The Gestapo placed a massive bounty on a woman they knew only as the “White Mouse.” Originally a journalist living in France, she transformed into an elite military operative, slipping past checkpoints, parachuting into combat zones, and killing an SS guard with her bare hands.
She frustrated the German military so deeply that she became their most wanted target in occupied Europe. This is the documented account of Nancy Wake.
Smuggling Airmen Across the Pyrenees
When Germany occupied France in 1940, the New Zealand-born Australian joined the Pat O’Leary network. Operating out of Marseille as a courier, she navigated downed Allied airmen through hostile territory into neutral Spain. She routinely bypassed military checkpoints using flirtation, makeup, and bribes.
After informants betrayed the network in 1942, Wake fled. Police arrested her on a train in Toulouse, but she escaped after a colleague falsely told authorities she was his mistress hiding an affair. She crossed the Pyrenees mountains on foot, completely unaware the Gestapo had captured, tortured, and executed her husband, Henri.
Parachuting to the French Maquis
Reaching Britain, she joined the Special Operations Executive (SOE) and trained extensively in firearms and fieldcraft. On April 29, 1944, she dropped from a bomber into the Auvergne region to arm the French Maquis guerrillas. Initially tangled in a tree, she immediately began distributing parachuted weapons and Allied funds to thousands of fighters preparing for the invasion.
When a massive German counterattack forced the fighters to retreat without their radio codes, Wake commandeered a bicycle. She pedaled 500 kilometers (310 miles) in 72 hours across enemy-held roads to transmit a vital situation report to London.
Lethal Force and Executing Informants
Operating in the Allier department, Wake directed ambushes against German military convoys. During a covert night raid, an SS sentry spotted her. She struck him in the neck with a lethal judo blow, killing him instantly to stop him from sounding the alarm.
Later, she discovered a local woman working as a German spy. When the male guerrilla fighters refused to execute the female informant, Wake stepped in, ordered the firing squad herself, and carried out the sentence without hesitation.
Postwar Intelligence and Civilian Life
Following the German retreat from France, Britain awarded Wake the George Medal, the United States presented her with the Medal of Freedom, and France awarded her the Croix de Guerre three times.
She transitioned into an intelligence role at the British Air Ministry and stood for political office in Australia during the 1950s. She eventually moved into The Stafford hotel in London, where she spent her mornings drinking gin and tonics. She died at a hospital in 2011 at the age of 98.