Conversation

Emily Zanotti @emzanotti

The night before the #DDay invasion, the Allies quietly activated an incredible group of spies, many of them women, by interrupting French radio transmissions with the first few notes of Beethoven’s 5th — dun-dun-dun-dunnn — coincidentally the Morse code for “V”...for victory

These groups split communications wires, destroyed railroad tracks, and quietly interrupted supply lines. Women on bicycles distracted the Germans as their collaborators scrambled transmissions, cut cables, and delayed rail cars. Just weeks before, Churchill had deployed...

...a force of female spies from the Special Operations Executive, the precursor to MI6, to organize the rebellion. Only 1 in 3 of these women would survive the invasion and the ensuing battle to reclaim France. Their tales are incredible.

Do you guys want to know more about this? I have TONS of stuff on it! I tried to write a book about it but “people aren’t interested in war stories about women.”

The woman who led this effort, Vera Atkins, hunted down her missing female spies and avenged their deaths, guys!! This is Quentin Tarantino stuff!

Emily Zanotti

@emzanotti

Another fun fact: there are women buried in the American cemetery in Normandy, by the way. They’re not spies, though. They are WOMEN OF COLOR, the women who delivered the mail to the front lines.

natehale (on Gab @Nate_Hale)

@natehale

11hReplying to

@emzanotti

Key announcements to the resistance were broadcast (in code) over the BBC, including the long-awaited “Jean has a long mustache,” indicating that the allied invasion was at hand:

The Longest Day scene: Jean a de longues moustaches

youtube.com