Agent Zo

She was one of the greatest fighters, secret agents, commandos and government envoys of the Second World War. But have we heard of her? Do we sing her name? Join Oswin and Carla to hear about the extraordinary Elżbieta Zawacka — otherwise known as Agent Zo.

Zo as we'll call her, ended up a brigadier general but she started off a lowly maths teacher in Poland in the 1930s. But when Germany invaded in September 1939, she sprang to the defence of her homeland, joining the Home Army, the largest resistance force in the whole of occupied Europe.

Zo would become the only female member of the Cichociemni, Poland’s famed ‘Silent Unseen’ elite commando force and her diplomatic work would save the lives of thousands of women after the Warsaw Uprising.

Hers is a deeply moving story and we’re honoured to be joined by Zo's biographer, the historian Clare Mulley.