Prior to becoming SOE agent worked with Tinker network as Nenette.įirst SOE agent sent to France stayed one month, collected intelligence and documents, such as ration cards which could later be copied by SOE.Ĭode names: Marie, Diane Courier, Heckler, Saint networks. Arrested 20 March 1944, sent to prisoner of war camp, survived.Ĭode name: Mimi Courier, Minister network. Arrested on landing one of four women executed at Dachau, 13 September 1944.Ĭode name: Elizabeth Courier, Marksman network. Oldest SOE woman agent.Ĭode name: Annette Wireless operator, Wheelright network.Ĭode name: Solange Courier, Bricklayer network. Arrested, escaped from French prison in Sept 1943.Ĭode name: Adele Courier, Plane network. Ĭode name: Christiane Courier, Ventriloquist network. Died of meningitis at Romorantin Hospital. Youngest SOE woman agent.Ĭode name: Violette Wireless operator, Ventriloquist network.
Executed at Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp, 6 July 1944.Ĭode name: Blanche Courier, Headmaster network. Executed at Ravensbrück concentration camp 5 February 1945.Ĭode name: Denise Courier, Physician and Prosper networks. One of four women executed at Dachau, 13 Sept 1944.Ĭode name: Ambroise Wireless Operator, Clergyman network. Captured 26 June 1944, survived Ravensbrück concentration campĬode name: Yvonne: Wireless Operator, Musician network. Died when HMS Fidelity was sunk on 1 January 1943Ĭode name: Odette: Courier, Scholar network. Wife of SOE agent Jack Agazarian.Ģ4 September 1942, parachute 9 April 1944, LysanderĬode name: Odile, Marguerite Courier, Scientist network. NameĬode name: Marguerite Courier, Prosper network. Conversely, F section worked with all factions of the French Resistance although leery of assistance to communists.
Female agent best free#
The RF section was under the direction of Charles de Gaulle's Free French Government in exile with SOE lending logistical support and financial assistance. In addition to this list of female F Section agents in France, eleven women agents of the RF section of SOE were sent to France in 1944. Pearl Witherington was the only woman to officially head an SOE network in France, although others fulfilled that role on occasion. Women were most often employed as couriers as they could travel more easily than men who were regarded with suspicion and might be impressed as labourers. Most SOE agents were sent to France as part of a network or circuit of three persons consisting of an "organiser" who was the leader of the team, a wireless operator, and a courier. Female agents ranged in age from 20 to 53 years. Twelve were executed by the Germans, one died when her ship was sunk, two died of disease while imprisoned, and one died of natural causes.
Twenty-five of them survived World War II. Of the forty-one SOE F section female agents listed, a few served in France for as much as two years, most for only a few months. Foot, the official historian of the SOE, with two additions: Madeleine Barclay who served (and died) on a ship contracted to SOE and Sonia Olschanezky, a locally-recruited courier who was executed. The following list of forty-one agents is taken from M.R.D. Thirty-nine female SOE agents were trained in Britain. Of that number, "A few highly accomplished and gallant were agents operating in France or Yugoslavia." Foot cautioned that "On these few there is a large popular literature, almost all of it worthless and much of it about the wrong people." The declassification of SOE documents beginning in the 1990s permitted more accurate assessments of agents and their accomplishments.įemale SOE F Section agents in France Įstimates of the number of F Section female agents vary. Foot, said that the staff of SOE consisted of about 10,000 men and 3,000 women.
In 1981, the official historian of the SOE, Michael R. Most of SOE's female agents worked in France. SOE's objectives were to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in occupied Europe (and later, also in occupied Southeast Asia) against the Axis powers, and to aid local resistance movements.
The following is a list of female agents who served in the field for the Special Operations Executive (SOE) during World War II.
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