While Virginia was in the field, her status changed and she formally transferred from the SOE to the OSS. The change had been a while in coming.

Ever since Virginia completed her first tour of duty in France for the SOE, she was keen on returning, despite the enormous danger to herself because of her notoriety with the Germans. By this time, the SOE and OSS were working closely together. (Indeed, in July 1944, the SOE came under the combined command of British, American, and French authorities and became known as Special Force Headquarters.) At various times since her return to Great Britain, Virginia expressed the desire to transfer to the OSS. But as an OSS official stated, “… at the time it was not clear whether she could again be used as an agent in the field and no further action was taken.”

Just days before Virginia began her second tour of duty in France as an SOE agent, she met with an OSS official and again made her case for being transferred to the OSS. The official stated:

I have interviewed the above mentioned lady [Virginia Hall] and I feel confident that the main reason she wishes to transfer from SOE to OSS is for national [presumably patriotic] reason[s] … She has been briefed to go in the field as radio operator with an organizer belonging to OSS [Aramis] and she has again expressed a desire to go as an American body. The financial side, that is to say the salary she might earn with OSS has never been discussed and does not seem to worry her in any way. She merely stated that all money she might earn she would like to be sent to her mother, Mrs. E. L. Hall, Boxhorn Farm, Parkton MD. If she is an American body the transfer of funds would be easy whereas if she remains a British body the transfer would be very much more difficult. However the financial improvements she might obtain are not the main purpose for obtaining a transfer.

On April 1, 1944, Virginia officially became “an American body,” joining the OSS Western European Section’s Special Operations Branch (SO). In her new position, Virginia was to “receive pay and allowances of a 2nd Lieutenant in the US Army, of comparable status, which is in her case $336.00 (single, and not receiving parachute pay).” Her entire pay was transferred each month to her mother’s bank account in Baltimore, Maryland.

Working with the Resistance was as dangerous as serving with the OSS or the SOE. Acts of sabotage often brought about ruthless reprisals from the Nazis. Virginia and her colleagues were all at great risk. For example, on the same day that Virginia formally became a member of the OSS, the Resistance blew up a railway line at Ascq, France, near the border with Belgium. A train carrying sixty armored vehicles of an SS Panzer Division, along with four hundred German soldiers, was derailed. There was only minor damage and none of the troops were injured. However, the enraged Nazis went on a brutal rampage, killing the stationmaster and one of his workers. Nazi soldiers then gathered the local men in town to repair the railway, promising that they would soon return to their homes. One of the townsmen recalled what happened next:

We were made to walk for about 15 to 20 minutes until we went through a hole in the fence onto the railway line, beaten with rifle butts as we went … There were German soldiers, with a machine gun, on the ground by the track … I thought we were going to be put on to the train. As I walked, I saw around 20 to 25 bodies on the ground, and I realized we were going to be shot. We walked a few metres more. The man at the head of our group was a gamekeeper; he was shot at point-blank range by a German. I saw him fall—I was fifth or sixth in line. That was the signal for the Germans by the railway to start shooting. I leaped forward and fell to the ground holding my head in my hands. The shooting carried on. Then everything went quiet. The Germans were walking up and down the path. After a moment, another group of prisoners arrived. They passed barely one metre from my feet and then the shooting began again. After this round of shots, I heard two victims still breathing; a German must have heard them, because there were two shots right next to me. I was kicked twice in the ribs and once in the shoulder, as though to make sure I was dead … Eventually a locomotive came and took the train away—it seemed to take forever. I could still hear noises and the sound of Germans on the track. I still didn’t dare move. Then a comrade in front of me began to crawl away. I was afraid that the Germans might see him and come and finish us off, but I did the same. Together with a third man we crawled through the field to the Rue Mangin. Then I fled to the other side of the village.

In total, eighty-six men, between fifteen and seventy-five years old, were killed that night.

French Resistance fighters sabotaging the Marseille-Paris railway in August 1944.

Despite the danger, Virginia got busy scouting nearby fields suitable for parachute drops and identified “farmers and farm hands willing and eager to help.” But it was also clear that Virginia was becoming increasingly exasperated by Aramis:

Aramis came to Maisons twice, but with nothing to report except having found an old family friend whose flat he could use as a safe house. He did not seem to understand using couriers or the advisability of so doing and fiercely resented any suggestions. Aramis was very tired by these trips. In spite of his robust appearance he is not very strong, cannot carry parcels or packages of any weight because he has no strength in his arms, and he was ill for a few days after each strenuous trip that he made.

Virginia established herself within the community of Maisons-sous-Crozant. She worked hard at her farm chores and even took the time to teach neighboring children arithmetic. However, there were a number of security concerns.

Once, Virginia was visited by several OSS agents. While they didn’t visit often, there was a chance they could have been followed. On another occasion, the agents failed to keep an appointment, and Virginia feared that something happened to them. Apparently, the true nature of Virginia’s mission also became well known in the village, which raised another security concern. Aramis feared that the farmer who owned Virginia’s house was talkative. One day, the village postmaster stopped Virginia in the street and “asked her with a twinkle if she received good news these days.”

In early May, Aramis returned to Paris, hoping to continue his own covert mission. On his tenth day back in the French capital, he met up with a former comrade with whom he’d served in the French Army in World War I. Through this friend, Aramis was able to connect with a group of Resistance members who rescued Allied airmen and smuggled them back to England through the French underground. Aramis was soon able to establish a boîte aux lettres—or mailbox—to communicate with his contacts, as well as a safe house in Paris. Virginia’s radio transmissions to London passed along these accomplishments. Additionally, in preparation for the forthcoming D-Day invasion, Virginia transmitted to Aramis orders from London to establish five separate hideaways for radio operators in the geographic triangle of Dijon, Sedan, and Paris. He dutifully set out to accomplish that goal.

Virginia outside.

Virginia made it a point never to travel alone in France; she always traveled with a French companion. Virginia had become close friends with Madame Rabut, who was introduced to Virginia by Aramis. Madame Rabut served as a courier between the two Americans. Madame Rabut and Virginia traveled to Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire on May 4, where Virginia paid a call on a friend’s relative. The man and his wife offered Virginia a place to stay and gave her permission to work in the attic. She was happy to accept this offer. But by this time, Virginia had become increasingly wary of Aramis’s talkative tendencies. Accordingly, Virginia requested that Aramis not come to Cosne and not be provided with her new address. Virginia now relied on both Madame Rabut and her son to serve as a liaison between Virginia and Aramis.

A few days later, Virginia was told that several Resistance members had been arrested and detained in the Cherche Midi military prison in Paris. Virginia went to Paris and connected with her Marseille friend who had expertise in getting people out of jail. He was able to contact a sympathetic German guard at the prison, who passed a message to the prisoners.

In response, Virginia found out that the number of prisoners had grown from three to eight, with five more individuals arrested from the same Resistance group. The larger group would be unable to escape in the way Virginia envisioned, and the prisoners wished to stay together. Virginia went to Paris weekly until the beginning of June. At the time of the D-Day invasion, the men were transferred elsewhere.

With the tremendous stress of serving as an undercover agent in a hostile environment, it is important to remain connected to a normal life to the extent that’s possible. Family members like to keep in touch with loved ones serving overseas, particularly during wartime. And those serving overseas want to stay connected with their loved ones at home as well. However, it’s unusual for undercover intelligence agents in the field to receive letters from their families. This correspondence is usually handled by government officials, who shield the nature, extent, and location of the intelligence agent’s work from their family and carefully screen any messages that are passed along. It can be dangerous for agents in the field to have letters from home in their possession as it could compromise their cover and put them at risk.

Virginia’s mother, like so many other parents during World War II, only wanted to know how her daughter was doing. For example, on June 2, 1944, just four days before the Allied invasion of Europe, a letter on behalf of a commanding officer in the US military responded to an April 12 letter from Virginia’s mother without disclosing the true nature of Virginia’s work or the organization for which she was working:

From a security point of view there is little I am permitted to tell you about your daughter’s work. For this I am sorry; it may however be of some consolation to you to know that my own husband knows absolutely nothing of my work; and such is the case of the family of every soldier in our forces. But this I can tell you that your daughter is with the 1st Experimental Detachment of the United States Army; that she is doing an important and time-consuming job which has necessitated a transfer from London, and which will reduce her correspondence to a minimum. Please feel free to write to me, Mrs. Hall. We here are in constant touch with your daughter, and are immediately informed of any change in her status. I shall be happy to communicate whatever news I have of her to you.

At the same time, Virginia, like many agents, seldom wrote home in order to protect her security. For individuals engaged in espionage, operational effectiveness and personal safety were dependent on being discreet about sharing information regarding their work and personal life. Virginia would later remark about seeing the dead bodies of colleagues who lacked that discretion.

Virginia’s niece recalled only one letter the family received from Virginia during the war. In it, Virginia described the bodies of French Resistance members being spiked through their necks to iron fence posts, undoubtedly as a warning to anyone else thinking of providing support to the Resistance. Lorna Catling winced at the memory, saying, “Why would anyone write that to their mother?”