Phyllis Latour, the last of 39 female secret agents who served in Winston Churchill's 'secret army' in France, has died at the age of 102. Previously classified official files now reveal the full extent of her daring exploits as a spy behind enemy lines during World War Two.
In the summer of 1944, in a village in German-occupied western France, Latour—codenamed Genevieve—operated a wireless set, sending urgent Morse code messages to London. Her intelligence guided RAF bombing raids and supply drops to the French resistance, who were sabotaging key transport links to disrupt German forces.
Latour's calmness under pressure was legendary. Once, when two German soldiers entered her building, she quickly concealed her wireless set and claimed to have scarlet fever, causing the soldiers to flee. Her citation for the MBE noted she had 'tons of guts'.
Born in South Africa in 1921, Latour was orphaned at four and raised in the Belgian Congo. She joined the Women's Auxiliary Air Force in 1941 before being recruited by the Special Operations Executive (SOE). Despite initial reports dismissing her as a 'cheerful little scatterbrain', she proved an exceptional agent, parachuting into France in 1944.
After the war, Latour married, moved to New Zealand, and rarely spoke of her service. Her full story can now be told thanks to the release of her SOE file by the National Archives.
