Virginia Hall – The most feared allied spy in World War 2
The most feared allied spy in World War 2 was a woman. She was an American named Virginia Hall who worked as an undercover agent.
But her career almost never happened. At just 27, Hall lost her leg in a hunting accident.
Undeterred, Hall spent a year learning to walk on a cumbersome prosthetic leg she nicknamed Cuthbert.
Four years later, World War II broke out. Determined to help, she moved to Europe where she assisted the French army as an ambulance driver.
Fluent in French and an expert on the French countryside, Hall was recruited by a secret British espionage unit. She worked as an underground informant and organizer, building a network of 90 agents in the south of France.
The gestapo was desperate to find The Limping Lady undermining Nazi occupation. If captured, she would be tortured and killed.
In 1942, they found her. But hall fled to Spain on foot through the snow capped Pyrenees mountains, scaling altitudes of 7,500 feet on her prosthetic leg.
By now, America had learned of Hall’s talents and assigned her to America’s wartime predecessor to the CIA. They sent her back to Nazi-occupied France to spearhead the underground resistance.
She disguised herself as an elderly milkmaid, dyeing her hair gray and hiding her distinctive limp with bulky skirts and an old lady’s hobble. She transmitted intelligence via radio signals, coordinating her band of French resistance fighters.
On D-day, her team destroyed four bridges, derailed freight trains, and severed phone lines. By cutting off Nazi reinforcements and preventing them from retreating, she was instrumental in securing an allied victory.
After the war in 1945, President Harry Truman awarded Hall with the Distinguished Service Cross, the second highest US military award for bravery.
