They were sent to Fresnes Prison in Paris, and soon were interrogated at 84 Avenue Foch, the notorious Gestapo headquarters. Through an ingenious plot, Bleicher arrested Odette and her commanding officer, Peter Churchill (no relation to the prime minister), on April 16, 1942. And as every spy knew, the Gestapo needed to turn only one operative to infiltrate a circuit and spoil the lot. To be caught with a wireless radio-something every SOE agent would transport from time to time-was a capital offense. Wehrmacht soldiers, Vichy police, Abwehr (German military intelligence) and Gestapo were everywhere: control checkpoints, hotels, cafes, trains … even brothels. To accomplish these tasks, couriers carried messages and money to their associates almost on a daily basis.Īnd danger was ever-present. In some cases, hit-and-run guerilla attacks were staged. These three would then recruit, arm and work with local French Resistance fighters to sabotage German trains, barges, bridges and supply depots. SOE circuits were comprised of three agents: circuit leader, courier and radio operator. Like her colleagues in the SOE, she signed up for the war knowing that arrest (and execution) was a very real possibility-a fate that awaited almost one in two for F Section (France) couriers. She didn’t think twice about confronting German generals or commandants, and often placed principle before prudence. She feared neither danger nor dagger, interrogation nor torture. Odette was a courier for the SPINDLE circuit of Special Operations Executive (SOE), the secret sabotage outfit Winston Churchill had charged to “set Europe ablaze.” She was a wife and mother of three who didn’t drink, smoke or swear, and to the casual observer she was quite ordinary, perhaps even boring. But it was Odette’s commitment to honor and duty that allowed her to persevere under such perilous conditions. World War II buffs-even military historians-lose sight of the fact that female couriers operating in occupied France had the second highest Allied fatality rate (42%, behind only Bomber Command’s 45%) of the war. She was awarded not only an Order of the British Empire (Member), but also a Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur, France’s highest decoration a George Cross, Britain’s second highest honor and five other medals.

Yet their decorations pale in comparison to those of a courier spy named Odette Sansom (code name: LISE).

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