WEBVTT - 8. Return of The Limping Lady (Season 2) 0:00:07.120 --> 0:00:15.800 Diversion audio. A note this episode contains descriptions of violence 0:00:16.000 --> 0:00:19.360 that may be disturbing for some audiences. Please take care 0:00:19.400 --> 0:00:24.680 in listening. This series is based on historical characters and 0:00:24.720 --> 0:00:28.960 real events. Some dialogue has been imagined for dramatic purposes 0:00:29.200 --> 0:00:38.240 when no primary source material is available. Virginia Hall's prison 0:00:38.280 --> 0:00:41.560 cell in San Juan de la Sabad, Sas small town 0:00:41.560 --> 0:00:45.640 in the northeast of Spain, was something out of a nightmare. Cold, 0:00:45.960 --> 0:00:53.240 damn claustrophobic, with no company besides the rats. Virginia thought 0:00:53.280 --> 0:00:56.560 back and contemplated whether she could have done anything differently, 0:00:56.960 --> 0:01:00.720 playing the scenarios over and over in her head. If 0:01:00.760 --> 0:01:02.800 she tried to run from the Spanish police in the 0:01:02.840 --> 0:01:07.080 train station, they likely would have shot her dead. Besides, 0:01:07.480 --> 0:01:10.119 she never would have gotten away, being weak from her 0:01:10.120 --> 0:01:18.400 recent mountain trek and with a blistered, swollen legs stone. 0:01:19.319 --> 0:01:22.440 Virginia imagined the moment in which the Spanish police would 0:01:22.440 --> 0:01:25.119 hand her over to the Gestapo and their glee at 0:01:25.120 --> 0:01:29.480 having finally captured the limping lady. She knew the Nazis 0:01:29.480 --> 0:01:32.640 wouldn't risk letting her escape. They transfer her to a 0:01:32.720 --> 0:01:37.520 secret facility, interrogate her torture her and kill her, or 0:01:37.560 --> 0:01:40.840 sometimes the Nazis kept their prisoners alive and attempted to 0:01:40.920 --> 0:01:45.479 leverage them against the Allies. Months of psychological torture would 0:01:45.480 --> 0:01:49.680 give way to more physical punishments, dousing with freezing water, 0:01:50.200 --> 0:01:54.680 electric shocks, beatings, and cutting. This was the way of 0:01:54.680 --> 0:01:58.400 the Nazis. But Virginia's capture was too big a threat 0:01:58.440 --> 0:02:01.680 to the British. She knew too much, and the Nazis 0:02:01.720 --> 0:02:04.880 could assume that the British would change battle strategy once 0:02:04.920 --> 0:02:09.440 the s OE Virginia's intelligence agency discovered she'd been captured. 0:02:10.000 --> 0:02:13.320 Virginia's information would be useless, and so she was as 0:02:13.360 --> 0:02:17.639 good as dead. I want to speak to the American embassy. 0:02:17.800 --> 0:02:23.920 I'm an American. Her nationality was maybe the one thing 0:02:24.080 --> 0:02:28.560 that could save her. In late Spain was still considered 0:02:28.600 --> 0:02:33.200 technically neutral in the war. The Spanish dictator Francisco Franco 0:02:33.600 --> 0:02:37.120 had offered Hitler Spain's allegiance and returned for aid in 0:02:37.240 --> 0:02:41.320 nation building. There was a division of Spanish volunteers fighting 0:02:41.360 --> 0:02:45.960 for the German army, but Spain still remained reluctant and fickle. 0:02:47.000 --> 0:02:53.040 Franco's regime is ideologically complex, and people still fight over 0:02:53.160 --> 0:02:58.160 whether or not it was fascist or just really authoritarian 0:02:58.360 --> 0:03:04.040 and traditionalist, regardless of how anyone's individual sees it. The 0:03:04.120 --> 0:03:09.160 regime was very friendly to Nazi Germany and especially Fascist Italy, 0:03:09.240 --> 0:03:14.079 because Italy and Germany had backed Franco in the Civil War. 0:03:14.680 --> 0:03:20.760 So Spain tended politically to like the Axis powers a lot. 0:03:21.720 --> 0:03:26.280 That's Andrew or the historian who runs Kansas State University's 0:03:26.560 --> 0:03:31.040 Institute for Military History. We've heard from him in previous episodes. 0:03:31.919 --> 0:03:36.680 Once the US enters the war, Spain's position becomes even 0:03:36.840 --> 0:03:42.640 more fraught. The Atlantic is now overwhelmingly in Allied hands. 0:03:42.680 --> 0:03:47.280 It was already under British control that Spain was dependent 0:03:47.880 --> 0:03:53.120 on being able to buy food from Latin America. They 0:03:53.160 --> 0:03:57.200 were buying food from Argentina. They were buying food and 0:03:57.480 --> 0:04:02.680 getting oil from Mexico, and the United States had tremendous 0:04:02.720 --> 0:04:08.200 influence in Latin America. If the United States leaned hard 0:04:08.440 --> 0:04:12.840 on Mexico and Argentina, the US had the wherewithal to 0:04:13.040 --> 0:04:18.600 choke off Spain's ability to buy anything in Latin America, 0:04:18.839 --> 0:04:23.040 and so the Spanish government knew it needed to avoid 0:04:23.120 --> 0:04:27.320 an open breach with the United States. And so Franco 0:04:27.560 --> 0:04:32.360 created this complex diplomacy in which he was neutral in 0:04:32.400 --> 0:04:37.640 the war between America and Britain versus Germany, was non 0:04:37.720 --> 0:04:41.719 belligerent but pro axis in the war against the Soviet Union, 0:04:42.240 --> 0:04:45.240 and then claimed to be pro American in the war 0:04:45.320 --> 0:04:50.159 against Japan. So Franco flirted with helping the Nazis, but 0:04:50.320 --> 0:04:53.280 usually not at the expense of hurting their trade relationship 0:04:53.400 --> 0:04:58.000 with the United States. But maybe Virginia's American citizenship was 0:04:58.160 --> 0:05:01.440 just enough to override any ribes the Nazis were making 0:05:01.760 --> 0:05:07.120 for her capture. Hello, do you hear me? If anything 0:05:07.200 --> 0:05:10.040 happens to me, there will be hell to shut up. 0:05:10.600 --> 0:05:13.200 We've gone back and then you'll get your answers soon. 0:05:15.360 --> 0:05:17.600 All she could do now was waiting for the cavalry 0:05:17.680 --> 0:05:21.120 to arrive and hope they were faster than Robert Alesh 0:05:21.400 --> 0:05:34.880 and Klaus Barbie. I'm Stephen Talty and from diversion, this 0:05:34.960 --> 0:05:39.200 is good Assassin's Season two. Being killed would be the 0:05:39.240 --> 0:05:43.000 easy part. Being tortured would be the hard part. All 0:05:43.120 --> 0:05:46.800 intel suggests she is behind many of the prison bricks 0:05:47.000 --> 0:05:54.120 over the country. She's dangerous, so sabotage plus a little espionage, 0:05:54.480 --> 0:06:00.520 paramilitary operations make things blow up. The message for Captain Bobby, 0:06:01.320 --> 0:06:05.560 I believe I have found the nest of the Limping Lady. 0:06:09.200 --> 0:06:22.680 Episode eight, The Return of the Limping Lady. Yes, Doctor Say, Yes, 0:06:23.320 --> 0:06:26.920 please open the door. Doctor Say, you are wanted for questioning. 0:06:27.839 --> 0:06:30.919 Back in Leone, France, the Gestapo had appeared at the 0:06:31.000 --> 0:06:35.120 office doorstep of doctor Jean wus Say, Virginia Halls, trusted 0:06:35.160 --> 0:06:39.600 accomplice in the resistance. It was time for the Nazis 0:06:39.720 --> 0:06:43.159 to act on the information given to them by Robert Alesh, 0:06:43.520 --> 0:06:48.160 who had infiltrated Virginia's resistance cell known as Heckler by 0:06:48.160 --> 0:06:52.120 posing as a priest aiding the freedom fighters. Doctor Hussay 0:06:52.520 --> 0:06:55.760 was the first man on their list. You know you 0:06:55.839 --> 0:06:58.560 are in league bus this woman. It would do you 0:06:59.200 --> 0:07:03.039 to tell us there she is. The Nazis showed the 0:07:03.080 --> 0:07:06.880 doctor a wanted poster of Virginia, her likeness sketched out 0:07:06.960 --> 0:07:11.080 in remarkable detail. Doctor us Say had noticed the posters 0:07:11.120 --> 0:07:14.000 going up around Leone the day before and knew that 0:07:14.080 --> 0:07:18.960 somebody somewhere had given up Virginia, but apparently they didn't 0:07:18.960 --> 0:07:23.000 know everything. If they did, they wouldn't be interrogating him 0:07:23.040 --> 0:07:28.320 at all. You recognize her, Yes, I do. That is 0:07:28.400 --> 0:07:33.120 no denial. No, I'm not denying anything except it didn't 0:07:33.120 --> 0:07:36.760 know she was this limping lady. She was a patient 0:07:36.880 --> 0:07:40.600 of mine. What was her name? You have her name, 0:07:40.920 --> 0:07:46.680 it's there on the poster. Marie Mona interrogation. It's not 0:07:46.800 --> 0:07:50.240 something that I grow tired. Don't say. They may take 0:07:50.280 --> 0:07:54.040 as much time with this as you like. But even 0:07:54.120 --> 0:07:58.600 after hours of intensive questioning, who say never broke? He 0:07:58.640 --> 0:08:01.160 claimed that he only knew the limping as a patient 0:08:01.440 --> 0:08:05.280 who had requested care. He provided her nothing but treatment, 0:08:05.640 --> 0:08:08.360 just as he would anyone, and he had nothing to hide. 0:08:09.360 --> 0:08:11.840 What he didn't know was that back at his home, 0:08:12.320 --> 0:08:15.840 the Nazi operative Robert A. Leash was interrogating his maid, 0:08:16.520 --> 0:08:19.240 and she was more than happy to provide as many 0:08:19.280 --> 0:08:22.600 details as she could, thinking she could help spare the 0:08:22.680 --> 0:08:27.720 doctor's life. You must think of doctor who says, well, 0:08:27.800 --> 0:08:32.120 being madame, my superiors, I have different methods than I. 0:08:33.320 --> 0:08:37.480 At this very moment, the good doctor is likely being flayed. 0:08:38.240 --> 0:08:41.680 Over time, beats of him become strips, and the strips 0:08:41.720 --> 0:08:46.520 become chunks. It would be unrecognizable in a matter of ours. 0:08:47.440 --> 0:08:50.199 And you are the only one who can stop this. 0:08:51.760 --> 0:08:54.760 The maid didn't know Virginia's real name, but she knew 0:08:54.800 --> 0:08:56.920 the address of the safe house where she was staying. 0:08:58.280 --> 0:09:02.240 I can tell you where she lived, but this was 0:09:02.320 --> 0:09:06.880 information unless already had He'd met Virginia there himself under 0:09:06.920 --> 0:09:09.520 his cover of father at Coom, and they had already 0:09:09.520 --> 0:09:12.680 found that safe house abandoned. They needed to know the 0:09:12.720 --> 0:09:17.320 limping lady's current location. Russay's maid was of no help. 0:09:18.160 --> 0:09:22.480 The Gestapo arrested Dr Roussey and sent him to Friend Prison, 0:09:22.960 --> 0:09:26.600 where he'd be tortured in solitary confinement for weeks until 0:09:26.640 --> 0:09:30.080 his transfer to the buch and Valved concentration camp, where 0:09:30.080 --> 0:09:40.600 he would remain for eighteen ruling months. Yeah mhm, damn it. 0:09:42.000 --> 0:09:47.800 Enjoy your stay, yank. Back in northern Spain, Virginia was 0:09:47.840 --> 0:09:51.400 transferred to the Miranda de Ebro prison just outside the 0:09:51.400 --> 0:09:54.640 city of Aa Garis. It was here she encountered her 0:09:54.679 --> 0:10:01.280 new cellmate, a sex worker named Elena Hello men Nambres 0:10:01.280 --> 0:10:08.040 Elena Minamres Maria. Elena explained that she had been in 0:10:08.080 --> 0:10:11.080 the prison for almost six months, but her sentence would 0:10:11.080 --> 0:10:14.000 be up in a month. She was very sick and 0:10:14.080 --> 0:10:17.720 judging by her brittle voice and fragile appearance, Virginia wasn't 0:10:17.720 --> 0:10:20.720 sure the girl was going to make it. Still, she 0:10:20.840 --> 0:10:23.040 took to the young woman and did her best to 0:10:23.120 --> 0:10:26.840 keep Elena safe and healthy. It was in Virginia's nature 0:10:26.920 --> 0:10:30.160 to be a caretaker, and the two became fast friends. 0:10:31.240 --> 0:10:34.640 As Elena's release state approached, she asked Virginia to write 0:10:34.679 --> 0:10:38.960 a letter to the American consulate in Barcelona. When I 0:10:39.040 --> 0:10:43.679 get out, I will send it for you. You cannot 0:10:43.800 --> 0:10:48.319 dress these men with anything around here. Virginia did as 0:10:48.320 --> 0:10:51.360 Elena said, penning a letter that was half a plea 0:10:51.440 --> 0:10:55.280 for help and half a coded transmission for the s oe. 0:10:56.080 --> 0:10:59.720 Elena did survive her sentence, and when she was finally released, 0:11:00.120 --> 0:11:05.079 Virginia allowed herself a morsel of hope, you can trust 0:11:05.160 --> 0:11:11.360 me money. Twenty days after Virginia's arrest, a man appeared 0:11:11.400 --> 0:11:15.280 at the prison doors asking for her. He displayed assigned 0:11:15.400 --> 0:11:19.719 notice by the Spanish government for her immediate release. In 0:11:19.840 --> 0:11:25.320 December two, Virginia was a free woman, all thanks to 0:11:25.360 --> 0:11:28.720 a sex worker named Elena. It was the first time 0:11:28.720 --> 0:11:35.280 in her career Virginia was saved by somebody else. Virginia 0:11:35.360 --> 0:11:38.920 traveled the eighty five miles south to Barcelona and from 0:11:38.960 --> 0:11:42.120 there to London, a trip made much easier with the 0:11:42.120 --> 0:11:45.520 help of the s OE, who offered direct assistance in 0:11:45.559 --> 0:11:51.960 the form of an escort with verified paperwork. On Christmas, 0:11:52.000 --> 0:11:55.120 she reunited with her friend, an unofficial handler in the 0:11:55.280 --> 0:12:01.520 s Oe, Vera Atkins, at a dinner party, but found 0:12:01.520 --> 0:12:05.160 herself put off by the atmosphere. The war didn't stop 0:12:05.200 --> 0:12:08.720 with the holidays, and Virginia had recently been informed of 0:12:08.800 --> 0:12:13.280 doctor Hussay's capture and transfer to a concentration camp at 0:12:13.320 --> 0:12:17.840 the hands of Robert Alesh. She couldn't help but feel guilty. 0:12:18.440 --> 0:12:21.760 She didn't want a break or a vacation. She wanted 0:12:21.800 --> 0:12:24.640 to get back to France. She wanted to find Robert 0:12:24.640 --> 0:12:30.400 Alesh and bring him to justice. After the break, Virginia 0:12:30.480 --> 0:12:39.360 takes the fight back to the Nazis. Hi. This is 0:12:39.360 --> 0:12:43.080 Stephen Talty, host of Good Assassins. The folks that helped 0:12:43.120 --> 0:12:46.199 me bring you the show have just launched another podcast 0:12:46.280 --> 0:12:50.360 that we think you'll like. It's called War Queens. Every 0:12:50.360 --> 0:12:53.840 episode of War Queens tells the story of a fearless, 0:12:54.000 --> 0:12:58.760 powerful female leader from history from Elizabeth Tudor and Golden 0:12:58.800 --> 0:13:02.400 my years, high stakes wartime gambles, two Angola Is Queen 0:13:02.480 --> 0:13:06.880 Najinga's willingness to shed and occasionally drink blood to defend 0:13:06.880 --> 0:13:09.680 her kingdom, to endear A Gandhi's war, to solve a 0:13:09.720 --> 0:13:14.599 refugee crisis, and so many more. These are super engrossing 0:13:14.679 --> 0:13:18.679 stories told by expert historians in a way that's accessible 0:13:18.760 --> 0:13:23.760 and interesting. It's great listening. Every episode of War Queens 0:13:23.840 --> 0:13:27.600 brings you the stories of extraordinary leaders, all of them legends. 0:13:28.480 --> 0:13:32.480 War Queens is out now. Follow the show on Apple podcasts, 0:13:32.559 --> 0:13:36.040 the I Heart Radio app, and wherever you listen to podcasts. 0:13:43.000 --> 0:13:46.600 Virginia Hall's returned to France would be long fought. That 0:13:46.679 --> 0:13:49.760 her face was being plastered on wanted posters all over 0:13:49.840 --> 0:13:53.200 lyon in Paris gave the s Oe pause at the 0:13:53.240 --> 0:13:56.679 idea of sending her back into the Fray. She was 0:13:56.720 --> 0:13:59.880 assigned a four month stint in Spain, where she was 0:14:00.040 --> 0:14:02.720 forced to do the grunt work of procuring safe houses 0:14:03.000 --> 0:14:07.440 for fugitives and other spies. Virginia couldn't help but feel 0:14:07.480 --> 0:14:11.280 as though her talents were being wasted. She wrote to 0:14:11.320 --> 0:14:15.520 her superior at the s o E, Colonel Maurice Buckmaster, 0:14:17.800 --> 0:14:25.880 I've given it a good four months. Anyhow, I always 0:14:25.960 --> 0:14:31.240 did want to go back to France. When I came 0:14:31.280 --> 0:14:35.200 out here. I thought that I would be able to help. 0:14:36.040 --> 0:14:41.280 But I don't and can't. I'm not doing a job. 0:14:41.800 --> 0:14:48.640 I am simply living pleasantly and wasting time. It isn't 0:14:48.680 --> 0:14:52.640 worth while. And after all, my neck is my own. 0:14:53.240 --> 0:14:56.040 And if I'm willing to get a crook in it 0:14:56.280 --> 0:15:03.320 because there is a war on, I do think well. Anyhow, 0:15:04.440 --> 0:15:08.240 I put it up to you. The response from Colonel 0:15:08.240 --> 0:15:13.360 Buckmaster was less than enthusiastic. I know all about the 0:15:13.440 --> 0:15:17.320 things you could do, and it is only because I 0:15:17.400 --> 0:15:21.360 honestly believe that the Gestapo would also know it. In 0:15:21.400 --> 0:15:27.240 about a fortnight that I say, no, dearest, No, you 0:15:27.320 --> 0:15:30.880 are really too well known in the country and it 0:15:30.920 --> 0:15:35.000 would be wishful thinking believing you could escape detention for 0:15:35.120 --> 0:15:42.040 more than a few days. To say that Virginia was 0:15:42.080 --> 0:15:46.160 frustrated was an understatement. After all the great work she'd 0:15:46.160 --> 0:15:49.400 done in all the lives she'd saved, she was being 0:15:49.480 --> 0:15:53.160 refused access to the country where she believed she could 0:15:53.160 --> 0:15:56.400 do the most good. For the next few months in London, 0:15:56.600 --> 0:16:01.600 she stowed with every passing day considered the damage Robert 0:16:01.600 --> 0:16:05.280 Alesh could be doing to the Allies. She had warned 0:16:05.280 --> 0:16:09.160 her superiors about him, but hadn't received any updates regarding 0:16:09.200 --> 0:16:13.280 his current location or actions. She had to find a lesh, 0:16:13.600 --> 0:16:20.320 and she was sick of waiting. Before she realized it, 0:16:20.640 --> 0:16:25.000 the year Ninet had rolled in. Multiple attempts to return 0:16:25.040 --> 0:16:29.120 to France were all denied by Buckmaster, and Virginia finally 0:16:29.160 --> 0:16:32.880 decided that the s OE was no longer the place 0:16:33.080 --> 0:16:39.160 for her. So OSS really was the United States first 0:16:39.320 --> 0:16:46.080 foray into a civilian intelligence agency or service. That's Chris Costa, 0:16:46.480 --> 0:16:50.760 the executive director of the International Spy Museum. He worked 0:16:50.800 --> 0:16:54.560 as an intelligence officer for twenty five years. Chris is 0:16:54.600 --> 0:16:59.640 talking about the OSS, the Office of Strategic Services. We 0:16:59.720 --> 0:17:04.600 had the FBI, but we had no national intelligence capability. 0:17:04.840 --> 0:17:08.240 We had military intelligence, we had ad tches in the 0:17:08.320 --> 0:17:12.440 United States, and we had a tradition of developing battlefield 0:17:12.480 --> 0:17:15.520 intelligence when it was called for, but we didn't have 0:17:15.560 --> 0:17:18.960 a civilian intelligence agency. So this was a big move. 0:17:19.960 --> 0:17:23.679 Costa explained that the Americans created the agency largely in 0:17:23.720 --> 0:17:29.040 the mold of Britain's s OE, Virginia's agency. They really 0:17:29.080 --> 0:17:34.000 did have very similar design. They had things that blew up. 0:17:34.280 --> 0:17:39.200 They also recruited agents to provide intelligence. They helped move 0:17:39.320 --> 0:17:43.879 down to aviators, aviators that were trying to escape and 0:17:43.960 --> 0:17:48.080 evade after they parachuted into enemy territory so they could 0:17:48.119 --> 0:17:52.600 get back in the fight. Virginia knew that the new 0:17:52.600 --> 0:17:56.359 American agency, the O S S, had connections with the 0:17:56.520 --> 0:18:00.399 s OE. She'd heard rumors that the OSS was hiring 0:18:00.440 --> 0:18:04.920 young agents with nothing to lose, bold shoot first, ask 0:18:05.040 --> 0:18:08.000 questions later types that seemed to be more her speed, 0:18:08.840 --> 0:18:11.600 But the agency hadn't made it to the key countries 0:18:11.640 --> 0:18:14.760 in Europe just yet, with most of their operations up 0:18:14.760 --> 0:18:18.160 to that point taking place in North Africa and Sweden. 0:18:21.520 --> 0:18:25.800 Virginia approached Buckmaster with a new strategy. The O S 0:18:25.800 --> 0:18:28.440 S could do great work in France, but they didn't 0:18:28.480 --> 0:18:31.560 know the country. What they needed was someone who knew 0:18:31.560 --> 0:18:36.159 the grounds, someone with resistance connections, and someone experienced in 0:18:36.320 --> 0:18:41.240 undercover work. She proposed formally leaving s OE and joining 0:18:41.320 --> 0:18:45.159 the O S S. She would work entirely in disguise, 0:18:45.560 --> 0:18:48.760 and if she were captured, she would be the Americans problem, 0:18:48.800 --> 0:18:53.040 not Britons. Her face was known, she limped, she had 0:18:53.080 --> 0:18:57.160 a horrible action. There was no way she would survive 0:18:57.600 --> 0:19:02.240 even if they were able to infiltrator back into the country. 0:19:02.520 --> 0:19:06.040 There were too many things against her. That's Judith Pearson 0:19:06.280 --> 0:19:09.920 from earlier episodes. She's the author of the first biography 0:19:09.960 --> 0:19:14.520 of Virginia Hall, The Wolves at the Door, And so 0:19:14.720 --> 0:19:19.080 I believe she really drew on her love of the 0:19:19.080 --> 0:19:22.520 theater from when she was growing up, acting a character 0:19:22.640 --> 0:19:26.760 which she had really been doing all along, And so 0:19:26.880 --> 0:19:31.440 why not disguise herself as an old woman. She could 0:19:31.800 --> 0:19:35.240 limp and not be caught. She could mumble and her 0:19:35.320 --> 0:19:40.120 accent not necessarily be noticed. And if she patted her 0:19:40.119 --> 0:19:43.040 clothing and dyed her hair and hunched over, she had 0:19:43.040 --> 0:19:45.479 looked nothing like the face that was on that poster. 0:19:46.680 --> 0:19:49.400 We can't say for sure if Virginia's motivations to get 0:19:49.400 --> 0:19:52.640 back into France were entirely driven by her personal need 0:19:53.000 --> 0:19:55.760 to see Robert Alesh brought to justice, but you have 0:19:55.880 --> 0:19:59.760 to imagine it was a factor for his part. Buckmaster 0:20:00.040 --> 0:20:04.240 grudgingly took Virginia's proposal to the OSS, and it was accepted, 0:20:04.960 --> 0:20:10.040 and so on March tenth, Virginia joined the OSS with 0:20:10.119 --> 0:20:13.679 a one year contract. But the France that Virginia was 0:20:13.720 --> 0:20:18.240 returning to had devolved into even more violence. Here's Andrew 0:20:18.280 --> 0:20:23.040 Ore again, the military historian, German troops become more violent 0:20:23.160 --> 0:20:28.080 probably after our ninety three, as the sense of desperation 0:20:28.240 --> 0:20:33.040 kicks in. They become less disciplined, more willing to engage 0:20:33.080 --> 0:20:36.679 in low scale violence. They're not shooting up Paris, but 0:20:37.160 --> 0:20:41.119 German troops are more likely to beat up and rob civilians. 0:20:41.440 --> 0:20:44.879 They are more likely to rape French women. The later 0:20:44.960 --> 0:20:48.719 in the war, you get your subject to search more often, 0:20:48.760 --> 0:20:53.080 you're more likely to be arrested on fabricated charges. As 0:20:53.119 --> 0:21:01.360 the war goes along, German aggression was at an all 0:21:01.400 --> 0:21:04.840 time high, with horrific murders taking place on the streets 0:21:04.880 --> 0:21:10.000 against French nationals, especially Jews. The Nazis had become paranoid 0:21:10.040 --> 0:21:14.880 about rebellion and uprisings. Their pension for deportations to concentration 0:21:14.960 --> 0:21:20.120 camps had increased tenfold. On top of that, Virginia came 0:21:20.160 --> 0:21:23.480 to discover that almost the entirety of Heckler had been 0:21:23.520 --> 0:21:27.600 wiped out. Robert Alesh had succeeded in pulling apart the 0:21:27.680 --> 0:21:32.440 web of resistance sheet created and a new French fascist 0:21:32.440 --> 0:21:36.560 paramilitary group had popped up to aid the Nazis, created 0:21:36.560 --> 0:21:39.560 by the v She regime and supported by the Germans. 0:21:40.119 --> 0:21:43.720 It was known as the Mileise. So the Milease was 0:21:43.840 --> 0:21:48.119 founded in January nine three, so again in those final 0:21:48.200 --> 0:21:51.600 eighteen months when things are much more violent in in 0:21:51.640 --> 0:21:54.159 Tens in France, and when the Germans have occupied by 0:21:54.160 --> 0:21:58.920 this point the entire territory. That's Dr Ludovin Brock. She's 0:21:58.920 --> 0:22:02.160 a scholar of World War to French history and lecturer 0:22:02.359 --> 0:22:07.600 at the University of Westminster. It's essentially a paramilitary force VISI, 0:22:07.800 --> 0:22:10.439 and their mission is quite similar to that of the 0:22:10.720 --> 0:22:16.639 s S S. It's to suppress especially resistors. By nine you know, 0:22:16.680 --> 0:22:19.240 the kind of whispers of resistance we were talking about 0:22:19.320 --> 0:22:24.880 earlier are now shouts, and the resistors are also becoming 0:22:24.880 --> 0:22:28.640 more armed, becoming more of a threat. Sabotage is increasing 0:22:29.359 --> 0:22:32.200 and people are getting more angry. So there's a very 0:22:32.280 --> 0:22:36.240 keen commitment to suppress this resistance, and resistors are often 0:22:36.280 --> 0:22:41.679 portrayed by VC propagandist traders for instance, as terrorists. In fact, 0:22:42.280 --> 0:22:45.800 the Malise was an anti Semitic secret police force stuffed 0:22:45.800 --> 0:22:48.960 to the brim with amateur gang members and fascist ideal 0:22:49.000 --> 0:22:52.119 logues who are French citizens and knew the people in 0:22:52.119 --> 0:22:56.080 the towns better than the Nazis ever could. Rock told 0:22:56.160 --> 0:22:59.160 us about the type of Frenchman who joined the organization. 0:22:59.760 --> 0:23:05.359 You probably be from a quite radical, possibly right winged background. 0:23:06.080 --> 0:23:12.640 You were probably a man, You were probably very angry, 0:23:13.200 --> 0:23:19.880 anti Semitism, xenophobia. Those are the kind of values which 0:23:19.880 --> 0:23:24.880 would have been important for a militia. The Malise made 0:23:24.920 --> 0:23:29.280 no distinction between political enemies and personal ones. They saw 0:23:29.400 --> 0:23:32.880 Nazism as a means to eradicate everything they disagreed with 0:23:33.119 --> 0:23:36.439 or disliked in another human being, and they were growing 0:23:36.560 --> 0:23:40.600 in massive numbers daily. Virginia's hunt for Robert A Lesh 0:23:40.880 --> 0:23:45.280 would have to be put on hold. After the break, 0:23:45.600 --> 0:23:48.320 Virginia Hall finds another group she sees taking on the 0:23:48.359 --> 0:24:02.520 Molise and winning. Ginia's return to France had a rocky start. 0:24:03.240 --> 0:24:06.919 The os S gave her a partner co named Aramis, 0:24:07.000 --> 0:24:10.240 who was sixty two years old, inexperienced in the field, 0:24:10.520 --> 0:24:14.679 and talkative. When he met Virginia, Aramis blurted out his 0:24:14.920 --> 0:24:18.800 entire history, his birthplace, his family and job history. As 0:24:18.800 --> 0:24:23.200 though she was a close friend. Ah, you wouldn't believe 0:24:23.320 --> 0:24:27.800 my tobers the share amount of things they are asking 0:24:27.920 --> 0:24:31.399 of me back home. Mon dieu. As though I'm in 0:24:31.560 --> 0:24:37.240 my better years, I don't understand those who always see 0:24:37.359 --> 0:24:41.720 their children as babies. I've been begging for my children 0:24:41.800 --> 0:24:46.040 to stop being children for years, to grow up and 0:24:46.119 --> 0:24:49.720 take care of themselves for once. This is what I 0:24:49.800 --> 0:24:55.600 get for spoiling. Then, Uh, there's food on the lane. Yes, 0:24:57.040 --> 0:24:59.399 he was loud, he had a bad day, He was 0:24:59.440 --> 0:25:02.480 always in pain. He wanted food, he wanted to rest. 0:25:02.600 --> 0:25:05.960 He was just a pain in the deary year. First 0:25:05.960 --> 0:25:09.840 impressions meant everything to Virginia, and this guy didn't seem 0:25:09.880 --> 0:25:12.200 to know how to keep his mouth shut. He was 0:25:12.280 --> 0:25:15.159 violating the very first lesson taught by the S O 0:25:15.240 --> 0:25:19.160 E and the OSS in the field. Don't let anyone 0:25:19.240 --> 0:25:30.960 know who you really are. Virginia's primary position with the 0:25:31.000 --> 0:25:34.640 O S S was to be a radio technician responsible 0:25:34.680 --> 0:25:38.960 for wiring and broadcasting messages about German truth movements back 0:25:39.000 --> 0:25:43.080 to London, as well as signaling locations for parachute drops. 0:25:43.840 --> 0:25:46.720 Aramis was to be centered in Paris, where he'd helped 0:25:46.720 --> 0:25:50.240 develop safe houses for spies and resistance fighters in need 0:25:50.280 --> 0:25:54.800 of hiding. Notably, Virginia was to remain in disguise throughout 0:25:54.840 --> 0:25:58.640 her entire mission. She dyed her hair gray and hid 0:25:58.640 --> 0:26:01.760 it under a folded handkerche of. She doubled up on 0:26:01.840 --> 0:26:05.840 puffy clothes, sporting two wolf skirts. She dressed and muted 0:26:06.040 --> 0:26:10.000 unremarkable colors, anything to give off the impression that she 0:26:10.160 --> 0:26:13.080 wasn't a woman in her late thirties but closer to sixty. 0:26:15.119 --> 0:26:17.879 Virginia was so committed to her new role that she 0:26:17.920 --> 0:26:21.360 had a dentist changed her American villings two more closely 0:26:21.400 --> 0:26:25.479 resembled the dental work done by the French. In fact, 0:26:25.760 --> 0:26:29.639 Brad Catling, Virginia's great nephew, attended a c I A 0:26:29.840 --> 0:26:34.760 lecture recently and heard this, Virginia's disguise was one of 0:26:34.760 --> 0:26:36.879 the best that the c I are the you know, 0:26:36.920 --> 0:26:40.159 the American intelligence had ever come up with, because it 0:26:40.240 --> 0:26:42.960 was so effective, and it allowed her to be in 0:26:43.000 --> 0:26:46.439 a place where she had already been burned, where her 0:26:46.480 --> 0:26:50.520 cover had already been blown. She made sure she could 0:26:50.600 --> 0:26:53.960 not be mistaken for a freedom fighter. She became someone 0:26:54.200 --> 0:27:06.000 entirely invisible in the war effort Fresh New York when 0:27:06.080 --> 0:27:09.280 Virginia and Aramis first arrived in Paris by train. They 0:27:09.280 --> 0:27:12.280 were met with a ghastly site. More of the great 0:27:12.280 --> 0:27:15.880 city was blown to bits than they'd expected. The Germans 0:27:15.880 --> 0:27:18.840 and the Malise had torn and burnt down buildings and homes, 0:27:19.240 --> 0:27:23.800 turning once lively and populated neighborhoods into ghost towns. There 0:27:23.800 --> 0:27:25.879 seemed to be no spark of life in any of 0:27:25.920 --> 0:27:35.000 the citizens who wandered the city, seemingly in a haunted haze. 0:27:35.840 --> 0:27:39.360 After settling Aramis into his safe house, Virginia set off 0:27:39.359 --> 0:27:41.880 for a farm in the small village of my Due, 0:27:42.520 --> 0:27:44.760 when she would be staying in a cottage owned by 0:27:44.800 --> 0:27:49.720 resistance member Eugene lopan A. Virginia worked on Lopanese farm 0:27:49.800 --> 0:27:53.040 for a few months, tending to livestock and performing other 0:27:53.119 --> 0:27:57.000 daily farm duties. She concocted a plan to sell cheese 0:27:57.040 --> 0:27:59.760 to the Nazis, hoping to get close to them and 0:27:59.800 --> 0:28:03.919 potentially overhear plans. While her disguise was good enough to 0:28:03.920 --> 0:28:07.600 fool them, she never received any helpful information to send 0:28:07.600 --> 0:28:10.480 back to London, and she quickly considered her time in 0:28:10.560 --> 0:28:18.840 the Oss wasted. She eventually transferred to the city of 0:28:18.920 --> 0:28:22.080 Kne a few hours south of Paris to meet a 0:28:22.160 --> 0:28:27.639 contact she hoped would leverage her talents more effectively. The 0:28:27.720 --> 0:28:30.800 contact name was Colonel besser Row, and he was the 0:28:30.840 --> 0:28:35.240 chief of police with good leadership standing the resistance. Virginia 0:28:35.280 --> 0:28:37.679 had hoped to meet him because vess Row was in 0:28:37.760 --> 0:28:40.880 league with a new faction of French, British and German 0:28:40.920 --> 0:28:44.480 freedom fighters, a ragtag group of men growing in numbers 0:28:44.520 --> 0:28:57.600 throughout the country known as the Marquis Sundays Jerza. So 0:28:57.920 --> 0:29:03.560 the McKey is a kind of resistance guerilla fighter. That's 0:29:03.600 --> 0:29:07.760 scholar Ludovin Brock again, she's talking about the molasses opposite 0:29:08.040 --> 0:29:14.600 the Marquis. There's not like a single organization. It's much 0:29:14.640 --> 0:29:18.640 more fractured, especially in its founding. It starts really nineteen 0:29:19.240 --> 0:29:22.240 three with young men who are evading the forced labor service. 0:29:23.360 --> 0:29:27.680 Starting in n frenchmen were deported to Germany to work 0:29:27.680 --> 0:29:31.280 as forced laborers for the Nazi regime. Over the course 0:29:31.360 --> 0:29:35.520 of two years, over half a million Frenchmen were sent away. 0:29:36.080 --> 0:29:39.680 This caused widespread outrage. And what they do is they 0:29:39.760 --> 0:29:41.840 end up going into hiding in the woods or in 0:29:41.880 --> 0:29:45.920 the countryside. In the mountains and so that they don't 0:29:45.920 --> 0:29:49.480 have to be sent to Germany, and they live in 0:29:49.560 --> 0:29:53.320 camps and kind of rural areas, deserted farmyards, all of 0:29:53.360 --> 0:29:57.320 these things. They kind of make established homes there. These 0:29:57.360 --> 0:30:02.000 fighters sabotaged German forces and French collaborators scrapping to get 0:30:02.040 --> 0:30:06.240 their country back, But the McKee weren't unified in their aims. 0:30:06.920 --> 0:30:11.440