MOSCOW, September 17 (RIA Novosti) - Wartime records confirm the existence of a widely-rumored female secret agent, known as Agent Fifi employed by British spymasters during World War II to chat up trainee agents in hotels and bars checking if they could keep secrets.
In its most recent post, the National Archives reveal Agent Fifi's identity for the first time, whose real name was Marie Chilver.
Chilver was hired by the British Special Operations Executives (SOE) after helping Flight Lieutenant Simpson, an airman shot down over France, to return to England in 1941, according to the newspaper. A series of calculated lies including her escape from a concentration camp caused the airman to realize Chilver's mastery of deceit earning her a position as an undercover agent disguised as a French freelance journalist in the United Kingdom.
Agent Fifi was responsible for testing trainees' confidentiality abilities before they were sent to occupied countries in Europe.
According to the agent, her methods of testing trainees were fair as she was merely preparing them to "outwit all the Fifis they are likely to meet in their future career."
Chilver's file is one of 3,300 documents from World War II made available online by the British National Archives.
The two leading intelligence gathering organizations for the Allies in World War II were the British SOE, and the American Office of Strategic Services (OSS). Traditional spies were employed as well as civilians to covertly provide information on strategic locations and activities while leading normal lives. The SOE was active in most occupied countries in Europe, helping resistance groups and monitoring enemy activity, they also had operatives working in enemy territory. The American counterpart eventually became the current Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
