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BRITCOM ONE
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00:00in the second world war british spy agency the soe dropped their first women agents into nazi
00:10occupied france they're hand picked by spymaster vera atkins are you prepared to take the fight
00:18to the nazis behind enemy lines in occupied france as a spy
00:27but they quickly become targets for the gestapo
00:32the dead and peter churchill have been captured what keep those hands
00:39don't worry you'll be safe with me now vera's newest recruit nor inayat khan
00:49is playing a deadly game of cat and mouse with hitler's intelligence forces
00:55do you want people to make you as an agent
01:01no of course not sorry sorry won't save you from a gestapo cell
01:07but with d-day approaching more agents need to be trained
01:11good shot yes sir and infiltrated into france ready the nazis don't know what hit them
01:27the nazis don't know what hit them
01:29despite the danger these brave women volunteer to be sent behind enemy lines to stop the germans from
01:37reaching the normandy beaches
01:41send even more agents to strengthen the circuits for d-day and expect heavy casualties
01:48but as the nazis crack down how long can they remain free and how much will they risk in the fight
01:57against hitler's deadly regime
02:12f-section wait anxiously for news from paris
02:15the day before they'd received an alarming message from francis subtle
02:22the organizer of the prosper circuit f section's largest based in the french capital
02:32what what is it nor was almost arrested at a letterbox subtle claims was blown
02:38he says if nor had gone there yesterday she'd have been met by the gestapo searching the safehouse
02:43he thinks their security has been compromised and this means that the nazis might know what's
02:49going on and arrests could follow soon he is not letting anybody send any information send other
02:57agents he's not sure what's going on and he stops all these flights going in and out of europe
03:08so you should see this that'll be all
03:20sir what is it a flash message intel from an agent in paris
03:28subtle and his wireless opera butcher gilbert norman have disappeared disappeared
03:32i think they've been arrested i think they've been arrested arrested
03:40message to be confirmed
03:44sir this intel has been marked flimsy what if it isn't
03:50vera and buckmaster do not know what's happening in paris if subtle and norman have been arrested and
03:57are being interrogated by the gestapo if they reveal the secrets then every single agent that they have
04:05in paris is in danger
04:16in paris nor is unsure what's happening to the prosper circuit
04:20all she knows are rumors of arrests agents have gone to ground and nor can't risk making contact with
04:31any other elements of the circuit in case they betray her
04:41do not do that again
04:42what that in england you pour milk first then tea in france we pour tea first then milk
04:58a real french woman would never do that
04:59no no no indeed these are basic things that the soe have taught nor from the start
05:13and yet the lessons haven't sunk in it was incredibly important that any agent going into france blended
05:20in and it was just the little tiny things that ended up being the huge catastrophe that could see them
05:26arrested do you want people to make you as an agent no of course not sorry sorry won't save you from a
05:33gestapo cell
05:37but this isn't the only sign that she's a foreign agent
05:42i'm buying you new clothes
05:47that's one of my clothes
05:50your jacket your english looking macintosh jacket
05:56prision woman wouldn't be caught dead in it
06:01we'll buy you new french looking clothes
06:07nor hadn't even finished her soe training
06:12with her resistance cell in chaos now she's been dropped in the deep end and is trying to tread water
06:26in london vera and buckmaster wait for news on the prosper circuit
06:39but worryingly no further messages come through
06:43meanwhile vera's search for more women spies continues
06:57sir is that kiss
07:02it was very important that the recruiting of agents continued d-day was approaching and so the
07:08soe wanted to make sure that when that signal for d-day came
07:13they could literally almost flick a switch and they were ready to fight back
07:17it means finding more agents
07:24vera pours over personnel files for potential new recruits
07:30one is 22 year old violette sabo
07:34she was born in a british hospital in paris of a french mother and an english father and then she
07:44was schooled in france one of the most important things that they needed was somebody who could speak
07:50french fluently blend in knew about france and she had all of those skills already but she has some
07:57real personal motives for wanting to go back into occupied territory part of the reason is clearly
08:05because etienne her husband had been killed at el elemaine with the free french so etienne never met
08:15his daughter she was born and unfortunately he died before he had the opportunity to meet her
08:22and it would have made violette so fervently passionate about wanting to go out to france
08:29and to fight against the nazis so real it really uh would very much like to get her own back
08:37and do whatever she could vera now turns to another recruit put forward by soe
08:44evonne basden was the daughter of a british father who married a french woman shortly after the first
08:54world war she spent most of her early childhood in france which meant she spoke french perfectly
09:01she felt very much at home in france she'd lived there for years before coming to britain as a
09:06teenager so in many ways she was the ideal recruit for f section both violette sabo and yvonne basden have
09:16strong motivations they are assigned to soe training
09:29f section are desperate for news from the prosper circuit
09:32bach what is it of course i'm butcher he's trying to transmit from paris
09:41after 12 days of radio silence they get the message they've been waiting for
09:53what's it say buck confirmation
09:56francis suttle has been captured the head of the prosper circuit f section's largest and most
10:07important is in german hands
10:14sir this message it's unusual has it come to eclipse
10:20but your security check is missing all soe agents are trained very carefully that when they
10:30send an encoded message they have to also at the end send a security check these are check words that
10:37only they will know it could just be atmospheric conditions playing havoc with the signal
10:42but you might also be on the run the gestapo looking for him he might not have had time to include it
10:56could it have been sent by noor using butcher's set and she wouldn't have his specific codes
11:02all butchers been captured and has given his transmission codes to the gestapo
11:07butchers been captured and has given him the same time possible to have shot himself before he did that
11:12send a reply
11:15butcher you've forgotten your security checks show more care in the future
11:22the vital wireless link from london to paris is still in place for now
11:29but the prosper circuit is fragile
11:38for those soe agents on the ground in paris their fate is becoming increasingly uncertain
11:46contact has been lost with the leaders of the circuit and it's assumed they're in gestapo custody
11:53people are being arrested
11:56safe houses are being compromised
11:59they don't know what to do who can they report to who can they trust
12:04where should they go what should they do however noor is still in paris and she's still transmitting to london
12:15f section tries to untangle the chaos
12:21another report there's been more arrests
12:26how many agents is that now lost track boddington
12:34the gestapo have raided another weapon stamp
12:37who is betraying them to the germans
12:40if you read these reports the list of possible traitors is endless
12:43sir that can't be true nothing can be verified
12:46these reports aren't worth the paper they're written on
12:49the only thing we know is there's something wrong in prosper
12:51fuck
13:03we can never make sense of what's happening set on our backsides in london
13:07if i can take my own wireless operator i can fly out to paris make contact somehow with the circuit
13:13and work out what the hell is happening once and for all
13:16nick no what have you called it was enormously risky to send boddington into paris because he was
13:25number two in soe's f section so if he was captured and interrogated
13:31and he talked the whole of f section could have been blown out of the water
13:36despite the danger buckmaster gives him the green light
13:48fine fly to france make your way to paris and report back what you find
13:53good send a message to butcher arrange a meeting
14:10good send a message to france
14:23boddington with his wireless operator jack agazarian are infiltrated into france
14:31they land just outside sous cell in the west of the country
14:40that's what we're going to do
14:47greeting them is soe air movement officer henry derek or
14:54nicholas
14:56henry how long has it been too long
15:00jack agazarian henry derek or
15:04it's good to have someone out here we can trust
15:06i'm your man i've arranged a meeting in paris with a contact close to sutil
15:12excellent work hopefully they can clear this whole mess up
15:17boddington's really relieved because this means he can get down to what's been going on
15:20the prosper circuit is it salvageable what's been going on and maybe you know this derek
15:27or contact is going to know a lot more
15:37back in britain new recruits yvonne and violette begin their soe training
15:44designed to identify their strengths and weaknesses for action in the field
15:49the women had the same training as the men of soe it was incredibly grueling
16:02it was physically mentally exhausting very very hard work things like obstacle courses and map reading
16:14the women would have been learning skills that they had never thought in a million years they
16:18were going to need
16:44me
16:48next comes weapons handling and shooting practice
16:58violette's report says that she was a crack shot that she was excellent with firearms
17:09the agents then move on to parachute training
17:11all agents have to conduct four jumps and for yvonne it's a terrifying experience
17:23there are accounts saying the men were frightened too it wasn't just the women and it's not surprising
17:31because accidents were pretty common in the case of violette zabo she landed awkwardly
17:37and damaged her ankle it seems a pretty intense injury it took several weeks to recuperate
17:43in london vera keeps tabs on her agent's progress
17:55violette's training report is on the whole very positive
17:57she's confident she's confident she's plucky she's physically very tough
18:04pretty much everything that they want in an agent but the instructors also noted
18:08other things that concerned them about violette they say that she's fatalistic in her outlook
18:14that she lacks a sense of responsibility so really some quite negative things they're saying about her
18:20but vera atkins saw the steel
18:26that was in violette she would always stand up and fight where necessary she had this other quality
18:35which did shine through a personality a real personality yes vera would have wanted all of that
18:43it violette is assigned the role of courier yvonne's training report is relatively positive as well
18:53and in particular with reference to her wireless skills so it was obvious really that the role assigned
18:59to her was wireless operator it's promising news more and more women agents are coming through
19:07soon to be deployed to circuits in france but since nor's wireless message that contact has been lost
19:15with leaders of prosper f section are on tenterhooks
19:19who has escaped gestapo arrest and how long can they remain free
19:32you're here
19:57you're here my phones
19:58the nurse is with you no one sir the meeting with sir till's contact was a trap
20:06butcher is definitely in german hands
20:10well are you sure 100 percent a gazarian and i flipped a coin to see you should go
20:16it fell to him so he went i waited in a safe house but he didn't return
20:21if i had gone i'd now be sat in a gestapo torture chamber
20:24poor gazarian
20:37send a message to f section arrange a lysander pickup immediately i need to get back to london
20:42so
20:47were you followed
20:55send a message
20:57we'll find you in your safe house
20:59we'll find you in your safe house
21:01they can't trust anyone nor has to move
21:14meanwhile boddington returns to london
21:25we'll find you in your safe house
21:30buck here's my report
21:34prosper is destroyed
21:36destroyed
21:38entirely
21:40it's impossible to know which agents are active
21:43which agents are in gestapo custody
21:45and who can be trusted
21:48the gestapo are raiding weapons depots making arrests
21:52prosper as a circuit is a corpse
21:54it's worse than they could have imagined
22:00the most important soe circuit operating in france has been absolutely destroyed the most important
22:07members of it are in the hands of the ss gestapo
22:11it means safe houses are not safe people are being arrested it means
22:16that the people who were in any way connected with the circuit are in grave grave danger
22:23there is something else
22:25one of our agents has been contacted by german military intelligence
22:30about derecourt
22:31is
22:37the
22:38claims that derecourt is letting the gestapo copy all our agents
22:42unencoded letters before sending them back to london
22:45preposterous
22:46i know
22:50but this agent of ours will be sending this report in
22:54officially
22:54german military intelligence hates the gestapo
23:00and to trying to get us to close down the network then the gestapo won't have anybody to arrest
23:06this rumor is just that a rumor we can't and shouldn't act on it
23:14agreed
23:17but it's clear to buckmaster and vera that the prosperous circuit is blown
23:23one hundred and sixty seven agents are rounded up arrested many of them tortured and some of
23:32them killed by the gestapo the prosperous circuit was the most important in france and it's a disaster
23:41for f section that it's been blown it was crucial to the planning for d-day because it was a center of
23:50the resistance
23:52climb get as many agents back to london as possible
24:04but one agent who doesn't return is no
24:20buckmaster writes to noor and says come back
24:23it's very dangerous we'll organize a flight for you and get you out
24:28but noor says she's the last link left she's the last radio operator standing between paris and
24:36england i have to be here if i've gone there's no radio operator left she feels she can rebuild this
24:43circuit and buckmaster receives this message and he asked her to lie low and be very careful
24:49and she's the last radio operator in paris
24:57despite the danger buckmaster realizes just how vital she is and keeps her in her post
25:04she becomes one of f section's most important agents as she is their one remaining radio operator in paris
25:19and a letter she sends to vera gives hope that all might not be lost after all
25:33she's the last radio operator in paris
25:38dear miss atkins excuse pencil
25:46your bird has brought me luck
25:48i remember you so often you cheered me up so sweetly before i left
25:53lots of things have happened and i haven't been able to settle down properly
26:00still my contacts are regular and i'm awfully happy
26:06lots of love yours nor
26:09your bird has brought me luck
26:23but despite the upbeat letter vera is worried about noor
26:29nor is clearly operating under great stress she's meant to be sending in messages regularly but most
26:36of the wireless messages she's sending are outside the scheduled times and this shows that she's
26:40having to move around and having to adapt a lot and vera has reason to worry
26:48the gestapo in paris are now aware of a lone british wireless operator and are on the hunt
26:55so both violette zabo and yvonne baston are progressing well very good both their training
27:08reports show an increasing aptitude for sir miss atkins an urgent message from the signals room thank you
27:15dismissed
27:20madeline has been injured and is now in a hospital
27:22madeline is nor's alias
27:29this message is coded
27:33nor has been compromised
27:35or captured is that possible
27:41the intel comes from a woman called sonia claiming to be an informant
27:45but we don't have any informants on our books called sonia
27:55so who is sonia
28:00they didn't know who she was was this a joke was it something to confuse them was this even a gestapo
28:06ruse what was going on
28:11we can't verify who sonia is the message can't be trusted
28:17i think for now vera we have to ignore it
28:29more rumors
28:30they push forward with their plan for nor to salvage the prosper circuit
28:47sir a message just received for callsign nurse
28:50nurse
28:52nurse that's nor's wireless call sign
29:01previous safe house was unsafe she's moved to another
29:08but she is up and running again
29:10clever girl you're nor it seems that despite sonia's warning nor outwitted the gestapo and is safe
29:25sir there's something you should know nor's fist seems off
29:31each wireless operator had what was known as a fist it was their way of using the morse key
29:40to type morse code it could be as simple as how fast they tapped or the gaps they left in between
29:46the dots and the dashes or just something that was very unique about it and the person working
29:52as their opposite back in headquarters would be able to
29:56recognize the fist and it's a very reliable way of recognizing which agent is using the machine
30:04and nor's fist had become unusual
30:08what are you saying someone else might have sent the message
30:15so how can we be certain nurse is really nor
30:18send a reply ask questions only nor would know the answers to
30:29these would be to do with her family or childhood or something very personal that only the two of them
30:34would have known if these came unanswered or they were vague she would know that nor had been captured
30:40excellent thinking draft a list of questions miss adkins then send the message sir the questions are sent
30:50it's an anxious weight
30:52with questions over nor's identity still hanging in the air work at f section plows ahead
31:09buckmaster begins making plans for d-day d-day is approaching but nobody knows exactly when it's going
31:16to happen it's a closely guarded secret but buckmaster has plans for vera he wants her to set up a station a
31:26kind of forward unit within france after the landings but he has a problem
31:33vera atkins isn't british she's actually romanian only he and vera know this within f section
31:44romania was fighting on the side of nazi germany during the war technically she was an enemy alien
31:54but with d-day looming this has to change
31:56vera applies for british nationality and is interviewed by the home office
32:09you'll find a letter of recommendation from my commanding officer
32:13yes see buckmaster writes a letter to the home office he very much backs her application
32:29and says that without the british citizenship it's going to be very difficult for vera
32:34to be able to go to the continent and operate as a representative of britain if she in fact still
32:41has a romanian passport without british papers it would be impossible for vera to work freely
32:48in liberated france there is something else my romanian nationality we were hoping there was some
32:59way to complete my application without it being mentioned i'm sure you understand what with the work
33:08i do for the war effort how sensitive it might be it is essential that the people i meet the people that
33:18i work with never learn that i am romanian this is about national security itself
33:27it's a persuasive argument vera is given british nationality without her romanian roots coming to light
33:38not me
33:43send a message to scholar with vera now a british citizen her secret work at f section
33:50can continue sir the seconds reply from nurse
33:56no
33:59vera's personal questions to no have been answered correctly
34:03hearing back from noor was a huge relief for vera and indeed for buckmaster because it meant
34:11first of all that she was safe secondly it meant that there was still radio communication between
34:18london and paris and finally this means that they're going to be able to build up the prosper
34:24circuit again soon requests from nurse flood into f section
34:33new soe agents are infiltrated to bolster the fledgling circuit
34:40another request from nurse
34:45thank you or twice the drop
34:51arms
34:55explosives and cash
34:59are sent over in airdrops
35:03what's this
35:22a draft of noor's citation citation
35:27noor's work is exemplary buckmaster is so impressed by her and her courage and bravery having stood
35:37alone in paris that in february 1944 he actually recommends her for the george medal
35:42because of noor the prosper circuit has been reinforced and reconstructed and is in perfect order
35:52it is unique in the annals of this organization for a circuit to be so completely disintegrated and yet to
36:02be rebuilt
36:03because regardless of personal danger this young woman remained on her post at times alone and always under threat of arrest
36:17she's earned it
36:23for buckmaster the faith placed in noor meant that f section had a circuit in paris again
36:31crucial for their plans for d-day
36:45d-day preparations kick into overdrive
36:49the date is still a closely guarded secret
36:55but all signs point to the invasion going ahead in the first half of 1944
37:03prime minister
37:04prime minister winston churchill gives the soe a direct order and that is to prioritize arming the french resistance
37:12f sections central role will be to equip and coordinate the french resistance fighters on the ground
37:21their mission is to attack and slow down german reinforcements heading to the allied landing zones
37:33the head of soe major general colin gubbins
38:03makes it painfully clear just how important f section is to the d-day plans
38:10strategically france is overwhelmingly the most important zone in the western theater of war
38:18f section should therefore regard this theater as one where heavy casualties are inevitable
38:26but will yield the highest possible dividends
38:28for our agents
38:30he means heavy casualties for our agents
38:34therefore increase soe aid to the field to the maximum possible peak and maintain until d-day
38:46increase soe aid
38:50supply drops cash weapons explosives
38:55and increase the supply of agents
38:59send even more agents to strengthen the circuits for d-day
39:08and expect heavy casualties
39:16and expect heavy casualties
39:18and expect heavy casualties
39:20and expect heavy casualties to be in the weeks and days before d-day
39:33in spite of the human toll the huge casualties which gubbins has warned them about
39:39vera and buckmaster are still recruiting agents because they need to send them in
39:44to france it's absolutely vital they have to succeed key to this is infiltrating the agents undetected behind enemy lines
39:58the man responsible for this is f section's air movement officer henry derekour
40:09since boddington's mission to france the allegations of treachery against derekour hadn't subsided
40:15in fact they'd intensified in february in february 1944 buckmaster is forced to recall derekour
40:27from france to london to clear up the matter once and for all
40:35that'll be all thank you
40:36and we'll see you
40:43how lovely to see you likewise
40:45i see boddington's already giving you the tour well he's an excellent guide
40:49you said something about drinks tonight boddington at the savoy
40:54it's a nice establishment you better behave yourself
40:59derekour was quite well known to the soe by the time he actually joined them
41:05he came from france fleeing nazis he's boddington's old friend and in those days
41:11places like the soe were run very much along the lines of you know old boys network and despite
41:18the fact that derekour is actually being investigated for possibly being a double agent
41:25he's put up in the savoy hotel he's treated well by buckmaster and boddington
41:34the allegations against derekour were true what would that mean for f section all of our planning
41:41vera the reports lack evidence there's no way they'll be proven
41:46i know a chap i can trust when i see one
41:50but buckmaster has plenty to worry about
41:52the danger with derekour possibly being a double agent was that he was bringing the agents both to
42:00france and from france and the fear was that all of the people he'd come in contact with would also
42:07have been compromised every single agent would have been blown
42:12this would derail all of f section's d-day planning
42:20don't worry derek or we'll clear this whole sorry business up take it as an soe objective to clear
42:27your name thanks sir and they did by september 1944 mi5's investigation of derekour winds up and he's told he's free to go
42:49to the next day to the next day to the next day to the next day to the next day to the next day
42:55with d-day on the near horizon vera is busier than ever overseeing the deployment of women's spies
43:05she needs the soe's circuits as strong as possible for f section's ultimate aim
43:12stopping the nazis from reaching the allied landing zones in march she sends six female agents into
43:21enemy territory that's more than any point in the war so far first to fly is yvonne basden
43:29the parachute drop is scheduled for this evening the drop zone is the south of france near toulouse
43:37from here you're to make your way across country to dole where you're to make contact with the scholar circuit
43:45this will be your circuit you've been assigned to them as a wireless operator
44:00ready ready miss atkins
44:03with any incriminating items gone she's cleared for takeoff and the infiltration of agents doesn't stop
44:17reports are that the weather has cleared over central france
44:21tonight you're to be infiltrated by parachute near the limousine region
44:32from the drop zone you're to meet up with the salesman circuit
44:36and begin making contacts with the resistance
44:39but violette's mission has an added danger an ss panzer division is located there and it's up to
44:49violet as courier to try and help the resistance stop those panzer tanks from reaching the allied landing
44:56to the sites
45:02how am i looking good
45:05how am i looking good
45:09you're clean are you ready
45:11the nazis won't know what hit them
45:22very good
45:23with d-day imminent the circuits are ready for action
45:33in france the soe their agents and the french resistance go into overdrive they're frantic trying
45:39to work as fast as they possibly can because they just have to slow the nazi defenses down
45:46d-day messages activating sabotage attacks led by the circuits could start at any time
45:58in dull the scholar circuit is a hive of activity and yvonne is right at the center of it
46:04she's coordinating with french resistance fighters she is actually physically making detonators herself
46:10she's choosing the targets that they are going to attack together she must have been
46:16so stressed out but also excited because this is the moment that she has been working towards this is
46:22why everybody has been risking their lives they've got to make d-day work
46:34on the 5th of june 1944 soe broadcast hundreds of action messages in code over radio stations
46:46that day messages from the circuits come flooding back into f section
46:55sabotage operations have started
47:10d-day has come
47:18d-day has come
47:22d-day has come
47:28so
47:32so
47:50so
47:51Transcription by CastingWords