Speaker 1: Diversion audio. A note this episode contains descriptions of violence
Speaker 1: that may be disturbing for some audiences. Please take care
Speaker 1: in listening. This series is based on historical characters and
Speaker 1: real events. Some dialogue has been imagined for dramatic purposes
Speaker 1: when no primary source material is available. Virginia Hall's prison
Speaker 1: cell in San Juan de la Sabad, Sas small town
Speaker 1: in the northeast of Spain, was something out of a nightmare. Cold,
Speaker 1: damn claustrophobic, with no company besides the rats. Virginia thought
Speaker 1: back and contemplated whether she could have done anything differently,
Speaker 1: playing the scenarios over and over in her head. If
Speaker 1: she tried to run from the Spanish police in the
Speaker 1: train station, they likely would have shot her dead. Besides,
Speaker 1: she never would have gotten away, being weak from her
Speaker 1: recent mountain trek and with a blistered, swollen legs stone.
Speaker 1: Virginia imagined the moment in which the Spanish police would
Speaker 1: hand her over to the Gestapo and their glee at
Speaker 1: having finally captured the limping lady. She knew the Nazis
Speaker 1: wouldn't risk letting her escape. They transfer her to a
Speaker 1: secret facility, interrogate her torture her and kill her, or
Speaker 1: sometimes the Nazis kept their prisoners alive and attempted to
Speaker 1: leverage them against the Allies. Months of psychological torture would
Speaker 1: give way to more physical punishments, dousing with freezing water,
Speaker 1: electric shocks, beatings, and cutting. This was the way of
Speaker 1: the Nazis. But Virginia's capture was too big a threat
Speaker 1: to the British. She knew too much, and the Nazis
Speaker 1: could assume that the British would change battle strategy once
Speaker 1: the s OE Virginia's intelligence agency discovered she'd been captured.
Speaker 1: Virginia's information would be useless, and so she was as
Speaker 1: good as dead. I want to speak to the American embassy.
Speaker 1: I'm an American. Her nationality was maybe the one thing
Speaker 1: that could save her. In late Spain was still considered
Speaker 1: technically neutral in the war. The Spanish dictator Francisco Franco
Speaker 1: had offered Hitler Spain's allegiance and returned for aid in
Speaker 1: nation building. There was a division of Spanish volunteers fighting
Speaker 1: for the German army, but Spain still remained reluctant and fickle.
Speaker 1: Franco's regime is ideologically complex, and people still fight over
Speaker 1: whether or not it was fascist or just really authoritarian
Speaker 1: and traditionalist, regardless of how anyone's individual sees it. The
Speaker 1: regime was very friendly to Nazi Germany and especially Fascist Italy,
Speaker 1: because Italy and Germany had backed Franco in the Civil War.
Speaker 1: So Spain tended politically to like the Axis powers a lot.
Speaker 1: That's Andrew or the historian who runs Kansas State University's
Speaker 1: Institute for Military History. We've heard from him in previous episodes.
Speaker 1: Once the US enters the war, Spain's position becomes even
Speaker 1: more fraught. The Atlantic is now overwhelmingly in Allied hands.
Speaker 1: It was already under British control that Spain was dependent
Speaker 1: on being able to buy food from Latin America. They
Speaker 1: were buying food from Argentina. They were buying food and
Speaker 1: getting oil from Mexico, and the United States had tremendous
Speaker 1: influence in Latin America. If the United States leaned hard
Speaker 1: on Mexico and Argentina, the US had the wherewithal to
Speaker 1: choke off Spain's ability to buy anything in Latin America,
Speaker 1: and so the Spanish government knew it needed to avoid
Speaker 1: an open breach with the United States. And so Franco
Speaker 1: created this complex diplomacy in which he was neutral in
Speaker 1: the war between America and Britain versus Germany, was non
Speaker 1: belligerent but pro axis in the war against the Soviet Union,
Speaker 1: and then claimed to be pro American in the war
Speaker 1: against Japan. So Franco flirted with helping the Nazis, but
Speaker 1: usually not at the expense of hurting their trade relationship
Speaker 1: with the United States. But maybe Virginia's American citizenship was
Speaker 1: just enough to override any ribes the Nazis were making
Speaker 1: for her capture. Hello, do you hear me? If anything
Speaker 1: happens to me, there will be hell to shut up.
Speaker 1: We've gone back and then you'll get your answers soon.
Speaker 1: All she could do now was waiting for the cavalry
Speaker 1: to arrive and hope they were faster than Robert Alesh
Speaker 1: and Klaus Barbie. I'm Stephen Talty and from diversion, this
Speaker 1: is good Assassin's Season two. Being killed would be the
Speaker 1: easy part. Being tortured would be the hard part. All
Speaker 1: intel suggests she is behind many of the prison bricks
Speaker 1: over the country. She's dangerous, so sabotage plus a little espionage,
Speaker 1: paramilitary operations make things blow up. The message for Captain Bobby,
Speaker 1: I believe I have found the nest of the Limping Lady.
Speaker 1: Episode eight, The Return of the Limping Lady. Yes, Doctor Say, Yes,
Speaker 1: please open the door. Doctor Say, you are wanted for questioning.
Speaker 1: Back in Leone, France, the Gestapo had appeared at the
Speaker 1: office doorstep of doctor Jean wus Say, Virginia Halls, trusted
Speaker 1: accomplice in the resistance. It was time for the Nazis
Speaker 1: to act on the information given to them by Robert Alesh,
Speaker 1: who had infiltrated Virginia's resistance cell known as Heckler by
Speaker 1: posing as a priest aiding the freedom fighters. Doctor Hussay
Speaker 1: was the first man on their list. You know you
Speaker 1: are in league bus this woman. It would do you
Speaker 1: to tell us there she is. The Nazis showed the
Speaker 1: doctor a wanted poster of Virginia, her likeness sketched out
Speaker 1: in remarkable detail. Doctor us Say had noticed the posters
Speaker 1: going up around Leone the day before and knew that
Speaker 1: somebody somewhere had given up Virginia, but apparently they didn't
Speaker 1: know everything. If they did, they wouldn't be interrogating him
Speaker 1: at all. You recognize her, Yes, I do. That is
Speaker 1: no denial. No, I'm not denying anything except it didn't
Speaker 1: know she was this limping lady. She was a patient
Speaker 1: of mine. What was her name? You have her name,
Speaker 1: it's there on the poster. Marie Mona interrogation. It's not
Speaker 1: something that I grow tired. Don't say. They may take
Speaker 1: as much time with this as you like. But even
Speaker 1: after hours of intensive questioning, who say never broke? He
Speaker 1: claimed that he only knew the limping as a patient
Speaker 1: who had requested care. He provided her nothing but treatment,
Speaker 1: just as he would anyone, and he had nothing to hide.
Speaker 1: What he didn't know was that back at his home,
Speaker 1: the Nazi operative Robert A. Leash was interrogating his maid,
Speaker 1: and she was more than happy to provide as many
Speaker 1: details as she could, thinking she could help spare the
Speaker 1: doctor's life. You must think of doctor who says, well,
Speaker 1: being madame, my superiors, I have different methods than I.
Speaker 1: At this very moment, the good doctor is likely being flayed.
Speaker 1: Over time, beats of him become strips, and the strips
Speaker 1: become chunks. It would be unrecognizable in a matter of ours.
Speaker 1: And you are the only one who can stop this.
Speaker 1: The maid didn't know Virginia's real name, but she knew
Speaker 1: the address of the safe house where she was staying.
Speaker 1: I can tell you where she lived, but this was
Speaker 1: information unless already had He'd met Virginia there himself under
Speaker 1: his cover of father at Coom, and they had already
Speaker 1: found that safe house abandoned. They needed to know the
Speaker 1: limping lady's current location. Russay's maid was of no help.
Speaker 1: The Gestapo arrested Dr Roussey and sent him to Friend Prison,
Speaker 1: where he'd be tortured in solitary confinement for weeks until
Speaker 1: his transfer to the buch and Valved concentration camp, where
Speaker 1: he would remain for eighteen ruling months. Yeah mhm, damn it.
Speaker 1: Enjoy your stay, yank. Back in northern Spain, Virginia was
Speaker 1: transferred to the Miranda de Ebro prison just outside the
Speaker 1: city of Aa Garis. It was here she encountered her
Speaker 1: new cellmate, a sex worker named Elena Hello men Nambres
Speaker 1: Elena Minamres Maria. Elena explained that she had been in
Speaker 1: the prison for almost six months, but her sentence would
Speaker 1: be up in a month. She was very sick and
Speaker 1: judging by her brittle voice and fragile appearance, Virginia wasn't
Speaker 1: sure the girl was going to make it. Still, she
Speaker 1: took to the young woman and did her best to
Speaker 1: keep Elena safe and healthy. It was in Virginia's nature
Speaker 1: to be a caretaker, and the two became fast friends.
Speaker 1: As Elena's release state approached, she asked Virginia to write
Speaker 1: a letter to the American consulate in Barcelona. When I
Speaker 1: get out, I will send it for you. You cannot
Speaker 1: dress these men with anything around here. Virginia did as
Speaker 1: Elena said, penning a letter that was half a plea
Speaker 1: for help and half a coded transmission for the s oe.
Speaker 1: Elena did survive her sentence, and when she was finally released,
Speaker 1: Virginia allowed herself a morsel of hope, you can trust
Speaker 1: me money. Twenty days after Virginia's arrest, a man appeared
Speaker 1: at the prison doors asking for her. He displayed assigned
Speaker 1: notice by the Spanish government for her immediate release. In
Speaker 1: December two, Virginia was a free woman, all thanks to
Speaker 1: a sex worker named Elena. It was the first time
Speaker 1: in her career Virginia was saved by somebody else. Virginia
Speaker 1: traveled the eighty five miles south to Barcelona and from
Speaker 1: there to London, a trip made much easier with the
Speaker 1: help of the s OE, who offered direct assistance in
Speaker 1: the form of an escort with verified paperwork. On Christmas,
Speaker 1: she reunited with her friend, an unofficial handler in the
Speaker 1: s Oe, Vera Atkins, at a dinner party, but found
Speaker 1: herself put off by the atmosphere. The war didn't stop
Speaker 1: with the holidays, and Virginia had recently been informed of
Speaker 1: doctor Hussay's capture and transfer to a concentration camp at
Speaker 1: the hands of Robert Alesh. She couldn't help but feel guilty.
Speaker 1: She didn't want a break or a vacation. She wanted
Speaker 1: to get back to France. She wanted to find Robert
Speaker 1: Alesh and bring him to justice. After the break, Virginia
Speaker 1: takes the fight back to the Nazis. Hi. This is
Speaker 1: Stephen Talty, host of Good Assassins. The folks that helped
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Speaker 1: Virginia Hall's returned to France would be long fought. That
Speaker 1: her face was being plastered on wanted posters all over
Speaker 1: lyon in Paris gave the s Oe pause at the
Speaker 1: idea of sending her back into the Fray. She was
Speaker 1: assigned a four month stint in Spain, where she was
Speaker 1: forced to do the grunt work of procuring safe houses
Speaker 1: for fugitives and other spies. Virginia couldn't help but feel
Speaker 1: as though her talents were being wasted. She wrote to
Speaker 1: her superior at the s o E, Colonel Maurice Buckmaster,
Speaker 1: I've given it a good four months. Anyhow, I always
Speaker 1: did want to go back to France. When I came
Speaker 1: out here. I thought that I would be able to help.
Speaker 1: But I don't and can't. I'm not doing a job.
Speaker 1: I am simply living pleasantly and wasting time. It isn't
Speaker 1: worth while. And after all, my neck is my own.
Speaker 1: And if I'm willing to get a crook in it
Speaker 1: because there is a war on, I do think well. Anyhow,
Speaker 1: I put it up to you. The response from Colonel
Speaker 1: Buckmaster was less than enthusiastic. I know all about the
Speaker 1: things you could do, and it is only because I
Speaker 1: honestly believe that the Gestapo would also know it. In
Speaker 1: about a fortnight that I say, no, dearest, No, you
Speaker 1: are really too well known in the country and it
Speaker 1: would be wishful thinking believing you could escape detention for
Speaker 1: more than a few days. To say that Virginia was
Speaker 1: frustrated was an understatement. After all the great work she'd
Speaker 1: done in all the lives she'd saved, she was being
Speaker 1: refused access to the country where she believed she could
Speaker 1: do the most good. For the next few months in London,
Speaker 1: she stowed with every passing day considered the damage Robert
Speaker 1: Alesh could be doing to the Allies. She had warned
Speaker 1: her superiors about him, but hadn't received any updates regarding
Speaker 1: his current location or actions. She had to find a lesh,
Speaker 1: and she was sick of waiting. Before she realized it,
Speaker 1: the year Ninet had rolled in. Multiple attempts to return
Speaker 1: to France were all denied by Buckmaster, and Virginia finally
Speaker 1: decided that the s OE was no longer the place
Speaker 1: for her. So OSS really was the United States first
Speaker 1: foray into a civilian intelligence agency or service. That's Chris Costa,
Speaker 1: the executive director of the International Spy Museum. He worked
Speaker 1: as an intelligence officer for twenty five years. Chris is
Speaker 1: talking about the OSS, the Office of Strategic Services. We
Speaker 1: had the FBI, but we had no national intelligence capability.
Speaker 1: We had military intelligence, we had ad tches in the
Speaker 1: United States, and we had a tradition of developing battlefield
Speaker 1: intelligence when it was called for, but we didn't have
Speaker 1: a civilian intelligence agency. So this was a big move.
Speaker 1: Costa explained that the Americans created the agency largely in
Speaker 1: the mold of Britain's s OE, Virginia's agency. They really
Speaker 1: did have very similar design. They had things that blew up.
Speaker 1: They also recruited agents to provide intelligence. They helped move
Speaker 1: down to aviators, aviators that were trying to escape and
Speaker 1: evade after they parachuted into enemy territory so they could
Speaker 1: get back in the fight. Virginia knew that the new
Speaker 1: American agency, the O S S, had connections with the
Speaker 1: s OE. She'd heard rumors that the OSS was hiring
Speaker 1: young agents with nothing to lose, bold shoot first, ask
Speaker 1: questions later types that seemed to be more her speed,
Speaker 1: But the agency hadn't made it to the key countries
Speaker 1: in Europe just yet, with most of their operations up
Speaker 1: to that point taking place in North Africa and Sweden.
Speaker 1: Virginia approached Buckmaster with a new strategy. The O S
Speaker 1: S could do great work in France, but they didn't
Speaker 1: know the country. What they needed was someone who knew
Speaker 1: the grounds, someone with resistance connections, and someone experienced in
Speaker 1: undercover work. She proposed formally leaving s OE and joining
Speaker 1: the O S S. She would work entirely in disguise,
Speaker 1: and if she were captured, she would be the Americans problem,
Speaker 1: not Britons. Her face was known, she limped, she had
Speaker 1: a horrible action. There was no way she would survive
Speaker 1: even if they were able to infiltrator back into the country.
Speaker 1: There were too many things against her. That's Judith Pearson
Speaker 1: from earlier episodes. She's the author of the first biography
Speaker 1: of Virginia Hall, The Wolves at the Door, And so
Speaker 1: I believe she really drew on her love of the
Speaker 1: theater from when she was growing up, acting a character
Speaker 1: which she had really been doing all along, And so
Speaker 1: why not disguise herself as an old woman. She could
Speaker 1: limp and not be caught. She could mumble and her
Speaker 1: accent not necessarily be noticed. And if she patted her
Speaker 1: clothing and dyed her hair and hunched over, she had
Speaker 1: looked nothing like the face that was on that poster.
Speaker 1: We can't say for sure if Virginia's motivations to get
Speaker 1: back into France were entirely driven by her personal need
Speaker 1: to see Robert Alesh brought to justice, but you have
Speaker 1: to imagine it was a factor for his part. Buckmaster
Speaker 1: grudgingly took Virginia's proposal to the OSS, and it was accepted,
Speaker 1: and so on March tenth, Virginia joined the OSS with
Speaker 1: a one year contract. But the France that Virginia was
Speaker 1: returning to had devolved into even more violence. Here's Andrew
Speaker 1: Ore again, the military historian, German troops become more violent
Speaker 1: probably after our ninety three, as the sense of desperation
Speaker 1: kicks in. They become less disciplined, more willing to engage
Speaker 1: in low scale violence. They're not shooting up Paris, but
Speaker 1: German troops are more likely to beat up and rob civilians.
Speaker 1: They are more likely to rape French women. The later
Speaker 1: in the war, you get your subject to search more often,
Speaker 1: you're more likely to be arrested on fabricated charges. As
Speaker 1: the war goes along, German aggression was at an all
Speaker 1: time high, with horrific murders taking place on the streets
Speaker 1: against French nationals, especially Jews. The Nazis had become paranoid
Speaker 1: about rebellion and uprisings. Their pension for deportations to concentration
Speaker 1: camps had increased tenfold. On top of that, Virginia came
Speaker 1: to discover that almost the entirety of Heckler had been
Speaker 1: wiped out. Robert Alesh had succeeded in pulling apart the
Speaker 1: web of resistance sheet created and a new French fascist
Speaker 1: paramilitary group had popped up to aid the Nazis, created
Speaker 1: by the v She regime and supported by the Germans.
Speaker 1: It was known as the Mileise. So the Milease was
Speaker 1: founded in January nine three, so again in those final
Speaker 1: eighteen months when things are much more violent in in
Speaker 1: Tens in France, and when the Germans have occupied by
Speaker 1: this point the entire territory. That's Dr Ludovin Brock. She's
Speaker 1: a scholar of World War to French history and lecturer
Speaker 1: at the University of Westminster. It's essentially a paramilitary force VISI,
Speaker 1: and their mission is quite similar to that of the
Speaker 1: s S S. It's to suppress especially resistors. By nine you know,
Speaker 1: the kind of whispers of resistance we were talking about
Speaker 1: earlier are now shouts, and the resistors are also becoming
Speaker 1: more armed, becoming more of a threat. Sabotage is increasing
Speaker 1: and people are getting more angry. So there's a very
Speaker 1: keen commitment to suppress this resistance, and resistors are often
Speaker 1: portrayed by VC propagandist traders for instance, as terrorists. In fact,
Speaker 1: the Malise was an anti Semitic secret police force stuffed
Speaker 1: to the brim with amateur gang members and fascist ideal
Speaker 1: logues who are French citizens and knew the people in
Speaker 1: the towns better than the Nazis ever could. Rock told
Speaker 1: us about the type of Frenchman who joined the organization.
Speaker 1: You probably be from a quite radical, possibly right winged background.
Speaker 1: You were probably a man, You were probably very angry,
Speaker 1: anti Semitism, xenophobia. Those are the kind of values which
Speaker 1: would have been important for a militia. The Malise made
Speaker 1: no distinction between political enemies and personal ones. They saw
Speaker 1: Nazism as a means to eradicate everything they disagreed with
Speaker 1: or disliked in another human being, and they were growing
Speaker 1: in massive numbers daily. Virginia's hunt for Robert A Lesh
Speaker 1: would have to be put on hold. After the break,
Speaker 1: Virginia Hall finds another group she sees taking on the
Speaker 1: Molise and winning. Ginia's return to France had a rocky start.
Speaker 1: The os S gave her a partner co named Aramis,
Speaker 1: who was sixty two years old, inexperienced in the field,
Speaker 1: and talkative. When he met Virginia, Aramis blurted out his
Speaker 1: entire history, his birthplace, his family and job history. As
Speaker 1: though she was a close friend. Ah, you wouldn't believe
Speaker 1: my tobers the share amount of things they are asking
Speaker 1: of me back home. Mon dieu. As though I'm in
Speaker 1: my better years, I don't understand those who always see
Speaker 1: their children as babies. I've been begging for my children
Speaker 1: to stop being children for years, to grow up and
Speaker 1: take care of themselves for once. This is what I
Speaker 1: get for spoiling. Then, Uh, there's food on the lane. Yes,
Speaker 1: he was loud, he had a bad day, He was
Speaker 1: always in pain. He wanted food, he wanted to rest.
Speaker 1: He was just a pain in the deary year. First
Speaker 1: impressions meant everything to Virginia, and this guy didn't seem
Speaker 1: to know how to keep his mouth shut. He was
Speaker 1: violating the very first lesson taught by the S O
Speaker 1: E and the OSS in the field. Don't let anyone
Speaker 1: know who you really are. Virginia's primary position with the
Speaker 1: O S S was to be a radio technician responsible
Speaker 1: for wiring and broadcasting messages about German truth movements back
Speaker 1: to London, as well as signaling locations for parachute drops.
Speaker 1: Aramis was to be centered in Paris, where he'd helped
Speaker 1: develop safe houses for spies and resistance fighters in need
Speaker 1: of hiding. Notably, Virginia was to remain in disguise throughout
Speaker 1: her entire mission. She dyed her hair gray and hid
Speaker 1: it under a folded handkerche of. She doubled up on
Speaker 1: puffy clothes, sporting two wolf skirts. She dressed and muted
Speaker 1: unremarkable colors, anything to give off the impression that she
Speaker 1: wasn't a woman in her late thirties but closer to sixty.
Speaker 1: Virginia was so committed to her new role that she
Speaker 1: had a dentist changed her American villings two more closely
Speaker 1: resembled the dental work done by the French. In fact,
Speaker 1: Brad Catling, Virginia's great nephew, attended a c I A
Speaker 1: lecture recently and heard this, Virginia's disguise was one of
Speaker 1: the best that the c I are the you know,
Speaker 1: the American intelligence had ever come up with, because it
Speaker 1: was so effective, and it allowed her to be in
Speaker 1: a place where she had already been burned, where her
Speaker 1: cover had already been blown. She made sure she could
Speaker 1: not be mistaken for a freedom fighter. She became someone
Speaker 1: entirely invisible in the war effort Fresh New York when
Speaker 1: Virginia and Aramis first arrived in Paris by train. They
Speaker 1: were met with a ghastly site. More of the great
Speaker 1: city was blown to bits than they'd expected. The Germans
Speaker 1: and the Malise had torn and burnt down buildings and homes,
Speaker 1: turning once lively and populated neighborhoods into ghost towns. There
Speaker 1: seemed to be no spark of life in any of
Speaker 1: the citizens who wandered the city, seemingly in a haunted haze.
Speaker 1: After settling Aramis into his safe house, Virginia set off
Speaker 1: for a farm in the small village of my Due,
Speaker 1: when she would be staying in a cottage owned by
Speaker 1: resistance member Eugene lopan A. Virginia worked on Lopanese farm
Speaker 1: for a few months, tending to livestock and performing other
Speaker 1: daily farm duties. She concocted a plan to sell cheese
Speaker 1: to the Nazis, hoping to get close to them and
Speaker 1: potentially overhear plans. While her disguise was good enough to
Speaker 1: fool them, she never received any helpful information to send
Speaker 1: back to London, and she quickly considered her time in
Speaker 1: the Oss wasted. She eventually transferred to the city of
Speaker 1: Kne a few hours south of Paris to meet a
Speaker 1: contact she hoped would leverage her talents more effectively. The
Speaker 1: contact name was Colonel besser Row, and he was the
Speaker 1: chief of police with good leadership standing the resistance. Virginia
Speaker 1: had hoped to meet him because vess Row was in
Speaker 1: league with a new faction of French, British and German
Speaker 1: freedom fighters, a ragtag group of men growing in numbers
Speaker 1: throughout the country known as the Marquis Sundays Jerza. So
Speaker 1: the McKey is a kind of resistance guerilla fighter. That's
Speaker 1: scholar Ludovin Brock again, she's talking about the molasses opposite
Speaker 1: the Marquis. There's not like a single organization. It's much
Speaker 1: more fractured, especially in its founding. It starts really nineteen
Speaker 1: three with young men who are evading the forced labor service.
Speaker 1: Starting in n frenchmen were deported to Germany to work
Speaker 1: as forced laborers for the Nazi regime. Over the course
Speaker 1: of two years, over half a million Frenchmen were sent away.
Speaker 1: This caused widespread outrage. And what they do is they
Speaker 1: end up going into hiding in the woods or in
Speaker 1: the countryside. In the mountains and so that they don't
Speaker 1: have to be sent to Germany, and they live in
Speaker 1: camps and kind of rural areas, deserted farmyards, all of
Speaker 1: these things. They kind of make established homes there. These
Speaker 1: fighters sabotaged German forces and French collaborators scrapping to get
Speaker 1: their country back, But the McKee weren't unified in their aims.
Speaker 1: Different mcke's worked differently and had different visions. Some of
Speaker 1: them might be in favor for immediate action, so they
Speaker 1: want to immediately use their weapons their intelligence to carry
Speaker 1: out attacks against German forces or French and or French collaborators.
Speaker 1: Now this kind of immediate action isn't always supported though,
Speaker 1: because it creates retaliations and it can expose but not
Speaker 1: really solve. So some people prefer to think that the
Speaker 1: mackie should be more in favor of getting ready for
Speaker 1: action once the Allies are about to land and or
Speaker 1: landing I mean by this point, by especially, you pretty
Speaker 1: much know that if you're in active resistance and you
Speaker 1: get caught, you're going to suffer the greatest consequences. But
Speaker 1: also by that time you will have seen so much
Speaker 1: that you're commitment might be you know stronger than ever.
Speaker 1: The McKee were a nightmare for the Gestapo and Relise.
Speaker 1: They were guerrilla warfare fighters who could blend in with
Speaker 1: the French citizenry and sabotage German trains, trucks and tanks
Speaker 1: using weapons air dropped by the British. Various sections of
Speaker 1: France had their own faction of Maquee, and Virginia worked
Speaker 1: closely with the Cone Group. She was ecstatic to finally
Speaker 1: jump directly into the fight with these men, thinking she
Speaker 1: may become one of them. But vest Row had something
Speaker 1: else in mind. While the McKee were holding their own
Speaker 1: against the German forces, they were still mostly unstructured and undisciplined.
Speaker 1: They could shoot straight and bomb efficiently, but they weren't
Speaker 1: operating in strategic terms. Best Row thought they needed someone
Speaker 1: with covert experience, someone who knew how to make a
Speaker 1: plan and executed down to the finest detail. Via One
Speaker 1: cannot help but admire your expertise, but I have to
Speaker 1: wonder if you are being used to your fullish potential.
Speaker 1: What were you thinking, margaretant work not exactly. Colonel Bestrow
Speaker 1: didn't want Virginia Hall to join the Maquee. He wanted
Speaker 1: her to beat them, coming up on the next episode
Speaker 1: of Good Assassins. Finally, on June one, at nine o'clock
Speaker 1: at night, the broadcast of Resistance was waiting for ladies
Speaker 1: and gentlemen. We may be approaching a fateful hour all
Speaker 1: night long. Well, it must have been pouring in from
Speaker 1: Berlin claiming that d Day is here, claiming that the
Speaker 1: invasion of Western Europe. When you think of a trailblazer,
Speaker 1: she absolutely embodies it. It's someone who was willing to
Speaker 1: defy all convention. If you have any questions for us
Speaker 1: about Good Assassins, if you're curious about some aspect of
Speaker 1: Virginia Hall story, or have any comments on the podcast,
Speaker 1: we'd love to hear from you. Please email us at
Speaker 1: good Assassins at diversion audio dot com. Make sure you
Speaker 1: spell assassins correctly. Again, that's Good Assassins at Diversion Audio
Speaker 1: dot com. We'll try to answer your questions on a
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Speaker 1: diversion pods. Good Assassins is a production of Diversion Audio
Speaker 1: in association with I Heart Podcasts. This season is hosted
Speaker 1: by Stephen Talti and written by C. D. Carpenter, Produced
Speaker 1: and directed by Kevin Thompson for Real Jet Packs Productions.
Speaker 1: Story editing by Jacob Bronstein with editorial direction from Scott Waxman.
Speaker 1: Additional research and reporting by Sophie McNulty. Theme music by
Speaker 1: Tyler Cash featuring the voices of michaela Is Caerdo, Raphael
Speaker 1: cork Kill, Lenna Klingerman, John Pierkes, Andrew polk or Lock,
Speaker 1: Cassidy Manoel Falciano, Sean Gormley, Matthew Amant, and Steve Rautman.
Speaker 1: Sound design, mixing and mastering by Paul Goodrich. Sound editing
Speaker 1: by Justin Kilpatrick. Executive producers Jacob Bronstein, Mark Francis and
Speaker 1: Scott Waxman for Diversion Audio. Diversion Audio