The Last Secret Agent: The untold story of my life as a spy behind Nazi enemy lines
Author(s): Pippa Latour
NZ Biography & Memoir | Historical
The extraordinary true story of one of the last female special operation agents in France to get out alive after its liberation in WWII.
Born in 1921, Pippa Latour was a covert special operations agent who parachuted into a field in Nazi-occupied Normandy. Trained by the British as a Special Operations Executive, Pippa was lauded for her fluency with languages and her coding ability - both attributes she put to remarkable use as she posed as a teenage soap seller, often selling soap to the German soldiers, and sending back information via code to the UK.
Incredibly brave - Pippa knew she would be instantly shot if her cover was blown - she concealed her codes in pieces of silk that she threaded through a flat shoelace and wore as a hair tie. She bicycled around the region, often sleeping rough and foraging for food.
During her time in Normandy, Pippa sent 135 secret messages conveying crucial information on German troop positions in the lead-up to D-Day. Pippa continued her mission until France's liberation in August 1944. For decades, Pippa told no one - not even her family - of her incredible feats during WWII. Now, for the first time, her story can be told in full.
Product Information
Following the war, Pippa settled in New Zealand where she raised four children. For decades, Pippa told no one - not even her family - of her incredible feats during WWII. For seventy years, Pippa's contributions to the war effort were largely unheralded, but she was finally given her due in 2014 when she was awarded France's highest military decoration, the Chevalier de l'Ordre National de la Lgion d'Honneur (Knight of the National Order of the Legion of Honour). Pippa was the last surviving F (French) Section Special Operations (SOE) agent from World War II. Pippa finally decided to tell her remarkable story, written with the assistance of TV personality and award-winning historical documentary producer and writer Jude Dobson. Jude has been researching/writing, producing and directing WWI and WWII content for the past six years. She won the New York Radio Awards Bronze Award in 2023 in the historical documentary category, for an Anzac Day audio documentary about WWII aviators telling their stories. Pippa chose Jude to tell her story and they formed a close bond before Pippa's death in 2023, at the age of 102.
General Fields
- :
- : Allen & Unwin
- : A&U New Zealand
- : 28 April 2024
- : 01 May 2024
- : books
Special Fields
- : Pippa Latour
- : Paperback