiler July 1944, Madeleine (Solange) BRICKLAYER Executed Dachau December 1944, Cecily Lefort (Alice) JOCKEY Executed Ravensbruck early 1945, Vera Leigh (Simone) INVESTOR Executed Natzweiler July 1944, Sonia Olschanezky (Unknown) Executed Natzweiler July 1944, Lilian Rolfe (Paulette) HISTORIAN Executed Ravensbruck January 1945, Diana Rowden (Paulette) ACROBAT, STOCKBROKER Executed Natzweiler July 1944. She worked as a courier with the code name of Adele. During the period of February-May 1944, SOE airdropped to French resistance forces in France 76,290 Sten guns, 27,961 pistols, 16,945 rifles, 3441 Bren guns, 572 bazookas, 304 PIATs, and 160 mortars. Military historian and defence commentator Comte Jacques-Arthus Marc de Montalembert, SOE parachute commander from 1943 to 1945, Married Arie Van Duyn. As children, Violette and her four brothers were encouraged to learn French and at an early age they were fluent in the language. needed to include a misspelled word. Not only did all SOE agents know the dangers, during their initiation and training they were also informed they would be expected to conduct activities Outside the boundaries of conduct of international law for normal times and normal war (Foot) Their role would be to use bribery, subversion, sabotage, assassination there were no rules! During the early hours of the morning the Gestapo raided the Hotel, Odette and Churchill were arrested and taken to Fresnes Prison. On 25 January 1943? On the night of the 7/8 June Violette and Claud Malraux, who was to command the new SALESMAN circuit, arrived in France by Parachute. Awarded to individuals who were POW and escaped internment or died as a result of their escape. Flames in the Field: The Story of Four SOE Agents in Occupied France by Rita Kramer and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at AbeBooks.com. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Name SOE Section Nationality Born-Died Awards Notes; 1920-unk: WRNS: Claude de Baissac: 1907-1974 : Brother of Lis de Baissac and husband of Mary Katherine Herbert: 1905-2004: Sister of SOE Agent Claude de Baissac, Portrayed as Louise Desfontaines in the movie Female Agents (Les Femmes de l'ombre). Harold Cole was born in the east end of London on 24 January 1906 and after leaving school at the age of 14 he quickly became known to the police as a petty criminal, embezzler and con man and was sent to prison several times. They were then told to make their way to Paris and await orders from London and several days later they received instructions to meet a contact in Lyon but by the time they arrived this contact had been arrested. Among the gripes were that clothes given to agents were often too new and cut . A former BBC cameraman, he was deeply traumatised by his experiences during the Dunkirk evacuation in 1940. July 1, 2012. I dont believe Heidi Staben has read recent work on the subject and agree with the others that this was a major problem in Holland. When Odette joined SOE she was married to Roy Sanson, after his death she married SOE agent Peter Churchill, and after their divorce in 1955? Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Lieutenants Philippe and Joseph Rousseau who served with Canadian Airborne Forces duringWW2. After his arrest Pearl Witherington took command of STATIONER which consisted of 2,000 men, this later increased to 3,000 under her command. With her was Diane Rowden, Cecily Lefort and Charles Skeeper. After reporting her findings to the head of a neighbouring circuit and arranging for their wireless operator to transmit her findings to London several days later Buckmaster sent a message saying the Circuit could not be saved and provided the coordinates for a Lysander extraction for her and Claud. . Mar 28, 2018 Ian Harvey, Guest Author. Captured when landed in France and killed at Gross-Rosen concentration camp, Section Captin flown into France night parachute in 6.3.1944, posted to Dachau 1945, Judge Advocate General's Branch 1945-46 (Germany) (A/Major), Codename Aleric, Gardener Circuit (w/t operator) Name changed to Roger Forster after his first marriage. This was a tip off that they were in enemy hands. On 16 September 1943 Warenghem and Charlet escaped from prison and made for open countryside and because they had no money and were unable to contact London they decided to approach the first farmhouse they came to and ask for help whilst hoping they were patriots and to their great relief they were in luck. Tracce di cingolo: Compendio generale di storia dei Carristi 1917-2009. One of the few SOE female field agents promoted to captain. A Call to Spy is a very worthwhile film and we finally get to see some of these intriguing operatives on screen, something that was well overdue. Violette spent three weeks in Paris and the surrounding area to assess the problems and discovered that SALESMAN Circuit had completely collapsed: hundreds of its members had been arrested whilst others were seeking refuge with other circuits throughout France. Peter Churchill. Crew on board the, Later become the first Chinese-Canadian MP, Radio Operator - Shelburn Line (Shelbourne Line) Operation Bonaparte, Deported to KL Buchenwald (Jan 1944Jan 45)-. Warenghem has been described as intelligent, resourceful and brave but naive when it came to relationships and Cole was highly regarded for his politeness, charm, friendliness, his kindly disposition and concern for others which created a false sense of security. . After the SS were informed by a double agent that Odette had sent plans of the German navy base at Marseille to London, all food was withdrawn and the heating to her cell was turned up. The clandestine networks and agents were "dedicated to encourage and aid resistance" to the German occupation of the country. In 1940 she Married Etienne Szabo who was an officer in the Foreign Legion and in June 1942 she gave birth to a daughter, Tanya, but four months later Etienne was killed at the Battle of El Alamein. Buckmaster had received disturbing information that some of his key agents were on the Gestapo wanted list and wanted posters with rewards for any information were being displayed thought-out Paris. Of the four British SOE agents allegedly executed at Dachau, Noor Inayat Khan has become the most famous. Special Operations Executive (SOE) had been set up in 1940 to coordinate and carry out subversive action against German forces in occupied countries, including France. : The first female SOE agent to be sent to occupied France (sent in May 1941). To keep these camps apart, RF Section (pro-Gaullists) was mooted in late 1940 and came into being in early 1941. One immediate target was the 'Das Reich' 2nd SS Panzer Division, which began to march north through France towards the Normandy beaches. Another ominous twist to this flight is that among the members of the French Resistance who were illuminating the landing strip with torches was Henry Dericourt a double agent working for the Gestapo. Alias: Madeleine Latour . Codename: Cicero. Working with Americans from the Office of Strategic Services, its agents parachuted into France immediately before the D-Day landings and in the months . Organizer for Stockbroker circuit. This training area was referred to as STS5, and on arrival candidates were further vetted. Yes, there was some security probems with the Frech but not to the extstent she suggests and I would not describe the CO as incompetent and the other negative descriptions she levelled at him. Hugo Bleicher, an Abwehr (German Military Intelligence) officer who worked against the French Resistance judged her interrogation the most skilful to which he had been subjected to by his captors. Correct, the evidence does not support her view and simply reflects earlier criticism which has been disproved. After successfully completing the unconventional warfare course successful candidates were then sent to the Finishing School, STS1 on the Beaulieu Estate in Hampshire. There is the possibility these rumours may have been heard in high places in Berlin: within a few months the decision was made to move there very important prisoner, Peter Churchill, to Berlin but as Odette was under sentence of death she was moved to Ravensbruck Concentration Camp. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. Military Historian and Freelance Defence Journalist. (LogOut/ During Vera Atkins relentless investigation to discover what had happened to her agents who she considered family, she interviewed an SOE agents who had been incarcerated in a neighbouring cell to Noor. Established in 1941 with the aim of supplying Occupied France with a steady stram of highly trained resistance agents, this clandestine Second World War network grew to become a cricual part of the Allied arsenal. Tue 21 Feb 2012 10.39 EST. Twice. On 22 September 1943 Pearl Witherington parachuted at night from a converted RAF Halifax bomber to a drop zone near Chateauroux in southern Loire and joined STATIONER circuit as a courier. Four days Later Churchill was flown out by Lysander to report the situation directly to Buckmaster; Odette and Armaud remained to monitor the situation. After this, any wireless communications containing her code poem or wireless code name would be regarded as a German deception. Recruited: August 1941. In 1944 DONKEYMAN was listed as fragmented; WIZARD had collapsed. List of female SOE agents SOE F Section networks. 336 Pages, 5.00 x 7.75 in, 22 b-w illus. In an article written by Jacques Ghmard he describes Suzanne Warenghem as a 19-year-old British agent serving with the Special Operation Executive (SOE) who worked with the PAT escape line. The German Penetration of SOE: France 1941-1944 by Jean Overton Fuller (George Mann Books, 1996) Undercover Operator: An SOE Agent's Experiences in France and the Far East by Sydney Hudson (Pen . French. Killed in Burma, 1945. SOE in France: An Account of the Work of the British Special Operations Executive in France 1940-1944 (Government Official History Series) 1st Edition . As the car left the camp Suhren told her he was going to deliver her to the American lines where she would be safe. Denise Bloch. Noor, because of her inferior dark complexion which made her a dangerous prisoner was almost beaten to death by SS officer Friedrich Wilhelm Ruppert, before she was finally shot in the head with her own SOE issue pistol the following day. 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Civil decoration of the country 470 SOE agents in France during World War two in! Second highest civil decoration of the 400 hand-picked January 1906 and after leaving Dec. 1943... After volunteering for guerilla Operations should the Germans occupy Britain, he was going to deliver to.