About this site.....

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Please make sure you read this section for info on using the site

This web site, created in 1995, tells the story of an extraordinary group of women who worked for the Special Operations Executive (S.O.E.) during World War Two. It does not intend to glamorise or hero worship the women - the work was far from glamorous - but to simply show the intricate work they did, the extraordinary courage they showed and the sacrifices they made.

During the course of the war, SOE F Section (France) alone, put 39 female agents in to the field, of these 13 did not return. Years later they were described by Lise de Baissac, now Madame Villameur, as "ordinary women".

These ordinary women were also mothers. wives, daughters, sisters, sweethearts and amongst their ranks were a professional dancer, a Parisian fashion designer and a Princess.

What shines through when reading their stories is that they are totally selfless individuals, with extremely high personal standards of conduct, loyalty, commitment and a 'sense of right'.

What motivated them to leave their families and children we can never fully comprehend but their selfless actions helped shape the outcome of the war and the world we live in today.

It may not be a perfect world but the alternative outcome is still – even today and with the current world events – too terrible to contemplate......

I hope you find the site educational as well as interesting. I receive a number of e-mails from pupils, students and teachers alike, praising the site for its resources and information.

I can only repeat Gervase Cowell's comment to Her Majesty The Queen, in 1999, when he was appointed MBE and she asked him what he was doing now:

" I help the old to remember and the young to understand."

To see this statement in context go here.

I have also been busy designing and maintaining the FANYs web site and it can be seen here www.fany.org.uk. Hopefully this will grow and provide more information about the organisation and the valuable work they do.

Site Information

The main navigation menu on the left will take you to the start of each section and that section will reveal a sub-menu of pages within it.

Some of the images on various pages link to larger versions. The icons on every page have the following functions:

	Home icon	Will bring you back to this page.
	Site map icon	Will take you to the complete alphabetical site listing.
	Pointing Finger	Found at the foot of a page section and will return you to the top of the page.
	Up Arrow icon	At the foot of each and will return you to the top of the current page.
	Medals icon	Found to the right of a persons honours and medals will take you to the descriptions and images of the Honours & Medals section.
My thanks to Megan at www.medals.org.uk for allowing me to use the War Medal 1939-45 medal ribbon above. Any other medal ribbons on this site are all from Megan.

The Site Tools

Gives you access to various resources.

Bibliography	Relevant reading sources also films and videos.
Debriefing Guestbook	Feedback is nice.
Site FAQ	The Frequently Asked Questions
Site History	From its birth in 1995.
Site Map	Complete alphabetical site listing.
Site News	About the site and relevant stories.
Site Search	Search this site.
Site Updates	Complete listing of all updates in reverse chronological order.
Web Resources	Related sites on the WWW.
If you wish to link to this site just use http://www.64-baker-street.org. Please do not link to a specific page as the site is in a constant state of flux and pages may be re-organised or re-named. If you wish to use the site logo then please do but only for linking purposes. The logo is 150 x 65 pixels and 7Kb.

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Copyright © 1995-2007 Andy Forbes [except where stated] All rights reserved. www.64-baker-street.org