SOE Heroines: The Special Operations Executive's French Section and Free French Women Agents

Nearly 40 female agents were sent out by the French section of Britain’s Special Operations Executive (SOE) during World War II. The youngest was 19 and the oldest 53. Most were trained in paramilitary warfare, fieldcraft, the use of weapons and explosives, sabotage, silent killing, parachuting, codes and cyphers, wireless transmission and receiving, and general spycraft. These women—as well as others from clandestine Allied organizations—were flown out and parachuted or landed into France ...