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Secret Operations Poppy Brooch
In the Second World War, the Geneva Convention stated that women could not bear arms, but despite this, under the directive of Winston Churchill, from 1942 onwards SOE (Special Operations Executive) began recruiting women agents. Once they were positively vetted, they were often recruited and transferred into an independent voluntary woman’s service called the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry as a cover for their real role into the SOEs.
Other female agents were drawn from the WAAF (Women’s Auxiliary Air Force), ATS (Auxiliary Territorial Service) and a variety of civilian backgrounds. The Dutch and Belgian sections used only a few women agents, while the French section sent 39 women of various nationalities into occupied France. The women agents were not subject to conventional military rules but were trained and treated in the same way as the men.
These brave men and women partook in espionage to help win the Second World War against Germany. Sadly, many never returned home. This brooch is dedicated to these agents, and we are really pleased to be able to share with you their stories with the help of Beaulieu in the New Forest where they trained.
1 May 1908 – 15 June 1952
Maria Krystyna Janina Skarbek, OBE, GM
Also known as Christine Granville, Maria was a Polish agent of the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) during the Second World War.
She became a British agent months before the SOE was founded in July 1940, was the first female agent of the British to serve in the field, and the longest serving of all Britain’s wartime women agents. Her resourcefulness and success have been credited with influencing the organisation’s decision to recruit more women as agents in Nazi-occupied countries. In 1941 she began using the alias Christine Granville, a name she legally adopted upon naturalisation as a British subject in December 1946.
Skarbek’s most famous exploit was securing the release of SOE agents Francis Cammaerts and Xan Fielding from a German prison hours before they were to be executed. She did so by meeting (at great personal risk) with the Gestapo commander in Digne-les-Bains, France, telling him she was a British agent, and persuading him with threats, lies, and a two million Franc bribe to release the SOE agents.
Skarbek is often characterised in terms such as Britain’s “most glamorous spy” or “Churchill’s favourite spy”.
28 April 1912 – 13 March 1995
Odette Marie Céline Sansom, née Brailly GC, MBE
Odette Sansom, also known as Odette Churchill, Odette Hallowes, and codenamed Lise, was an agent for the United Kingdom’s Special Operations Executive (SOE) in France during the Second World War. She was born in Amiens, France, and moved to England when she married an Englishman, where they went on to have three daughters. When the Second World War broke out, she was living in Somerset and eager to aid the war effort. She responded to an appeal from the Admiralty to send in any family photos taken in France for possible war use, but mistakenly sent them to the War Office instead, which brought her to the attention of the SOE and was consequently recruited.
She was sent to Beaulieu where she learnt escape and evasion, uniform recognition, communications, and cryptography, and had further training in weaponry. Despite reports advising she could be temperamental; she became Agent S. 23. She worked as a liaison officer but was tricked by an Abwehr agent posing as a defector and was imprisoned in Paris. Sansom was tortured under interrogation at Gestapo head-quarters but refused to reveal her secrets.
A number of women have received the George Cross though the only female living, to be awarded the George Cross was Odette Samson Hallowes (1912- 1995). She was also awarded the Légion d’onneur by France.
1 January 1914 – 13 September 1944
Noor-un-Nisa Inayat Khan, GC
Noor-un-Nisa was a British resistance agent in France during the Second World War who served in the Special Operations Executive (SOE). The purpose of the SOE was to conduct espionage, sabotage, and reconnaissance in countries occupied by the Axis powers, especially those occupied by Nazi Germany.
Noor was recruited to the French section of the Special Operations Executive in early February 1943 after training at Wanborough Manor, Surrey and then Aylesbury as a specialist wireless operator in occupied territory, and then on to Beaulieu. At Beaulieu she learnt escape and evasion, uniform recognition, communications, and cryptography, she also had further training in weaponry. She took part in practice missions training her to be able to send transmissions back from France without being detected. Lastly, she was trained in interrogation, so she would be aware of what it would be like if captured.
As an SOE agent, under the codename Madeleine, she became the first female wireless operator to be sent from the UK into occupied France to aid the French Resistance during World War II. Two days before Noor was due to return to the UK she was betrayed and captured. At just 30 years of age, she was executed at Dachau concentration camp with three other agents Elaine Plewman, Yolande Beekman and Madeleine Damerment. For her courageous acts Noor Inayat Khan was posthumously awarded the highest civilian honour by both Britain and France – the George Cross and the Croix de Guerre.
11 January 1897 – 23 or 24 April 1945
Yvonne Claire Rudellat, MBE, née Cerneau
Yvonne Claire Rudellat, MBE, code name Jacqueline, was an agent of the United Kingdom’s clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) organisation in the Second World War. She was one of the first four women to arrive in Beaulieu in 1942 to train to be an agent with SOE. She trained at Boarmans, one of ten houses on the Beaulieu Estate in Hampshire that had been taken over by SOE. There she learnt how to live in enemy territory and the required skilled needed in her role as a courier, including the use of ciphers, radio, and ‘boîtes aux lettres’ for leaving messages securely. She also learnt how to resist interrogation.
She arrived in France by boat on the night of 30th July 1942 and worked as a courier for the Prosper Network or also called the Physician Network from August 1942 until June 1943, when she was captured by the Germans and imprisoned.
26 June 1921 – c. 5 February 1945
Violette Reine Elizabeth Szabo, GC, née Bushell
Violette was a British-French Special Operations Executive (SOE) agent during the Second World War and a posthumous recipient of the George Cross. Szabo was given security clearance and selected for training as a field agent in July 1943. After an assessment for fluency in French and a series of interviews, Szabo went to a training school at Winterfold House, and after a moderately favourable report, to Special Training School 24 of Group A at Arisaig in the Scottish Highlands in September and October 1943. Szabo received intensive instruction in fieldcraft, night and daylight navigation, weapons, and demolition. Again, her reports were mixed, but she passed the course and moved on to Group B.
Szabo was sent to the SOE “finishing school” at Beaulieu, Hampshire, where she learnt escape and evasion, uniform recognition, communications, and cryptography, and had further training in weaponry. The final stage in her training was parachute jumping, which was taught at Ringway Airport near Manchester. On her first attempt, Szabo badly sprained her ankle and was sent home for recuperation, spending some time in Bournemouth (it was this ankle that was to fail her later in France). She was able to take the parachuting course again and passed with a second class in February 1944. She was commissioned as a section leader in the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry, a civilian service often used by SOE as a cover for female agents.
The Secret Operations Poppy Brooch is a deeply meaningful piece, crafted to honour the courageous women who played pivotal roles in secret wartime missions.
This exquisite brooch showcases a rich red poppy, symbolising Remembrance and resilience, with a radiant rhinestone cluster at its centre, representing the spark of hope and bravery these women carried with them.
The intricate detailing of the poppy petals and the shimmering accents of the leaf highlight the delicate yet powerful nature of their contributions.
Each brooch comes with an insert that shares the story of a Special Operations Executive (SOE) agent who trained at Beaulieu, The New Forest.
All profits from your purchase will go towards the Royal British Legion's work in supporting the Armed Forces community.
- Materials: Zinc Alloy, Brass pin, Red Enamel, Preciosa Crystal, Imitation Gold Plated
- Dimensions: 4.6cm (L) x 2.5 (W)
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