Women in Intelligence

Historian Helen Fry will look at the rich and varied intelligence and espionage work women undertook as civilians and in uniform.

In the twentieth century, women took on an extraordinary range of roles in intelligence, defying the conventions of their time.

Across both world wars, they ran spy networks and escape lines, parachuted behind enemy lines and interrogated prisoners. Meanwhile, back at Bletchley and Whitehall, women’s vital administrative work in Military Intelligence kept the British war engine running.

Historian Helen Fry will look at the rich and varied intelligence and espionage work women undertook, from spies in the Belgian network who knitted coded messages into jumpers, to those who interpreted aerial images and even ran entire sections.

Discover the inspirational contributions of these remarkable women.

Dr Helen Fry has written numerous books on the Second World War with particular reference to the 10,000 Germans who fought for Britain, and also British intelligence, espionage and WWII. She has written over 25 books – including The Walls have Ears: The Greatest Intelligence Operation of WWII; Spymaster: The Man who Saved MI6; The London Cage about a secret interrogation centre in WWII; and MI9: A history of the British Secret Service for escape and evasion in World War Two. She has appeared in numerous TV documentaries and is an ambassador for the National Centre for Military Intelligence.

(Author image: Greg Morrison)

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