My hatred of the Nazis was very, very deep. — Nancy Wake
(image via Wikimedia)
“A woman could get out of a lot of trouble that a man could not,” Nancy Wake once told an interviewer.
She knew this firsthand. As an journalist-turned-undercover agent in World War II, Nancy worked as a courier, escort and intelligence-gatherer for the French Resistance. The Germans called her “The White Mouse.” But in 1943, she was finally exposed. She fled France for England. Her husband, who stayed behind, was captured and executed.
But even in England, Nancy continued working for the Allies. In April 1944, she even parachuted into France to help other Resistance fighters prepare for D-Day. She helped establish vital communications between British troops and French fighters.
“I was never afraid,” she said. “I was too busy to be afraid.”
Add to your library list:
The White Mouse (Nancy Wake)
Nancy Wake: SOE’s Greatest Heroine (M. Braddon)
Shadow Warriors of World War II (Gordon Thomas and Greg Lewis)
Read more:
Nancy Wake, Proud Spy and Nazi Foe (The New York Times)
“White Mouse” of World War II (The Wall Street Journal)
Sharpshooter, paratrooper, hero: The woman who set France ablaze (The Guardian)
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