Noor Inayat Khan — The First Female SOE Wireless Operator in France

Noor Inayat Khan was a direct descendant of Tipu Sultan, the last ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore, and was a published children's author before volunteering for the SOE. She was the first female wireless operator sent into occupied France, operating in Paris under the alias 'Jeanne-Marie Renier.' The SOE considered her somewhat unsuitable for the role because she had a nervous disposition and reportedly struggled with code work under pressure, but she insisted on serving, telling her superiors that the danger was precisely why she had to go. She stayed in France for four months after her entire network was rolled up — every other agent had been arrested or killed — operating as the sole surviving SOE agent in Paris, sending critical daily reports to London. She was eventually betrayed by a double agent, arrested, and executed at Dachau concentration camp on September 13, 1944. Her last word, according to witnesses, was 'Liberte.' She was posthumously awarded the George Cross and the Croix de Guerre.