# Peggy Knight > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Peggy_Knight > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Peggy_Knight.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peggy_Knight > Source revision: 1352257854 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) **Marguerite Diana Frances Knight** (later **Smith**) [MBE](/source/Member_of_the_Most_Excellent_Order_of_the_British_Empire) (19 April 1920 – 2004[1]) was a member of the [Women's Transport Service](/source/Women's_Transport_Service) and in 1944 served with the United Kingdom's clandestine [Special Operations Executive](/source/Special_Operations_Executive) (SOE) during World War II. With the code name **Nicole**, she worked as a courier with the [Donkeyman](/source/SOE_F_Section_networks) network (or circuit) in France. The purpose of SOE was to conduct espionage, sabotage, and reconnaissance in occupied Europe and Asia against the [Axis powers](/source/Axis_powers), especially [Nazi Germany](/source/Nazi_Germany). SOE agents allied themselves with resistance groups and supplied them with weapons and equipment parachuted in from [England](/source/England). ## Biography ### Early years Marguerite Knight, best known by her nickname "Peggy," was born 19 April 1920 in Paris, France, the daughter of Capt. Alfred Rex Knight and his wife, the former Charlotte Beatrice Mary Ditkowski.[citation needed] She worked as a [shorthand](/source/Shorthand) typist for the Asea Electric Company of [Walthamstow](/source/Walthamstow), a district northeast of London, England.[citation needed] ## Special Operations Executive Owing to her mixed British-French parentage and upbringing in France, Knight was a nearly perfect speaker of the French language – so much so that one day early in the spring of 1944 leaders of the British intelligence organisation [Special Operations Executive](/source/Special_Operations_Executive) (SOE) overheard her speaking French in a café and immediately moved to recruit her into the organisation.[2] On 11 April 1944, Knight began attendance at the Students' Assessment Board of the SOE at [Wanborough](/source/Wanborough_Manor). She was rushed through a cursory two-week training course at Thame Park, Saltmarsh, during which she did only one practice [parachute](/source/Parachute) jump from a static balloon, rather than the customary three, before being sent behind enemy lines in [Vichy France](/source/Occupied_France) to establish herself as a secret British [courier](/source/Courier).[2] Under the code name "Nicole," Knight worked as a [courier](/source/Courier) for the SOE's Donkeyman network.[citation needed] Following the [Allied invasion of France](/source/Invasion_of_Normandy) at [Normandy](/source/Normandy) of June and July 1944, Knight crossed back and forth between battle lines several times, carrying intelligence messages and information.[2] Knight also participated directly in an attack by the [French resistance](/source/French_resistance) upon a German military convoy, firing her [Sten](/source/Sten) [submachine gun](/source/Submachine_gun) during the course of the operation.[2] Knight narrowly escaped capture and execution later in 1944 when she and a group of resistance fighters were betrayed by one of their number to the [Nazis](/source/Nazis).[2] Knight was one of about 30 fighters who managed to fight through a German encirclement.[2] The man responsible for the betrayal, [Roger Bardet](/source/Roger_Bardet), was later arrested, tried, and sentenced to death as a [collaborator](/source/Collaborationism) after the war.[3] This sentence was [commuted](/source/Commutation_of_sentence), however, and Bardet was ultimately released from prison in 1955.[4] Knight left the employment of the SOE in November 1944.[citation needed] ### Awards For her wartime activity Peggy Knight was later awarded high British, French, and American honours, including appointment as a member of [The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire](/source/The_Most_Excellent_Order_of_the_British_Empire),[5] the [Croix de Guerre](/source/Croix_de_Guerre),[6] and the [Medal of Freedom](/source/Medal_of_Freedom_(1945)). Member of the Order of the British Empire 1939–1945 Star France and Germany Star War Medal Croix de Guerre (France) Medal of Freedom ## See also - [SOE F Section networks](/source/SOE_F_Section_networks) ## Footnotes 1. England & Wales, Death Index: 1916–2006 1. John Prados, *Lost Crusader: The Secret Wars of CIA Director William Colby.* New York: Oxford University Press, 2003; pg. 15. 1. Prados, *Lost Crusader*, pp. 15–16. 1. Prados, *Lost Crusader*, pg. 16. 1. No. 37149. 22 June 1945. p. 3333. 1. Cameron Ramos, ["From the Typewriter to Blazing Sten Gun,"](http://www.harrowtimes.co.uk/news/579480.from_the_typewriter_to_blazing_sten_gun/) *Harrow Times*, 20 March 2005. ## Further reading - Marcus Binney, *The Women Who Lived for Danger: The Agents of the Special Operations Executive.* New York: William Morrow, 2002. ## External links - Cameron Ramos, ["From the Typewriter to Blazing Sten Gun,"](http://www.harrowtimes.co.uk/news/579480.from_the_typewriter_to_blazing_sten_gun/) *Harrow Times,* 20 March 2005. --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Peggy Knight](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peggy_Knight) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peggy_Knight?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.