Virginia Hall was one of the greatest spies of World War II but her incredible story is largely unknown today.
The Nazis considered Virginia Hall the "most dangerous of all Allied spies," yet the story of the "Limping Lady" is largely unknown today. Hall spent nearly the entire war in France, first as a spy for Britain's newly formed Special Operations Executive (SOE) and later for the U.S. Office of Strategic Services (OSS) Special Operations Branch. Even her cumbersome wooden prosthetic leg, which she nicknamed Cuthbert, proved no obstacle to Hall's courage and determination to defeat the Nazis. While undercover in France, she proved exceptionally adept at eluding the Gestapo as she organized resistance groups, masterminded jailbreaks for captured agents, mapped drop zones, reported on German troop movements, set up safe houses, and rescued escaped POWs and downed Allied pilots. Even years after the war, however, she rarely talked about her extraordinary career; a reticence she likely developed during her years as a spy since, as she once observed, "Many of my friends were killed for talking too much."
Hall was born to a wealthy Baltimore, Maryland family on April 6, 1906 and, from an early age, she resisted the expectation that she would marry into privilege and settle into the role of wife and mother. Describing herself as "cantankerous and capricious," Hall set her sights on becoming a diplomat after studying in Paris and falling in love with France. Although she applied numerous times, woman accounted for only six of the 1,500 U.S. diplomats at the time and she was repeatedly rejected. Still hoping to join the Foreign Service, she ended up taking a clerical job at the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw, Poland. An accident during a hunting trip in Turkey, however, changed the course of her life after her left leg had to be amputated below the knee due to gangrene. Soon after, Hall learned that the loss the her leg disqualified her from the Foreign Service, ending her dreams of becoming a diplomat.
Undaunted, she resigned from her clerk job and moved to Paris in 1939, just as war was breaking out across Europe. After German forces invaded France on May 10, 1940, Hall volunteered to drive ambulances for the French army during the six-week long Battle of France, transporting wounded soldiers from the front line under fire from German fighter planes. After the French surrender, Hall traveled to London to support the British war effort. On her journey, she impressed an undercover agent who put her in touch with a senior officer in the Special Operations Executive (SOE), Winston Churchill's new secret service. The new agency had never employed a female operative but, after six months of failing to infiltrate a single new agent into France, they decided to send Hall to France as the SOE's first female agent in the country.
She arrived in the Vichy region of France in August 1941 under the cover story of being a war correspondent for the New York Post newspaper. In Toulouse, she established a resistance network called HECKLER, which gathered information about German troop movements and helped downed British pilots escape to safety, then she traveled to Lyon, where she helped coordinate activities of the French Resistance. Hall was forced underground after America entered the war, but continued operating in France for another 14 months. She became adept at changing her appearance on a moment's notice, and was known by multiple aliases. "To a certain extent, was invisible," says Craig Gralley, author of Hall of Mirrors: Virginia Hall: America's Greatest Spy of World War II. "She was able to play on the chauvinism of the Gestapo at the time. None of the Germans early in the war necessarily thought that a woman was capable of being a spy."
Hall's extraordinary effectiveness amazed the SOE commanders and helped change their minds about women operating in combat zones; twelve months after Hall began working undercover, the SOE finally decided to send more female agents into the field. Her efficiency also drew attention from the enemy forces, however, and it wasn't long before the Gestapo was on the hunt for "the Limping Lady," who they knew only from a composite sketch. Their internal communications declared: "She is the most dangerous of all Allied spies. We must find and destroy her." With Gestapo agents — including notorious investigator Klaus Barbie, who would later be awarded the Iron Cross for torturing and executing thousands of resisters — closing in on her after the Germans seized control of Vichy France in November 1942, Hall was forced to flee to Spain.
Virginia Hall receiving the Distinguished Service Cross from OSS Chief General Donovan in 1945.Escape meant a three day journey on foot in heavy snow across the Pyrenees mountains, a task made even more challenging with an 8-pound artificial leg bound to her body with straps and a belt at the waist. At one point, she jokingly mentioned in a message to the SOE that she was concerned that Cuthbert would cause problems during her escape; not recognizing the nickname she used for her prosthetic, SOE headquarters responded, "If Cuthbert is giving you difficulty, have him eliminated." When she arrived in Spain, she was arrested and imprisoned for illegally entering the country; it took six weeks before an inmate being released was able to get word to American officials in Barcelona about her presence so they could arrange her release. She finally made it back to London in January 1943, where she was quietly made a honorary Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).
After the SOE refused to send her back to France fearing it was too dangerous with her high profile, Hall decided to join the American Office of Strategic Services (OSS), which was just establishing their own intelligence operation in France. With huge numbers of Nazi troops now in the country, Hall took even more extreme measures to disguise herself. Among them, Sonia Purnell, author of A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II, recounts that Hall had a "fierce, a rather sort of scary London dentist to grind down her lovely, white American teeth so that she looked like a French milkmaid." In the Haute-Loire region of central France, she disguised herself as an elderly milkmaid and got to work on her radio, coordinating airdrops of arms and supplies for the resistance fighters who were blowing up bridges and sabotaging troop trains, and reporting German troop movements to Allied forces.
Her second tour in France in 1944 and 1945 was even more successful than her first, and at its peak, her network consisted of 1,500 people. With the Germans constantly attempting to track her radio signals, Hall stayed on the move, camping out in barns and attics. As D-Day approached, Hall was operating as a guerrilla leader, and she armed and trained three battalions of French resistance fighters for sabotage missions that helped paved the way for the Allied invasion. One of her many radio reports shows the breadth of her missions; in it, she states that her team has destroyed four bridges, derailed freight trains, severed a key rail line, and downed telephone lines. By the war's end, Hall had spent over three full years operating undercover behind enemy lines and, in the words of an official British government report at the end of the war, she was "amazingly successful."
After the war, Hall became an intelligence analyst with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which was formed after the OSS was dissolved at the end of the war. For her wartime service, she was awarded the Croix de Guerre with Palme by France and became the only civilian woman during WWII to be awarded a Distinguished Service Cross by the U.S. which recognizes exceptional valor and risk of life in combat. President Harry Truman wanted to have a public ceremony for the presentation of the medal, but Hall requested a private ceremony instead, saying that she was "still operational and most anxious to get busy." Hall worked at the CIA until she retired in 1966 and took quiet pride in her service to her country, although she always maintained a wry sense of humor about it. Her response to receiving the Distinguished Service Cross? "Not bad for a girl from Baltimore."
Books About Women Spies and Resisters of World War II
Virginia Was a Spy
Virginia Was a Spy
Growing up in Baltimore, Virginia Hall loved adventure, spending her days hunting, fishing, and hiking. She dreamed of working for the U.S. Foreign Service, but after a hunting accident, her leg had to be amputated, and they told her she'd have to work behind a desk. Instead, she learned to walk with a wooden prosthesis, moved to Paris, and, when World War II broke out, became a spy! Hall worked for both Britain and the US, gathering critical information and evading the Nazis who only knew her as the Limping Lady. With realistic illustrations that amp up suspense and detailed text that emphasizes Hall's spirit of individuality, this is a fitting tribute to the girl from Baltimore who refused to let others tell her how she would live.
Jars of Hope: How One Woman Helped Save 2,500 Children During the Holocaust
Jars of Hope: How One Woman Helped Save 2,500 Children During the Holocaust
In Poland's Warsaw Ghetto during WWII, a young nurse and social worker went about her daily work, caring for the sick — and smuggling Jewish children out to safety. Irena Sendler knew what she was risking, but she couldn't bear to watch children suffer and do nothing. And after every child was safe — over 2,500 children in total — she meticulously recorded their name in hopes that, someday, they could be reunited with their families. This illustrated biography from the Encounter: Narrative Nonfiction series tells Sendler's inspiring story in an accessible and evocative way, perfect for young readers.
Virginia Hall: Clever Spy of World War II
Virginia Hall: Clever Spy of World War II
Virginia Hall was born on a small farm in Maryland, but she dreamed of seeing the world — and the foreign service seemed the perfect way to do that. She was smart and determined, and it didn't take her long to get a position at the US embassy in Warsaw, Poland, just as tensions about Hitler and the Nazi party in Germany were starting to rise. After an accident resulting in Hall losing her leg and being fitted with a wooden prosthetic she named Cuthbert, she was told she'd never serve in the field, but she wasn't going to give up! She would become a spy for the Allies, nicknamed the "Limping Lady" by the Gestapo, and the intelligence she gathered was critical. This exciting graphic novel from the Women Warriors of World War II series is a thrilling introduction to Hall, Cuthbert, and all their daring exploits.
Genevieve's War
Genevieve's War
When 13-year-old Genevieve travels from her home in America to visit her grandmother's farm in France, it seems like a lovely summer holiday. But it's 1939, and her choice to stay in France proves to be a dangerous one: when World War II erupts, the Nazis occupy Alsace, deporting many of their friends and neighbors, and one German officer even commandeers a room in Mémé's home. Then, the stakes rise even higher when Gen joins her friend Remi aiding the French Resistance. Gen will have to hide her friend and her resistance work — right under the officer's nose. This powerful companion to Lily's Crossing brings the experience of living under Nazi occupation to vivid life.
Rescue
Rescue
Almost two years ago, Meg's father went to fight against the Nazis — and she hasn't seen him since. With the family farm now in Nazi-occupied territory, Meg has already been secretly helping the French Resistance, while also deciphering codes he left in a jar to entertain her while he's gone... a jar that's almost empty. Then Meg stumbles across an injured British spy who tells her that her father could be released from Nazi imprisonment — if she can guide a family of German refugees safely to Spain. To do so, she'll have to untangle the most complicated cipher yet — one that could reveal dangerous secrets that might risk both her mission and her life. Jennifer A. Nielsen, bestselling author of Resistance, has crafted a suspenseful story that will leave readers wondering who Meg can trust to the very end.
Women Heroes of World War II
32 Stories of Espionage, Sabotage, Resistance, and Rescue
Women Heroes of World War II
32 Stories of Espionage, Sabotage, Resistance, and Rescue
During World War II, women around the world stood up to protect those they could, doing everything from transmitting radio messages from occupied France, to hiding Jewish families or smuggling them out of dangerous territory, to conducting sabotage missions throughout Europe. Kathryn J. Atwood tells some of their stories in this book, including Virginia Hall's, where she emphasizes how Hall's cunning and courage made her the most dangerous Allied agent. A companion book, Women Heroes of World War II: The Pacific Theater, tells the stories of women's contributions in China, Japan, Malaya, Singapore, the Dutch East Indies, and the Philippines.
Resistance
Resistance
In 1942 Nazi-occupied Poland, Jewish teenager Chaya Lindner is determined to fight the evil destroying her life... even in the face of overwhelming odds. She escapes the Kraków Ghetto where her family is imprisoned and joins the Jewish resistance as a courier. She learns about a planned uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto to fight Nazis' efforts to transport the remaining survivors of the ghetto to death camps. Like her fellow resisters, Chaya knows that there is no possibility that they will 'win' this fight, but they hope to save as many lives as possible, and to live — or die — on their own terms. This powerful historical fiction novel by the author of A Night Divided about the largest single revolt by Jews during WWII explores the Holocaust from the rarely-discussed perspective of Jewish resistance fighters through the story of one heroic young woman.
The Lady Is A Spy: Virginia Hall, World War II Hero of the French Resistance
The Lady Is A Spy: Virginia Hall, World War II Hero of the French Resistance
Virginia Hall always wanted adventure, but many people thought that she would spend her life behind a desk after she lost her leg in an accident. Instead, when World War II broke out, she wanted to serve: first as part of a French ambulance unit, then as an undercover agent for the British Special Operations Executive. She was such an effective spy that the Gestapo declared "the Limping Lady" to be among the most dangerous spies they pursued. This is the true story of a woman who refused to let anything — or anyone — hold her back.
Code Name Badass: The True Story of Virginia Hall
Code Name Badass: The True Story of Virginia Hall
As a girl, Virginia Hall love to horseback ride and shoot, and played a pirate in the school play. As a young woman, she refused to let an accident that required the amputation of a leg stop her from pursuing her dreams. And when World War II broke out, she put all her skills to use — arming and training the French Resistance and spying for the British behind enemy lines! In this raucous biography of "the most dangerous of all Allied spies," teens will follow Hall's nailbiting adventures as she organizes sabotage missions, evades the notorious Gestapo commander the Butcher of Lyon, and helps win the war.
The Wolves At The Door: The True Story Of America's Greatest Female Spy
The Wolves At The Door: The True Story Of America's Greatest Female Spy
Virginia Hall's wealthy Baltimore friends who never have guessed what her future would bring. When World War II broke out, she saw the potential to serve despite her prosthetic leg, the result of a hunting accident. As an agent for the British Special Operations Executive, she was deployed in France and was so effective that the Gestapo offered a reward for "the most dangerous of all Allied spies." And when she was finally driven out by their pursuit, she joined the OOS and returned once again, killing 150 German soldiers and capturing 500 others. This thrilling biography of the little-known "Limping Lady" is a tribute to her determination and strength.
Sisterhood of Spies: The Women of the OSS
Sisterhood of Spies: The Women of the OSS
The men of America's World War II intelligence agency, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), have long been celebrated in daring spy stories — but there were also 4,000 women OSS agents whose stories often go untold. From "Limping Lady" Virginia Hall to the glamorous Marlene Dietrich to the future TV celebrity Julia Child, the women of the OSS have their own fascinating stories to tell. Author Elizabeth P. McIntosh draws from both her personal experience of OSS and CIA operations and interviews with over 100 OSS women to create this riveting account of the sisterhood that helped drive the organization's critical work.
The Invisible Woman
The Invisible Woman
Virginia Hall left behind a privileged life of debutante balls and fancy dress in Baltimore to seek a life of adventure in Europe, but when World War II breaks out, her new home is thrown into turmoil. Undeterred, Hall joins the ranks of the Allies' spies, devoting herself to subverting the Nazis and aiding the resistance. Then someone betrays her organization, forcing her to flee — and costing the lives of brave people who worked beside her. Now she's determined to go back behind enemy lines, despite the risk, to avenge them — and continue to fight for freedom. Based on the true story of World War II spy Virginia Hall, this stunning historical fiction novel is suspenseful and inspiring.
Hall of Mirrors: Virginia Hall: America's Greatest Spy of World War II
Hall of Mirrors: Virginia Hall: America's Greatest Spy of World War II
She was the first Allied agent to live behind the lines in Vichy, France, and the Nazis considered "The Lady Who Limps" one of their most elusive enemies. Her real name was Virginia Hall, and before she became the only civilian woman of the war to win the Distinguished Service Cross, she had to overcome both gender discrimination and prejudice against her because of her prosthetic leg. Author Craig Gralley tells Hall's story with the verve and suspense of a spy thriller, highlighting how this remarkable woman's efforts changed the course of the war.
A Woman Of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II
A Woman Of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II
In 1942 France, a mysterious spy known as the "Limping Lady" was a linchpin for the French Resistance – the Gestapo called her "the most dangerous of all Allied spies." Her name, unknown to the Germans, was Virginia Hall. She was the daughter of a well-off Baltimore family turned Special Operations Executive agent, and her distinctive limp was from a prosthetic leg that most people believed would trap her behind a secretary's desk. Author Sonia Purnell explores the full story behind Hall's life, illuminating her determination and her wartime heroism. Fast-paced, thrilling, and meticulously researched, this biography of Hall is better than any fictional spy story.
