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BRITCOM ONE
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00:00In the Second World War, British spy agency, the SOE, send more and more female agents behind enemy lines.
00:21With D-Day on the horizon, these women, handpicked by spymaster Vera Atkins,
00:27make daring attacks against Hitler's troops from deep inside Nazi-occupied France.
00:41But as the Allies push towards Paris,
00:47the Gestapo brutally cracks down.
00:51Unfortunately, some of your agents had to be shot.
00:57What the hell are they playing at?
01:00One by one, Vera's women disappear.
01:04We can't be captured.
01:09Hide what you can, then hide yourself.
01:14We go now. Move!
01:16Halt!
01:17You go. I'll send them off as long as I can. Go! Go!
01:18But, with France liberated, and the Nazis defeated, many are still missing.
01:23Vera's mission was to send these women to war.
01:25But, with France liberated, and the Nazis defeated, many are still missing.
01:31Vera's mission was to send these women to war.
01:35but with france liberated and the nazis defeated many are still missing
01:45vera's mission was to send these women to war
01:51now she'll do whatever it takes to find them and bring them home
02:05the allied invasion of europe to recapture france from the nazis has begun
02:35across france the french resistance supplied and coordinated by soe launch into action
02:43in london f-section monitor the sabotage activity
02:54there's palpable excitement buckmaster and vera are watching as these messages come in
03:03there's already been acts of sabotage trying to disrupt the train lines trying to disrupt
03:09communication lines blow up bridges blowing up telephone exchanges to try and disrupt the
03:14germans as much as possible
03:16it's chaotic but it's exhilarating in the flurry of messages coming in from their agents they receive
03:27one that is unusual sir message from paul sign leopold leopold
03:37leopold is inactive he was arrested in 43
03:43thank you for the large delivery of weapons and ammunition incredibly grateful for the
03:47information on your plans and objectives signed the gestapo
03:54the gestapo
03:56the gestapo
04:00it's not the only message f-section received that day from the nazis feared secret police
04:06the
04:13another
04:15thank you for the supply drop equipment gratefully received unfortunately some of your agents
04:19had to be shot
04:21others were more open to do what we asked
04:23the gestapo
04:25what the hell are they playing at
04:32send a reply
04:34sorry to see your nerves are shot
04:37and your resilience isn't as strong as ours
04:40buckmaster
04:42yes sir
04:44still
04:55SOE circuits
04:57and french resistance fighters
04:59continue their clandestine attacks against the nazis
05:06and the allied soldiers fight their way ashore
05:09but their position is precarious
05:13they need to firm up their hold of the beachhead
05:18and be ready for when german reinforcements hit back
05:30work at F section doesn't stop
05:34wireless messages of german targets being hit continue to stream in
05:40and
05:42sabotage
05:43sabotage by those SOE networks
05:45was absolutely crucial
05:47during D-Day
05:49and the germans were so angry at this success
05:53that an order went out to hunt down
05:57Vera's agents
05:59just days after D-Day
06:02F section received news on one of their agents
06:05recently parachuted into France
06:08and
06:10look
06:11Violet Sabo has been captured
06:15Violet is already a widow
06:19she's got a two-year-old daughter
06:21and the thought that
06:23Violet might not come back
06:25is just unthinkable
06:27where
06:28where
06:29the report is brief
06:32does it say where she's being held
06:37it just says captured
06:42nothing else
06:43nothing else
06:58in the Limousin region of France
07:00resistance fighters pull off an audacious mission
07:03they have kidnapped the commander of the 2nd SS Panzer Division
07:10Das Reich
07:11and of course the Nazis are furious about this
07:15they want their commander back
07:17and so they start to ramp up their control of the area
07:20they put in roadblocks
07:22trying to capture resistance members
07:25and they start to punish the resistance for what they've done
07:28the Nazis are out for revenge
07:32and choose the village of Ouradour-sur-Glane
07:35to send a bloody message to the French people
07:43in London
07:45F section monitors sabotage attacks across France
07:49they've hit another fuel depot
07:52good
07:53their tanks are thirsty beasts
07:56they'll be running on fumes by the time they reach Normandy
07:59if they may get that far
08:03but soon
08:04news of the massacre reaches Buckmaster
08:08Sir, a report from France
08:10you need to read it now
08:11thank you
08:19Buck?
08:26what is it?
08:29the SS
08:33the resistance captured their commander
08:42they massacred a village
08:44what?
08:49over 600 dead
08:50women
08:53children
09:01I thought the Germans had honour
09:03that they acted like gentlemen
09:08Buck
09:11I never thought they'd do something like this
09:13something like this
09:22the news of the massacre at Ouradour-sur-Glane
09:25really is shocking for Buckmaster
09:28that the Germans have sunk so low
09:30that they'll massacre innocent women and children
09:35where did this happen?
09:38Buck, where did this happen?
09:40a limousine
09:52limousine
09:54limousine
10:03Fiolette was operating out of the limousine
10:05I'm a son
10:06before capture
10:14but no further information on Fiolette
10:16has come through
10:26in Northern France
10:28the Allies consolidate their foothold in Normandy
10:31and prepare to push out deeper into the country
10:34and prepare to push out deeper into the country
10:41F section is a hive of activity
10:44organizing weapons drops, ammunitions, explosives
10:47for the French resistance
10:49to stop the Germans being able to defend themselves
10:52against the Allied attack
10:54Buck, a message from callsign Bursa
10:57the Scholar circuit are requesting a supply drop to the Jura region
11:03Bursa is Vera's agent, Yvonne Bayesden
11:08and she's been operating in France for about three months
11:12in the Jura region which is to the east of France
11:14authorise the drop
11:17authorise the drop
11:20on the 25th of June 1944
11:2332 flying fortresses were flown over by the RAF
11:27and they released 440 parachutes
11:32and attached to those parachutes were canisters full of weapons
11:35and explosives and arms and equipment needed by the resistance
11:40it's the largest daylight parachute drop of the war
11:47hidden at the drop zone is Yvonne with a team of resistance fighters
11:53it took 48 hours for those canisters to be emptied
11:56and for the equipment to be stored
12:01meaning that every minute and every hour that went by
12:04they were more and more at risk of being caught
12:07but Yvonne was so excited when this happened
12:11and she said as every one of those parachutes opened
12:14hope was attached to them
12:20After a frantic two days on the ground
12:23Yvonne and her team are exhausted
12:28with the last container collected
12:31they leave the drop zone
12:32and head back to their headquarters
12:46At F section messages from the circuits flood in
12:49Targets are being hit
12:53the resistance are taking the fight to the Germans across the country
13:00But that's tinged with uncertainty
13:04What about the agents?
13:07How many have survived?
13:09How many have the Germans managed to capture?
13:13Then F section finally receives the report
13:16they've been waiting for
13:21Eva, what is it?
13:33Violet is with two resistance men
13:37and they're driving to meet other SOE leaders
13:39but what they don't know
13:42is the resistance have caught
13:44one of the SS commanders of the 2nd Panzer Division
13:47and the Germans are frantic to get him back
13:49They start mounting roadblocks
13:52and they start searching people
13:54asking everybody for their papers
13:55where were they when this happened
13:56No
14:01What?
14:03I thought you said this road was clear
14:07It was
14:08What?
14:09It was
14:10It's a new checkpoint
14:11They can't search us
14:13I know
14:14They can't search us
14:15If they search the car they'll find our weapons
14:16We have British weapons
14:18If they search the car they'll know we're resistance
14:25We can't be captured
14:27Stop the car
14:40We make for the woods
14:42Try to lose them
14:43We go now
14:46Move
14:49Halt!
14:50As Violet's escaping she twists her ankle
15:00It was already damaged from the parachute drop she'd done
15:03during training as an SOE agent
15:07As Violet's escaping she twists her ankle
15:13It was already damaged from the parachute drop she'd done
15:16during training as an SOE agent
15:18Are you hit?
15:19No!
15:20It's my ankle
15:21Can you walk on it?
15:22No!
15:23You go!
15:24I'll fan them off as long as I can
15:26Go!
15:27Go!
15:28She's basically immobile at this point
15:32So she provides cover fire for the room
15:36She's basically immobile at this point
15:37So she provides cover fire for the room
15:39and she's basically immobile at this point
15:42She's basically immobile at this point
15:44So she provides cover fire for the resistance men
15:48so that they can get away
15:49So she provides cover fire for the resistance men
15:50so that they can get away
15:51Even a lot of密 delivery
15:55There's military charge there
15:56and the troops are inside
15:57and it turns around
15:58they can get away
15:59If the troops are down
16:00and that they can get away
16:01Despite touring travel
16:02so that they can get away
16:03and get away
16:04with Juliet
16:05and see what we feel
16:06I love you
16:07To be tipo
16:08I want to í•´ìš”
16:09That will work
16:13To make the bible
16:14your thumbs can
16:15The bunker
16:17The report ends.
16:41Violette was held by the SS in the French city of Limoges.
16:47But has since disappeared.
16:53She is one of many agents, now missing.
17:06Since D-Day, Allied forces have made steady gains against the Germans.
17:15Two months after the Normandy landings, the Nazis are forced to abandon the French capital.
17:20The liberation of Paris was the moment everybody had been waiting for.
17:30The relief of finally being able to be in the city and not be under German occupation just must have been phenomenal.
17:38With the Allies pushing deeper into France, what's left of SOE's circuits begin to lose their importance.
17:49Boddington is travelling, he's lecturing to Allied forces on the conditions in France.
17:57Buckmaster himself has set up in the Hotel Cecil in Paris.
18:02And he will then very quickly start a tour of the surviving circuits.
18:08At F section, work begins to slow down and staff start to leave.
18:16But disturbing reports are coming in about the fate of SOE's agents.
18:22Vera is tasked with making sense of them all.
18:25Vera is tasked with making sense of them all.
18:26Vera is tasked with making sense of them all.
18:31But Vera, no longer a civilian and now commissioned in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force, stays in London.
18:49Paris is back in Allied hands, but the victory came at a huge cost to SOE's agents.
18:58It was understood that the casualty numbers would be quite high, particularly surrounding the D-Day landings.
19:08Many more female agents had been sent out in 1944 than before, and this was Vera's responsibility.
19:17She's the one who sent them to France in the first place.
19:22With Paris liberated, the human toll of this decision comes into focus.
19:30Of the more than 400 SOE agents dispatched to France, 118 are missing.
19:37Sixteen of them are Vera's women.
19:44After the liberation at the hotel where F section have set up a new office, a man turns up and he's angry.
19:52He's furious.
20:07Marcel Rousset, an F section agent with the code name Leopold, demands to see anyone in the British Secret Service.
20:19I'm sorry to interrupt, but do you think you could fetch someone from SOE for me? Now!
20:26He had been captured by the Gestapo, and in fact it was even his radio that was used by the Gestapo to send the taunting signals to SOE headquarters on D-Day.
20:38Hello, I'm Nancy. How can I help?
20:43He is angry. He's absolutely furious at mistakes that SOE has made, that so many agents have been captured.
20:53Please take a seat here, sir.
20:55An SOE officer sits down with Rousset for a debriefing on his time in captivity.
21:02He might know who has actually been arrested by the Gestapo. He might know who has survived.
21:08So, Buckmaster...
21:10Rousset says how stupid everyone at F section had been, particularly Buckmaster and Vera, and how they had risked agents' lives.
21:22The SD, Sicherheitsdienst, forced him to relay radio messages back to London.
21:29And he quite deliberately, totally follows SOE protocol, which is that he doesn't include special code words as a warning to SOE,
21:39but they just ignored this and continued to accept the messages that came from his radio as genuine.
21:46His interrogation report is explosive and provides Vera with important leads to the whereabouts of her missing agents.
21:59At F section, Vera receives Rousset's interrogation report.
22:11After his arrest, he's taken to the SD headquarters in Paris at 84 Avenue Foch.
22:24The SD is the SS intelligence agency and worked hand in hand with the Gestapo.
22:35Here, Rousset is confronted with Prosper's wireless operator, Gilbert Norman, codenamed Butcher.
22:43It was Norman who told the Germans that Rousset was SOE wireless operator, Leopold.
22:54And he also tells Rousset that the Gestapo know everything about SOE and their activities.
23:02So, Suttle, who was the organizer of that circuit, and Norman, had given up everything about the Prosper circuit in Paris,
23:16in order to try and save his life and maybe other agents' lives as well.
23:21Rousset is advised to do the same.
23:26Had he given up every piece of information? What had he told them?
23:30Can you imagine how awful it was for Vera?
23:33Just finding out that they could have revealed so much that every time Vera sent a woman over,
23:39she was just basically feeding them straight into the German prisons.
23:44In the Gestapo's cells, Rousset is held in solitary confinement.
23:51But, by tapping on the wall in Morse code,
23:56he manages to communicate with an SOE agent in the cell next to his.
24:01Rousset learns that a wireless operator with the codename Madeleine is also being held by the Nazis.
24:09Nor Inyat Khan goes under the codename Madeleine.
24:14Nor hadn't surfaced after the liberation of Paris.
24:19Vera assumed she'd been captured, but no further intel had been discovered.
24:28Rousset's report suggests that Nor had been in the Gestapo's prison in Paris.
24:36His report continues.
24:41From Paris, the women prisoners were then transferred to Germany.
24:47This is news to Vera.
24:51She wasn't aware that any female prisoners have been transferred to Germany.
24:56Where were they? Where have they gone?
24:59Could those women have been her agents? Could one of them have been Nor?
25:06Frustratingly, Rousset's intel now dries up.
25:11He remains in the Gestapo's prison, working as a cleaner until two days after D-Day.
25:18Noticing a gate unlocked, he knocks out a guard and makes his escape.
25:27Vera haunts the F-Section operations room, waiting for any news on her missing women's team.
25:32Spies.
25:49Vera haunts the F-Section operations room, waiting for any news on her missing women's spies.
25:57Then, a report comes in from a member of Yvonne Bayston's SOE circuit.
26:10After Yvonne and her colleagues had hidden all the equipment that had come in on this daylight parachute drop,
26:16they headed back to their headquarters.
26:22But soon after they arrive, everything changes.
26:29The Germans, they're coming.
26:31What?
26:32We spotted a patrol of German soldiers. They're heading for us.
26:35Do we have time to move?
26:37No.
26:38Hide what you can, then hide yourself.
26:41The Germans who arrived, they just heard a tip-off that this building might be of some interest,
26:58and they're just going to do a cursory search.
27:02There is literally nobody in sight. They can't find anybody. So they leave, but they just leave behind one person.
27:21He's effectively watching it just in case something happens or somebody arrives.
27:25One can only imagine what would be going through the minds of Yvonne and her team as they are hiding, holding their breath, not moving, because they have to be totally quiet.
27:34And then the plumbing makes a noise.
27:49Hello? Is anybody in there?
27:55I heard something. Keep searching.
28:25I heard something.
28:47In London, Vera scours Allied intelligence reports, searching for any clues to her agent's whereabouts.
28:54Who survived? Where were they being held? And where were they now?
29:03She has cause for optimism.
29:07Some agents are surfacing after the liberation of Paris.
29:13One of her agents, Mary Herbert, astonishingly has survived hiding in a farmhouse in France.
29:21It gives Vera hope that some of the other women might still be alive.
29:28But for those still missing, few details are known.
29:34F-section operations are all but wound down. But Vera remains.
29:43She is worried about her agents, about the women she sent into the field. She has to find out where they are.
29:51The work is all-encompassing. Searching for any trace of where her agents were transported to in Germany.
30:06And where they could be rescued from once the Allies are victorious.
30:13In October, British officials investigate 84 Avenue Foch.
30:19The Nazis' former intelligence headquarters in Paris.
30:26Some of her agents were held in captivity there. By piecing together what happened there, maybe she'll get some information about her lost agents.
30:38I visited the torture chamber at Avenue Foch, where Kiefer had an office.
30:52Hans Kiefer was the head of the SD in Paris during the German occupation.
30:59He's the man who convinced Gilbert Norman to reveal everything he knew about SOE operations.
31:08Hans Kiefer would have been personally in charge of the SOE agents who were held at that prison.
31:15Kiefer would have to have known, first of all, who was held in his prison and what happened to them.
31:21The report continues.
31:28I found a moving inscription from men and women who knew they had lost everything except their honour.
31:36But I was informed during the last few days before the departure of the Germans that several people had been taken downstairs into the courtyard and shot.
31:46It's a tragic revelation. Were her agents executed in this group?
31:58She has to track down Kiefer. He must know where Vera's agents are. He must know what's happened to them.
32:07In the meantime, she has the agonising task of updating the families of the missing agents on what is known about them.
32:25Before Noor departed for France, Vera had promised to send her mother periodic good news letters, which she had.
32:34But now the tone of these letters has to change.
32:41From all the reports of Noor's training, everybody was saying that she wasn't ready.
32:46But Paris needed a wireless operator.
32:49And immediately she'd put this young woman into the jaws of the Gestapo.
32:55Dear Mrs. Inayat Khan, I am extremely sorry to have to inform you that we have recently lost touch with your daughter.
33:09Due to the confused state of affairs in France, we were not unduly worried.
33:14But I am afraid now your daughter must be considered as missing.
33:19Although there is every reason to believe that she will eventually be notified to us as a prisoner of war.
33:26Just the idea of writing letters to the family, that's heartbreaking.
33:30But Vera's got other issues that she has to worry about.
33:33The British government was never very happy about sending women combatants overseas.
33:38Because they were not protected by the Geneva Convention.
33:40And that meant the Nazis could do whatever they liked with them.
33:45She also has fear about her own future.
33:47Because once it is revealed in the public that something has happened to these women,
33:52she's also fearful about the consequences for her as the person who sent them out.
33:57I would impress upon you in the interests of your daughter's safety that you make no inquiries with regard to her.
34:11Except through me.
34:14By January 1945, the Allies are making steady gains.
34:30And Nazi Germany is on its knees.
34:33But many agents are still missing.
34:46Despite combing through any and all intelligence documents, Vera's investigation finds no trace of them.
34:54She now lobbies inside SOE.
35:00What Vera wants to do, as the Allies are moving through Germany,
35:07is to give the names of her agents to the Allied troops,
35:10so that when they liberate camps and prisoners of war,
35:13they can see if any of her agents are prisoners.
35:16They can rescue them.
35:17At the height of F-section operations, Vera is Buckmaster's right-hand man.
35:22She's right in the centre of all of the major decisions.
35:25But once F-section is over and Buckmaster is gone,
35:29it becomes incredibly difficult to convince anybody that her plight within SOE is worth pursuing.
35:35Particularly John Centre, the head of SOE's security division,
35:41and a commander in the Royal Navy.
35:44Atkins.
35:47Yes, sir.
35:48A memo of yours just came across my desk.
35:52Yes, sir.
35:53A memo suggesting that we give out the names of our agents,
36:01publish their names for the Red Cross,
36:08the American Army,
36:10the Soviet Army?
36:13Yes, sir.
36:16So that once those forces begin liberating POW camps,
36:20they will have a register of all of our missing agents.
36:23Atkins, you do understand what we do here.
36:31The work we did during the war.
36:33Yes, sir.
36:34But...
36:35Then you'll also understand the meaning of secret.
36:38As in the term secret agent.
36:41Sir, if I may...
36:44Flight Officer Atkins!
36:46Let me remind you,
36:48you are addressing a commander in the Royal Navy.
36:50Sir.
36:57The war is not yet over.
37:00How long do you think it would be before the Germans
37:05also got to see those names?
37:07Why should we advertise who our agents are?
37:12On a register.
37:14For our enemies to see.
37:16Sir, the Germans are spent.
37:19This is our best chance of finding our agents.
37:23Women agents alive.
37:31Consider your request denied.
37:33On security grounds.
37:35He's wanting to find out where were the security leaks in SOE.
37:40He's not interested in the fate of the missing agents.
37:47Stick with the welfare work.
37:54Vera is stymied from trying to find her agents.
37:56All she can do is just pick up on intelligence reports
37:59to find out what's happened to these agents.
38:02Because unless she finds out, who will?
38:10In March 1945,
38:12Vera receives a report
38:14by French investigators searching Fren prison in Paris.
38:18This is the Gestapo prison where people were held when they were not being interrogated and tortured.
38:26And it indicates something really quite disturbing for Vera.
38:29Next to the name of one of the prisoners is N and N.
38:35This means Nacht und Nebel, or night and fog.
38:39The Nacht und Nebel order was decreed by Hitler that people who have been involved in espionage or resistance are to him so despicable that they have to be punished in an extraordinary way.
38:54Not only will they be captured, interrogated, tortured and then killed, but they're supposed to disappear without a trace.
39:03They will disappear as into night and fog.
39:07Time is running out to find her missing women alive.
39:11By April 1945, Germany is in total collapse.
39:26The Foreign Office, now they want to release the SOE agents' names.
39:32Vera is allowed to issue the names of her agents so that people liberating these prisoner of war camps can find them.
39:40If they are found, there is now a register for their return to Britain.
39:47If they survived.
39:50On the 30th of April 1945, with Berlin all but captured by the Red Army, Hitler commits suicide.
40:18By the 8th of May, the Allies accept Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender.
40:30The war in Europe is over.
40:34Amid the celebrations in London, Vera gets news that gives her hope her agents survived.
40:55On the 20th of May 1945, Yvonne Bazden, captured and missing, turns up at Euston Station in London.
41:07Miss Atkins, how did you get here?
41:08Where are we going?
41:09I'm taking you home.
41:10Your father is waiting.
41:11My father?
41:12My father?
41:13I'm taking you home.
41:14Your father is waiting.
41:15My father?
41:16My father?
41:30Where are we going?
41:34I'm taking you home. Your father is waiting.
41:37My father?
41:49From Euston Station, Vera takes Yvonne Bayston back to her family home in Brockwood Park in London.
42:00Yvonne.
42:07Yvonne.
42:18Please, come here.
42:30You look, um, weak.
42:41Let me make you something to eat.
42:43Let's...
42:44What happened after you were captured?
43:08Did you see anyone else? Other agents?
43:17Yvonne, I need you to think.
43:21Um, after I was caught, they sent me east to a prison, to a place called Saarbrocken.
43:40Um, there, there, I started seeing some, some familiar faces, agents I'd been in training with.
43:54I saw, uh, they've got the hold of Baker Street.
43:59I didn't talk to them. I, I, I kept my distance.
44:09You see, uh, I told the Germans after they caught me that I was just an ordinary French girl.
44:16Caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. That was my cover.
44:19So I, I had to keep my distance. I, I couldn't let the Nazis know that I was an agent.
44:32It was my only hope of getting out alive.
44:34Uh, uh, then, then, then they moved us, um, all to a camp, uh, north of Berlin.
44:50Who went with you?
44:51I remember Violette.
44:57A, a couple of others from, from F section.
45:03Violette Szabo.
45:06Yes.
45:08Um, Violette and, and the others, we were all, uh, we were all sent to, um, um, Ravensbrück.
45:16Concentration camp. It, it was a camp just for women.
45:22Ravensbrück.
45:24Ravensbrück.
45:27A women's only concentration camp.
45:34Yes.
45:39At this time, very little is widely known about concentration camps.
45:43Very few people have heard about them.
45:45The idea of there being one just for women, I mean, it, it's completely horrifying.
45:49One day, Violette and the others just, um, just disappeared.
46:01I never saw them again.
46:06And then, um, the Russians came and liberated us. The Red Cross, uh, took me to Malmo in Sweden in a bus. The RAF flew me to Scotland.
46:25I found a train to Houston.
46:32While horrific that Vera finds out her agents went to Ravensbrück, the female concentration camp.
46:37She can place them somewhere and she knows where they were.
46:55I'll leave you both.
46:58Yes.
47:00You have a lot to catch up on.
47:10Vera was incredibly happy to find Yvonne.
47:12It might be possible she's able to trace all of her missing agents.
47:15But had they survived? And where were they all now?
47:28Yes.
47:29I was scared.
47:33I was scared.
47:46I'm scared.
47:50I was so scared.
47:53Transcription by CastingWords