Virginia Hall was born in 1906 to Barbara and Edwin Lee (Ned) Hall, a Baltimore banker who also owned a movie theater. Virginia, known as "Dindy" to her family, was a free spirit who went against the conventions of the 1920s, wearing pants in place of skirts. She loved hunting and riding horses bareback. Virginia was viewed as a natural leader by her classmates.
It was while studying languages, economics and journalism in Vienna, that Virginia met and fell in love with Emil, a young Polish army officer. Because her family objected to this relationship, Virginia broke up with him.
Living in Europe resulted in Virginia learning a number of foreign languages, and becoming informed on European culture and politics. She developed a deep love for France, her "second country" and became concerned over the rise of fascism in Europe. In 1929, she returned to the United States, to study French and economics at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. She attempted to become a diplomat but her application was rejected.
After the death of her father in 1931, Virginia obtained a position at the US embassy in Poland, processing mail, diplomatic visas, and coding and decoding telegrams. In 1933, Virginia transferred to Smyrna, Turkey and it was there that she suffered a life-changing injury, shooting herself accidently in her left foot. When gangrene set in, surgeons were forced to amputate her left leg below the knee to save her life. Virginia returned home in June, 1934, endured several more operations, and was given a new wooden prosthetic leg she named "Cuthbert". This period of her life at her family's home, Box Horn Farm was difficult as Virginia had to relearn how to walk.
She was able to obtain a new post at the US consulate in Venice, Italy, where she continued to impress her superiors with her abilities. At age thirty, Virginia's second attempt to obtain a diplomat position was rejected on the grounds of her being an amputee. Virginia's supporters lobbied President Roosevelt who was told by Secretary of State Cordell Hull that her disability made her unsuitable for a diplomatic position. Instead, she was orders to leave Venice and given a posting in Tallinn, Estonia where she arrived after getting the needed repairs to her prosthetic leg in Paris. She arrived in Tallin in June 1938 and spent time hunting pheasant and grouse in the forests of Estonia.
In March, 1939,with war on the horizon, she resigned and left for London in September. When Germany attacked Poland on September 1, 1939, Virginia left for London. After being rejected as a volunteer for the Auxiliary Territorial Service because she was a foreigner, Virginia went to Paris and signed up as an ambulance driver for the French Ninth Artillery Regiment in March, 1940. When France was invaded by the Nazis in May 1940, Virginia was determined to help. She helped transport wounded French soldiers to Paris. As an American, Virginia was given more freedom than the French. On June 22, 1940, France surrendered with Philippe Petain, the new French leader signing a treaty that saw the north and west of France occupied by the Germans. The south was free and was governed by Petain from the town of Vichy and became known as Vichy France. Virginia believed the French would eventually fight back to reclaim their country and she wanted to help them. To do that, she knew she needed to get back to London.
In August 1940, in a border town in Spain, Virginia encountered George Bellows, a British secret agent. She told him about her experiences in France and impressed him with her courage and "...her desire to help the French." He gave her the phone number of a contact in London, that of Nicolas Bodington. He was "...a senior officer in the French (F) Section of a brand-new British intelligence service, the Special Operations Executive (SOE)."
However, Virginia did not contact Bodington, but instead asked for a temporary job at the U.S. embassy in London, while she waited to travel back to the United States. She was given a job as secretary to the embassy's military expert. Virginia soon found herself trapped in London during the nightly bombings by the Germans. It was at this time during the Blitz that she contacted Nicolas Bodington and was invited to dinner.
She met Nicolas and his wife Elizabeth, an American, in January 1941. Nicolas was frustrated by the fact that the British were unsuccessful in placing a single agent into France. Virginia didn't know who Nicolas was nor of his frustration. After the dinner, Nicolas was determined to use Virginia for a mission. America was not yet involved in the war, so Virginia could openly enter France, working as an American journalist.
There were obstacles to Virginia working in the British military: she was an American citizen, women were forbidden from frontline military service as they were not protected by international laws if taken prisoner during a war, and in the SOE there was strong opposition to women serving in the military. Eventually Virginia was taken on by the SOE on April 1, 1941, becoming Agent 3844 and the first liaison officer (Class A). She was not granted a military rank, likely because she would fail the medical exam based on her prosthetic.
She was sent into Vichy France, her mission described as "Liaison and Intelligence in Vichy France." The SOE wanted to know the state of affairs in France: "could the French people be organized into effective paramilitary networks to resist fascism ..." After training in coding, guerilla warfare, spreading propaganda, using code names, making invisible inks, and picking locks, Virginia was sent to Vichy. It was September 3, 1941 when she arrived at Petain's headquarters as a correspondent for the New York Post. Virginia's articles about life in Vichy France provided a wealth of information for the SOE who wanted to send more agents. This information allowed new agents to blend into everyday life. While Virginia was tasked with reporting on the situation in France and helping other agents as they arrived, she would accomplish so much more than that - setting up safe houses, recruiting sympathetic helpers, organizing resistance groups, and even rescuing prisoners.
Discussion
Agent Most Wanted is the story of Virginia Hall, a woman who overcame the barriers of gender and disability to become the first Allied woman secret agent in France, significantly helping the French Resistance during World War II. Author Sonia Purnell undertook extensive research, interviewing Virginia Hall's niece, Lorna Catling and traveling to France, to speak with the people of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon and many others including the son of Georges Duboudin who was known as agent "Alain".
Virginia Hall was a most extraordinary woman, a heroine of the war and one of the most effective Allied agents. Purnell explores Virginia's early life, her personality and the factors that formed her into the courageous leader she became. Nicknamed "Dindy" by her family, Virginia strongly resisted what was considered an "acceptable" life for a young woman in the 1930's. She broke an engagement, got herself well educated and was determined to have a career as a diplomat. Her father allowing her the freedom to be herself led to Virginia forging her own path. Eventually, as an Allied secret agent, she would make significant contributions during the war.
She recruited people to support the resistance to the Nazis in France, recruiting people to help fight the Nazis and defend their country. She recruited people who provided safe houses for agents hiding from the Nazis, obtaining weapons, medicine and supplies for the French Resistance. She also educated incoming British agents helping them to blend into the French culture so they wouldn't be caught by the Gestapo.
Virginia infiltrated the Surete, the Vichy government's counter-espionage force and she orchestrated prison escapes of SOE agents, most notably the spectacular escape of twelve SOE agents called Clan Cameron from the Mauzac prison camp.
Despite her remarkable abilities and her outstanding record, Virginia struggled at first to be taken seriously by the SOE in London. Many times male agents were taken at their word, over her more experienced opinions. The SOE refused to put Virginia in charge, even though she was the most competent agent in France. Without military rank, her competence could be questioned and her advice ignored. Purnell relates all of this plus explores the personal cost to Virginia, both the physical suffering she had to endure at times to get to safety and the loneliness she experienced. She also suffered from the betrayal of her network in Lyon by Robert Alesch, a Roman Catholic priest and Nazi collaborator and agent for the Abwehr. It was she who had taken Alesch into her confidence, mistakenly trusting him, something that cost her deep regret in the post-war years.
Virginia Hall proved that women could be excellent agents and she paved the way for many other female agents, many of whom lost their lives. Virginia was determined to prove "...that her survival against the odds had been for a purpose." Years earlier in March of 1939, her bland career made her want more. She wondered "How could she break through the constrictions of her life to do something really worthwhile?" There's no doubt that Virginia Hall was able to do something really worthwhile: she played a significant part in helping the French resist the Nazi occupation and she contributed to the Allies victory in Europe.
Purnell tells Virginia's story in short chapters, with black and white photographs of many significant people involved in Virginia's work in France and important people in her life in the post-war period. The author also provides Notes giving sources for the information in each chapter, a Bibliography and an Index.
Agent Most Wanted is an engaging story about one of the most significant but probably under-acknowledged heroes of the Second World War. It is well-written, well-researched and highly recommended!
Book Details:
Agent Most Wanted: The Never Before Told Story of the Most Dangerous Spy of World War II by Sonia Purnell
New York: Viking 2022
200 pp.
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