In this talk, Dr Pattinson will draw on personal accounts, official documents and film, examining the 39 women who were members of the SOE.
She considers the wider context of the organisation's formation, the background stories of the women, their recruitment and their training in armed and unarmed combat.
She then follows their story into the infiltration of occupied France, exploring their operations and, for some, their arrest and incarceration in concentration camps, and their post-war portrayals.
Juliette Pattinson is Head of History at the University of Kent and author of 'Behind Enemy Lines'.