~snip~
2] Virginia Hall (1906-1982) ... arguably the most effective female spy in history, Hall was born into a wealthy Baltimore family and chose a life of service and adventure rather than cosseted privilege. Amazingly, even though she had lost part of a leg in a hunting accident, she roamed occupied France, evading the Gestapo and German intelligence agents who regarded her, reputedly, as the most dangerous of Allied spies. She first worked for SOE and, when the British forbade her from returning to France, she joined the OSS and, disguised as an elderly milkmaid, provided important help to the French resistance ...
3] Noor Inayat Khan (1914-1944) ... Khan was codenamed Madeleine, and was the first female wireless operator sent to France. Unfortunately, SOE operations in France often failed due to incompetence and betrayal. Khan was captured, held in solitary confinement for almost a year, and then executed at Dachau, aged 30, in September 1944. She was posthumously awarded the George Cross – the highest civilian award for gallantry in Britain.
4] Nancy Wake (1912-2011) Born in New Zealand, Wake married a wealthy French industrialist and was living in Marseille when France fell to the Nazis. She then helped downed RAF crew escape to Spain. Managing to get to Britain before she could be captured by the Gestapo, who dubbed her “The White Mouse”, she learned that her husband was not so lucky and had been executed. Wake nevertheless returned to France with the SOE and would become the most decorated servicewoman of WWII ...
https://www.wwiimemorialfriends.org/blog/top-ten-female-spies
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