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Another one of the heroes of the French Resistance. So many of them were women.
"Le monde littéraire
The Gestapo nicknamed her "the most dangerous woman in Europe. ”
She walked limping, leaning on a wooden leg, which she had named Cuthbert.
Occupied France, 1942.
nazis soldiers controlled every road, every village, every shadow.
The Gestapo had whistleblowers everywhere.
A single crossword could mean torture — or death.
And in the middle of that nightmare, a woman, with her basket and scarf, made them look like fools.
She was limping in the markets.
She was chatting with the peasants.
She poured milk, swept the floors.
And while nazis officers thought she was a mere peasant,
she was coordinating sabotage operations that broke their supply lines.
The Gestapo knew that one hand was leading these attacks.
But impossible to find out who she belonged to.
She was called The Limping Lady.
Her real name was Virginia Hall.
Born in Baltimore in 1906, Virginia was brilliant, adventurous, and fluent in French, German, Italian and Russian.
She dreamed of becoming a diplomat - to serve her country on the international stage.
But in 1933, a hunting accident in Turkey changed everything.
She accidentally shot herself in her left foot.
The gangrene is being installed. Doctors have to amputate below the knee
They put him in a wooden leg. She called him "Cuthbert. ”
The U.S. State Department had one rule: no amputee in diplomacy.
Despite his skills, despite his languages, despite his determination — his career seemed to be over.
At least they believed so.
When World War II broke out and France fell under occupation in 1940, Virginia refused to stand by.
If her own country didn't want her talents, Britain, she, would accept them.
In 1941, she was recruited by the SOE - Churchill's secret army, charged with leading sabotage behind enemy lines.
She became one of the first female field agents sent to occupied France.
Her cover: American journalist for New York Post.
His real mission: organize resistance networks, coordinate gun parachutes, release captured agents, gather intelligence on German troops' movements, and destroy the Nazi war machine from within.
And she excelled at it.
She was hiding coded messages in newspaper articles.
She was placing secret signals with flower pots in the windows.
She was transmitting hidden information under cocktail glasses in cafes.
She coordinated the parachutes of weapons and food to the French resistance.
She was constantly moving, never sleeping for two nights in the same spot.
She owned shelters all over Lyon. She knew every lane, every escape.
And the Gestapo was going crazy about capturing it.
In 1942, Klaus Barbie, the sinister Boucher of Lyon, declared her "the most dangerous spy ally in France. ”
"Wanted" posters have been placed in the closet, depicting a limp woman.
The star would be tightening.
Virginia had to run away.
At the end of 1942, tracked all over the south of France, she tried a desperate escape:
Crossing the Pyrenees on foot, to neutral Spain.
In November.
In the midst of winter.
Through the snowy woods.
On a valid leg and a wooden leg.
The ride was terrible
Cuthbert — his prosthetic — sank painfully into his flesh with every step.
The cold was biting. The pitch was treacherous.
At one point, she sent a radio message to her superiors:
> "Cuthbert is getting me in trouble. »
Response from the London HQ, believing that it was a man:
> "If Cuthbert gives you a problem, delete him. »
She made it through Of fairness.
Anybody else would have stopped there
Would have accepted an office position.
Would have let the others take over.
Not Virginia Hall.
The British considered his cover too compromised to return to France.
So she joined the OSS — the American organization that would later become the CIA — and went back anyway.
This time she gets fully transformed.
She is dying her hair grey.
She gritted her teeth to change her appearance.
She learned to walk differently, hiding her limp behind an old peasant walk leaning on a twisted cane.
She became the humble milk delivery girl.
In 1944, at 38, with her wooden leg, she skydived again over occupied France.
There she organized resistance groups all over the country.
Under his leadership, the French supporters destroyed bridges, derailed trains, cut telephone lines, ambushed German convoys.
Occupied France has become a hell for occupiers.
His networks killed more than 150 German soldiers and captured 500.
They sabotaged railway lines meant to refuel German defense against the Landing.
She was transmitting bombing coordinates to the Allies, oriented the mockers, and planned the strikes.
Alone, she embodied a complete secret service.
When France was liberated in 1944, Virginia Hall had spent more time behind enemy lines than almost any other Allied agent.
In 1945, she became the only female civilian to receive the Distinguished Service Cross, the second-highest U.S. military award, for exceptional heroism in combat.
General Donovan wanted to give him the medal during a public ceremony.
Virginia refuses.
Too much publicity she says.
She preferred to stay in the shade.
After the war, she joined the CIA and worked for another fifteen years in intelligence.
She never writes the memoirs.
Never gave an interview.
Never look for glory.
She retired peacefully on a Maryland farm.
When she died in 1982, the world was almost unaware of what she had accomplished.
For decades, his history remained classified as a secret defense.
Forgotten.
Digging into the archives.
But history always ends up bringing extraordinary beings back to the surface.
Virginia Hall is today recognized as one of the greatest spies of all time.
A woman who turns rejection into resilience.
Who knows how to make his disability invisible when needed — and make it a weapon when needed.
Who played the Gestapo, ridiculed Klaus Barbie, and helped liberate France — all on a wooden leg named Cuthbert.
She didn't just fight the nazis
She scared them right out
And she did it before their eyes,
While they saw only a lame poor peasant in her,
incapable, they thought, of posing the slightest danger.
Her name was Virginia Hall.
And she was the most dangerous woman in Europe."
Another one of the heroes of the French Resistance. So many of them were women.
"Le monde littéraire
The Gestapo nicknamed her "the most dangerous woman in Europe. ”
She walked limping, leaning on a wooden leg, which she had named Cuthbert.
Occupied France, 1942.
nazis soldiers controlled every road, every village, every shadow.
The Gestapo had whistleblowers everywhere.
A single crossword could mean torture — or death.
And in the middle of that nightmare, a woman, with her basket and scarf, made them look like fools.
She was limping in the markets.
She was chatting with the peasants.
She poured milk, swept the floors.
And while nazis officers thought she was a mere peasant,
she was coordinating sabotage operations that broke their supply lines.
The Gestapo knew that one hand was leading these attacks.
But impossible to find out who she belonged to.
She was called The Limping Lady.
Her real name was Virginia Hall.
Born in Baltimore in 1906, Virginia was brilliant, adventurous, and fluent in French, German, Italian and Russian.
She dreamed of becoming a diplomat - to serve her country on the international stage.
But in 1933, a hunting accident in Turkey changed everything.
She accidentally shot herself in her left foot.
The gangrene is being installed. Doctors have to amputate below the knee
They put him in a wooden leg. She called him "Cuthbert. ”
The U.S. State Department had one rule: no amputee in diplomacy.
Despite his skills, despite his languages, despite his determination — his career seemed to be over.
At least they believed so.
When World War II broke out and France fell under occupation in 1940, Virginia refused to stand by.
If her own country didn't want her talents, Britain, she, would accept them.
In 1941, she was recruited by the SOE - Churchill's secret army, charged with leading sabotage behind enemy lines.
She became one of the first female field agents sent to occupied France.
Her cover: American journalist for New York Post.
His real mission: organize resistance networks, coordinate gun parachutes, release captured agents, gather intelligence on German troops' movements, and destroy the Nazi war machine from within.
And she excelled at it.
She was hiding coded messages in newspaper articles.
She was placing secret signals with flower pots in the windows.
She was transmitting hidden information under cocktail glasses in cafes.
She coordinated the parachutes of weapons and food to the French resistance.
She was constantly moving, never sleeping for two nights in the same spot.
She owned shelters all over Lyon. She knew every lane, every escape.
And the Gestapo was going crazy about capturing it.
In 1942, Klaus Barbie, the sinister Boucher of Lyon, declared her "the most dangerous spy ally in France. ”
"Wanted" posters have been placed in the closet, depicting a limp woman.
The star would be tightening.
Virginia had to run away.
At the end of 1942, tracked all over the south of France, she tried a desperate escape:
Crossing the Pyrenees on foot, to neutral Spain.
In November.
In the midst of winter.
Through the snowy woods.
On a valid leg and a wooden leg.
The ride was terrible
Cuthbert — his prosthetic — sank painfully into his flesh with every step.
The cold was biting. The pitch was treacherous.
At one point, she sent a radio message to her superiors:
> "Cuthbert is getting me in trouble. »
Response from the London HQ, believing that it was a man:
> "If Cuthbert gives you a problem, delete him. »
She made it through Of fairness.
Anybody else would have stopped there
Would have accepted an office position.
Would have let the others take over.
Not Virginia Hall.
The British considered his cover too compromised to return to France.
So she joined the OSS — the American organization that would later become the CIA — and went back anyway.
This time she gets fully transformed.
She is dying her hair grey.
She gritted her teeth to change her appearance.
She learned to walk differently, hiding her limp behind an old peasant walk leaning on a twisted cane.
She became the humble milk delivery girl.
In 1944, at 38, with her wooden leg, she skydived again over occupied France.
There she organized resistance groups all over the country.
Under his leadership, the French supporters destroyed bridges, derailed trains, cut telephone lines, ambushed German convoys.
Occupied France has become a hell for occupiers.
His networks killed more than 150 German soldiers and captured 500.
They sabotaged railway lines meant to refuel German defense against the Landing.
She was transmitting bombing coordinates to the Allies, oriented the mockers, and planned the strikes.
Alone, she embodied a complete secret service.
When France was liberated in 1944, Virginia Hall had spent more time behind enemy lines than almost any other Allied agent.
In 1945, she became the only female civilian to receive the Distinguished Service Cross, the second-highest U.S. military award, for exceptional heroism in combat.
General Donovan wanted to give him the medal during a public ceremony.
Virginia refuses.
Too much publicity she says.
She preferred to stay in the shade.
After the war, she joined the CIA and worked for another fifteen years in intelligence.
She never writes the memoirs.
Never gave an interview.
Never look for glory.
She retired peacefully on a Maryland farm.
When she died in 1982, the world was almost unaware of what she had accomplished.
For decades, his history remained classified as a secret defense.
Forgotten.
Digging into the archives.
But history always ends up bringing extraordinary beings back to the surface.
Virginia Hall is today recognized as one of the greatest spies of all time.
A woman who turns rejection into resilience.
Who knows how to make his disability invisible when needed — and make it a weapon when needed.
Who played the Gestapo, ridiculed Klaus Barbie, and helped liberate France — all on a wooden leg named Cuthbert.
She didn't just fight the nazis
She scared them right out
And she did it before their eyes,
While they saw only a lame poor peasant in her,
incapable, they thought, of posing the slightest danger.
Her name was Virginia Hall.
And she was the most dangerous woman in Europe."
Posted in these groups: 
WWII World War Two
France
WWII World War Two France
Edited 4 mo ago
Posted 4 mo ago
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