• 10.00am - 5.30pm
  • FREE
  • Chelsea, London
  • 10.00am - 5.30pm
  • FREE
  • Chelsea, London

A cool and lonely courage: The women of SOE F Section

Photograph of Violette Szabo when recovering from injuring her ankle in a practice parachute jump.
Join historian Dr Kate Vigurs to uncover the experiences of the Special Operations Executive’s female agents in France during the Second World War.

Chosen to work in a secretive, clandestine and mainly male domain, the women of the Special Operations Executive, French Section (SOE F) were remarkable individuals. Ranging from housewives to grandmothers, shop assistants to princesses, 39 women passed through a rigorous training programme.

This talk will examine how these women were selected and what training they received. Drawing on archive material and interviews, Dr Kate Vigurs will evaluate the operational lives of several agents, assessing their roles and suitability for such intricate work, and in some cases, detailing their fate at the hands of the enemy.

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