The bravest of the brave: women agents of SOE & OSS

Shadow Warriors, UK edition, Amberley, September 15, 2016
Shadow Warriors (UK edition, Amberley)

World War Two was the war in which old gender rules changed, as intelligence agencies created specific training and roles for women.

SHADOW WARRIORS is the story of women as undercover combatants: armed with Sten guns and grenades; cutting telecommunication wires, laying mines in roadways; organizing bombing raids; preparing the way for the D-Day invasion and harassing enemy forces as the Allies moved inland.

It begins by telling the story of how US and British intelligence agencies decided to use women as spies in a way they never had before; and of how they then recruited and trained them, as couriers, wireless operators, saboteurs and even resistance leaders.

These agents ranged from girls barely out of high school to mature mothers, from working class women to the daughters of aristocrats, from the prim and proper to wild high-livers.

They were taught how to send coded messages; how to lay explosive charges; and how to kill with knives, guns and their bare hands.

Sometimes they faced sexism and even derision from their trainers. Yolande Beekman, an efficient and courageous agent who was executed by the Germans, had been dismissed by one SOE instructor as, “A nice girl, darned the men’s socks, would make an excellent wife for an unimaginative man, but not much more than that.”

Their actions behind enemy lines were to change for ever the views of the US and UK intelligence communities on using women as agents.

Some, such as New Zealander Nancy Wake and Polish-born Christine Granville led men in battle. Granville masterminded the escape of a fellow SOE agent. Nancy led a gun and grenade attack on a Gestapo headquarters in France. American Virginia Hall became the Gestapo’s most wanted agent.

Others, such as the American Betty Pack, used their beauty and sexual allure to capture enemy secrets which would change the course of the war.

All these agents knew that torture and death were the price of failure. Some had to leave babies and children at home. Many paid the ultimate price for their bravery.

As Nancy Wake said: “I hate wars and violence but if they come then I don’t see why we women should just wave a proud goodbye and then knit them balaclavas.”

The clandestine war, and therefore the war itself, would not have been won without the courage and contribution of these Shadow Warriors.

Here more about the Shadow Warriors here:

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One of the greatest war films you haven’t seen

Some war movies are adventure films – and we all love them. The Great Escape, Where Eagles Dare, Von Ryan’s Express.

Others astound us with the techniques of modern film-making, rendering elements of war viscerally realistic, but remain within the conventions of adventure war films (Saving Private Ryan) or introduce unnecessary parameters apparently to heighten tension, such as the use of the last minutes of the war in the recent remake of All Quiet on the Western Front.

But there is a genre of war film which does not flinch from the horror and what war does to people. One of those is The Ascent (1977), which was made by Ukrainian Soviet-era director Larisa Shepitko.

It’s set during the German occupation of the Soviet Union – and is therefore not for the faint-hearted.

It’s grim, poetic, mesmerising; and features one of cinema’s best interrogation scenes.

Shepitko builds tension slowly; depicts agony and shame; takes us on a journey which we’re not sure we want to take.

And she packs the frame with wonderful faces.

The film is a precursor to Come and See which Shepitko’s husband, Elem Klimov, would later make.

Sadly, Shepitko died tragically young, aged 41, in a road accident, long before the break-up of the Soviet Union and before she would have a greater chance to have her work appreciated by an international audience.

The Ascent is on Amazon Prime and You Tube.

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Collecting the stories of the last WW2 veterans

Arrived at a sheltered accommodation complex for older people yesterday. It was all a bit drab outside, but clean and brightly-painted in the hallways, and a very friendly resident who was returning with his food shopping helped me find the door number I was searching for.

The one-bedroom flat was friendly, tidy and smart, apart from a small dresser crammed with ornaments, notes and photos – a long lifetime of memories.

The man living there was straight-backed, smiling, delighted to sit and talk from his favourite chair. In two months time he’ll be 100-years-old. His name is Richard.

I knew he had a remarkable story to tell, knew he was a Normandy veteran, but I wasn’t prepared for what he told me. A stone mason by trade, he’d been sent to the Royal Engineers and then to Scotland to help build sections of a Mulberry Harbour, one of two portable, temporary harbours to be used during the invasion of Normandy.

Richard, also, it turned out, landed on ‘Juno Beach’ early on the morning of June 6, 1944, BEFORE the main D-Day invasion force.

His job was to help clear mines and obstacles on the beach to allow the landing craft to reach the sand.

It was wonderful to spend a couple of hours in his company. It’s the latest interview I’ve done with veterans over about 20 years. Together with my friend, Hugh Morgan, I’m collecting these memories for a book to be published in time for the 80th anniversary of D-Day next year. Hugh has dozens of interviews collected over three decades or more.

I’ve been busy transcribing my interviews over the past week. The man who witnessed the sinking of the Lancastria in 1940 (in which thousands were killed) AND was one of the first liberators of Belsen. The TA sergeant who ended up in North Africa, commanding a gun in the 1000-gun barrage which started El Alamein. He was later at Salerno and Cassino.

Often, these memories become very personal, not about the ‘shooting’ war but the one that plays out in people’s heads. The sergeant talked about the friends who became alcoholics after the war and three men he knew who took their own lives in the years after. Not frontline soldiers, but a few miles behind. Working on the supply line, for instance. “But the sound of battle, imagining what was happening to us, was worse [for them] than being there,” he said.

When I was talking to another veteran, a group of young people walked past the window of his house.

“They wouldn’t imagine the memories you have,” I said.

“They wouldn’t have the opportunity – and I hope to goodness they never do,” he replied.

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How forensic science reached beyond the grave

In 1973, the horrific murders of three teenage girls shook a community.

A major manhunt was launched but for years the murders remained unsolved. 

Decades later, it would take a major breakthrough in forensic science to enable a small team of seasoned detectives to re-open the case.

But the journey to justice was a winding one, involving detectives who were due to retire but couldn’t stop thinking about the case; a forensic scientist willing to take a chance on a new form of DNA detection; and the exhumation of a body on a cold hillside in the dead of night.

If you’re in the UK you can discover the fascinating story of science and detection which solved the case in the BBC One documentary, Steeltown Murders: Hunting a Serial Killer – which has now been nominated for a True Crime Award.

 

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The accidental explorer

Perce Blackborow – the stowaway

Perce Blackborow is one of the most fascinating Antarctic explorers. An accidental hero. A stowaway who became a key part one of the great stories of survival…

“If anyone has to be eaten, then you will be the first!” the expedition leader said.

The words might have been a dark joke but, with what was about to unfold, they could have easily become a terrifying prophesy.

For the expedition leader was Ernest Shackleton and this was the 1914-1916 ‘Endurance’ mission, an exploration of Antarctica which would turn into one of the most amazing feats of survival the world has ever seen.

Shackleton was talking to teenager Perce Blackborow, a Welshman with a thirst for adventure – and the only man to ever stow away on an Antarctic expedition.

Merchant seaman Blackborow had not set out to make history.

Stranded in Beunos Aires after his ship was damaged in a collision, he heard that Shackleton’s expedition had docked in Argentina on its way to Antarctica.

He tried to volunteer but Shackleton felt 20-year-old Blackborow was too young. The Newport man refused to give up and stowed away on the ship.

He was not discovered until the ‘Endurance’ was three days out of South Georgia. By then, there was no turning back.

An angry Shackleton confronted Blackborow with the jibe about eating stowaways. The stowaway stared back at the well-built team leader and quipped: “They’d get a lot more meat off you, sir!”

With the help of Perce’s family, I’ve been able to tell his story in this new book for children and teenagers aged 9 to 14. It’s called Heroes at the South Pole.

Edgar Evans

I’ve also been lucky enough over the years to meet the family of Edgar Evans, who went with Captain Scott to the South Pole and died on the return journey. Edgar and Scott’s story is also told in Heroes.

In September 1915 the tightening ice caused ‘Endurance to “literally [jump] into the air and [settle] on its beam.”

The crew tried to march to safety but failed. Throughout, they remained faithful to Shackleton.

In April 1916, they made it to Elephant Island on three lifeboats – where Blackborow would receive a major but painful honour.

As Shackleton later wrote: “It was the first landing on Elephant Island, and I thought the honour should belong to Blackborrow, the youngest member of the expedition, but I had forgotten that his frost-bitten feet would prevent him from appreciating the honour thrust upon him.”

Shackleton and a handful of others eventually rowed for help and in August 1916, 22 months after he stowed away, Blackborow and his comrades were rescued.

Blackborow’s toes had been amputated on Elephant Island. On his return to Britain, he avoided attention and tried to join the Royal Navy to fight in the Great War. He was turned down because of his injuries.

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The last veterans

As time passes we have to grab every opportunity to meet veterans of World War 2. Now, even those who only came of age towards the end of the conflict – from D-Day to VE day – are at least 98 years old.

This week I went to a special event with almost a dozen veterans, including Duncan Hilling and Tony Bird (both pictured).

I’d been honoured to have met Tony several times before. He joined the Royal Navy in 1942 and served on a destroyer on convoy escort duties in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. He then trained as cadet pilot with the Fleet Air Arm in Michigan.

But the pilot training was cut short and he was posted to HMS Clematis, a corvette which provided covering fire for landing craft arriving at the D-Day beaches.

He holds the distinction of shooting down a V1 flying bomb, using one his ship’s Oerlikon guns.

Duncan was a member of an advance party which went into Hiroshima as an Army of Occupation.

He says he did not see one building which hadn’t been damaged. Railings on the ground which had been barriers for the river, had all melted.

They went into a hospital and found women, children, men lying there, unable to do anything. Skin had peeled off faces and arms. Many had been blinded by the bomb blast.

But he speaks again and again today about the kindness he and his comrades received from the Japanese civilian population.

These were just two of the remarkable veterans at the event. All witnesses to history.

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The women agents who spied on the Nazis

This podcast was such fun to do and it was a pleasure to have a chance to pay tribute to the amazing women agents of SOE and the OSS.

It was recorded to go alongside the publication of Shadow Warriors of World War II which I wrote with my friend Gordon Thomas (Voyage of the Damned).

Sent into Nazi-occupied Europe by the United States’ Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and Britain’s Special Operations Executive (SOE), these agents helped establish a web of resistance groups across the continent.

Their heroism, initiative, and resourcefulness contributed to the Allied breakout of the Normandy beachheads.

The book has been published the US, UK, Poland, Czech Republic and Italy. Many thanks to everyone who has read it.

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Picking through the forensic clues of cold cases

COLD CASE FORENSICS is now available on Amazon Prime and Apple TV – as well as ITV X. I think viewers outside the UK can watch it on Prime.

If you do, please let me know where you are watching it and what you think.

In the series world-leading forensic scientist Dr Angela Gallop and her team unlock the forensic secrets to finally solve some baffling cold cases.

In episode 1 Dr Gallop describes how she solved the 1988 murder of Lynette White.

The murder of Lynette in Cardiff had resulted in one of Britain’s worst miscarriages of justice and by 1999 it remained unsolved.

A new detective team brought in Dr Angela Gallop to help solve the case. She and forensic experts April Robson and Andrew McDonald, police officers Kevin O’Neill and Brent Parry, lawyer Layla Attfield and wrongly accused John Actie tell the story.

In episode 2 Dr Gallop describes how she solved the 1992 murder of Rachel Nickell, who had been found dead on Wimbledon Common. The cold case remained unsolved until Angela’s team found the evidence to help convict Robert Napper in 2008.

Episode 3 focusses on the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993 in London. It remained unsolved for more than a decade until Dr Gallop and her team looked again at the evidence.

Features forensic experts April Robson, Roger Robson and Deb Hopwood, detectives Clive Driscoll and David Michael, Judge Ray Singh, lawyer Imran Khan and reporter Stephen Wright from the Daily Mail.

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