WEBVTT - 9. Agents of Sabotage (Season 2) 0:00:07.120 --> 0:00:15.800 Diversion audio. A note this episode contains descriptions of violence 0:00:15.960 --> 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 --> 0:00:29.000 real events. Some dialogue has been imagined for dramatic purposes 0:00:29.200 --> 0:00:38.720 when no primary source material is available. Virginia Hall's life 0:00:38.840 --> 0:00:42.640 had changed again. She was back and occupied France, but 0:00:42.760 --> 0:00:45.560 she was no longer working for the British. She was 0:00:45.600 --> 0:00:49.480 an agent of the O S S, America's first independent 0:00:49.560 --> 0:00:55.080 intelligence agency, the forerunner of the CIA. Virginia was living 0:00:55.120 --> 0:00:58.760 in the Cone farmhouse of a respected resistance leader named 0:00:58.760 --> 0:01:02.840 Colonel Vessroau. She was spending the majority of her existence 0:01:03.120 --> 0:01:06.560 in disguise as an old woman, decked out in multiple 0:01:06.600 --> 0:01:11.560 wolf skirts, makeshift prosthetics, and dyed gray hair, all the 0:01:11.600 --> 0:01:15.760 while constantly walking by wanded posters stabled around town with 0:01:15.800 --> 0:01:19.520 sketches of the limping lady. But this new life promised 0:01:19.560 --> 0:01:22.160 Virginia is something she'd been waiting for since she'd had 0:01:22.160 --> 0:01:26.560 a fleet France almost eighteen months earlier, the opportunity to 0:01:26.640 --> 0:01:36.600 take the fight directly to the Nazis. After making initial contact, 0:01:36.959 --> 0:01:40.440 Colonel Vesserot got straight to the point with his newest operative. 0:01:42.160 --> 0:01:47.360 I can't let to you, Virginia, but they've got no 0:01:47.600 --> 0:01:51.800 idea what's they're doing out there? They need the structure. 0:01:53.240 --> 0:01:56.360 The Mackie was a new faction of French, British and 0:01:56.400 --> 0:02:00.440 German freedom fighters. I called them Ragtag in the last episode. 0:02:01.080 --> 0:02:04.680 They were scrappy guerrilla warfare fighters who could blend in 0:02:04.720 --> 0:02:08.680 with the French citizen ray and sabotage German trains, trucks 0:02:08.720 --> 0:02:13.320 and tanks using weapons air dropped by the British. What 0:02:13.400 --> 0:02:16.600 actions have they been engaged in the confection a run 0:02:17.000 --> 0:02:22.120 occasional ambushes on wandering German forces. But our sizes are 0:02:22.160 --> 0:02:25.280 growing too large. It's good we have more men joining 0:02:25.280 --> 0:02:29.519 the resistance, but when now in a difficult position, if 0:02:29.520 --> 0:02:33.600 we're too large, we attract attention. We'll never built an 0:02:33.680 --> 0:02:36.519 army big enough to beat back the Nazis, and we 0:02:36.600 --> 0:02:39.600 don't have the food or weapons to supply our current stock. 0:02:41.760 --> 0:02:44.880 The sad truth as the matter is, we work better 0:02:45.000 --> 0:02:49.519 in the shadows, and more men shrink our cover. How 0:02:49.560 --> 0:02:57.280 many just over a hundred now, Split them up, arrange 0:02:57.280 --> 0:03:00.799 about twenty five in each group, trend them and them separately. 0:03:02.600 --> 0:03:05.160 I don't know anyone who could lead the other groups 0:03:05.200 --> 0:03:10.840 while I'm off training each other. Yes, Colonel you do. 0:03:23.040 --> 0:03:27.120 I'm Steven Talty and from diversion. This is good Assassin's 0:03:27.160 --> 0:03:31.320 Season two. Being killed would be the easy part. Being 0:03:31.360 --> 0:03:35.600 tortured would be the hard part. Our intel suggests she 0:03:35.800 --> 0:03:38.960 is behind many of the prison bricks all over the country. 0:03:39.800 --> 0:03:47.200 She's dangerous, so sabotage plus a little espionage paramilitary operations 0:03:47.520 --> 0:03:52.360 make things blow up. The message for Captain Bobby, I 0:03:52.400 --> 0:03:59.680 believe I have found the nest of the Limping Lady. 0:04:00.120 --> 0:04:10.920 Episode nine. Agents of Sabotage in May of Virginia had 0:04:10.960 --> 0:04:15.880 split Colonel Vessero's Macki faction into smaller groups of fighters, 0:04:15.920 --> 0:04:20.400 each allowing them to continue working in secret without attracting 0:04:20.400 --> 0:04:24.120 attention from the Nazis. The Makis were ecstatic to be 0:04:24.200 --> 0:04:27.080 led by a real secret agent, though they were slightly 0:04:27.120 --> 0:04:30.560 put off by the site of Virginia in disguise as 0:04:30.600 --> 0:04:36.240 an elderly limping woman. But as Brad Catling, Virginia's great nephew, 0:04:36.360 --> 0:04:39.480 reminded us when we spoke to him, she had a 0:04:40.040 --> 0:04:43.400 commanding presence. I mean, if she walked in the room, 0:04:43.520 --> 0:04:46.880 you knew who was in charge immediately. The words that 0:04:46.960 --> 0:04:52.520 she spoke were inevitabilities. In fact, there was one member 0:04:52.520 --> 0:04:57.080 of the Marquis that had worked with Virginia who said 0:04:57.320 --> 0:05:00.920 that she was very strict and very authoritative, and there 0:05:01.000 --> 0:05:03.960 was one instance where this band said that he had 0:05:04.040 --> 0:05:09.400 taken a home, Eric Bolloxing from Virginia because he hadn't 0:05:09.400 --> 0:05:12.680 done the right thing. In the beginning of her work 0:05:12.680 --> 0:05:15.920 with the Maquis, Virginia felt it necessary to keep up 0:05:15.920 --> 0:05:19.120 her cover. After all, she didn't know who could be 0:05:19.160 --> 0:05:23.400 a defector secretly giving information back to the enemy, and 0:05:23.480 --> 0:05:26.440 she didn't have time to interrogate them all. She was 0:05:26.480 --> 0:05:29.760 still haunted by Robert Alesh, the only man who had 0:05:29.800 --> 0:05:34.279 successfully burned her back in November of forty two. Alesha 0:05:34.360 --> 0:05:37.160 was still out there somewhere, likely still looking for her, 0:05:38.120 --> 0:05:40.920 and that's another reason why she split the Maquis into 0:05:41.000 --> 0:05:45.640 smaller groups. She could communicate distinct information to each and 0:05:45.680 --> 0:05:49.800 if one group was compromised, the others wouldn't be Scouting 0:05:49.800 --> 0:05:52.880 out a rat among twenty five men is difficult, but 0:05:52.960 --> 0:06:13.640 much simpler than among a hundred. Virginia's first lesson was 0:06:13.680 --> 0:06:16.480 to teach the makee man how to hail parachute drops 0:06:16.480 --> 0:06:21.400 for supplies. She gave them appropriate times for scheduling cloudy 0:06:21.560 --> 0:06:23.840 nights in the middle of the week, as well as 0:06:23.839 --> 0:06:28.680 a list of code words for specific items. Maggots was 0:06:28.720 --> 0:06:33.160 the name for anything related to explosive materials, dough used 0:06:33.160 --> 0:06:38.440 for demolition items, and yeast for incendiaries. Virginia also provided 0:06:38.520 --> 0:06:41.280 radio codes so they could schedule the drops when they 0:06:41.320 --> 0:06:45.200 needed them, but this came with a condition. Too many 0:06:45.279 --> 0:06:49.080 drops scheduled would signal locations and routines to the Nazis. 0:06:49.680 --> 0:06:53.560 The drops were lifelines to the resistance. If they were abused, 0:06:53.880 --> 0:06:57.000 the Marquis would be obliterated in a few weeks and 0:06:57.040 --> 0:07:00.279 the Allies would lose one of their most important resistance groups. 0:07:01.240 --> 0:07:04.000 So Virginia counseled the Marquis on how to keep their 0:07:04.040 --> 0:07:08.200 actions under the radar literally. She also taught them how 0:07:08.240 --> 0:07:12.720 to suss out bad intel broadcast by undercovered Germans. By 0:07:12.800 --> 0:07:15.440 this point in time, the Nazis were doing everything in 0:07:15.480 --> 0:07:20.040 their power to sabotage the growing Marquis line. By late 0:07:20.120 --> 0:07:24.360 May of forty four, French resistors were getting ANTSI. They've 0:07:24.400 --> 0:07:27.040 been told to expect the arrival of the Americans, who 0:07:27.080 --> 0:07:30.000 are planning their invasion of Europe, but had been given 0:07:30.000 --> 0:07:35.400 no confirmed timeline. The message was clear reinforcements were coming, 0:07:35.880 --> 0:07:40.040 but the time and day that was a different, ambiguous story, 0:07:41.080 --> 0:07:44.000 and every day of waiting saw the Nazis become more 0:07:44.040 --> 0:07:47.480 and more brutal as they upped their retaliations against the 0:07:47.520 --> 0:07:51.720 French citizenry. The Germans were expecting the American invasion too, 0:07:52.080 --> 0:07:55.320 and they wanted to dwindle French forces as much as possible. 0:07:56.280 --> 0:07:59.360 Seeing this escalation, Virginia made the call that the Maki 0:07:59.480 --> 0:08:03.080 would halt all major operations for a time. She wanted 0:08:03.120 --> 0:08:06.920 to attack right before the Americans crossed the border. That 0:08:06.960 --> 0:08:10.560 way they could sabotage German equipment and give the Nazis 0:08:10.640 --> 0:08:19.760 less time to repair or restrategize. Richis London callings in 0:08:19.840 --> 0:08:25.880 the European news service of the British postcast incorporation. Every evening, 0:08:26.000 --> 0:08:29.360 the resistance operatives would huddle around the radio and listen 0:08:29.400 --> 0:08:33.360 to broadcasts made by the BBC France. They were waiting 0:08:33.400 --> 0:08:35.840 for the message that the Americans had arrived and the 0:08:35.880 --> 0:08:40.199 invasion had begun, so most evenings were disappointing as the 0:08:40.320 --> 0:08:46.600 notice wasn't given the little call, the little call, the 0:08:46.640 --> 0:09:00.679 American novel lamp, because the American girls lacrobello for the few. 0:09:00.920 --> 0:09:06.960 All the truth direct me who. Of course, the English 0:09:07.040 --> 0:09:10.360 didn't rule the airways alone. During this period, there was 0:09:10.400 --> 0:09:14.760 another voice broadcasting, and she was taunting the Allied forces 0:09:14.800 --> 0:09:18.240 from the safety of Berlin. I left on the side 0:09:18.320 --> 0:09:20.839 of profit her work here. I'm not on the side 0:09:20.920 --> 0:09:24.439 of Aldabelt and his Jewish fairness and his British fairness, 0:09:24.840 --> 0:09:28.760 because Anton brought up to be one under decent American. 0:09:28.840 --> 0:09:35.160 There of everything Americans constable thing, concerts of our enemies 0:09:35.520 --> 0:09:38.440 and the elomy complicie to those people who are taking 0:09:38.520 --> 0:09:42.920 against Germany today and include angels ling in the highly 0:09:43.000 --> 0:09:48.040 against America town. Her name was access Sally, and her 0:09:48.080 --> 0:09:52.840 goals were simple, to infuriate and demoralize the American troops 0:09:52.880 --> 0:09:57.240 who were waiting to invade. She had tried time and 0:09:57.240 --> 0:10:00.280 time again to become an actress of Summary now and 0:10:00.320 --> 0:10:05.840 on Broadway, and fails every time. That's Richard Lucas. He 0:10:05.880 --> 0:10:10.040 wrote access Sally, The American Voice of Nazi Germany, the 0:10:10.080 --> 0:10:14.120 first biography of Mildred Giller's also known as access Sally 0:10:18.640 --> 0:10:21.520 Gillers was born in the United States but moved to 0:10:21.559 --> 0:10:24.680 Germany in the nineteen thirties and the hopes of finding fame. 0:10:25.480 --> 0:10:30.520 She was just languishing until she got to Germany. She 0:10:30.679 --> 0:10:33.880 found that she was instead of at the bottom, she 0:10:34.000 --> 0:10:37.160 was near the top, mixing with people who had some 0:10:37.240 --> 0:10:41.239 influence in the German film industry. She was also determined 0:10:41.280 --> 0:10:45.840 to be a success at any cost. In y Geller's 0:10:45.880 --> 0:10:49.559 got a job at the German State Radio Corporation as 0:10:49.559 --> 0:10:52.880 a broadcaster for Reich Radio. She would speak directly to 0:10:52.920 --> 0:10:57.440 American soldiers fighting abroad and their sweethearts back home, and 0:10:57.600 --> 0:10:59.800 she would say, I'm speaking to the women of a miracle, 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:03.400 the women of America. Don't you wish that you had 0:11:03.480 --> 0:11:07.520 your your husband's home now? Instead they're off fighting for 0:11:07.559 --> 0:11:11.280 the Jewish and the British. She would talk to the 0:11:11.320 --> 0:11:15.520 American fighting and she would insinuate that their wives and 0:11:15.600 --> 0:11:19.680 sweethearts were fooling around behind their back with the fore ASTs. 0:11:20.920 --> 0:11:25.480 Her broadcasts became extremely popular. I think they are popular 0:11:25.480 --> 0:11:28.400 because of the music and because she was playing jazz, 0:11:28.440 --> 0:11:32.160 which was illegal in Germany. She was playing things that 0:11:32.559 --> 0:11:35.719 no other person on Berlin radio was able to play, 0:11:35.800 --> 0:11:40.840 and it was immensely popular with most of the soldiers said, 0:11:40.960 --> 0:11:43.679 we never paid any attention to the political content. We 0:11:43.840 --> 0:11:47.240 just listened to the music. And it was kind of 0:11:47.240 --> 0:11:51.480 a joke too. Because Geller's remained in the American Citizen, 0:11:51.920 --> 0:11:54.840 she was tried as a trader after the war. She 0:11:54.960 --> 0:11:57.440 was discovered because she couldn't bear to part with the 0:11:57.480 --> 0:12:00.720 tape recordings of her broadcasts. A lot of it was 0:12:00.760 --> 0:12:05.160 her ego, her arrogance, her overwhelming desire to be remembered. 0:12:05.720 --> 0:12:08.960 At the end of the trial, she was convicted. Our 0:12:08.960 --> 0:12:19.560 only one count, and that counts treason. Finally, on June one, 0:12:20.480 --> 0:12:23.600 at nine o'clock at night, the broadcast of Resistance was 0:12:23.600 --> 0:12:30.599 waiting for arrived first year as the messengers country the 0:12:30.720 --> 0:12:36.040 Long Sobs of the Violet per formula long in Real, 0:12:36.080 --> 0:12:40.679 Long Off. It came in the form of a poem 0:12:40.679 --> 0:12:44.320 written by the famous nineteenth century French poet Paul Verlaine, 0:12:45.160 --> 0:12:48.400 the lines the long Sobs of the Violence of Bottom. 0:12:48.960 --> 0:12:52.720 We're broadcast by the BBC France channel. It was code 0:12:52.720 --> 0:12:57.120 for the Americans are coming. The Resistance was instructed to 0:12:57.160 --> 0:13:00.800 remain by their radios and await another broadcast the second 0:13:00.800 --> 0:13:04.320 part of the poem that would signal the forty window 0:13:04.679 --> 0:13:08.680 in which the Americans would arrive. And then four days later, 0:13:08.800 --> 0:13:11.600 on June five, the second half of the poem came 0:13:12.240 --> 0:13:16.240 wound my heart with a monotonous languor. That was a 0:13:16.320 --> 0:13:21.199 signal D Day was coming. Ladies and gentlemen, we may 0:13:21.240 --> 0:13:24.880 be approaching a fateful hour. All night long. Bullet must 0:13:24.880 --> 0:13:28.000 have been pouring in from Berlin claiming that D Day 0:13:28.120 --> 0:13:32.240 is here, claiming that the invasion of Western Europe has begun. 0:13:44.600 --> 0:13:54.360 Feet on the ground, on the ground, take cover, he 0:13:54.520 --> 0:14:11.319 walked days. On June, over a hundred and fifty thousand American, 0:14:11.440 --> 0:14:15.200 British and Canadian troops stormed the beaches of Normandy, France, 0:14:15.600 --> 0:14:18.880 and led the invasion against the Germans. It was the 0:14:18.920 --> 0:14:21.560 beginning of the end for the Nazi occupation of France 0:14:21.920 --> 0:14:24.360 and is regarded as the turning of the tide for 0:14:24.440 --> 0:14:37.000 all of World War two. Quickly here the tides turning 0:14:37.040 --> 0:14:39.680 against the Nazis meant it was time for Virginia Hall 0:14:40.080 --> 0:14:43.920 to get her hands dirty again. Keep your voice down, 0:14:44.640 --> 0:14:52.920 speak only when required goo. While Allied troops were storming 0:14:52.960 --> 0:14:56.680 the beaches of northwest France. Virginia instructed groups of the 0:14:56.720 --> 0:15:00.320 Maquis to set bombs on railroad tracks all around hone 0:15:00.680 --> 0:15:03.360 in the center of the country, laying the groundwork for 0:15:03.400 --> 0:15:07.720 the Allies to continue beating back the German forces. While 0:15:07.760 --> 0:15:12.000 the Marquis groups split up, Virginia herself decided to chaperone 0:15:12.000 --> 0:15:18.200 two frenchmen, Robert and Hiel, on their own excursion. They 0:15:18.320 --> 0:15:21.840 arrived at their designated location and around midnight and quickly 0:15:21.880 --> 0:15:24.960 went to work. The tracks led out of Cone about 0:15:25.000 --> 0:15:28.120 ten miles into the nearby city of sure Pray, Laire, 0:15:28.720 --> 0:15:32.160 where the Nazis would need reinforcement if the Allied forces 0:15:32.320 --> 0:15:38.080 kept pushing forward. Packet in here under the steel niece 0:15:38.600 --> 0:15:40.600 is what needs to take the brunt of the explosion. 0:15:40.760 --> 0:15:44.360 I can't see anything. We need to light to know lights. 0:15:45.200 --> 0:16:00.400 There are patrols outlook out sail walk in my books. 0:16:00.640 --> 0:16:05.200 Take it off of me. I don't volunteer boats in 0:16:05.320 --> 0:16:10.240 my lap. Just as Virginia and her men were placing 0:16:10.240 --> 0:16:13.600 the explosives on the tracks, a two man Nazi patrol 0:16:13.920 --> 0:16:19.440 strolled down the other side. We'll find out what happens 0:16:19.680 --> 0:16:28.840 after the break. Hi This is Stephen Talty, host of 0:16:28.880 --> 0:16:31.640 Good assassins. The folks that helped me bring you the 0:16:31.680 --> 0:16:35.160 show have just launched another podcast that we think you'll like. 0:16:35.720 --> 0:16:40.480 It's called War Queens. Every episode of War Queens tells 0:16:40.520 --> 0:16:44.480 the story of a fearless, powerful female leader from history, 0:16:44.960 --> 0:16:49.000 from Elizabeth Tudor and Golden my Years, high stakes, wartime gambles, 0:16:49.400 --> 0:16:53.080 Twain goal is Queen Najinga's willingness to shed and occasionally 0:16:53.200 --> 0:16:57.120 drink blood, to defend her kingdom, to endear A Gandhi's war, 0:16:57.200 --> 0:17:00.160 to solve a refugee crisis, and so many more are 0:17:01.000 --> 0:17:05.439 These are super engrossing stories told by expert historians in 0:17:05.480 --> 0:17:10.520 a way that's successible and interesting. It's great listening. Every 0:17:10.560 --> 0:17:14.280 episode of War Queens brings you the stories of extraordinary leaders, 0:17:14.560 --> 0:17:18.760 all of them legends. War Queens is out now. Follow 0:17:18.800 --> 0:17:21.760 the show on Apple Podcasts, the I Heart Radio app, 0:17:22.119 --> 0:17:37.159 and wherever you listen to podcasts. It wasn't supposed to 0:17:37.200 --> 0:17:50.280 business cold, but supposed to yourself. Virginia and her two 0:17:50.359 --> 0:17:54.359 Makia operatives, Robert and Ngiel, rose as they watched two 0:17:54.359 --> 0:17:58.000 German patrol guards stroll their way down the train tracks. 0:17:58.440 --> 0:18:01.200 They had just tied two packs of plastic explosives to 0:18:01.240 --> 0:18:03.720 the rails, and there was no time to remove that. 0:18:04.640 --> 0:18:07.040 If the Nazis saw them, there was no doubt the 0:18:07.040 --> 0:18:10.160 explosives would be discovered and the trio would be shot 0:18:10.240 --> 0:18:15.440 on site. We can shoot them now before they see us. 0:18:15.520 --> 0:18:19.119 If you shoot the noise, will you just bring more gods? 0:18:19.640 --> 0:18:21.960 It will give us time to run and run. Where 0:18:22.680 --> 0:18:24.800 do you plan to just lead them back to camp? 0:18:25.359 --> 0:18:34.600 They'll luck us down like dogs, do not shoot hid. 0:18:40.480 --> 0:18:43.960 As the Nazis approached, Virginia appeared the worst. It was 0:18:44.040 --> 0:18:47.639 practically a certainty that they'd be seen and shot. But 0:18:47.760 --> 0:18:51.000 as the German soldiers got closer, she noticed posing to 0:18:51.000 --> 0:18:55.080 stumble against the brush. Their mutterings were nonsensical, and she 0:18:55.240 --> 0:19:00.040 realized they were drawn. Maybe they had a chance on 0:19:00.240 --> 0:19:04.240 to throw these when they done roll under that bush 0:19:04.440 --> 0:19:08.960 this way. One of the Germans stumbled, the other, catching him. 0:19:09.000 --> 0:19:12.720 In this brief window, Virginia tossed a rock, which clattered 0:19:12.760 --> 0:19:16.840 on the ground behind the soldiers. As they turned, Virginia 0:19:16.880 --> 0:19:20.280 and her men managed to roll under nearby shrubbery covered 0:19:20.320 --> 0:19:25.720 by the leaves and the darkness. What was that? It's 0:19:25.760 --> 0:19:35.679 the Americans? The inision has started. The Nazis approached the 0:19:35.720 --> 0:19:39.800 area where Virginia and the others were hiding. Yeah, let 0:19:40.000 --> 0:19:43.800 him come. Uh the lit bullets just as well as 0:19:43.840 --> 0:19:49.800 the Roopers. They're going to see us. Don't shoot the shields. 0:19:50.560 --> 0:20:01.720 Wait do you see that? Just something? Don't uh give 0:20:04.080 --> 0:20:08.520 I don't see anything place. You're not getting your promotion tonight. 0:20:12.040 --> 0:20:18.760 I'm ordne guy us made the Nazis didn't find them. 0:20:19.320 --> 0:20:22.919 Virginia let out a sigh of relief. Robert asked her 0:20:22.920 --> 0:20:26.800 if they should finish setting up the explosives. Virginia was adamant. 0:20:27.680 --> 0:20:32.400 How else do you expect to win this war? Virginia 0:20:32.480 --> 0:20:36.119 supervised Robert and Gil as they finished their work. They 0:20:36.240 --> 0:20:39.600 tied the pack of explosives to fog signals, two small 0:20:39.720 --> 0:20:42.720 breakable tubes that were glued to the top of the tracks. 0:20:43.600 --> 0:20:46.600 The mechanism was a pretty simple one. Once the train 0:20:46.720 --> 0:20:50.280 rode over and crushed the signals, the plastic explosives would 0:20:50.320 --> 0:20:54.480 detonate under the track, derailing the train, warping the tracks 0:20:54.960 --> 0:20:59.639 and stopping the transport of valuable German supplies. The Marquis 0:20:59.680 --> 0:21:02.560 wanted to keep the Germans either in the skies, where 0:21:02.560 --> 0:21:05.320 they'd have to deal with American and British pilots or 0:21:05.400 --> 0:21:08.600 on foot, where they'd have to congregate in large groups 0:21:08.840 --> 0:21:13.320 in order to transport supplies. By sabotaging the trains, the 0:21:13.400 --> 0:21:18.399 resistance could poke holes in major German movements. The next morning, 0:21:18.560 --> 0:21:40.680 Virginia awoke to good news. The Machi had sabotaged five 0:21:40.760 --> 0:21:44.920 separate rail tracks the night before, derailing four trains and 0:21:45.000 --> 0:21:48.760 obliterating the only feasible pathways for the Germans to move 0:21:48.800 --> 0:21:53.680 supplies and information around France. With the American invasion quickly 0:21:53.720 --> 0:21:57.119 advancing from the northwest, the Nazis would have no choice 0:21:57.240 --> 0:22:02.200 but to retreat. As the master mind, Virginia's operations helped 0:22:02.280 --> 0:22:05.639 turn the tide of the war in France. She went 0:22:05.720 --> 0:22:10.000 on to become a major player in an astounding seventy 0:22:10.040 --> 0:22:13.960 one rail sabotages that followed, which in turn served to 0:22:14.080 --> 0:22:19.320 inspire even greater French resistance across the country. Allied armies 0:22:19.359 --> 0:22:22.600 of Normandy pushed closer to Eich. Other immediate objectives the 0:22:22.680 --> 0:22:25.640 port of Cherbourg and the railway town of can Ten 0:22:25.720 --> 0:22:29.240 miles Inland, an American flying wedge of parachute troops and 0:22:29.320 --> 0:22:32.159 infantrymen has cut the main line of German communications to 0:22:32.320 --> 0:22:36.120 Cherbourg by capturing the town of Saint Mara Gliza, nineteen 0:22:36.160 --> 0:22:39.440 miles away and sweeping on across the main Peninsula railway 0:22:39.760 --> 0:22:45.800 and the highway that runs parallel to it. Virginia's reputation 0:22:45.960 --> 0:22:48.640 in both the O s S and the Maquis continued 0:22:48.720 --> 0:22:52.359 to grow. In a month's time, she reported to London 0:22:52.600 --> 0:22:54.800 that she was now leading a group of four hundred 0:22:54.880 --> 0:22:59.720 Maquis foot soldiers separated its smaller groups. She continued to 0:22:59.840 --> 0:23:03.600 ray neal London with new reports of German movements and intelligence, 0:23:04.040 --> 0:23:07.479 as well as continuing to schedule parachute drops to arm 0:23:07.560 --> 0:23:13.159 the growing resistance. She led dozens of sabotage missions, trapping 0:23:13.280 --> 0:23:18.119 Nazi soldiers with detonations that destroyed bridges, tunnels, and railroads. 0:23:18.880 --> 0:23:23.960 The Germans were becoming boxed in supplies dwindling. This was 0:23:24.040 --> 0:23:27.440 a watershut period for the resistance. They were starting to 0:23:27.600 --> 0:23:32.080 win and other resistance leaders were starting to mimic Virginia's plots. 0:23:32.920 --> 0:23:36.560 All over France, different factions of the Maquis were driving 0:23:36.600 --> 0:23:40.040 the Nazis into embarrassing losses and at the same time 0:23:40.320 --> 0:23:46.600 growing in number. By August, Virginia was leading almost fred 0:23:46.640 --> 0:23:50.800 Maquis resistance fighters. She had come a long way in 0:23:50.880 --> 0:23:53.879 a decade, but she still found herself thinking about her 0:23:53.920 --> 0:23:57.880 old adversary, Robert Alesh. He had receded to the back 0:23:57.920 --> 0:24:01.360 burner as Virginia took up command to the Marquis, though 0:24:01.400 --> 0:24:05.200 he consistently plagued her nightmares. At the end of the 0:24:05.240 --> 0:24:07.919 war was around the corner. She wondered if she'd ever 0:24:08.040 --> 0:24:10.840 see him again. She wondered if a leash would be 0:24:10.920 --> 0:24:13.440 brought to justice, and if she'd be the one to 0:24:13.560 --> 0:24:19.160 do it. More about the fate of Alesh after the break. 0:24:28.080 --> 0:24:33.000 After infiltrating Virginia's s OE faction of heckler In and 0:24:33.080 --> 0:24:35.879 turning over many of Virginia's operatives to the s S, 0:24:36.480 --> 0:24:44.440 Robert Alsh eventually found himself in an uncomfortable predicament. Hello, 0:24:45.440 --> 0:24:50.320 can you hear me? This is Alesh awaiting ortis. I 0:24:50.720 --> 0:24:55.200 am on day three of radio silence. If the RASH 0:24:55.520 --> 0:24:59.240 needs me out of Paris, I really need money and transportation, 0:25:00.480 --> 0:25:05.760 but I have not received any new intent. Please uspond. 0:25:08.640 --> 0:25:11.920 In June of nineteen forty four, just days after D Day, 0:25:12.400 --> 0:25:16.119 the Germans slowly began to retreat from Paris, leaving the 0:25:16.200 --> 0:25:21.080 city torn between Allied and Axis forces. Robert Alesh was 0:25:21.200 --> 0:25:24.479 not an idiot. He could tell that the Germans were 0:25:24.520 --> 0:25:27.920 losing this war. In a matter of three months, the 0:25:28.040 --> 0:25:31.040 Nazis were pushed out of the majority of France, beaten 0:25:31.119 --> 0:25:36.480 back by combined American, British and French forces, before the 0:25:36.560 --> 0:25:39.600 Allies regained control of Paris and liberated the city on 0:25:39.680 --> 0:25:43.919 August twenty fifth, nineteen forty four. Alesh quickly escaped the country, 0:25:44.480 --> 0:25:49.359 traveling back to his original home in Luxembourg. There, nobody 0:25:49.440 --> 0:25:52.639 knew about his association with the Nazis and he wasn't 0:25:52.640 --> 0:25:56.720 considered a criminal, but he still needed a job. It 0:25:56.880 --> 0:25:59.879 was here he decided to officially return to the seminary, 0:26:00.440 --> 0:26:03.679 so he forged a letter from the Archbishop of Paris 0:26:03.920 --> 0:26:08.200 to a Belgian bishop. In it, the fake archbishop spoke 0:26:08.320 --> 0:26:11.840 highly of Aleshous credentials and even noted that he attempted 0:26:11.880 --> 0:26:16.240 to rebel against the Germans during the occupation. His deception 0:26:16.359 --> 0:26:20.480 was successful, and beginning in November nineteen forty four, Alash 0:26:20.600 --> 0:26:26.960 began work as a chaplain in Brussels. What Alesh didn't 0:26:27.000 --> 0:26:30.000 know was that Virginia decided to spend her last months 0:26:30.280 --> 0:26:33.399 as an intelligence agent with O. S. S writing up 0:26:33.440 --> 0:26:36.800 a report on Alesh, his movements during the war, as 0:26:36.840 --> 0:26:40.320 well as his methods and allegiances. It was a damning 0:26:40.480 --> 0:26:44.000 article that provided a physical description of the man, as 0:26:44.040 --> 0:26:48.000 well as crediting Alesh with espionage and treason that led 0:26:48.040 --> 0:26:52.920 to the arrests and deaths of multiple resistance members. Virginia 0:26:53.000 --> 0:26:55.000 may not have been given the latitude to hunt for 0:26:55.040 --> 0:26:58.080 Alesh herself, but she refused to let him get away 0:26:58.200 --> 0:27:03.960 that easily. Just six months later, in Robert, Lesh was 0:27:04.040 --> 0:27:08.320 discovered and identified by the Allies in Luxembourg, arrested and 0:27:08.440 --> 0:27:12.240 sent back to France. They had used Virginia's reporting to 0:27:12.400 --> 0:27:22.080 track him down. I know you as me. He is 0:27:22.160 --> 0:27:27.000 a verdict. Alesha must have wondered how exactly he'd been caught. 0:27:27.480 --> 0:27:31.720 He's been so careful for so long. As the jury 0:27:32.040 --> 0:27:35.879 reached a consensus, he must have thought back on the 0:27:36.000 --> 0:27:39.840 limping lady. He had found her, but not captured her, 0:27:40.480 --> 0:27:43.600 damaged her network of spies, who was never able to 0:27:43.720 --> 0:27:47.119 hand her over to his superiors. He must have believed 0:27:47.160 --> 0:27:51.359 that somehow she had a hand in his arrest. Of course, 0:27:51.560 --> 0:27:55.000 we know what Aleshed didn't that. Virginia's writings painted a 0:27:55.080 --> 0:27:59.000 damning portrait of a priest who abdicated his divinical duties 0:27:59.400 --> 0:28:02.399 in order a prophet of the Nazi regime, and it 0:28:02.560 --> 0:28:06.480 was her reporting that did him in. Mr Lee, Judge, 0:28:06.960 --> 0:28:14.520 the court finds Robert Alsh guilty of high treason. He 0:28:14.760 --> 0:28:18.240 turned out to be the worst of all possible characters. 0:28:19.280 --> 0:28:23.400 That's bread Catling again, Virginia's grand nephew. She was right, 0:28:23.600 --> 0:28:28.159 she was right to to not trust him completely, but 0:28:28.640 --> 0:28:33.040 unfortunately the rest of her network did, and you know, 0:28:33.160 --> 0:28:37.480 they paid the price. There was only one resolution for 0:28:37.560 --> 0:28:40.520 a lesh. He was found guilty of his crimes and 0:28:40.680 --> 0:28:45.800 sentenced to death. He was executed by firing squad on January. 0:28:55.800 --> 0:28:58.600 The end of World War Two was indeed around the corner. 0:28:59.520 --> 0:29:02.760 The l has continued to advance, the German forces in 0:29:02.840 --> 0:29:05.600 the East fell to a hellish Russian winter, and on 0:29:05.760 --> 0:29:13.000 April the German radio has just announced that Hitler is dead. 0:29:14.360 --> 0:29:19.160 Adolf Hitler committed suicide in a brilliant bunker. Now we're 0:29:19.200 --> 0:29:22.440 breaking into our programs for the second time tonight, this 0:29:22.680 --> 0:29:27.400 time with some splendid news from Moscow. Berlin has fallen 0:29:28.920 --> 0:29:34.280 eight days later, Germany surrendered to the Allied Powers. Note 0:29:34.320 --> 0:29:39.560 that the first atomic bomb was dropped on the Americans 0:29:39.600 --> 0:29:42.120 would go on to drop two atomic bombs on the 0:29:42.200 --> 0:29:46.840 Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August six and eight, 0:29:47.360 --> 0:29:51.560 killing over a hundred thousand people. Exactly what that cloud 0:29:51.640 --> 0:29:55.440 looked like, I do not suppose any words will ever describe. 0:29:56.800 --> 0:29:59.480 Unlike any other phenomenon in the world has ever seen, 0:30:00.520 --> 0:30:04.720 it was possessed of some diabolical activity, as though it 0:30:04.840 --> 0:30:10.120 were a horrible form of life. Just days later, the 0:30:10.200 --> 0:30:13.920 President announced at seven pm today the unconditional and from 0:30:14.160 --> 0:30:19.920 an unqualified surrender of the Japanese. And then, finally, on 0:30:20.040 --> 0:30:26.240 September two, world War two officially ended. Yes, the NDC 0:30:26.440 --> 0:30:29.040 mobile unit in the heart center on the posting focus 0:30:29.160 --> 0:30:33.720 of a Shire station time enjoy esterday and looked uptown 0:30:34.040 --> 0:30:38.840 over a toy feeling writing back faces lifted charley and 0:30:38.960 --> 0:30:53.880 brightly and grisly happy at the back. In May of Virginia, 0:30:53.960 --> 0:30:57.440 Hall had returned to Paris to take stock of the resistance. 0:30:58.360 --> 0:31:01.760 She discovered that many of her friends and associates hadn't survived. 0:31:02.560 --> 0:31:05.440 Some had been executed on site by the Nazis. Others 0:31:05.520 --> 0:31:08.719 were worked to death in concentration camps, and some disappeared 0:31:08.800 --> 0:31:13.880 without a trace. Doctor Hussey, however, was not among the fatalities. 0:31:14.760 --> 0:31:17.560 He had survived both the friend prison and then eighteen 0:31:17.640 --> 0:31:21.320 horrible months in Buchebald and reunited with Virginia. During her 0:31:21.360 --> 0:31:25.040 time in the city, Virginia realized that even if the 0:31:25.080 --> 0:31:27.560 war in Europe was going to end, there was still 0:31:27.680 --> 0:31:30.200 a lot of work to be done bringing justice to 0:31:30.280 --> 0:31:34.160 the surviving Nazis. Just as she did with Robert Alesh, 0:31:34.720 --> 0:31:37.480 Virginia wrote up multiple reports with regards to what she 0:31:37.560 --> 0:31:40.840 saw during her time with both Britain's s OE and 0:31:40.920 --> 0:31:45.520 the American Office of Strategic Services. Her reports named multiple 0:31:45.640 --> 0:31:49.400 Nazis and spies and would be instrimental in their respective 0:31:49.520 --> 0:31:52.880