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2 'To pass as a native'

Recruiting for operations in France

Abstract

This chapter considers the initial interview as an opportunity for the recruiter to assess the potential 'passing' skills possessed by the candidate that will enable them to conceal their British paramilitary identities and be taken for French civilians. Many interviewees endowed their initial encounter with a particular significance, since the recruitment interview is regarded as their first experience of the SOE. The first recruiting officer for F Section was Lewis Gielgud, brother of the actor John Gielgud. The main priority in recruitment, according to Cowell, was to recruit people who could be assimilated into the culture of the country that they were infiltrating and who could 'pass as a native'. He isolated three qualifications which the recruiting officer was likely to look for in potential recruits: French nationality or alternatively an ability to speak French 'like a native', a typically 'French appearance' and various other 'necessary qualities'.

Abstract

This chapter considers the initial interview as an opportunity for the recruiter to assess the potential 'passing' skills possessed by the candidate that will enable them to conceal their British paramilitary identities and be taken for French civilians. Many interviewees endowed their initial encounter with a particular significance, since the recruitment interview is regarded as their first experience of the SOE. The first recruiting officer for F Section was Lewis Gielgud, brother of the actor John Gielgud. The main priority in recruitment, according to Cowell, was to recruit people who could be assimilated into the culture of the country that they were infiltrating and who could 'pass as a native'. He isolated three qualifications which the recruiting officer was likely to look for in potential recruits: French nationality or alternatively an ability to speak French 'like a native', a typically 'French appearance' and various other 'necessary qualities'.

Kapitel in diesem Buch

  1. Front matter i
  2. Dedication v
  3. Contents vii
  4. List of figures ix
  5. List of tables xi
  6. Acknowledgements xiii
  7. Abbreviations xv
  8. 1 Reconstructing the Special Operations Executive 1
  9. 2 'To pass as a native' 25
  10. 3 'Taught how to play a part' 51
  11. 4 'A jittery business' 85
  12. 5 'Living a different life' 113
  13. 6 'The best disguise' 136
  14. 7 'Pretending at once' 155
  15. 8 'So many happy memories' 180
  16. Appendix 206
  17. Bibliography 215
  18. Index 229
Behind enemy lines
Ein Kapitel aus dem Buch Behind enemy lines
https://doi.org/10.7765/9781526162243.00009

Kapitel in diesem Buch

  1. Front matter i
  2. Dedication v
  3. Contents vii
  4. List of figures ix
  5. List of tables xi
  6. Acknowledgements xiii
  7. Abbreviations xv
  8. 1 Reconstructing the Special Operations Executive 1
  9. 2 'To pass as a native' 25
  10. 3 'Taught how to play a part' 51
  11. 4 'A jittery business' 85
  12. 5 'Living a different life' 113
  13. 6 'The best disguise' 136
  14. 7 'Pretending at once' 155
  15. 8 'So many happy memories' 180
  16. Appendix 206
  17. Bibliography 215
  18. Index 229
Heruntergeladen am 11.5.2026 von https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.7765/9781526162243.00009/html?lang=de
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