Honoring a Forgotten Heroine on Anzac Day: The Story of Noor Inayat Khan

Noor Inayat Khan was born on January 1, 1914, in the Russian capital Moscow. Her father, Inayat Khan, a musician and Sufi preacher, and mother, Amina Begum (previously Ora Ray Baker). The family moved to England shortly after World War I broke out the same year.

After facing increased surveillance from the British for his pro-India views, Inayat would again relocate the family in 1920 to Paris, where Noor lived with her three younger siblings until the age of 26. Her great-great-great-grandfather Tipu Sultan died fighting against British rule in India in 1799.

On the fall of France in 1940, Noor had to flee to Britain along with thousands of other French residents.

Immediately after her arrival, she joined the war effort, signing up for the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force, the female auxiliary for the UK’s Royal Air Force, as a wireless operator
Noor, who was fluent in French, was recruited by the Special Operations Executive (SOE), the British predecessor of MI 5, that sent spies to help local resistance movements in occupied Europe.

Fully aware of the highly dangerous nature of the assignment, combined with little monetary compensation, Noor immediately accepted the offer.

Noor was deployed in 1943 into Nazi-occupied France as a wireless operator, code-named “Madeleine”
Noor was the first woman operator to be deployed in Occupied France by the UK.

In France Noor worked with the French resistance network ‘Prosper’ .

Within days of her deployment, all the high-ranking Prosper agents were captured by the Nazis, and their wireless sets seized, leaving Noor as the only operator in the field for the next few months.

Her role was crucial: maintaining communication between the French Resistance and the British headquarters.

Noor displayed immense courage, moving from place to place, avoiding detection, and continuing to transmit vital information despite the Gestapo’s crackdown on wireless operators. Her efforts helped facilitate multiple parachute drops of arms and supplies crucial for the Resistance.

Betrayed by a French double agent in 1943, Noor was captured by the Gestapo. Despite being tortured and held in solitary confinement, she refused to give up any information.

In September 1944, after a failed escape attempt, Noor was executed at Dachau concentration camp.

Her last word, a defiant and resolute “Liberté,” epitomized her indomitable spirit.

Noor was posthumously awarded the George Cross as, as well as the Croix de Guerre by France. She was one of only three women in the SOE to be awarded the George Cross.

On this Anzac Day, we commemorate Noor Inayat Khan’s memory and the sacrifices of all those who fought with valor and tenacity against the forces of tyranny and darkness. Lest we forget.