The Limping Lady

History, Military 7 Minutes

A short while ago, Filly (THANK YOU!!) mentioned this story about a courageous, but quite unknown spy who helped the Allies win WWII.  The spy was a woman, Virginia Hall, but not just a woman, but a woman with a prosthetic leg—a woman of great courage and determination!

I found this article about the “Limping Lady” in the Smithsonian Magazine. It was written by Brigit Katz and I knew I had to share it.

From Smithsonian Magazine:

How a Spy Known as the ‘Limping Lady’ Helped the Allies Win WW

In early September 1941, a young American woman arrived in Vichy France on a clandestine and perilous mission. She had been tasked with organizing local resistance networks against France’s German occupiers and communicating intelligence to the Special Operations Executive (SOE), the fledgling British secret service that had recruited her. In reality, however, Virginia Hall’s supervisors were not particularly hopeful about her prospects; they didn’t expect her to survive more than a few days in a region teeming with Gestapo agents.

At the time, Hall admittedly made for an unlikely spy. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s war cabinet had forbidden women from the frontlines, and some within the SOE questioned whether Hall was fit to be operating in the midst of a resistance operation. It wasn’t just her gender that was an issue: Hall was also an amputee, having lost her left leg several years earlier following a hunting accident. She relied on a prosthetic, which she dubbed “Cuthbert,” and walked with a limp, making her dangerously conspicuous. Indeed, Hall quickly became known as the “Limping Lady” of Lyon, the French city where she set up base.

Hall, however, had no intention of letting Cuthbert stop her from playing her part in the Allied war effort, as journalist and author Sonia Purnell reveals in an electrifying new biography, A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II. Born to a wealthy Maryland family, Hall was clever, charismatic and ambitious—traits that were not always appreciated by her contemporaries. Before the outbreak of the war, she had travelled to Europe with dreams of becoming a diplomat, but was consistently assigned to desk jobs that failed to satisfy her. Following the amputation of her leg in 1933, when she was just 27 years old, Hall’s application to a diplomatic position with the U.S. State Department was explicitly rejected due to her disability. Spying for the SOE offered a way out of what Hall considered a “dead-end life,” Purnell writes. She was not going to squander the opportunity.

Hall didn’t just survive the wartime years under constant threat of capture, torture and death; she also played a crucial role in recruiting large networks of resistance fighters and directing their assistance to the Allied invasion. Among the secret operatives who adored her and the Nazis who hounded her, Hall was legendary for her gutsy, cinematic feats. She broke 12 of her fellow agents out of an internment camp, evaded the treachery of a double-crossing priest and, once her pursuers began to close in, made an arduous trek over the Pyrenees into Spain—only to return to France to resume the fight for its freedom.

And yet, in spite of these accomplishments, Hall is not widely remembered as a hero of the Second World War. Smithsonian.com spoke to Purnell about Hall’s remarkable but little-known legacy, and the author’s own efforts to shine a light on the woman once known to her enemies as the Allies’ “most dangerous spy.”

In the prologue to A Woman of No Importance, you write that you often felt as though you and Hall were playing a game of “cat and mouse.” Can you describe some of the obstacles you encountered while trying to research her life?

First of all, I had to start with about 20 different code names. A lot of the times that she is written about, whether it’s in contemporary accounts or official documents, it will be using one of those code names. The other thing was that a lot of files [pertaining to Hall] were destroyed—some in France in a fire in the 1970s with a lot of other wartime records. That made things pretty difficult. Then the SOE files, some 85 percent of those had been lost, or are still not opened, or are classified or just can’t be found.

Virginia was posted to Tallinn in the late 1930s and loved hunting in the huge forests of Estonia, but otherwise her life was a series of cruel rejections. Her lifelong ambition to become a diplomat was repeatedly thwarted, and she was frustrated by the limits of her role as a State Department clerk. 

There were a lot of dead-end alleys. But there was enough to pull this all together, and I was particularly fortunate to find this archive in Lyon, put together by one of the guys that Hall fought with in the Haute-Loire [region of France]. He was able to look at a lot of these files before they disappeared, and he had contemporary accounts of a lot of the people that she fought alongside. So, I was extremely lucky to find that, because it was an absolute treasure trove.

You quote Hall as saying that everything she did during the war, she did for the love of France. Why did the country hold such a special place in her heart?

She came [to Paris] at such a young age, she was only 20. Her home life had been quite restrictive … and there she was in Paris, the great literary, artistic and cultural flowering during that time. The jazz clubs, the society, the intellectuals, the freedoms, the emancipation of women—this is quite heady, quite intoxicating. It really opened her eyes, made her feel thrilled, and stretched and inspired. That sort of thing in your 20s, when you’re very impressionable, I don’t think you ever forget it.

Virginia proved her exceptional courage under fire in 1940 by volunteering to drive ambulances on the front line for the French army’s SAA, or Service de Santé des Armées.

Operating in a war zone with a mid-20th century prosthetic could not have been easy for Virginia. What was life like with “Cuthbert” on a daily basis?

I managed to find a prosthetics historian at one of the museums here in London who was incredibly helpful. He explained to me exactly how her leg would have worked, what the problems were, what it could do and what it couldn’t do. One of the problems was the way it was attached to her, with these leather straps. Well, that might be OK if you’re just walking a short distance in mild weather, but when it’s really hot and you’re climbing up or down steps, the leather would chafe your skin until it was raw and the stump would blister and bleed.

It would have been very difficult in particular going down steps because the ankle doesn’t work in the way that our ankles do, and it would be quite difficult to lock. So she would always feel very vulnerable to falling forward. That would have been a very big danger for her at all times, but then magnify that for crossing the Pyrenees: the grinding, relentless climb and then the grinding, relentless descent. She herself said to her niece that this was the worst part of the war, and I can believe that. It was just phenomenal that she made that crossing.

Hall pulled off so many incredible feats during the war. What, in your opinion, was her most important accomplishment?

That’s a difficult one, it’s a competitive field. I suppose the one that you can grab as being standalone, understandable and also spectacular was how she managed to break those 12 men out of a prison camp: the Mauzac escape. The cunning, and the organization and the courage—just the sheer chutzpah that she had in springing them out … It is quite an extraordinary tale of daring-do. And it was successful! Those guys made it back to Britain. We hear about a lot of other wartime escapes that ultimately ended in a failure. Hers succeeded.

Virginia was the only civilian woman in the Second World War to be awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, for extraordinary heroism against the enemy. She received the medal in Washington, D.C., from “Wild Bill” Donovan in a low-key ceremony on September 27, 1945.

Another of Hall’s feats was pioneering a new style of espionage and guerilla warfare. Does her influence continue to be felt in that realm today?

I spent a day at [CIA headquarters at] Langley, which was really fascinating. Talking to people there, they pointed to Operation Jawbreaker in Afghanistan, and how they drew on the processes that really she pioneered: How do you set up networks in a foreign country, bringing in locals and perhaps preparing them for some big military event later on? They took Hall’s example. I’ve heard from other people involved in the CIA who said she still is mentioned in lectures and training there today. Not that long ago they named one of their training buildings after her. Clearly, she has an influence to this day. I’d love to think she knows that somehow, because that’s pretty cool.

Today, Hall is not particularly well known as a war hero, in spite of her influence. Why do you think that is?

Partly because she didn’t like blowing her own trumpet. She didn’t like the whole obsession with medals and decorations; it was about doing your duty, and being good at your job and earning the respect of your colleagues. She didn’t go out of her way to tell people.

But also, a lot of other SOE female agents who came in after her died, and they became these quite well-known tragic heroines. Films were made about them. But they achieved nothing like what Hall did … It was difficult to pigeonhole her. She didn’t fit into that conventional norm of female behavior. In a way she wasn’t a story that anyone really wanted to tell, and the fact that she was disabled as well made it even more complicated.

When I was thinking of doing this book, I took my sons to see Mad Max: Fury Road with Charlize Theron, and I noticed that her [character’s] forearm was missing, and yet she still was the great hero of the film. And I thought, “Actually, maybe now that Hollywood is doing a film with a hero like that, finally we’re grown up enough to understand and cherish Virginia’s story and celebrate it.” It was that night really that [made me think], “I’m going to write this book. I really want to tell the world about her, because everyone should know.”

SOURCE: SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE; BRIGIT KATZ

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Published by pat frederick

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99 thoughts on “The Limping Lady”

    1. Good morning, Pat! Kudos to doing this story up right! Still dark here, too, and chilly @ 44. I neglected to fill Wheezer’s dish yesterday and he was waiting at the door….ooops! I need more tuna…..

      Liked by 2 people

      1. Good Morning Filly!
        it’s a GREAT story! thanks for calling it to my attention!
        we currently have clouds and sun–but the clouds? they’re what i call SNOW clouds–that’d be waaaaay to early for me!

        Liked by 2 people

  6. Liked by 2 people

  7. so the next President is still sitting on a time bomb?

    eilert (@guest_1346021)

    Offline

    October 4, 2024 04:15

    BREAKING: Dockworkers Strike Ends as Workers Reach Deal | The Gateway Pundit | by Cristina Laila

    The dockworkers’ strike ended on Thursday as workers reached a deal on wages.

    “The International Longshoremen’s Association and the United States Maritime Alliance, Ltd. have reached a tentative agreement on wages and have agreed to extend the Master Contract until January 15, 2025 to return to the bargaining table to negotiate all other outstanding issues,” The International Longshoremen’s Association and the United States Maritime Alliance said in a joint statement.

    The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), representing workers at 36 ports from Maine to Texas, made in clear earlier this week that the strike was not only about wages but also about job protection in the face of creeping automation.

    The strike began early Tuesday morning as the contract between the ILA and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) expired without a resolution.

    45,000 dockworkers went on strike which prompted panic buying at Costco.

    “ILU wages will increase 61.5% over six years under the tentative agreement, sources told CNBC’s Lori Ann LaRocco. A central conflict over port automation is still under negotiation,” CNBC reported.

    Liked by 1 person

  8. why in the hell do they need to be FEMA approved????

    DR JANE RUBY

    @RealDrJaneRuby

    SURVIVORS ARE TARGETED FOR ERADICATION FEMA is confiscating supplies from small towns at their “drop off points.” The government is confiscating pallets of supplies from these small mountain towns because they aren’t “FEMA approved” North Carolina is a killbox

    Liked by 2 people

  11. I just remembered…

    last time i was in Walmart, a woman was in the baking aisle–looking high and low–and i asked if i could help her find something. she said: cornstarch. I’ve been to 4 stores now and no one has any.

    we didn’t find any there and i looked at the little market in town and they didn’t have any either.

    what’s up with cornstarch I wonder?

    Liked by 1 person

    1. There are several articles about the issue – this one has the usual stupid reference to “climate change” and “closed borders.”

      From July:

      EXCERPT: “Summary: A Complex Interplay

      The corn starch shortage is a complex issue with multiple interconnected causes. From crop failures and climate change to supply chain disruptions and increased demand, a myriad of factors have come together to create a perfect storm in the corn starch market. Understanding these challenges is crucial for addressing the shortage and ensuring a stable supply in the future.”

      https://dishdashboard.com/why-corn-starch-shortage/

      From March:

      EXCERPT: “The global supply chain for corn starch is currently facing a significant shortage, posing challenges for multiple industries that rely on this essential ingredient. Corn starch, a versatile and widely utilized product, is commonly used in food production, pharmaceuticals, and various other manufacturing processes. 

      The disruption in the supply of corn starch has been attributed to several factors, including adverse weather conditions impacting crop yields, logistical issues, and increased demand from emerging markets.”

      https://bentbusiness.com/corn-starch-shortage/

      Liked by 1 person

  12. America First Legal filed a lawsuit against Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes (D) over 218,000 voters who were incorrectly registered as providing proof of U.S. citizenship.

    AFL announced on Thursday that the lawsuit was filed on Wednesday.

    The secretary of state’s office on Monday said that an additional 120,000 Arizona residents were found to have been placed on the state’s voter rolls as providing proof that they are U.S. citizens, despite the fact that they had not done so.

    Approximately 79,000 Republicans, 61,000 Democrats, and 76,000 Other Party members have been affected.

    The secretary’s announcement came two weeks after he explained that there was an error in state systems that labeled roughly 98,000 voters as having provided documented proof of U.S. citizenship when they had not done so.

    Arizona is a state with the unusual situation of bifurcated elections, in which residents who provide proof of U.S. citizenship can vote in all elections while the others may vote only in federal elections, resulting in ballots cast by voters who haven’t proven their U.S. citizenship.

    AFL argues in its lawsuit that the secretary of state’s office has illegally withheld the list of 218,000 voters who have not provided citizenship proof. Fontes’ office rejected a public records request for the list and county recorders have also not received the list, despite state law requiring the local offices to investigate voters registered without citizenship proof.

    “We are suing the state of Arizona for refusing to provide the list of 218,000 voters who failed or refused to establish citizenship. It is absolutely imperative that we stop the dire threat of illegal alien voting, which is the gravest form of foreign election interference,” America First Legal President Stephen Miller said in a statement.

    https://justthenews.com/government/courts-law/america-first-legal-sues-az-sec-state-over-218k-voters-mis-listed-providing

    Liked by 1 person

  13. H/T Rodney from last night

    Liked by 1 person

  15. “Politico: Vance’s beard a sign of ‘aggression’ to women, Walz’s ‘saucer’ eyes showed his ‘passion” — Yes, Vance’s beard matters, a body language expert wrote in Politico about Sen. JD Vance’s facial hair”

    By Kristine Parks, Fox News, Published October 2, 2024 8:00pm EDT

    EXCERPT: “We saw JD Vance beat Tim Walz handily in the vice presidential candidate debate on Tuesday. It wasn’t even close, on substance or style. 

    There are already memes coming out of the debate featuring Vance’s inimitable side-eye. Walz is having to deal with the fallout of saying some really stupid things, including how he was a liar in his China comments because he was a “knucklehead” and that he was “friends with school shooters.” 

    We’ve seen a variety of polls and focus group reactions to the debate and they all found Vance carried it. It also killed the “weird” narrative that the Democrats had been trying to push about Vance, particularly when so many commented on how “hot” he was and that he had great eyes, in addition to his intelligence and well-spoken responses. 

    We reported on one body language expert who found that Vance carried the day because he came across as authentic. He had “stability” and was the “captain of the ship.” Meanwhile, Walz came across as nervous, jittery, and the body language signs of lying.

    But another body language analysis from an ex-FBI agent in Politico caught the attention of many on X….”

    https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2024/10/03/body-language-of-vance-and-walz-n2180121

    Liked by 1 person

  16. EXCERPT: “….As my colleague Jerry Wilson wrote on Wednesday, Clark picked up even more haters who aren’t even associated with the WNBA recently, when former US Women’s soccer star Megan Rapinoe chimed in as a member of the Sisterhood of the Perpetually Offended to criticize Clark for doing nothing more than playing her game well.

    And while her team as a rookie did not push its way past the first round of the WNBA playoffs, breakout star Clark has managed to eke out another kind of win–which is likely to rile up her haters even more–with Thursday’s announcement of this season’s WNBA Rookie of the Year.

    It was nearly unanimous that Clark was the top pick by sports reporters and broadcasters:

    The obvious is now official – Caitlin Clark has been named the WNBA’s Rookie of the Year for the 2024 season.

    The announcement came on Thursday afternoon.

    …

    Clark received 66 of the 67 first-place votes – the other was given to Angel Reese.

    The fact that Reese only received a sole vote has to be gratifying for Clark, but it’s probably not the top thing on her mind at this moment. Some might wonder why writing about an award in sports is important. Clark has shown the way in how to be classy when faced with outside obstacles and drama. Sure, having talent is important, but so is keeping your focus on the larger goal to win out against the naysayers. I think it’s a great lesson for everyone. It certainly inspires me, and I have never watched one quarter of the WNBA.

    My guess, too, is that it helped Caitlin Clark that her teammates have her back. They made a special video in honor of her new milestone.

    https://redstate.com/beccalower/2024/10/03/this-is-the-way-caitlin-clark-overcomes-the-haters-wins-nearly-unanimous-wnba-rookie-of-the-year-award-n2180117

    Liked by 2 people

  17. “Blocked Again: Federal Judge Halts Biden Student Loan Forgiveness”

    By Joe Cunningham | 8:32 PM on October 03, 2024

    AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib

    ENTIRE ARTICLE: “A day after a previous judge’s block of President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness program expired, a federal judge in Missouri has blocked it again.

    U.S. District Judge Matthew Schelp, who was appointed by then-President Donald Trump, issued the latest preliminary injunction against Biden’s relief plan, once again blocking the U.S. Department of Education from forgiving student loan debt at the expense of U.S. taxpayers.

    The latest order capped 24 hours during which federal student loan holders were subjected to judicial whiplash, as a lawsuit challenging Biden’s aid package, brought by seven GOP-led states, bounced from Georgia to Missouri courts.

    The states bringing the suit — Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, North Dakota and Ohio — allege that the U.S. Department of Education’s new debt cancellation effort is illegal.

    The case was redirected to the Missouri court after a Georgia court decided it lacked standing in the case.

    On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Randal Hall in Georgia found that his state lacked standing to sue against the relief plan, and therefor his court could not be the venue for the case.

    Hall directed the case to be transferred to Missouri, because the states claim that Biden’s plan would most harm student loan servicer Mohela, or the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority.

    Biden’s plan to forgive student loan debt has been repeatedly blocked, though he has openly defied the courts and moved ahead with various attempts anyway.

    It is likely that any student loan forgiveness plan will actually effect until after the 2024 election, if at all.”

    Liked by 2 people

  18. NF: IDK where this is located: Christine’s Kitchen

    “There’s a diner here in town that has one of these deals, exact same words and everything. If it wasn’t for the wall being different, I’d swear it was Christine’s. Hell, maybe it was, before a remodel. I asked the owner if anybody took advantage of it and she said, “Yes, unfortunately. Mostly older folks.” Now anytime we eat there, I buy an extra meal.”

    Liked by 2 people

      1. Yep – Wiki: “Shapiro was raised in a Jewish household. At age 6, through his synagogue, the Beth Sholom Congregation in Elkins Park, and the Forman Hebrew Day School, he began writing letters to Avi Goldstein, a Soviet Jewish refusenik in Tbilisi, Georgia, and enlisted others in an international pen pal program he called Children for Avi. He attended high school at Akiba Hebrew Academy in Merion Station, Pennsylvania. While in high school, Shapiro spent time volunteering in Israel after he was “required to do a service project,” which he and his peers completed through “a program that took them to a kibbutz in Israel where he worked on a farm and at a fishery.” The program also included service on an army base. He was a basketball team captain during his senior year.”

        Liked by 1 person

    1. shared the chemtrails one at wolf’s…here’s a reply

      para59r
      para59r(@para59r)Online
      Coyote
      Reply to pat frederick
      October 4, 2024 11:12

      That’s a keeper. Makes one wonder if Nebraska is reading here 😆

      Liked by 1 person

  26. Oh, goody! Found another series to record with the actor who plays Castle – now THAT guy is a hunk, IMO, as well as funny – The Rookie.

    Liked by 1 person

  29. so he got them to switch it??? YAY SCOTT!!

    Liked by 1 person

  30. Just The News: “The Supreme Court on Friday allowed the Environmental Protection Agency to continue to enforce a rule allowing the agency to cut methane emissions from oil and gas facilities. 

    The high court allowed the agency to continue by denying a request by Republican officials in 24 states to halt the rule, on the argument the EPA lacks the authority to enforce the emissions cutbacks.

    The Supreme Court did not uphold the rule but rather allowed the EPA to continue enforcing it while other lawsuits work their way through the judicial process.” 

    Liked by 1 person

  35. I have no clue what that means….but it’s a cute pic!

    “Uncrewed Japanese Vehicle Delivers Supplies to the Space Station : Viewed from a window inside the cupola, the International Space Station’s “window to the world,” is the Japanese Exploration Agency’s H-II Transfer Vehicle-7”

    Liked by 1 person

  40. T. Turtle

    October 4, 2024 2:49 pm

    FIB interfering in elections? Probably. Sent by FJB/Commiela no doubt.

    “FBI Whistleblower Alleges Plan to Deploy Plainclothes FBI Agents to Maricopa County Polling Stations to Monitor Trump Voters — FBI Responds”

    Excerpts:

    bombshell report from a whistleblower has set off alarms among Arizona’s voters and political leaders, as new revelations have surfaced about an alleged plan by the FBI to deploy plainclothes agents to polling stations in Maricopa County.
    According to a whistleblower who attended a recent security briefing, the FBI’s primary objective with this operation is to monitor Trump voters during the upcoming election—a disturbing indication of federal interference aimed at intimidating those who dare to support the 45th president.

    Representative Alexander Kolodin (R-AZ) was quick to act, sending a forceful letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray, warning that such actions would not be tolerated.

    In the letter, Kolodin made it clear that the House is prepared to take immediate action against any attempts by federal agents to intimidate or censor voters in Arizona.

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/10/fbi-whistleblower-alleges-plan-deploy-plainclothes-fbi-agents/

    Liked by 1 person

  43. Just The News: “The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security on Friday warned that the one year anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel could incite violence in the United States.

    The warning comes as tensions in the Middle East escalate over a series of attacks between Israel and Iran. Iran is considered the power behind the terrorist organizations of Hamas and Hezbollah. Hamas orchestrated the Oct. 7 attack on Israel last year.

    The officials noted that there has already been an increase in antisemitic and anti-Muslim attacks over the past year, because of the conflict. But they warned even more attacks from lone actors and extremists could occur at Jewish, Muslim, or Arab institutions, such as including synagogues, mosques/Islamic centers, and community centers.

    “The FBI and DHS assess the one-year anniversary of the October 7, 2023, attacks that initiated the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, as well as any further significant escalations in the conflict, may be a motivating factor for violent extremists and hate crime perpetrators to engage in violence or threaten public safety,” the agencies noted in a Public Service Announcement.

    “[Foreign terrorist organizations] and other violent extremists likely will continue to exploit narratives related to the conflict to call for lone attackers to conduct violence in the United States,” the agencies continued. “Individuals inspired by this online messaging could act alone to commit an attack with little to no warning.”

    U.S. intelligence agencies have also warned that Iran and other American adversaries are attempting to “stoke discord and undermine confidence in our electoral process,” after Iranian criminals hacked into former President Donald Trump’s and President Joe Biden’s presidential campaigns over the summer.”

    Liked by 1 person

  46. Another thing to bear in mind, Pat, is that I use some of the same sources as people @ W’s; in fact, I often see memes I posted the day before here.

    Plymouth Valiant – a great everyman’s car

    Flushed…

    Liked by 1 person

  49. I am adding a short daily prayer to the board. I would invite each of you, if you wish, to also add one or maybe two of your own liking. I do not want to stifle anyone but please limit yourself to one or two religious postings. here’s one I found that I liked.

    Like

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