Mission France, Kate Vigurs
Mission France, Kate Vigurs
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Mission France
The True History of the Women of SOE

Author: Kate Vigurs

Narrator: Esther Wane

Unabridged: 10 hr 42 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 08/31/2021


Synopsis

The full story of the thirty-nine female SOE agents who went undercover in France

Formed in 1940, Special Operations Executive was to coordinate Resistance work overseas. The organization's F section sent more than four hundred agents into France, thirty-nine of whom were women. But while some are widely known—Violette Szabo, Odette Sansom, Noor Inayat Khan—others have had their stories largely overlooked.

Kate Vigurs interweaves for the first time the stories of all thirty-nine female agents. Tracing their journeys from early recruitment to work undertaken in the field, to evasion from, or capture by, the Gestapo, Vigurs shows just how greatly missions varied. Some agents were more adept at parachuting. Some agents' missions lasted for years, others' less than a few hours. Some survived, others were murdered. By placing the women in the context of their work with the SOE and the wider war, this history reveals the true extent of the differences in their abilities and attitudes while underlining how they nonetheless shared a common mission and, ultimately, deserve recognition.

About Kate Vigurs

Kate Vigurs is a freelance historian, author, and academic advisor. Her PhD in history was at the University of Leeds and she is a frequent contributor for TV, radio, and the press.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Debbie on July 12, 2022

In 'Mission France', Kate Vigurs takes the reader on a journey through the lives of the women working for Special Operations Executive in France, from their selection and training to their eventual return - or death. Unlike previous works on women in SOE, Vigurs takes a new - and much-needed - appro......more

Goodreads review by Clive on July 23, 2022

In 1940 Winston Churchill, the British prime minister, approved the creation of the Special Operations Executive (SOE). Its job was to coordinate the infiltration of secret agents to assist local clandestine activity against the Axis powers in territories across Europe and beyond. Different sections......more

Goodreads review by Emily on March 29, 2024

"It is unique in the annals of this organisation for a circuit to be so completely disintegrated and yet to be rebuilt because, regardless of all personal danger, this young woman remained on her post, at times alone, and always under threat of arrest." This was a really wonderfully done study of......more

Goodreads review by Sally on October 23, 2023

This was a fascinating and thoroughly researched book about the SOE, especially their female operatives. The deprivation, hardship and cruelty they endured is hard to understand or in many comprehend why humans can be so horrid to one another even if their country is at war. I struggled with the aut......more

Goodreads review by Jan on August 19, 2021

Every one of these women volunteered to go into France during the German occupation and work for the British government intelligence. They were given the same training as the men in their units and suffered the same privations, including those who were captured. Some were held prisoner for long peri......more