It's Helm not Helms.

A very readable, fictionalized account of some of the activities of M16 and the Resistance during this period is Marge Piercy's "Gone to Soldiers." Perhaps I'll reread it when I pick up Helm's book.

Based on this informative review, I can't wait to read the Helm book. Sounds great!

For anyone interested in Britain's SOE and its dropping spies into Europe during the war, another book well worth seeking out is Leo Marks' Between Silk and Cyanide, published in 1998. Subtitle: A Codemaker's War, 1941-1945. Marks helped to devise codes for SOE's use and he trained many operatives in their use. He also was a Jew among others and a brilliant observer of people, including the infamous Buckmaster; his book's publication was blocked for many years by Britain's strict laws about such matters, evidently because he reveals many mistakes and bad decisions that got made. In any case, it is full of gripping episodes and fascinating explanations of coding techniques that Marks and others devised for use by mere mortals. Some of these methods were more successful than others.

His book mentions Vera Atkins only a little, but he dedicates much text - and the book as a whole - to another woman spy he worked with, Violette Szabo. She died in Nazi hands right as the war was ending and in the 1950s, a movie was made about her work in Europe: Carve her Name with Pride, starring Virginia McKenna and Paul Scofield. (Available on disk in UK, but not in US, it seems.) Ms. Szabo's story is written about here and there on the Web.

Marks' book is very well-written, full of humor and witty asides and word play - he reminds one a bit of Spike Milligan. What makes his coding work particularly interesting is that he had agents memorize sizeable poems as secret keys for encoding their messages. I can't imagine today's CIA ops having the slightest knowledge of or interest in poetry - but they are hardly communicating via Morse code and shortwave sets hastily rigged in village attics.

Marks is a fascinating character. He went on to write Peeping Tom, the controversial thrilled directed by Michael Powell. And his father was founder and owner of the famous bookshop at 84 Charing Cross Rd., London.

Vera Atkins is another one of the many true female heroes of WWII whose stories are finally being told (Virginia Hall was also posthumously recognized last month.)

There is another, most-deserving, woman named Betty Pack aka Agent Cynthia whose accomplishments should be recognized as well.

To learn more about her:

http://www.petitiononline.com/riley812/petition.html

Please sign the petition while you're there so that these heroic women continue to get the recognition they rightfully deserve.