Summary

The agents captured in the raid on Marseille were being kept at the Perigueux Prison, renowned for its horrible conditions and poor treatment of prisoners. The wife of one of them, a Jewish woman named Gaby Bloch, had been arrested at the same time as the men, but was eventually released, and continued to work tirelessly for the release of their release – or, at least, to ease their discomfort. For several months before her confrontation with “Alain” and her being summoned back to England, Virginia had been working with Gaby, as well as her network of recruits and allies, to work out a way for the men to escape. This, the author says, was the main reason Virginia was reluctant to return to London, or to America; her plans were about to reach fruition.

The operation unfolded in several stages. First...