![]() ![]() 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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