Two items brought to my attention today, in relation to Eve’s Peace, my Heroines of SOE sequel. One, the proof copy of the paperback version. Two, this wonderful review. “Love, distrust, trust, & secrets galore. Woven superbly by the author makes for wonderous reading, hard to put down book. Rating the book a 9 1/2 only because now I must look for sequels & prequels for this wonderful series...”
The Welrod was a British bolt action, magazine fed, suppressed pistol devised at the Inter-Services Research Bureau (later Station IX). Welrod is a portmanteau combining “Wel” from Welwyn Garden City (located near Station IX) and “rod," gangland slang for a gun, as a way to obscure its purpose. (1/4)
CBC Radio host Nahlah Ayed has written a book on the love story of Special Operations Executive agents Sonya (née Butt) and Guy d'Artois. The two agents fell in love during SOE training. The book, The War We Won Apart, will be available 28 May.
Mar 24, 1944: On this date, the poem The Life That I Have was issued by Special Operations Executive cryptographer Leo Marks to agent Violette Szabo. The poem was made famous by its inclusion in the 1958 movie about Szabo, Carve Her Name with Pride. (1/2)
Violette Szabό was executed at Ravensbrück at the age of 23, on or before 5 February 1945. She was posthumously awarded the George Cross, the highest award bestowed by the British government for non-operational gallantry or gallantry not in the presence of an enemy. She is one of only twelve George Crosses to be awarded to a woman. (2/2)
Jan 16, 1903: On this date, William Grover-Williams was born. He was a British Grand Prix motor car driver who served in France with the Special Operations Executive. He organized the CHESTNUT circuit near Paris, which would replace the collapsing AUTOGYRO circuit, but with the success of the extensive PROSPER circuit, CHESTNUT became a sleeper cell. Grover-Williams was arrested Aug 1, 1943. He was executed at Sachsenhausen in the Spring of 1945.
Noor Inayat Khan was born on January 1, 1914 in Moscow to an Indian father and an American mother. She served in the Special Operations Executive using the pseudonym Nora Baker and code-name Madeleine. She was the first British female wireless operator sent to occupied France to assist the French Resistance. She is Britain’s first Muslim war heroine. (1/9)
Aug 30, 1912: Nancy Wake was born on this date in Wellington, New Zealand. A nurse & journalist, she was horrified by the treatment of Czech Jews following the Anschluss. She became emboldened to resist the Nazis. (1/7)
Aug 30, 1919: On this date, Norwegian Special Operations Executive agent Joachim Rønneberg was born. In 1941 and after the Nazi occupation of Norway, Roenneberg fled Norway with eight friends via boat to Scotland. (1/4)
Aug 24, 1908: On this date Ian Garrow was born. He was the founder of the Pat O'Leary Line in Marseilles which helped Allied soldiers and airmen escape Nazi-occupied France.
#OnThisDay, 22 Aug 1943, Yvonne Cormeau parachutes into France to be a radio operator for the British Special Operations Executive. The SOE supported the French Resistance to Nazi occupation.
Operation Butterfly and Operation Liberty are books eleven and twelve in my Eve’s War Heroines of SOE series. The books, which bring the series to a close, will be released this summer and autumn. I’m delighted to say that both books are currently in the top ten of Amazon’s Hot New Releases 🙂