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Jackdaws is a World War II spy thriller written by British novelist Ken Follett. It was published in hardcover format in 2001 by Macmillan. It was reissued as a paperback book by Signet Books in 2002.
A week or so before D-Day, a group of French resistance fighters tries to take out a critical telephone exchange in Sainte-Cécile. Felicity, who goes by Flick, is the group leader. The attack is a disaster, with many of the fighters killed or captured. Flick escapes with her wounded husband Michel, who is a resistance leader and is having an affair with a younger lady. Dieter Franck is a German Army officer working for Field Marshall Erwin Rommel. Rommel is on the coast, preparing for an invasion attempt by the Allies, and sent Dieter into France to gauge the strength of the French resistance. Dieter, an expert interrogator, witnessed the attack, seeing trained, brave fighters with plenty of weapons. Under interrogation, he forces one of the captured prisoners to tell him about Michel and Mademoiselle Lemas, who is the contact for Allied agents entering France. Flick heads back to London, where she develops a new plan, using a team of women dressed as cleaning women to enter the building in Sainte-Cécile and destroy the exchange. She recruits a six-woman team: Denise, a Lady; Maude, a driver for FANY who exaggerates the truth; Diana, daughter of the Baron where Flick’s mom is a servant and Flick grew up, who is a crack shoot; Ruby, who is in prison and killed another prisoner; Jelly, an explosives expert; and Greta, a friend of Flick’s brother and a female impersonator who is a telephone exchange expert. Training follows. Diana and Maude develop a lesbian relationship. Denise is kicked off the team, because she talks too much. Paul is an American on the staff of General Montgomery and falls for Flick.
In France, Dieter tries to infiltrate the resistance groups. He gets Mademoiselle Lemas to reveal how she is contacted by resistance fighters. Dieter’s French girlfriend Stephanie assumes the role of Mademoiselle Lemas and is able to convince Helicopter, a new radio operator, that she and Dieter are part of the resistance.
Flick senses something wrong at their original drop site, so she and her team parachute into France at an alternate location. This thwarts Dieter’s first attempt to capture Flick. It becomes a cat and mouse, with Dieter making it more and more personal to capture Flick. Flick, on the other hand, doesn’t know how much Dieter has been able to deduce about her team. Flick and her team travel from their drop to Paris and then on to Reims. Photos of Flick are on posters everywhere. Diana and Maude are captured in a fancy restaurant. Back in London, Paul has deduced that Helicopter was captured and that Flick may be in trouble, so he flies into France and makes his way to Mademoiselle Lemas place, where he is captured. Flick leads her team to Mademoiselle Lemas’s house, looking for a place to hide. She finds Paul’s toothbrush outside (he purposely dropped it there) and senses a problem. Flick and her team kill the two Gestapo officers inside the house, kill Stephanie and find Paul alive in the basement.
Flick and her team (minus Jelly, who was captured) manage to destroy the telephone exchange, but Greta is killed in the explosion. Dieter has managed to capture Michel and his young girlfriend, and has Michel reveal the pickup location for Flick’s team. While Dieter waits for the plane, Michel is able to sound a car horn, alerting Flick of the danger. Dieter kills Michel and his girlfriend, but Flick stabs Dieter in the eye. Her team returns to London as the D-Day invasion begins.
One year later, we learn that Diana and Maude died in a German prison. Ruby married one of her training instructors. Mademoiselle Lemas survived the German prison. Flick and Paul are married and plan to live in Boston. Dieter is back in Germany with his wife, one eye missing and having mental issues.
Nancy Grace Augusta Wake,, also known as Madame Fiocca and Nancy Fiocca, was a nurse and journalist who joined the French Resistance and later the Special Operations Executive (SOE) during World War II, and briefly pursued a post-war career as an intelligence officer in the Air Ministry. The official historian of the SOE, M. R. D. Foot, said that "her irrepressible, infectious, high spirits were a joy to everyone who worked with her". Many stories about her World War II activities come from her autobiography, The White Mouse, and are not verifiable from other sources.
Madeleine Zoe Damerment was a French agent of the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) organization during World War II. The purpose of SOE was to conduct espionage, sabotage, and reconnaissance in countries occupied by the Axis powers, especially Nazi Germany. SOE agents allied themselves with resistance groups and supplied them with weapons and equipment parachuted in from England. Damerment was first involved in escape lines helping downed allied airmen escape occupied France. She fled France in March 1942 to avoid arrest. After arriving in Britain, she was recruited by the SOE. Damerment was to be a courier for SOE's Bricklayer circuit but was captured by the Gestapo on 29 February 1944 upon arrival in France. The Gestapo knew she was coming because they had captured SOE radios and were reading SOE radio messages. She was subsequently executed at the Dachau concentration camp on 13 September 1944 along with three other female SOE agents.
Fresnes Prison is the second largest prison in France, located in the town of Fresnes, Val-de-Marne, south of Paris. It comprises a large men's prison of about 1200 cells, a smaller one for women and a penitentiary hospital.
Vera May Atkins was a Romanian-born British intelligence officer who worked in the France Section of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) from 1941 to 1945 during the Second World War.
Noor-un-Nisa Inayat Khan, GC, also known as Nora Inayat-Khan and Nora Baker, was a British resistance agent in France in World War II who served in the Special Operations Executive (SOE). The purpose of SOE was to conduct espionage, sabotage, and reconnaissance in countries occupied by the Axis powers, especially those occupied by Nazi Germany.
Sonia Olschanezky was a member of the French Resistance and the Special Operations Executive during World War II. Olschanezky was a member of the SOE's Juggler circuit in occupied France where she operated as a courier until she was arrested by the Gestapo and was subsequently executed at the Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp.
Virginia Hall Goillot DSC, Croix de Guerre,, code named Marie and Diane, was an American who worked with the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) and the American Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in France during World War II. The objective of SOE and OSS was to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in occupied Europe against the Axis powers, especially Nazi Germany. SOE and OSS agents in France allied themselves with resistance groups and supplied them with weapons and equipment parachuted in from England. After World War II Hall worked for the Special Activities Division of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Cecile Pearl Witherington Cornioley,, code names Marie and Pauline, was an agent in France for the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) during the Second World War. The purpose of SOE was to conduct espionage, sabotage, and reconnaissance in occupied Europe against the Axis powers. SOE agents allied themselves with French Resistance groups and supplied them with weapons and equipment parachuted in from England.
Mademoiselle Marie is the name of two fictional characters appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. She first appeared in Star Spangled War Stories #84, and was created by Robert Kanigher and Jerry Grandenetti. She was based in part on several actual members of the French resistance, most notably Simone Segouin.
Francis Alfred Suttill DSO, code name Prosper, was an agent of the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) organization in World War II. Suttill was the creator and organiser (leader) of the Physician or Prosper network in and around Paris, France, from October 1942 until June 1943. The purpose of SOE was to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in occupied Europe and Asia against the Axis powers, especially Nazi Germany. SOE agents allied themselves with French Resistance groups and supplied them with weapons and equipment parachuted in from England.
Lise Marie Jeanette de Baissac MBE CdeG, code names Odile and Marguerite, was a Mauritian agent in the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) organization in France during World War II. The purpose of SOE was to conduct espionage, sabotage, and reconnaissance in countries occupied by the Axis powers, especially Nazi Germany. SOE agents allied themselves with resistance groups and supplied them with weapons and equipment parachuted in from England.
Yvonne Cormeau, born Beatrice Yvonne Biesterfeld, code name Annette, was an agent of the United Kingdom's clandestine organization, the Special Operations Executive (SOE), in World War II. She was the wireless operator for the Wheelwright network led by George Starr in southwestern France from August 1943 until the liberation of France from Nazi German occupation in September 1944. The purpose of SOE was to conduct espionage, sabotage, and reconnaissance in occupied Europe against the Axis powers. SOE agents allied themselves with French Resistance groups and supplied them with weapons and equipment parachuted in from England.
Yvonne Jeanne de Vibraye Baseden MBE, later known as Yvonne Burney, was one of approximately forty female Special Operations Executive (SOE) agents who served in France. The objective 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 resistance groups and supplied them with weapons and equipment parachuted in from Britain.
Marguerite Diana Frances Knight MBE was a member of the Women's Transport Service and in 1944 served with the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) during World War II. With the code name Nicole, she worked as a courier with the Donkeyman network in France. The purpose of SOE was to conduct espionage, sabotage, and reconnaissance in occupied Europe and Asia against the Axis powers, especially Nazi Germany. SOE agents allied themselves with resistance groups and supplied them with weapons and equipment parachuted in from England.
Yvonne Claire Rudellat, MBE,, code name Jacqueline, was an agent of the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) organization in World War II. The purpose of SOE in occupied France was to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance. SOE agents allied themselves with French Resistance groups and supplied them with weapons and equipment parachuted in from England.
Yvonne Yvette Fontaine, also known as Yvonne Fauge, code named Nenette and Mimi, was a member of the French Resistance and an agent of the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) organization 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 allied themselves with resistance groups and supplied them with weapons and equipment parachuted in from England.
Pierre de Crevoisier de Vomécourt, code name Lucas, was an agent of the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive during World War II. The purpose of SOE was to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in occupied Europe against the Axis powers. SOE agents allied themselves with French Resistance groups and supplied them with weapons and equipment parachuted in from England.
Simone Michel-Lévy was a French Resistance worker. She had several pseudonyms – Emma, Françoise, Madame Royale, Mademoiselle Flaubert or Madame Bertrand - and is one of 6 female compagnons de la Libération.
Night of the Fox is a World War II spy thriller novel by Jack Higgins, first published in 1986. It was adapted into the 1990 television film Night of the Fox, starring George Peppard as Martineau and Michael York as Erwin Rommel.
Michael Alfred Raymond Trotobas, code named Sylvestre and known in France as Capitaine Michel, was an agent of the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) organization during World War II in France. The purpose of SOE was to conduct espionage, sabotage, and reconnaissance in countries occupied by the Axis powers, especially Nazi Germany. SOE agents allied themselves with resistance groups and supplied them with weapons and equipment parachuted in from England.
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 | This article about a World War II novel first published in the 2000s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. See guidelines for writing about novels. Further suggestions might be found on the article's talk page. |