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World War I women spies, both of whom were executed, were Mata Hari (born Margaretha Geertruida Zelle McLeod) and Edith Cavell. Mata Hari was a dancer who used her vocation as a cover for her spy work for the Germans. She was shot by the French as a spy in 1917. Edith Cavell was a British nurse who worked in Belgium during the war. She secretly helped British, French, and Belgian soldiers escape from behind the German lines, and she hid refugees in the nursing school she ran. By 1915 she had helped more than 200 British, French, and Belgian soldiers, but the Germans grew suspicious and arrested her. She was executed by firing squad.

WORLD WAR II SPIES

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Virginia Hall, an American originally from Baltimore, Maryland, spied for the French during World War II. She was chased by the Nazis over the Pyrenees Mountains into Spain and eluded them, even though she had a wooden leg. After escaping, she trained as a radio operator and transferred to the OSS, America’s secret spy agency. In 1943 she returned to France as an undercover spy, gathering intelligence, helping to coordinate air drops in support of D-Day, and working with the French underground to disrupt German communications. After the war, Virginia was awarded America’s Distinguished Service Cross, the only American civilian woman to receive such an honor. She continued to work for the OSS, and later the CIA, until her retirement in 1966.

Princess Noor-un-nisa Inayat Khan was an author and a heroine of the French Resistance. The Princess trained as a wireless operator in Great Britain and was sent into occupied France as a spy with the code name “Madeleine.” She became the sole communications link between her unit of the French Resistance and home base before she was captured by the Gestapo and executed.

Violette Bushell Szabo was recruited and trained by the British Special Operations Executive after her husband, a member of the French Foreign Legion, was killed in North Africa. She was sent to France, where she was captured during a shoot-out. She refused to give up her information and was sent to the Ravensbruck concentration camp, where she was eventually killed. She was awarded the George Cross and the Croix de Guerre posthumously in 1946.

Amy Elizabeth Thorpe, also known as Betty Pack and “Code Name Cynthia,” was an American spy first recruited by the British secret service and later by the American OSS. She is probably best remembered for her procurement of French naval codes, necessary to the Allies’ invasion of North Africa, which she accomplished by tricking a man connected to the Vichy French Embassy into giving them to her. Not only did she steal French naval code books from the safe in his locked room, she also stole his heart: after the war they were married, and they spent the rest of their lives together.

How To Be a Spy

THE WORD “spy” comes to us from ancient words meaning “to look at or watch.” And indeed, despite the modern movie emphasis on technology and machines as integral to a spy’s bag of tricks, in essence what makes an excellent spy is her ability to watch, pay attention, look, and learn.

TOP-SECRET COMMUNICATION

Girl Scout whistle and hand signals

These secret signals have been used by the Girl Scouts since before World War I. You can use them to alert or direct your spy team when you are out in the field.

Whistle signals

♦ One long blast means “silence / alert / listen for next signal”

♦ A succession of long slow blasts means “go out / get farther away” or “advance / extend / scatter”

♦ A succession of quick short blasts means “rally / close in / come together/ fall in”

♦ Alternate short and long blasts mean “alarm / look out / be ready / man your alarm posts”

Hand signals

♦ Advance / forward: Swing the arm from rear to front, below the shoulder

♦ Retreat: Circle the arm above the head

♦ Halt: Raise the arm to full extension above the head.

Secret codes

A code is a way to send a message while keeping it a secret from someone who isn’t supposed to know about it. Codes can be easy or complicated—the trick