Thread by @DrAlakbarov

Role of women in organized opposition to the Nazi occupiers of France and the Vichy Regime during WW2.

The French Resistance, in which women played an integral role, consisted of various forms of opposition to Nazi and pro-Nazi rule in occupied and Vichy France during WW2

Women represented 15 to 20% of the total number of French Resistance fighters within the country. Women also represented 15% of political deportations to Nazi-run concentration camps.

Pictured: Simone Segouin, the 18 year old French Resistance fighter, 1944

Prosperina Vallet, an Italian Partisan, in the mountains between Italy and France, ca 1944. #NoPasaran

This is Noor Inayat Khan.

She became the first female wireless operator to be sent from Britain into occupied France to aid the French Resistance during World War II, and was Britain's first Muslim war heroine.

In May 1940, with the German army ready to occupy Paris, Noor Inayat Khan was faced with a difficult choice: stand on the sidelines or join the Allied forces fighting the Nazis.

Inayat Khan was abruptly transferred to Dachau concentration camp then executed by Nazis.

Nancy Wake had no trouble shooting Nazis or blowing up buildings with the French guerrilla fighters known as maquis in the service of the resistance.

The White Mouse. That was the Gestapo's nickname for her due to her talent for sneaking by them.

Krystyna Skarbek worked to organize Polish resistance groups.

She was arrested by the Gestapo in 1941, but faked a case of TB by biting her tongue until it bled. She is also considered to be the inspiration for at least two of his Bond girls.

"She is the most dangerous of Allied spies. We must find and destroy her" was an actual thing the Gestapo said about Virginia Hall, an American operative in Vichy France, who helped gather vital intelligence for Britain in the early years of the war. She was also disabled.

During World War II, the Soviet Union’s 588th Night Bomber Regiment, known as “The Night Witches,” consisted of 30 women responsible for carrying out many dangerous bombing raids.

Pictured: Nadezhda Popova from the “The Night Witches” squadron.

Their nickname stems from the fact that they would kill their planes’ engines when attacking, and with only the noise from the wind, the Nazis thought they sounded like witches on brooms.

Fun fact: The ladies were also known to paint flowers on their planes.

Meet Lyudmila Pavlichenko. She was nicknamed "Lady Death" due to her incredible ability with a sniper rifle. She sent at least 309 Nazis to hell.

She struggled constantly with depression, due to the loss of her husband in the war.

This is for Azerbaijanis:

Ziba Ganiyeva was an Azerbaijani philologist and a former World War II female sniper, accounted for 21 kills.

During the war, Ganiyeva was a radio operator and a spy who crossed the front line 16 times.

Nearly 900 members strong, the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion was the first and only all-black Women's Army Corps unit deployed to Europe during WWII.

Before the US had Rosie the Riveter, Canada had Ronnie, the Bren Gun Girl. Unlike Rosie, Ronnie was a real-life woman named Veronica Foster, seen here smoking and admiring a weapon she just made for soldiers in the WW2.

Hedy Lamarr was known as “the most beautiful woman in Europe” – but her looks and acting skills were far from the defining aspects of her life.

During the early stages of WWII, Lamarr and composer George Antheil created a radio guidance system for Allied torpedoes.

Until fairly recently, the UK had no national memorial to honor the nearly seven million service and civilian women who made a vital contribution during World War II. That changed in 2005, when a fitting tribute to those women was unveiled near the Cenotaph in London.

Comfort women were women and girls forced into being sex slaves by the Imperial Japanese Army in occupied territories before and during World War II.

Pictured: South Korean protesters sit near a statue of a teenage girl symbolizing former "comfort women".

Japanese PM Shinzo Abe should give a proper apology to Korean, Chinese and comfort women from other countries who serviced the Japanese army during World War II.

Pictured: The bronze statue of a comfort woman in front of the Japanese Embassy, Seoul.

Dear men, always treat women with respect, no matter who they are, where they are.

Dead ladies, you should never be surprised when someone treats you with respect. You should expect it.

Good night.