- 5 hours ago
The Lost Women Spies S01E03 (2025) [Full Movie] [Trending Drama]Full EP - Full
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:03In the Second World War, British spy agency, the SOE, send more and more female agents behind enemy lines.
00:20With 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,
00:46the Gestapo brutally cracks down.
00:50Unfortunately, some of your agents had to be shot.
00:57What the hell are they playing at?
00:59One by one, Vera's women disappear.
01:03We can't be captured.
01:08Hide what you can, then hide yourself.
01:13We go now. Move!
01:15Halt!
01:29You go. I'll send them off as long as I can. Go! Go!
01:39But, with France liberated, and the Nazis defeated, many are still missing.
01:47Vera's mission was to send these women to war.
01:52Now, she'll do whatever it takes to find them and bring them home.
02:12The Allied invasion of Europe, to recapture France from the Nazis, has begun.
02:17The Allied invasion of Europe, to recapture France from the Nazis, has begun.
02:37The French resistance, supplied and coordinated by SOE,
02:42launch into action.
02:49in london f-section monitor the sabotage activity
02:56there'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
03:08communication lines blow up bridges blowing up telephone exchanges to try and disrupt the
03:14germans as much as possible it's chaotic but it's exhilarating in the flurry of messages coming in
03:24from their agents they receive one that is unusual sir message from paul sign leopold leopold
03:37leopold is inactive he was arrested in 43
03:42thank you for the large delivery of weapons and ammunition incredibly grateful for the
03:47information on your plans and objectives
03:52signed the gestapo
03:56the gestapo
04:00it's not the only message f-section received that day from the nazis feared secret police
04:09up another thank you for the supply drop equipment gratefully received unfortunately some of your agents
04:19had to be shot others were more open to do what we asked the gestapo
04:27what the hell are they playing at
04:32send a reply
04:34sorry to see your nerves are shot and your resilience isn't as strong as ours buck master yes sir
04:54still soe circuits and french resistance fighters continue their clandestine attacks against the nazis
05:06and the allied soldiers fight their way ashore
05:10but their position is precarious they 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 wireless messages of german targets being hit continue to stream in
05:42sabotage by those soe networks was absolutely crucial during d-day and the germans were so angry at
05:52this success that an order went out to hunt down vera's agents
06:00just days after d-day f-section received news on one of their agents recently parachuted into france
06:10look
06:13and that's about has been captured
06:17violette
06:18violette is already a widow she's got a two-year-old daughter and the thought that
06:23violette might not come back is just unthinkable
06:28where
06:31the report is brief
06:36does it say where she's being held
06:41it just says captured nothing else
06:58in the limousine region of france resistance fighters pull off an audacious mission
07:05they have kidnapped the commander of the second ss panzer division das reich
07:11and of course the nazis are furious about this they want their commander back
07:17and so they start to ramp up their control of the area they put in roadblocks
07:23trying to capture resistance members and they start to punish the resistance for what they've done
07:30the nazis are out for revenge and choose the village of uradour sur glen to send a bloody message to
07:38the french people
07:44in london f-section monitor sabotage attacks across france
07:50they've hit another fuel depot
07:53good their tanks are thirsty beasts
07:57they'll be running on fumes by the time they reach normandy if they may get that far
08:03but soon news of the massacre reaches buck master
08:08sir a report from france you need to read it now thank you
08:19buck
08:26what is it
08:28the ss
08:33the resistance captured their commander
08:42they massacred a village
08:45what
08:49over 600 dead women
08:54children
09:01i thought the germans had honor
09:03that they acted like gentlemen
09:08look
09:12i never thought they'd do something like this
09:22the news of the massacre at orador suglan
09:25really is shocking for buck master that the germans have sunk so low that they'll massacre innocent women and children
09:35where did this happen
09:39where did this happen
09:40buck where did this happen
09:43um
09:50a limousine
09:51a limousine
09:54limousine
09:57limousine
10:12limousine
10:13but no further information on violette has come through
10:27in northern france the allies consolidate their foothold in normandy
10:33and prepare to push out deeper into the country
10:41f section is a hive of activity organizing weapons drops
10:46ammunitions explosives for the french resistance to stop the germans being able to defend themselves against the allied attack
10:58the
10:59buck a message from callsign bursa the scholar circuit are requesting a supply drop to the jurar region
11:10and she's been operating in france for about three months in the juror region which is to the east of
11:15france
11:17authorize the drop
11:20on the 25th of june 1944 32 flying fortresses were flown over by the raf
11:30and they released 440 parachutes and attached to those parachutes were canisters full of
11:36weapons and explosives and arms and equipment needed by the resistance
11:44it's the largest daylight parachute drop of the war
11:48hidden at the drop zone is yvonne with a team of resistance fighters
11:55it took 48 hours for those canisters to be emptied and for the equipment to be stored
12:01meaning that every minute and every hour that went by they were more and more at risk of being caught
12:08but yvonne was so excited when this happened and she said as every one of those parachutes opened hope was
12:14attached to them
12:21after a frantic two days on the ground
12:25yvonne and her team are exhausted with the last container collected
12:31they leave the drop zone and head back to their headquarters
12:46at f section messages from the circuits flood in
12:51and they leave the drop zone on the ground
12:52targets are being hit the resistance are taking the fight to the germans across the country
13:00but that's tinged with uncertainty
13:05what about the agents how many have survived how many have the germans managed to capture
13:13then f section finally receives the report they've been waiting for
13:36and they're driving to meet other soe leaders
13:40but what they don't know
13:42is the resistance of course one of the ss commanders of the second panzer division
13:47and the germans are frantic to get him back
13:50they start mounting roadblocks and they start searching people asking everybody for their papers
13:55where were they when this happened
14:00no what i thought you said this road was clear
14:07it was what it was it's a new checkpoint they can't search us i know they can't search
14:15us if they search the car they'll find our weapons we have british weapons
14:19if they search the car they'll know we're resistance
14:25we can't be captured stop the car
14:41we'll make for the woods try to lose them we go now move
15:10as violette's escaping she twists her ankle it was already damaged from the parachute drop she'd done
15:17during training as an soe agent
15:41she's basically immobile at this point so she provides cover fire for the resistance
15:48men so that they can get away
16:38The report ends.
16:42Violette was held by the SS in the French city of Limoges.
16:48But has since disappeared.
16:52She is one of many agents now missing.
17:06Since D-Day, Allied forces have made steady gains against the Germans.
17:14Two months after the Normandy landings, the Nazis are forced to abandon the French capital.
17:26The liberation of Paris was the moment everybody had been waiting for.
17:31The relief of finally being able to be in the city and not be under German occupation just must have
17:37been phenomenal.
17:39With the Allies pushing deeper into France, what's left of SOE's circuits begin to lose their importance.
17:50Boddington 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.
18:01And 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.
18:26Goodbye, Miss Atkins.
18:28Sorry, Flight Officer Atkins.
18:32Yes, goodbye.
18:37But Vera, no longer a civilian and now commissioned in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force, stays in London.
18:50Paris is back in Allied hands.
18:54But the victory came at a huge cost to SOE's agents.
18:59It 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.
19:14And this was Vera's responsibility.
19:17She's the one who's sent them to France in the first place.
19:21With Paris liberated, the human toll of this decision comes into focus.
19:29Of the more than 400 SOE agents dispatched to France, 118 are missing.
19:3716 of them are Vera's women.
19:58After the liberation at the hotel where F section have set up a new office,
20:03a man turns up and he's angry, he's furious.
20:09Marcel Rousset, an F section agent with the code name Leopold, demands to see anyone in the British Secret Service.
20:22I'm sorry to interrupt, but do you think you could fetch someone from SOE for me?
20:26Now!
20:27He had been captured by the Gestapo and in fact it was even his radio that was used by the
20:32Gestapo to send the taunting signals to SOE headquarters on D-Day.
20:40Hello, I'm Nancy. How can I help?
20:42Sorry, I need a chance.
20:43I am...
20:43He is angry.
20:45He's absolutely furious at mistakes that SOE has made, that so many agents have been captured.
20:53Please take a seat here, sir.
20:56An 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.
21:06He might know who has survived.
21:10So, Buckmaster...
21:11Rousset says how stupid everyone at F section had been, particularly Buckmaster and Vera, and how they had risked agents'
21:21lives.
21:23The SD, Sicherheitsdienst, forced him to relay radio messages back to London, and he quite deliberately totally follows SOE protocol,
21:34which is that he doesn't include special code words as a warning to SOE,
21:40but they just ignored this and continued to accept the messages that came from his radio as genuine.
21:50His interrogation report is explosive and provides Vera with important leads to the whereabouts of her missing agents.
22:06At F section, Vera receives Rousset's interrogation report.
22:15After his arrest, he's taken to the SD headquarters in Paris, at 84 Avenue Foch.
22:27The SD is the SS intelligence agency, and worked hand in hand with the Gestapo.
22:36Here, Rousset is confronted with Prosper's wireless operator, Gilbert Norman, codenamed Butcher.
22:45It 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.
23:06So, Sittal, who was the organizer of that circuit, and Norman, had given up everything about the Prosper's circuit in
23:15Paris, in order to try and save his life and maybe other agents' lives as well.
23:22Rousset is advised to do the same.
23:26Had he given up every piece of information? What had he told them?
23:31Can 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,
23:40she was just basically feeding them straight into the German prisons.
23:46In the Gestapo's cells, Rousset is held in solitary confinement.
23:53But, by tapping on the wall in Morse code, he manages to communicate with an SOE agent in the cell
24:00next to his.
24:02Rousset learns that a wireless operator with the codename Madeleine is also being held by the Nazis.
24:10Nor Inyat Khan goes under the codename Madeleine.
24:16Nor hadn't surfaced after the liberation of Paris.
24:22Vera assumed she'd been captured.
24:25But no further intel had been discovered.
24:31Rousset's report suggests that Nor had been in the Gestapo's prison in Paris.
24:40His report continues.
24:43From Paris, the women prisoners were then transferred to Germany.
24:49This is news to Vera.
24:52She wasn't aware that any female prisoners have been transferred to Germany.
24:57Where were they? Where have they gone?
25:00Could those women have been her agents? Could one of them have been Nor?
25:05Or.
25:07Or.
25:08Frustratingly, Rousset's intel now dries up.
25:12He remains in the Gestapo's prison, working as a cleaner, until two days after D-Day.
25:20Noticing a gate unlocked, he knocks out a guard and makes his escape.
25:49Vera haunts the F-Section operations room.
25:54Waiting for any news on her missing women's spies.
26:01Then, a report comes in from a member of Yvonne Basden's SOE circuit.
26:11After Yvonne and her colleagues had hidden all the equipment that had come in on this daylight parachute drop, they
26:17headed 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.
26:36Do we have time to move?
26:37No.
26:39Hide what you can, then hide yourself.
26:53The Germans who arrived, they just heard a tip-off that this building might be of some interest and they're
26:59just going to do a cursory search.
27:25There is literally nobody in sight. They can't find anybody.
27:28So they leave, but they just leave behind one person.
27:33He's effectively watching it just in case something happens or somebody arrives.
27:38One can only imagine what would be going through the minds of Yvonne and her team as they are hiding,
27:43holding their breath, not moving, because they have to be totally quiet.
27:48And then the plumbing makes a noise.
27:57Hello?
27:59Is anybody in there?
28:08I heard something. Keep searching.
28:47I heard something.
28:50reports searching for any clues to her agent's whereabouts who survived where
28:59were they being held and where were they now she has cause for optimism some
29:07agents are surfacing after the liberation of Paris one of her agents
29:14Mary Herbert astonishingly has survived hiding in a farmhouse in France it gives
29:22Vera hope that some of the other women might still be alive but for those still
29:30missing few details are known F section operations are all but wound down but
29:39Vera remains she is worried about her agents about the women she sent into
29:47the field she has to find out where they are
29:55the work is all-encompassing searching for any trace of where her agents were
30:02transported to in Germany and where they could be rescued from once the
30:09allies are victorious in October British officials investigate 84 Avenue Foch the
30:20Nazis former intelligence headquarters in Paris some of her agents were held in
30:30captivity there by piecing together what happened there maybe she'll get some
30:36information about her lost agents I visited the torture chamber at Avenue Foch
30:43where Kiefer had an office
30:52Hans Kiefer was the head of the SD in Paris during the German occupation
31:00he's the man who convinced Gilbert Norman to reveal everything he knew about SOE
31:06operations Hans Kiefer would have been personally in charge of the SOE agents
31:13who were held at that prison Kiefer would have to have known first of all who was
31:18held in his prison and what happened to them
31:25the report continues
31:28I found a moving inscription from men and women who knew they had lost everything
31:34except their honor but I was informed during the last few days before the
31:40departure of the Germans that several people have been taken downstairs into the
31:45courtyard and shot it's a tragic revelation were her agents executed in this group she has to track
31:59down Kiefer he must know where Vera's agents are he must know what's happened to them
32:13in the meantime she has the agonizing task of updating the families of the missing agents on what is known
32:21about them
32:25before nor departed for France
32:28Vera had promised to send her mother periodic good news letters which she had
32:36but now the tone of these letters has to change
32:42from 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
33:01Dear Mrs. Inayat Khan
33:03I 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
33:13but 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
33:48because once it is revealed in the public that something has happened to these women
33:52she's also fearful about the consequences for her
33:55as the person who sent them out
34:01I would impress upon you in the interests of your daughter's safety
34:06that you make no inquiries with regard to her
34:11except through me
34:23By January 1945
34:25the Allies are making steady gains
34:30and Nazi Germany is on its knees
34:42But many agents are still missing
34:45Despite combing through any and all intelligence documents
34:51Vera's investigation finds no trace of them
34:56She now lobbies inside SOE
35:04What Vera wants to do
35:05as 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
35:18At the height of F-section operations
35:20Vera is Buckmaster's right-hand man
35:22She's right in the centre of all of the major decisions
35:26But once F-section is over and Buckmaster is gone
35:29it becomes incredibly difficult to convince anybody
35:32that her plight within SOE is worth pursuing
35:37Particularly John Centre
35:39the head of SOE's security division
35:42and a commander in the Royal Navy
35:46Atkins
35:47Yes, sir
35:49A memo of yours
35:50just came across my desk
35:52Yes, sir
35:56A memo suggesting
35:58that we give out the names of our agents
36:05Publish their names
36:07for the Red Cross
36:08the American Army
36:11the Soviet Army
36:15Yes, sir
36:17so that once those forces begin liberating POW camps
36:21they will have a register of all of our missing agents
36:27Atkins
36:28you do understand what we do here
36:31the work we did during the war
36:34Yes, sir
36:35but
36:36Then you'll also understand the meaning of secret
36:39as in the term secret agent
36:43Sir, if I may
36:44Flight officer Atkins
36:47Let me remind you
36:48you are addressing a commander in the Royal Navy
36:52Sir
36:58The war is not yet over
37:02How long do you think it would be
37:03before the Germans
37:05also got to see those names?
37:09Why should we advertise
37:10who our agents are
37:13on a register
37:14for our enemies to see?
37:17Sir
37:18the Germans are spent
37:19This is our best chance
37:22of finding our agents
37:23women agents
37:24alive
37:31Consider your request denied
37:34on security grounds
37:36He's wanting to find out
37:38where 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
38:16searching Fren prison
38:18in Paris
38:20This is the Gestapo prison
38:22where people were held
38:23when they were not being interrogated
38:25and tortured
38:26and it indicates something
38:28really quite disturbing for Vera
38:30Next to the name of
38:32one of the prisoners
38:34is N and N
38:36This means Nacht und Nebel
38:38or Night and Fog
38:39The Nacht und Nebel order
38:41was decreed by Hitler
38:44that people who have been involved
38:45in espionage
38:47or resistance
38:48are to him so despicable
38:51that they have to be punished
38:53in an extraordinary way
38:55Not only will they be
38:56captured, interrogated, tortured
38:59and then killed
39:00but they're supposed to disappear
39:02without a trace
39:03they will disappear
39:04as into night and fog
39:07Time is running out
39:09to find her missing women
39:11alive
39:20By April 1945
39:22Germany is in total collapse
39:27The Foreign Office
39:28now they want to release
39:30the SOE agents' names
39:32Vera is allowed
39:34to issue the names
39:35of her agents
39:36so that people
39:37liberating these prisoner of war camps
39:39can find them
39:42If they are found
39:43there is now a register
39:45for their return
39:46to Britain
39:48if they survived
40:06On the 30th of April
40:081945
40:09with Berlin
40:10all but captured
40:11by the Red Army
40:15Hitler commits suicide
40:18Hitler commits suicide
40:23By the 8th of May
40:25the Allies accept
40:27Nazi Germany's
40:28unconditional surrender
40:30The war in Europe
40:32is over
40:48Amid the celebrations
40:50in London
40:51Vera gets news
40:52that gives her hope
40:54her agents survived
40:57On the 20th of May
40:591945
41:00Yvonne Basden
41:02captured and missing
41:03turns up
41:05at Euston Station
41:06in London
41:12Miss Atkins
41:13how did you get
41:32where are we going
41:34I'm taking you home
41:35your father is waiting
41:37my father
41:49From Euston Station
41:51Vera takes
41:52Yvonne Basden
41:53back to her family home
41:55in Brockwood Park
41:56in London
42:07Yvonne
42:18Please come here
42:19Please come here
42:20Please come here
42:36you look um weak let me make you something to eat
43:05what happened after you were captured did you see anyone else other agents
43:19Yvonne I need you to think
43:28after I was caught they sent me east to a to a prison to a place called Saarbrocken
43:44that there I started seeing some some familiar faces agents I'd been in
43:52training with I saw they've got the hold of Baker Street I didn't talk to them I I
44:07I kept my distance you see I told the Germans after they caught me that I was just an ordinary
44:14French
44:14girl caught in the wrong place at the wrong time that was my cover so I I had to keep
44:22my distance
44:24I I couldn't let the Nazis know that I was an agent it was my only hope of getting out
44:33alive
44:37her uh then then then they moved us um all to a camp uh north of Berlin
44:49who went with you
44:54I remember Violette
44:57a couple of others from from F section
45:03Violette Sabo
45:06yes
45:10Violette and and the others we were all there
45:12we were all sent to um um Ravensbrück concentration camp it was a camp just for women
45:24Ravensbrück
45:26a women's only concentration camp
45:33yes
45:38at this time very little is widely known about concentration camps
45:42very few people have heard about them the idea of there being one just for women
45:47I mean it it's completely horrifying
45:52one day
45:55Violette
45:56and the others just
46:00just disappeared
46:06I never saw them again
46:13and then um the Russians came and liberated us
46:16the Red Cross uh took me to Malmo in Sweden in a bus
46:21the RAF flew me to Scotland
46:25I found a train to Houston
46:31while 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
46:54thank you
46:57I'll leave you with
46:59you have a lot to catch up on
47:09Vera was incredibly happy to find Yvonne
47:11it might be possible she's able to trace all of her missing agents
47:19but had they survived
47:21and where were they all now
47:23a lot of them
47:26I
47:26I
47:31I
47:32I
47:33I
47:41I
47:42I
47:46I
48:10Transcription by CastingWords
Comments