32. Few Men or Women Could a Handle a Job as Dangerous as That of Noor Inayat Khan
Noor Inayat Khan’s mission as a clandestine wireless operator in Nazi-occupied France was extremely dangerous work. It grew ever more dangerous as the war progressed and the Germans’ ability to detect transmissions rapidly improved. Clandestine wireless operators had to hide as best they could, stringing up aerials disguised as clothes drying lines in attics, and tapping out messages in Morse code. They would then have to wait, sometimes for hours, for a reply, or at least an acknowledgment that their message had been received.
German signal vans were on constant patrol, hoping to pick up and triangulate the location of clandestine transmissions. Staying on air for too long risked leading the Germans straight to the wireless operator. So operators had to constantly relocate, as inconspicuously as they could – no small feat back in the days when transmitters were bulky contraptions that filled a suitcase. In 1943, when Noor accepted her assignment, the life expectancy of a clandestine wireless operator in Nazi territory was just six weeks.