The women agents of the Special Operations Executive F section

301 Pages·2011·4.94 MB·English

The women agents of the Special Operations Executive F
section – wartime realities and post war representations.

Elizabeth Kate Vigurs

Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree
of Doctor of Philosophy

The University of Leeds

School of History

September 2011
ii

The candidate confirms that the work submitted is her own and that appropriate credit has
been given where reference has been made to the work of others.

This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no
quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement.

The right of Elizabeth Kate Vigurs to be identified as Author of this work has
been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
© 2011
iii

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Professors Richard Whiting, Katrina Honeyman and John Gooch for their
guidance as supervisors at various stages of my studies at the School of History.

I would like to thank Mark Seaman, for introducing me to this subject and his continued
support of my SOE studies and research.

I wish to acknowledge the financial support of the Gerry Holdsworth Trust, Royal
Armouries Museum and Royal Historical Society for support with research trips, tuition
fees and expenses.

Thanks to Professor MRD Foot, Alison Gagg, Barry Rolfe, Roger and Anne Tobell, Virginia
McKenna, the staff at Ravensbrück Memorial Site, Rod Bailey, the staff and participants of
Insite 2009 and all of the interviewees who have supported this work and given freely of
their time.

This thesis is dedicated to my husband and my parents for their support, encouragement
and patience.
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Abstract

This thesis is an evaluation of the wartime experiences of the female agents of SOE F
section and their post war representation through books, films and post-war publicity. The
first section looks at selection and training and whether women were treated differently
because of their sex, it also shows that the various wartime experiences of the women
were different and unique, not fitting into a stock scenario and showing that not all agents
who were captured were tortured or executed. The fascination with women agents is
addressed and why it is they who have captured the public imagination, not the male
agents.

The next section provides two case studies, Odette Churchill and Violette Szabo, these
two agents were both awarded the George Cross and have become household names.
Odette was heavily involved in creating her own post war image and also contributed to
that of Violette. The thesis assesses why these two agents have become renowned and
how their constructions have influenced public perception of the SOE and caused myths
and fictions to become part of the perceived popular wisdom.

Odette’s influence is discussed further in chapters that evaluate the role of film in the post
war representation of the agents, ‘Odette’ and ‘Carve her name with pride’ are discussed
in terms of how agents are represented, what liberties have been taken with the truth and
the importance of historical accuracy in a film. The influence of the films ‘Odette’ and
‘Carve her name with pride’ over films made post 1958 and how they have contributed to
the inconsistencies and myths that surround the world of SOE and its agents are
investigated.

An analysis of memorials to the women of SOE F section highlights the difficulties in
memorialising such a diverse group of women. Issues that arise include politics, the need
to commemorate, the form of the memorial, whether the memorial is site specific and what
that means to its impact on visitors, whether the memorial is individual or collective and
how a memorial can influence personal responses.
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Contents

Introduction p.1

Chapter One - Selection, Motives and Training p.25

Chapter Two – Successes, experiences and post war publicity p.65

Chapter three - Odette Churchill G.C. - The construction of a post war p.108
heroine

Chapter four - Violette Szabo G.C. - Disentangling the reality from the fiction p.149

Chapter five - Odette and Carve her name with pride as Celluloid Memorials p.182

Chapter six - Representations of SOE Agents in film post 1958 p.205

Chapter seven - A discussion of the memorials to the SOE F section p.231

Conclusion p.268

Appendix 1 – Table of Agents p.272

Bibliography p.278
1

The women agents of the Special Operations Executive F section – wartime realities
and post-war representations.

Introduction

After the Nazi Occupation of Europe in 1940, the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill,
wrote a letter to the Secretary at War, Hugh Dalton, in which he said: ‘now, set Europe
ablaze.’1 This was to be achieved by a newly formed group called the Special Operations
Executive (SOE) whose objective was to co-ordinate and assist local clandestine activity
against the occupying forces, in spite of the Nazi threat that: ‘any passive or active
opposition to the German armed forces will incur the most severe retaliatory measures’.2
SOE was divided in many different sections; F section worked in Occupied France and
employed 39 women. These women came from all walks of life and showed courage and
resourcefulness throughout the war years and their stories continue to be told in the press,
books and films today.

This thesis will focus solely on the women of SOE F section, since it is they who appear to
have a resonance with today's public due to the recent release of previously closed
archives into the public domain, in addition to a surge of non-fictional literature, novels,
films, TV dramas and documentaries. Due to the fact that these sources of information
feature so strongly in modern life, the public perception of history is influenced by them.
Fact has merged with fiction, and the public understanding of a secret agent’s life, mission,
actions and fate may differ greatly from reality. The women of SOE F section appear to
have become the subject of myth and it has become clear that truth does not always
successfully marry with fiction.

Therefore the aim of this thesis is to rectify the perception of the SOE women agents and
to show them in a true light. There were 39 women in SOE F section and yet only a few
have achieved any degree of public recognition, notably Odette Churchill G.C. and Violette

1 Hugh Dalton, The Fateful Years: Memoirs, 1931-1945, (London, 1957) p.366.
2 Text from panel in ‘Secret war’ exhibition at Imperial War Museum, London.
2

Szabo G.C. I intend to discover why this is the case, and how television, the press, books,
films and memorials have influenced who and how the public remember. 3

The thesis will examine the popular images of Odette and Violette (both of whom were the
subjects of biographies and films during the 1950s) in relation to the historical sources
relating to them. Odette was heavily involved in the construction of her own post-war
image, claiming to have been betrayed and tortured during her wartime career. Her claims
ensured that she was revered by the press and although she said that her post-war
publicity was for those who did not come back, she did well out of it, and was consistently
idolised by the national papers. Odette also contributed to the post-war image and
construction of Violette Szabo, (whose story was very similar to her own) to the extent that,
in addition to advising on her own biopic Odette, she was also technical advisor on the film
Carve her name with pride.

Both of these women became national heroines after the war and the true stories and
constructions of these women in the immediate post-war years became an integral part of
the national identity and recovery after the war, giving hope in the dark, austere post-war
years, as the Cold War began and life remained tough for the British public when they
sought to rebuild their cities and lives.

This thesis challenges the preconceptions and folklore that has grown up around the
women of SOE and by careful evaluation of the sources brings fresh arguments and
evidence to old stories of betrayal, capture and torture. An evaluation of the films made
about SOE from Odette (1950) through to Female Agents (2008) demonstrates how myths
are constructed. A study of the characterisation of the protagonists in the films made post
1958 shows the influence on the public’s memories and perceptions of SOE women
agents and thus raises the crucial issue - what version of the past do people want and
does it matter if it is fact or fiction. This develops Connelly’s statement that: ‘The Second
World War is a visual war above all else. In popular mind the definition of a war film is one

3 At the time of her infiltration Odette’s married name was Sansom, however for continuity I shall refer to her as
Odette Churchill throughout as this is her most well know name. Her archives may refer to her as Odette
Sansom, Odette Churchill or Odette Hallowes depending on the date of the archive.
3

made during or about the Second World War. These films created and reflected reality
and so informed the development of myths.’4

A unique study of SOE memorials demonstrates how the women agents are remembered
and how the development of the memorial in the 20th century has affected remembrance.
Highlighting issues of politics, art form, use of language and location, I will look at what
influence each factor has on the onlooker of the memorial. This chapter adds to the work
of Sarah Farmer’s book Martyred Village on the massacre at Oradour-sur-Glane, and the
memorialisation of the atrocity raises some interesting points which are relevant to the
discussion of memorialising the women of SOE F section in chapter seven. She writes in
terms of the political context in which the massacre was to be remembered but also in the
way in which it was physically memorialised:

‘the initial efforts to commemorate the massacre at Oradour-sur-Glane took place
in the context of a nationwide desire to take public notice of the events of the
recent past. This public notice took two forms: the first was a call to bring
collaborators and perpetrators of wartime crimes to quick justice. The second
entailed establishing monuments and commemorative rituals in the interest of
shaping memory for the long term.’5

As early as 1944 it was decided that the destroyed village would be its own memorial, it
would be frozen in time as it was found after the massacre; houses would be left as they
were with vehicles outside and children’s prams riddled with bullet holes would be on
public display to serve as a shocking reminder of the events of 10th June 1944. This type
of memorial has parallels with those in the concentration camps where some SOE women
were executed as it is site specific and the site has remained (as much as possible) as it
was at the time of the atrocity.

Farmer suggests that: ‘two extremes of remembrance are represented in the ruins of
Oradour-sur-Glane: highly formal commemoration by the state and individual recollection
by the survivors. The key to commemoration and pilgrimage, as opposed to reminiscence
or recollection, is that one does not have to have a personal memory of the event in order

4 Mark Connolly, We can take it! Britain and the memory of the Second World War, (Harlow: Pearson
Longman, 2004), p.6.
5 Ibid, p.60.
4

to participate in the remembrance.’6 This argument is again pertinent to the
memorialisation of the women of SOE F section, where official memorials exist such as
those at St Paul’s church in Knightsbridge and the Valençay monument, as opposed to
individual memorials such as the rose garden at RAF Tangmere, or the Violette Szabo
museum. For the majority of visitors these memorials serve as a place of remembrance
not recollection, as those who visit them will do so as spectators rather than former
participants, witnesses or victims.

This thesis will only draw upon English language records, therefore information such as
the Resistance holdings at Institut du Temps Présent in Paris, departmental and local
archives within France and Gestapo files have not been utilised.7 The primary sources
used within this thesis include items at the National Archives in Kew which holds original
SOE material and agent’s personnel files (PFs). These files do not provide a full picture as
several files remain unreleased and public access is not permitted.8 In addition, a fire at
Baker Street in 1946 damaged or destroyed approximately 85% of the SOE files, some of
which: ‘related to the activities in the field of SOE FANY agents.’9 As with any organisation
of this nature, a conspiracy theory is never far away.10

Maurice Buckmaster, head of SOE F section had said that full records were not kept
during the war anyway, as he had work to do and: ‘it was unwise to take notes then, owing
to the danger of such information getting into the wrong hands,’11 and he was not in the
business of making records for future generations of historians to study.12

Another reason for the lack of SOE files is the ‘weeding’ that occurred post-war. An
interview with Mrs Pawley who worked in the MI6 offices as they were closing down SOE
reveals how files were chosen for destruction:

6 Ibid,p.115.
7 This sis due to the fact that author does not speak sufficient French to use the historical archives.
8 This is for several reasons, one being the Official secrets act which does not allow papers to be released until
60 years after the event.
9 Ibid, p.18.
10 See Rusell Miller, Behind the lines, (London: Pimlico, 2003) p.267.
11 Maurice Buckmaster, Specially Employed, (London: Batchworth Press, 1952) p.7.
12 Buckmaster also clarified this point in a letter to Cynthia Sadler author of ‘War Journey’ (Croydon: Artemis
Publications, 2003).
5

Interviewer: ‘What do you mean weeded? Decided what to throw away?’

Mrs P: ‘Exactly….It was called weeding. And you were given a master plan of how
to put things. Missions, directives, this and that, you know, and anything that was
trivial you chucked out. And you put things into the master plan, kept the things that
were necessary… And there were piles on the floor and I just went through one
after the other...’13

As a result of the Baker Street fire and ‘weeding’ the SOE F section historian is left with a
small proportion of records, many of which are still under the Official Secrets Act. Those
that do exist are subject to censorship which occurs in files that have potentially
incriminating or damaging material. Large sections of writing are blocked out or even
removed from files altogether. Censorship may have occurred during the war years, when
there were strict rules, or even after the war to prevent potentially detrimental accusations
such as reprisals or unnecessary loss of life. Censorship was also employed simply to
stop information falling into the wrong hands such as journalists or sensation mongers.
The significance of this is that an SOE scholar will never be able to construct a complete
picture of an agent or of SOE F section itself simply by using primary source printed
material and other sources should be utilised.

Much of the National Archives material on SOE is made up of personnel files which carry
information on an agent’s training and development. Many of the files also contain an
‘interrogation’ or debrief that the agent received upon their return from the field. This was
an opportunity for agents to relate what had happened to them and their colleagues while
in the field. It was the clearest way of understanding the agents thoughts immediately
after their arrival back in the UK, be it from the field or returning from a concentration
camp.

The National Archives also hold comprehensive files on the concentration camps and war
trials. After the war Squadron Leader Vera Atkins, who had worked in SOE HQ spent
several months locating the concentration camps to which various agents had been sent in
an attempt to determine their fate. Several interviews, affidavits and letters with
concentration camp staff are contained within the files.

13 Second World War Experience Centre, Mrs Pawley, 14th September 2005, tape 2996.