During World War Two, dozens of British-trained women were deployed as spies and saboteurs, to infiltrate behind enemy lines in Nazi-controlled France. Ranging from housewives to countesses, they were trained as secret agents, and played critical roles to aid the war effort. But who were these women, and how did they find their way into espionage? What did they do undercover, and what were the consequences of capture? And how did those who made it home adjust to life when the war was won?

This is a Short History of the Female Spies of World War Two.

Written by Lindsay Galvin. With thanks to Clare Mulley, award-winning historian and broadcaster, and author of The Spy Who Loved.

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