Skip to main content

Khan was a wartime British secret agent of Indian descent who was the first female radio operator sent into Nazi-occupied France

Khan was a wartime British secret agent of Indian descent who was the first female radio operator sent into Nazi-occupied France by the Special Operations Executive (SOE). She was arrested and eventually executed by the Gestapo.


Noor Inayat Khan was born on New Year's Day 1914 in Moscow to an Indian father and an American mother. 

She was a direct descendant of Tipu Sultan, the 18th century Muslim ruler of Mysore. Khan's father was a musician and Sufi teacher. 

He moved his family first to London and then to Paris, where Khan was educated and later worked writing childrens' stories. Khan escaped to England after the fall of France and in November 1940 she joined the WAAF (Women's Auxiliary Air Force). 

In late 1942, she was recruited to join SOE as a radio operator. Although some of those who trained her were unsure about her suitability, in June 1943 she was flown to France to become the radio operator for the 'Prosper' resistance network in Paris, with the codename 'Madeleine'. 

Many members of the network were arrested shortly afterwards but she chose to remain in France and spent the summer moving from place to place, trying to send messages back to London while avoiding capture.

In October, Khan was betrayed by a Frenchwoman and arrested by the Gestapo. She had unwisely kept copies of all her secret signals and the Germans were able to use her radio to trick London into sending new agents - straight into the hands of the waiting Gestapo. 

Khan escaped from prison but was recaptured a few hours later. In November 1943, she was sent to Pforzheim prison in Germany where she was kept in chains and in solitary confinement. Despite repeated torture, she refused to reveal any information. 

In September 1944, Khan and three other female SOE agents were transferred to Dachau concentration camp where on 13 September they were shot.

For her courage, Noor Khan was posthumously awarded the George Cross in 1949.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A great story about a little bit of 'humanity' during a terrible war.

A great story about a little bit of 'humanity' during a terrible war.                                                                                      In April 1945, 2nd Lt. Peter During was a South African fighter pilot (N.7 Squadron) running missions over Italy when his Spitfire was shot down by German AA fire. He managed to crash land his plane behind enemy lines where he was immediately captured.   Whilst been escorted to a German Lufwaffe Prisoner of War (POW) camp (he was a pilot and thus his interrogation and imprisonment was the responsibility of the German airforce), he opened a conversation with his captors. He was quickly able to establish that they could already see the writing on the wall, that the war was at an end and Germany would lose it. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Mayuge Girl Defiled, Impregnated and Rotting From a Mysterious Infection.

Mayuge Girl Defiled, Impregnated and Rotting From a Mysterious Infection One poverty stricken family in Mayuge district is stranded with its young daughter, recently defiled, impregnated and now rotting at home after a mysterious infection attacking her breasts. The seventeen year old Jane (not her real name) residing with her parents at Mugeri village of Bukatube Sub county in Mayuge district was on August 8 visited by this publication and she tearfully narrated the pain she is experiencing at the moment. Displaying her swollen, elongated up to the waistline and near to decomposing breasts, Jane explained that it all started in December last year with some simple itching that was followed by the swelling that has with time resulted into the current situation. To make things even worse, Jane was in the recent past defiled and she is nine months pregnant hoping to be delivered a baby anytime whose father is away and on the run for fear of being arrested for the offence. “With these...
Post a Comment
Read more

anesthetic for performing surgical operations was used....

anesthetic for performing surgical operations was used around 1846 (ether, by Dr. Robert Liston) But how did they do it before that time, when they had to operate on someone? Simple. The patient was kneeled with his head stuck inside a pot and placed on an anvil. At that point an employee hit the pot with a mallet, an action that made the unfortunate person lose consciousness for the duration of the operation. Of course it wasn't infallible, because either he didn't faint right away or they woke up during the operation.
Post a Comment
Read more