NANCY WAKE

                                                                  A WAR HEROIN
                                                                   NANCY WAKE
Nancy Grace Augusta Wake was a secret agent during the Second World War. (All information is from Wikipedia)
Born in New Zealand, on 30th August 1912, Nancy was the youngest of six children. In 1914, the family moved to Australia and settled in North Sydney. Here, Nancy attended the North Sydney Household Arts School but ran away from home at the age of 16 and worked as a nurse. With £200 that she had inherited from an aunt, she journeyed to New York City, then London, where she trained herself as a journalist. In the 1930's, she worked in Paris and later for Hearst newspapers as an European correspondent.

Nancy witnessed the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi movement and "saw roving Nazi gangs randomly beating Jewish men and women in the streets" of Vienna.
In 1937, on 30th November, Nancy married Henri Edmond Fiocca. She was living in Marseille in France , when Germany invaded. After the fall of France in 1940, Nancy became a courier for the French Resistance and later joined the escape network of Captain Ian Garrow. The Gestapo called Nancy "The White Mouse" because of her ability to elude capture. The Resistance exercised caution with Nancy's missions; her life was in constant danger, with the Gestapo tapping her telephone and intercepting her mail.

In 1942, Nancy was now the Gestapo's most wanted person, with a price of 5 million francs on her head. As the war became more dangerous, Nancy fled France, leaving her husband behind, who was later captured, tortured and executed by the Gestapo. Henri never gave his wife away !
After reaching Britain, Nancy joined the Special Operations Executive and was trained by them in several different training programs. It was noted that Nancy "put the men to shame by her cheerful spirit and strength of character." In 1944, she went back to France, allocating arms and equipment and minding the groups finances. Nancy became instrumental in recruiting more members and led attacks on German installations, at one point destroying the local Gestapo HQ in Montlucon. From March 1944 until the liberation of France, Nancy and the others fought the Germans by any means possible.

After the war, Nancy Wake was awarded the George Medal, the United States Medal of Freedom, the Medaille de la Resistance, and thrice, the Croix de Guerre. It was at this time that Nancy found out that her husband was dead and how he died --- she blamed herself !