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The Hardcore Women of World War II Knew How to Take Care of Business

Khalid Elhassan October 19, 2020 32 min

World War II - Night Witches — Night Witches in front of a Po-2. Flite Test

32. Few Men or Women Could a Handle a Job as Dangerous as That of Noor Inayat Khan

A B Mk II receiver and transmitter, also known as the B2 Radio Set, of the type Noor Inayat Khan was trained to operate. Wikimedia

Noor Inayat Khan’s mission as a clandestine wireless operator in Nazi-occupied France was extremely dangerous work. It grew ever more dangerous as the war progressed and the Germans’ ability to detect transmissions rapidly improved. Clandestine wireless operators had to hide as best they could, stringing up aerials disguised as clothes drying lines in attics, and tapping out messages in Morse code. They would then have to wait, sometimes for hours, for a reply, or at least an acknowledgment that their message had been received.

German signal vans were on constant patrol, hoping to pick up and triangulate the location of clandestine transmissions. Staying on air for too long risked leading the Germans straight to the wireless operator. So operators had to constantly relocate, as inconspicuously as they could – no small feat back in the days when transmitters were bulky contraptions that filled a suitcase. In 1943, when Noor accepted her assignment, the life expectancy of a clandestine wireless operator in Nazi territory was just six weeks.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.