Virginia Hall: The Allied Spy the Gestapo Called 'the Limping Lady'
Virginia Hall was an American who worked for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in occupied France. After escaping to Spain in 1942 following a Gestapo raid, she was declared "the most dangerous of all aliens" by the Nazis. But she went BACK. In 1944, disguised as an elderly woman named "Germaine," she organized resistance networks in Limoges, coordinated the delivery of weapons drops, and helped plan the sabotage of a German garrison in the village of Bonnme. Her limp — from a pre-war accident involving a shotgun — was her most recognizable feature, which she disguised by changing her gait constantly. She is the only civilian woman from WWII to receive the Distinguished Service Cross, awarded by the US Army in 1945. The Gestapo offered a reward for her capture — they called her "the limping lady" and their orders to all units read: "She is very dangerous. She walks with a limp."
OSS Records, National Archives