Phyllis Latour

Phyllis Latour
Nickname(s)Genevieve
Born(1921-04-08)8 April 1921
Durban, Natal, Union of South Africa
Died7 October 2023(2023-10-07) (aged 102)
West Auckland, New Zealand
Allegiance United Kingdom
 France
Service / branchWAAF, Special Operations Executive, French Resistance
Years of service1941–1944
RankHon. Section Officer (WAAF)[1]
CommandsScientist
Awards

Phyllis "Pippa" Latour MBE (8 April 1921 – 7 October 2023) was a South African-born agent of the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) organisation in France during World War II. The purpose of SOE was to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in occupied Europe against the Axis powers, especially Nazi Germany. SOE agents in France allied themselves with French Resistance groups and supplied them with weapons and equipment parachuted in from England. Latour worked as a wireless operator in Normandy from 1 May 1944 until August in the same year.

Early life

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Latour's father, Philippe, was a French doctor and married to Louise, a British citizen living in South Africa, where Phyllis was born in April 1921. Her father died three months later during local conflicts in the Belgian Congo, and her mother remarried three years later. Her stepfather was a racing driver, and would let his new wife race his automobiles as well. During one such race, her mother's car malfunctioned and she was killed when the car crashed into a barrier.[2] In her biography published in 2024 Latour describes this as "Poppycock. Absolute rubbish. An accident like that could have happened somewhere and sometime but not to my mother in 1925. I wish I could get this story off the internet." She says her mother died of a haemorrhage.[3] In any case Latour then went to live with her father's cousin in Jadotville in the Belgian Congo.

She was later sent to a boarding school in Kenya at age 16.[4] NB: Pippa's mother did not die in a car crash, she died from a hemmorage at a doctor's surgery.[5]

WAAF and Special Operations Executive

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Latour moved to England in May 1939,[4] and joined the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) in November 1941 (Service Number 718483) as a flight mechanic for airframes. Because of her fluent French, however, she was immediately asked by SOE to become an agent, and went through vigorous mental and physical training. She joined the SOE in revenge for her godmother's father having been shot by the Nazis and for her godmother's suicide after being imprisoned,[2] officially joining on 1 November 1943 and was commissioned as an Honorary Section Officer.[6]

Latour parachuted into Orne, Normandy on 1 May 1944 to operate as part of the Scientist circuit, using the codename Genevieve to work as a wireless operator with the organiser Claude de Baissac and his sister Lise, his courier and assistant.[4][7][8] The de Baissacs, among SOE's best agents, were "dedicated but difficult." Lise described Latour as 'very brave and very willing but a mess of a girl." They were appalled at Latour's immaturity and lack of training by SOE. Lise kept a close rein on Latour to protect her and themselves. Care was necessary as the de Baissacs were working in Normandy, soon to be the site of the Allied D-Day invasion of France. The area was heavily militarised by the Germans and the working environment dangerous.[9][10]

Small of stature, Latour posed as a teenage girl whose family had moved to the region to escape the Allied bombing. She rode bicycles around the area, selling soap and chatting with German soldiers. She encoded and transmitted the de Baissacs' messages to SOE headquarters. She transmitted by using one-time codes printed on a piece of silk she concealed by wrapping it around a knitting needle that was inserted into a flat shoelace, which she used to tie up her hair, and would translate using Morse code equipment.[2] She was searched on several occasions, and at one point was brought in for questioning, but the German authorities did not think to examine her hair tie and she was released.[2] Latour's 135 coded messages helped guide bombing missions to enemy targets.[11] She had several close shaves while in France. Once, as she typed out a transmission two German soldiers opened the door looking for food. Calmly she closed up the wireless set, pretending it was a case she was packing, while telling them she had scarlet fever – which had been sweeping the area – and said she had to get out of the village. The soldiers left quickly.[12]

In early August, the American army reached the village where Latour was operating. Suspicious of her, they held her captive for five hours until she was recognised as an SOE agent. She soon returned to England, her mission completed.[13]

Post World War II

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After World War II, Latour married an engineer with the surname Doyle, and went to live in Kenya,[14] Fiji, and Australia. She later lived in Auckland, New Zealand,[15] and turned one hundred years old in April 2021.[16] She was the last living female SOE agent of the 39 who worked in France during World War II.[16]

Latour did not discuss her wartime activities with her family until her children discovered them by reading about them on the Internet in 2000.[2]

Phyllis Latour died on 7 October 2023, at the age of 102.[17][18]

Honours and awards

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In September 1945, Latour was appointed an additional Member of the Order of the British Empire, for services in France during the German occupation.[1] She was appointed a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour (Knight of the Legion of Honour), by the French government on 29 November 2014, as part of the 70th anniversary of the battle of Normandy.[19]

UK Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE)[2]
UK 1939–1945 Star
UK France and Germany Star
UK Defence Medal
UK War Medal 1939–1945
France Croix de guerre 1939–1945 [2]
France Legion of Honour[2]

References

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  1. ^ a b "No. 37250". The London Gazette (3rd supplement). 4 September 1945. p. 4434.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Field, Michael (25 November 2014). "Pippa's astonishing story recognised". Stuff. Retrieved 15 June 2017.
  3. ^ Latour 2024, ebook loc. 421.
  4. ^ a b c "Phyllis Latour: The secret life of a WW2 heroine revealed". BBC News. 13 October 2023. Retrieved 14 October 2023.
  5. ^ Latour 2024, p. 42.
  6. ^ Escott, Beryl E (2010). The Heroines of SOE. Stroud, Gloucestershire: The History Press. p. 190. ISBN 9780752487298.
  7. ^ Squadron Leader Beryl E. Escott, Mission Improbable: A salute to the RAF women of SOE in wartime France, London, Patrick Stevens Limited, 1991, p. 191. ISBN 9780752487298
  8. ^ Kate Vigurs, Mission France: The True History of the Women of SOE, New York, Yale University Press, 2021, pp. 150–151. ISBN 9780300208573
  9. ^ Rose, Sarah (2020). D-Day Girls. New York: Broadway Books. pp. 257–260. ISBN 9780451495105.
  10. ^ Escott 2010, pp. 190–192.
  11. ^ Finkle, Dana (15 June 2021). "Phyllis Latour Doyle: Profiles in Sewing History". Threads. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
  12. ^ BBC News. "Phyllis Latour: The secret life of a WW2 heroine revealed".
  13. ^ Escott 2010, p. 193.
  14. ^ Liane Jones, A Quiet Courage: Women Agents in the French Resistance, London, Transworld Publishers Ltd, 1990. ISBN 0-593-01663-7
  15. ^ Field, Michael (23 November 2014). "World War II top spy living in Auckland". Stuff. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
  16. ^ a b Fratus, Matt (13 April 2021). "The Last Surviving Woman to have Served as a World War II British Spy Turns 100". coffeeordie.com. Retrieved 14 October 2023.
  17. ^ Jack, Amberleigh (11 October 2023). "Decorated WWII special ops agent has died in West Auckland, aged 102". Stuff. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  18. ^ Smith, Michael (13 October 2023). "Phyllis Latour obituary". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  19. ^ "WWII heroine Pippa Doyle receives France's highest honour – WAR HISTORY ONLINE". WAR HISTORY ONLINE. Archived from the original on 30 March 2015. Retrieved 8 December 2014.

Bibliography

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