STRIKING achievements by women agents during the Second World War will be featured in a talk at the Pound Arts Centre in Corsham next week.

After a sold-out show in Corsham Town Hall during 2017’s Magic and Mayhem Festival, run by Pound Arts, expert speaker on WW2 Intelligence, Dr Mark Baldwin, returns to reveal the story of the Second World War Special Operations Executive in his talk titled Behind Enemy Lines on Thursday, September 20 at 7.30pm.

Dr Baldwin will highlight some striking achievements by women agents, including famous names such as Odette Sansom and Violette Szabo. He will explore the SOE’s origins and aims and explain the specialised equipment developed to assist these agents.

In 1940, the UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill created the Special Operations Executive to co-ordinate undercover operations in occupied countries and in particular to set Europe ablaze.

In its six-year life, SOE trained over 9,000 agents, who operated not only in 19 European countries, but also further afield in the Far East and in Africa.

Dr Baldwin is an international expert and professional speaker on the Enigma Machine, the History of Cryptography, and the Special Operations Executive.

He has delivered more than 700 talks to over 60,000 people on these topics all over the world including CNet, Dropbox and Facebook as well as prestigious venues such as Bletchley Park and The Special Forces Club.

Dr Baldwin captivated his audience at the Magic and Mayhem Festival last year in Corsham as he revealed the story behind the Enigma Machine with a balance of history, human interest, and technical insight.

In his talk next week, Dr Mark Baldwin explores how SOE had some spectacular successes, and some failures, but earned tremendous loyalty from its agents, men and women, many of whom lost their lives while on operations, or subsequently at the hands of the enemy.

For many years, SOE activities remained in the shadows but recent years have seen release of much fresh information.

To buy tickets, call in person at The Pound box office, telephone 01249 701628 or visit www.poundarts.org.uk