Jean Overton Fuller

After the end of World War II in 1945, former SOE agents wrote books about their experiences and accounts appeared in movies and magazines. The emphasis of the publicity, fostered by SOE's former leaders Maurice Buckmaster and Vera Atkins, was on heroics and the tragedy of agents who were executed by the Germans. Unknown to the public were the blunders, often fatal to SOE agents and SOE operations, until Fuller published books on SOE in the 1950s. Fuller was sceptical of government secrecy, dating back to when the British government concealed details about the death of her father. Fuller was a friend and neighbour of Noor and of the Inayat Khan family. The details of Noor Inayat Khan's work during World War II were unknown until confirmed by the award to her of a posthumous George Medal in 1949. Later than year, Fuller travelled extensively throughout Europe, interviewing people connected with Noor and the SOE, including former German intelligence agents. The resultant publication, Madeleine, first published in 1952, was re-published in 1988. This updated version contains some chapters that were removed from the original manuscript, such as an in-depth exploration of Tipu Sultan, Noor's ancestor. Until the publication of Shrabani Basu's Spy Princess: The Life of Noor Inayat Khan Fuller's book was the definitive biography of Noor Inayat Khan. Fuller's second SOE book, The Starr Affair (1954) told of the experiences of SOE agent John Renshaw Starr who, after his capture and imprisonment, was accused of collaboration with the Germans. Fuller defended Starr and discovered an "inconvenient secret: the radio game." The Germans had captured radios from captured agents and fed SOE headquarters false information leading to the capture of many SOE agents and weapons. SOE headquarters in London had failed to recognize indications that its communications with agents in France were controlled by the Germans. In 1958, Fuller published Double Webs which focused on alleged double agent Henri Déricourt and the infiltration and destruction by the Germans of the Prosper network, SOE's most important network in France. Included in the book were extensive interviews with Déricourt. He admitted having contacts with German intelligence agencies, but said SOE headquarters was aware of those contacts. Fuller speculated that sinister motives, such as competition among British clandestine organizations had led to Prosper's fall, but concluded that the cause was likely incompetence. She said that SOE was an "amateur" organization headed by "amateurs." She asked the question: "What qualifications...had young girls like Denise (Andrée Borrel) and Madeleine (Noor Inayat Khan) to pick their way in that complex underworld into which they were dropped?" Fuller's books plus Death be not Proud by Elizabeth Nicholas and demands by politician Irene Ward helped persuade the British government to commission an official history of SOE titled SOE in France (1966) by historian M.R.D. Foot. Fuller's fourth book, The German Penetration of SOE: France 1941-1944 (1975) was a history of SOE in France. It followed Foot's official history. Fuller's judgement of SOE was harsh. SOE was "an awkward hybrid," part military, part civilian. Headquarters was overstaffed which led to an emphasis on quantity rather than the quality of its work. It was "the darker side of Churchill's historic injunction to 'set Europe ablaze.'" She continued: "The work of SOE was sabotage...acts violent in themselves, bound to invite violent responses [by the Germans] upon the civilian population." She cited several examples of retributions to SOE actions by the German occupiers against innocent civilians. Fuller continued her research into SOE with Déricourt: The Chequered Spy (1989). Fuller's pioneering inquiries into SOE history led to a large literature about SOE and its successes and failures in France.