Noor Inayat Khan was arrested by the Gestapo in Paris after months of clandestine radio work.
On 13 October 1943, after nearly four months of extraordinarily risky solo wireless operation in Paris following the collapse of the Prosper network, Noor Inayat Khan was arrested by the Gestapo, reportedly as a result of betrayal by a French double agent.
By this point she had continued transmitting critical intelligence to London under constant threat of detection, moving frequently between safe houses and disguising her radio equipment. Her arrest marked the end of one of the longest periods any SOE wireless operator survived in the field during that period of intense German counter-intelligence activity in Paris.
Following her capture, she attempted to escape custody at least twice, demonstrating extraordinary resolve. She was interrogated at the Gestapo headquarters on Avenue Foch and, despite brutal treatment, refused to divulge codes or fully cooperate, providing false or minimal information to protect her network and colleagues.
Her arrest and subsequent imprisonment — she was later sent in chains to Pforzheim prison in Germany, kept in solitary confinement for nearly a year — illustrate the extreme personal risks undertaken by SOE agents, and her steadfast resistance under interrogation became a defining element of her legacy as a symbol of courage against Nazi tyranny.