#]soe

[lesserknownwaifus]

Apple Honey from Sons of Eve

[theworldatwar]

Joint British SOE(Special Operations Executive) & U.S OSS(Office Of Strategic Services) Jedburgh team tasked with sabotage operations pose for a photograph just prior to D-day - France 1944

[20xbetterthanu]

Of course Josh kept kissing him. He kissed Tyler like God wasn’t watching. Like they had buried God in Eden.

[momose-ginko]

[capsicle107]

baby you should know, i’m the one whos in control

[city-of-ladies]

As a musician and children’s writer, nothing seemed to predestine Noor Inayat Khan (1914–1944) to fight against Nazism. Yet when the time came, she didn’t hesitate to risk her life for freedom.

A cosmopolitan childhood

Noor was born in Moscow in 1914. Her father, Inayat Khan, was a musician and Sufi preacher, descended from Tipu Sultan, the 18th-century ruler of Mysore. Her mother, Ora Ray Baker, was American. Her full name, Noor-un-nisa, meant “light of womanhood.”

During her early years, the family moved to London and then Paris. Noor had three younger siblings and developed a particularly close bond with her brother Vilayat.

Music was a central part of her childhood—her father often sang to his children at bedtime. In 1927, he fell ill and died. Deeply affected, her mother fell into grief, and it fell to 13-year-old Noor to care for her siblings and manage the household.

Artist and musician

Dreamy, introverted, and profoundly creative, Noor wrote poetry and composed music. In 1931, she began studying harp and piano. She would later study child psychology and Hindi as well.

Noor launched a prolific and successful artistic career. By 1938, she was a regular contributor to the children’s page of Le Figaro. Her endearing stories, filled with magical creatures, were widely appreciated. She also participated in children’s programs on Radio Paris.

She worked on an adaptation of the Jataka Tales—stories about the Buddha’s incarnations—which became a publishing success. She also wrote articles on subjects ranging from Indian and Greek mythology to history and folklore.

But the outbreak of World War II would lead her down a very different path.

Flight to England

The rise of Nazism horrified Noor. She was particularly appalled by the atrocities committed against Jews. She had even once been engaged to a Jewish man, though the engagement was later broken. The devastation caused by the bombings further convinced her to act.

She and her family fled Paris and sought refuge in England. There, Noor resolved to take action—despite the internal conflict it caused with her Sufi philosophy of nonviolence.

She joined the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) and trained as a radio operator. Her rapid progress and fluency in several languages caught the attention of the Special Operations Executive (SOE).

Training with the SOE

Noor was soon recruited by the SOE for espionage work in occupied France. Informed of the risks, she accepted immediately.

She began training as a wireless operator, learning codes as well as more physical, hands-on skills. Noor struggled with sabotage techniques and was initially frightened by weapons. Still, she showed great determination to improve.

Her training also included unarmed combat and survival techniques. Agents were subjected to mock interrogations designed to simulate capture and test their ability to maintain their cover. During her own interrogation, Noor broke down, nearly losing the ability to speak. This raised doubts about her readiness—but despite reservations, she was sent to France in June 1943.

Codename Madeleine

Noor became the first female radio operator sent to France. Previous female agents had served as couriers. Arriving in Paris under the codename Madeleine, she joined the large and well-organized Prosper resistance network. But a wave of arrests soon left Noor isolated and in danger.

Fully aware of the risks, Noor refused exfiltration and chose to stay—one of the last wireless operators remaining in Paris. She continued transmitting messages to London while evading Nazi detection.

She grew exceptionally skilled at her work, constantly changing locations and carrying her wireless set through the streets of Paris. On one occasion, when arrested briefly, she told the Germans it was a cinematographic apparatus. Unfamiliar with the device, they let her go.

She frequently changed identities and took calculated risks. Her ability to evade capture made her a major concern for the Gestapo. But in October, she was betrayed. A French officer working for the Gestapo was sent to arrest her. Noor resisted—he seized her hands, but she bit his wrist so hard that he bled and was forced to let her go.

When he tried to handcuff her, she fought back so fiercely that he had to draw his gun. As she was taken away, Noor’s eyes blazed with rage and she hurled insults at her captors.

Freedom or death

At first, Noor was interrogated but not tortured. She revealed nothing. She made two escape attempts during her imprisonment, including one through a bathroom window. Her second attempt nearly succeeded.

Labeled a dangerous prisoner, she was sent to Pforzheim prison, where she was kept in solitary confinement and subjected to torture. Still, she gave away no information. Eventually, she was transferred to Dachau concentration camp.

On September 13, 1944, Noor was executed. Her last word was reportedly “Liberté”—“freedom” in French.

In recognition of her bravery, Noor Inayat Khan was posthumously awarded the George Cross (UK) and the Croix de Guerre (France).

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Further reading:

Basu Shrabani, Spy princess

Noor Inayat Khan

[entropic-search]

Hi Pix @severevoiddragon

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!🎉🎉

Hihihi

Go look at Callie fearing for their life <3

[elsie-lazlo]

SUMPFOHREULE by ingo jautz Via Flickr: short-eared-owl