More information on on Cecily Lefort may be found at this weblink (2/2):
https://ourwomenheroes.blogspot.com/2011/06/cecily-margot-lefort.html
April 30, 1899: Cecily Lefort was born on April 30, 1899 in Westbourne, London. She was a courier for the JOCKEY circuit in Nazi occupied France during WW2 operating under the codename of Alice. She was arrested September, 1943, imprisoned at Ravensbrück concentration camp, and executed on May 1, 1945. (1/2)
On the evening of this date in 1944, Kreipe's car was ambushed. The general was tied up & forced into the back seat while Leigh Fermor and Moss impersonated him and his driver respectively. They were able to drive through multiple roadblocks because of Kreipe's notorious impatience with delays. (3/6)
The team was lead by SOE operatives Major Patrick Leigh Fermor & Captain William Stanley Moss and members of the Cretan resistance, among them, George Tirakis, Manoli Paterakis, & Antonios Papaleonidas. (2/6)
April 26, 1944: On this date, Special Operations Executive commandos kidnapped the Nazi General & Governor of Crete, Heinrich Kreipe. (1/6)
April 8, 1921: On this date Phyllis “Pippa” Latour was born in Durban South Africa. She joined the WAAF to be an airframe mechanic, but was recruited to the Special Operations Executive because she was fluent in French. She parachuted into Orne, Normandy on May 1, 1944 to join the SCIENTIST circuit as a wireless operator. Her codename was Genevieve. She was the last surviving female SOE agent. She died Oct 7, 2023.
Virginia Hall subsequently joined the OSS, returned to France, and helped train three battalions of resistance forces to wage guerrilla warfare behind German lines. She survived the war and continued to work in intelligence in the post war period. In 1957 she married a fellow OSS operative, Paul Goillot. She died at the age of 76 on July 8, 1982. Much, much more could be said of her career. (2/2)
#WW2 #SOE #OSS #FSection #France
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/wanted-the-limping-lady-146541513/
April 6, 1906: Virginia Hall was born on this date. Hall was considered the most dangerous of all Allied spies by the Gestapo. She worked for both the British Special Operations Executive & later with the American Office of Strategic Services. She had only one foot & used a prosthesis, giving her a limp, leading to her nickname as "the Limping Lady." Despite this, she organized the French Underground in occupied France. (1/2)
April 5, 1944: On this date, Special Operations Executive agent Lilian Rolfe dropped near the city of Orléans in occupied France, where she was deployed to work with the HISTORIAN circuit run by George Wilkinson.
Violette Szabό was executed at Ravensbrück at the age of 23, on or before 5 February 1945. She was posthumously awarded the George Cross, the highest award bestowed by the British government for non-operational gallantry or gallantry not in the presence of an enemy. She is one of only twelve George Crosses to be awarded to a woman. (2/2)
Mar 24, 1944: On this date, the poem The Life That I Have was issued by Special Operations Executive cryptographer Leo Marks to agent Violette Szabo. The poem was made famous by its inclusion in the 1958 movie about Szabo, Carve Her Name with Pride. (1/2)
This documentary (in Norwegian with English subtitles) tells the story of Operation Martin and Jan Baalsrud’s escape. It includes interviews with Baalsrud and others. (5/5)
He had a harrowing 2 month journey fleeing to neutral Sweden. Along the way, he was buried in an avalanche, amputated his own frostbitten toes, battled starvation, & went snowblind. He eventually made it to safety. (4/5)
https://explorersweb.com/2021/03/20/great-survival-stories-jan-baalsrud-evades-nazi-dragnet/
He swam several hundred meters through ice water, bullets whizzing about him. One bullet sheared off a big toe. He lost a boot yet ran barefoot through the snow into a gully where he killed a German Gestapo officer with his pistol. (3/5)
Their boat was attacked by a German patrol ship. Baalsrud & his team blew up their boat with 8 tons of explosives & tried to escape in a dingy, but the German’s sank it. (2/5)
https://www.warhistoryonline.com/instant-articles/norwegian-jan-baalsrud.html
Mar 24, 1943: On this date in 1943, Norwegian Special Operations Executive operative Jan Baalsrud & 11 others entered Norway on a fishing boat to destroy a German air control tower & to recruit Norwegians to the resistance. (Operation Martin) They were betrayed to the Germans on 3/29. (1/5)
https://explorersweb.com/2021/03/20/great-survival-stories-jan-baalsrud-evades-nazi-dragnet/
#OnThisDay, 24 Mar 1944, Éliane Plewman is arrested by the Gestapo in Nazi-occupied France after six months operating as a courier for the Special Operations Executive. The British SOE supported the French resistance. A courier carried messages and equipment around their network.
#WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #WorldWar2 #EuropeanHistory #SOE
1/2
For more on Robert Benoist, see military historian Alan Malcher’s post here: (4/4)
https://alanmalcher.com/2021/01/30/robert-benoist-soe-special-operations-executive/
Benoist was arrested 3 days later. In transit to Gestapo headquarters, he lept from the moving vehicle & escaped. He successfully exfiltrated to the UK & returned to France for TWO further missions. He was arrested June 18, 1944, shipped to Buchenwald, & executed on Sept 13. (3/4)
Mar 20, 1895: On this date Robert Benoist was born. French Grand Prix motor racing driver & WW2 war hero. He & fellow race car drivers Jean-Pierre Wimille & William Grover-Williams, fled to Britain after France was invaded. All 3 joined the Special Operations Executive. (1/4)
