Name: em's review of Code Name Pauline by Kathryn Atwood
Item: Code Name Pauline
Rating: 4
Author: em

Kathryn Atwood

Pearl Witherington Cornioley

In 1943 a British Special Operations Executive (SOE) report called agent-in-training Pearl Witherington "cool and resourceful and extremely determined" and "the best shot, male or female, we have yet had." Soon after, 29-year-old Witherington parachuted into Nazi-occupied France and posed as a traveling cosmetics saleswoman to make her way around the country as an SOE courier. When the leader of her network was caught by the Gestapo, she became "Pauline" and rose to command a 3,500-strong band of French Resistance fighters. She went on to become one of the most celebrated female agents in SOE history. In Code Name Pauline Witherington's remarkable story is told in her own words. In a series of reminiscences she describes her difficult childhood and harrowing escape from France in 1940, her recruitment and training as a special agent, the logistics and dangers of working as an undercover courier, failed and successful attempts at sabotaging the Nazis, and much more. Editor Kathryn J. Atwood provides helpful context and background on the SOE and the French Resistance. Also included are an annotated list of key figures; an appendix of original, unedited interview extracts; and previously unpublished photographs and documents. Pearl Witherington Cornioley (1914-2008) worked for the Special Operations Executive (SOE) as a special agent and with the French Resistance as an undercover courier and later a network leader of 3,500 men. She was instrumental in carrying out numerous acts of espionage and sabotage. Kathryn J. Atwood is the author of Women Heroes of World War II and has contributed to War, Literature, and the Arts and Midwest Book Review.

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Code Name Pauline by Kathryn Atwood

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Code Name Pauline by Kathryn Atwood