Complex Numbers

Hall of Fame

I don't really have a lot to say about today's article. It was just interesting to me, and something I'd never heard about before.

'The Limping Lady': Virginia Hall, the One-Legged World War II Superspy  

I'd heard of one-armed bandits, but not one-legged superspies.

To plow forward through 50 miles of dangerous hiking on foot would be arduous in the extreme. But if she remained, she’d almost certainly be captured by the Nazis, who now considered her their most feared Allied spy.

As much as I hate doing outdoors stuff, if the alternative is to be captured by Nazis, I'd take the hike.

Cuthbert was what Hall had named her wooden leg. It was going to be a long journey.

I was curious why an American would name her wooden leg "Cuthbert." The only Cuthbert I knew of was a monk at Lindisfarne (which, incidentally, if you're ever in England, is absolutely worth the trip—do it before sea level rise cuts off the only land access).

So I looked up St. Cuthbert, and what's the first thing I see on his Wiki page?   An image with the caption "Cuthbert discovers a piece of timber, from a 12th-century manuscript of Bede's Life of St. Cuthbert." Like, seriously, someone in the 1100s found this event so transcendentally important that they painted it.

Why it matters that Cuthbert discovered a piece of timber, so thrilling that Bede illustrated it, shall remain a mystery. was England deforested in his era? Was it a Norse timber and they were about to be invaded (again)? I can't be arsed to research it any further than Wikipedia. But I found it amusing that Hall named her wooden leg after someone apparently famous for discovering a hunk of wood.

Though it would be decades before the world knew the full extent of Hall’s efforts during the war, it was clear from a young age that she seemed destined for an exceptional life. Born on April 6, 1906, in Baltimore, Maryland, to parents Edwin and Barbara Hall, Virginia enjoyed a comfortable upbringing and could have easily settled into a sedentary existence.

I also found it amusing that a couple of Baltimorons would name their daughter after a neighboring and rival state.

In school, she picked up several languages and appeared disinterested in conforming to the societal expectations of the time. She happily accepted parts in plays intended for boys and enjoyed being slightly provocative, once shocking classmates by showing up at school with a “bracelet” made of live snakes around her wrist.

I think I would have liked her.

During a bird hunting expedition in 1933, she discharged her firearm into her foot while climbing over a fence. The blast from the 12-gauge shotgun caused severe injury, and the resulting gangrene forced doctors to amputate half of her left leg below the knee.

I think for most people, literally shooting yourself in the foot would end an adventuring career.

Hall’s greatest disguise, though, was achieved by taking advantage of chauvinism. Few men believed women could be effective spies—particularly one with a wooden leg.

Nowadays, of course, everyone expects the spy to be female. Due to some unfortunate choices by Hollywood, we also expect them to exclusively run honey traps.

Still, I imagine that spycraft involves doing stuff that the enemy wouldn't expect.

She connected with a brothel in the city of Lyon, France, where she was able to gather intelligence from prostitutes that had met with German troops.

So you don't have to run the honey trap yourself.

Her contributions grew so significant that the Gestapo began searching France for la dame qui boite, or "the lady with a limp."

Seems like they finally figured it out, though. The Nazis were a lot of things, but stupid wasn't one of them.

When Hall arrived in Spain, she was promptly arrested for not having a passport. It was better than facing a horde of angry Nazis.

Also better than hiking one-legged through the Pyrénées.

Despite her reputation in Nazi-occupied France, she insisted on returning, adding grey to her hair, drawing wrinkles on her face, and even having her teeth ground down to alter her appearance, according to author Sonia Purnell, who wrote a book on Hall titled A Woman of No Importance.

"We found a woman with a fake leg, but she has grey hair. Can't be the same spy." Okay, maybe some Nazis were stupid. Or maybe Hall was just that good.

Anyway, like I said, not a lot of snark here; just something I thought I'd share. At least her name wasn't Eileen; then I would make some more puns like the horrible one in the title..