Spy Information Put Them Into Ordinary Items, So the Messages Could Not Be Found

UKS2 Topic: World War 2 in Europe and The Battle of Britain Block E: VE Day Session 1

The resistance movement members had to become very good at hiding written information and messages. They Spy information put them into ordinary items, so the messages could not be found. Another word for the work that spies do is espionage. In WW2, those involved in espionage were crucial to Here are some examples. the success of military operations like the D-Day landings. Take an old book and draw a People from the Allies were trained to become spies to rectangle in the centre of one of work undercover . They collected information about the pages. Cut the rectangle out using scissors. Turn the page and German plans and sent it back to England. cut another rectangle out, the same size as the one before. 'The French Resistance' was the name given to an Alternatively, ask an adult to use organisation operating undercover in France and trying to a craft knife and metal ruler to cut sabotage German plans. France had surrendered to through more pages at once. Germany in 1940 but many French people wanted to carry You could hide a message in an old food on fighting to bring Germany down. They decided to work container, toy or something that no-one undercover, in their occupied country and collect expects to find a message. information to help England and the Allies. The French Why not tuck your message underneath a Resistance was especially useful leading up to D-Day in June label on a yogurt pot? Or on the inside of 1944. They supplied the Allies with vital intelligence reports a little lid? as well as doing a huge amount of work to disrupt the Can you roll up a message and put it German supply and communication lines within France (they inside a pen? Or lipstick? Or even blew up train lines, for example). They also attacked the pop a message inside an old Germans when possible and helped many Allied airmen toothpaste tube? You will have to wash escape to safety. it out first. The French Resistance did not use their own names. They had code names, such as normal 1940s names like Cynthia or Can you hide a message in an everyday item from home? Albert, or names describing their spying talents, like ‘Dark Can you write it in code? Shadow’. Can you think of a codename for yourself?

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Spy Codes

The resistance movement had to keep information secret, otherwise lives would be lost and ultimately the Allies could lose the war.

They passed messages to each other using codes. The most famous of these codes is Morse code.

Can you write a message in Morse Code to pass to someone else?

Can you create your own code? Don’t forget to write down an explanation of how it works, so the Allies can understand it!

Research two more resistance fighters of WW2. Search for ‘Agent Blanche’; ‘Violette Szabo’; ‘Odette The white Mouse Hallowes’. Name: Women played an important role in the WW2 resistance Codename: movement. One Australian woman called Nancy Wake, known as ‘The White Mouse’ became one of the most SKILL: highly decorated Allied secret agents of WW2. She helped hundreds of Allied personnel escape from occupied Contribution to War effort: France. The German Gestapo named her the "White Mouse" because she was so elusive. She worked for British Special Operations an d was parachuted into France in April 1944 before D-Day to deliver weapons to French Resistance fighters. At one point, she was top of the Name: Gestapo's most wanted list. "Freedom is the only thing worth living for. While I was doing that work, I used to Codename: think it didn't matter if I died, because without freedom SKILL: there was no point in living," Wake once said of her wartime exploits. Contribution to War effort:

Name: Nancy Wake Codename: The White Mouse

SKILL: Being elusive, difficult to catch The Office of Strategic Services developed an assortment of weapons and gadgets for its secret agents, Contribution to War effort: including an explosive powder nicknamed Aunt Jemima that looked Helping 100s of airmen get to like flour and could be baked into pancakes and bread to avoid suspicion, and a special hormone intended to be injected into Adolf safety, supplying Allies with Hitler’s vegetables to make his moustache fall out and his voice rise information, parachuting and several octaves! delivering weapons for D-Day.