The girls were in the French section, which was looked after by Colonel M aurice Buckmaster. Take us inside this secret, wartime British organisation. The SOE was housed on the same street that Sherlock Holmes lived, Baker Street. But it will not be a familiar acronym to most of our readers. As a wireless operator, Eileen had to remain in the shadows to make sure no one knew what she was doing.įull disclosure, my father was in the SOE. And I think he was right, especially in the sort of work that the two sisters did, because they were really on their own. He said that he thought women had a particularly cool and lonely courage. He was a famous writer in his day and used to interview prospective members of the SOE. Where did the phrase "a cool and lonely courage" originate? And how does it capture the spirit of these female SOE agents? The country's emergence as a prosperous European Union nation would be financed in part, it turns out, by a cache of Nazi gold.Talking from her home in England, Susan Ottway, author of A Cool and Lonely Courage: The Untold Story of Sister Spies in Occupied France, describes how sisters Jacqueline and Eileen Nearne were recruited and trained what the words farmer, wizard, and bricklayer have in common and why she admires these modern-day Amazons. And he tells the story of how Portugal, a relatively poor European country trying frantically to remain neutral amidst extraordinary pressures, survived the war not only physically intact but significantly wealthier. In this riveting narrative, renowned historian Neill Lochery draws on his relationships with high-level Portuguese contacts, access to records recently uncovered from Portuguese secret police and banking archives, and other unpublished documents to offer a revelatory portrait of the War's back stage. An operations officer writing in 1944 described the daily scene at Lisbon's airport as being like the movie “Casablanca,” times twenty. The only European city in which both the Allies and the Axis power operated openly, it was temporary home to much of Europe's exiled royalty, over one million refugees seeking passage to the U.S., and a host of spies, secret police, captains of industry, bankers, prominent Jews, writers and artists, escaped POWs, and black marketeers. Lisbon had a pivotal role in the history of World War II, though not a gun was fired there. Some of their adventures could be straight out of John le Carré novels, and other seem like the plot of a Bugs Bunny cartoon, and the exciting fact is that they’re all true! Here are nine such true stories about the brave souls who put country first and risked everything to bring about the end of World War II. Their stories of daring feats are some of the most exciting tales ever told. They had to do their jobs and survive using their wits, rudimentary equipment, and not a little sheer luck. Today’s world is filled with all kinds of advanced technology used for spy warfare, but the men and women who worked to thwart the enemies during World War II didn’t have such luxuries. ![]() And when it’s a real story, it’s ten times as exciting. Is there anything more exciting than a spy story? Spoiler: Nope. ![]() Photo courtesy of National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland ![]() ![]() Little did he know when he accepted President Roosevelt’s call to launch the nation’s first foreign intelligence agency that missionaries and religious activists would be central to his plans.įrom Double Crossed: The Missionaries Who Spied for the United States During the Second World War by Matthew Avery Sutton. William “Wild Bill” Donovan drew on the talents of Americas from many different walks of life as he built the OSS.
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