'A Woman of No Importance': The One-Legged WW2 Spy Virginia Hall

History Unplugged Podcast

History Unplugged

Society & Culture, History

4.2 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 11 June 2019

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 1942, as World War II was raging, the Gestapo sent out an urgent message: “She is the most dangerous of all Allied spies. We must find and destroy her.” That spy was Virginia Hall, a young American woman who—rejected from the Foreign Service because of her gender and prosthetic leg—talked her way behind enemy lines in occupied France and went on to become one of the greatest (and most unlikely) spies in U.S. history.

Today I talk with Sonia Purnell, author of the book "A Woman of No Importance." Virginia quickly established a network of spies to blow up bridges and track German troop movements; she recruited and trained guerrilla fighters, arming them with weapons she called in from the skies. As “the limping lady of Lyon” and later “the Madonna of the Mountains,” she became legend. Eluding the Nazis hot on her tail, her face covering WANTED posters throughout Europe, Virginia refused orders to evacuate. Finally—her cover blown and her associates imprisoned or executed—she escaped in a grueling hike over the Pyrenees into Spain. But, adamant that she had “more lives to save,” she dove back in as soon as she could, helping lay the groundwork for the Allied liberation of France.

Transcript

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0:00.0	What was it like to watch the Twin Towers collapse on 9-11?
0:03.8	How about to be sent to Auschwitz during the Holocaust?
0:06.7	Our past is a collection of stories that bring us to where we are and shape our perspectives.
0:11.2	Hi, I'm Josh Cohen, host of the Eyewitness History Podcast.
0:14.9	On my show, I interviewed guests who watched the events that shaped our world.
0:18.8	From heartbreaking war stories to hilarious memories from the SNL writers room,
0:23.0	no recollection is off limits.
0:25.2	To start listening now for free, go to pathnanpodcast.com
0:28.6	or search Eyewitness History on the podcast player of your choice.
0:33.5	Many people learn about history as a collection of names, dates, and places.
0:38.4	But history is so much more interesting than that.
0:41.4	It's the stories of the men and women who made those places an event matter.
0:46.1	It's the story of the farmer in the field, as much as it is the story of the man in the Oval Office.
0:51.6	I'm Chris from Vlogging Through History.
0:53.8	Join me as we relive unforgettable historical moments on the Vlogging Through History Podcast,
0:59.2	diving deeper into the forgotten stories of our past.
1:02.5	To listen now, search Vlogging Through History on your favorite podcast platform.
1:09.3	Welcome to the History Unplugged Podcast,
1:12.4	the unscripted show that celebrates unsung heroes,
1:15.9	myth busts historical lies, and rediscoveres the forgotten stories that changed our world.
1:22.5	I'm your host, Scott Rank.
1:29.9	Hey everyone, something I love doing on the show is finding historical figures that
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