Nancy Wake

Nancy Wake

1. White Mouse

   • World War II

2. Born in New Zealand

   • Began life as a nurse
   • Became a journalist
   • Went to Europe
   • Married Henri Fiocre (French) and was living in France when Nazis invaded in 1940
   • Became a spy - Germans assumed a beautiful and wealthy woman was unlikely to be involved in espionage
     • First war effort as driving an ambulance. She suggested Henri adapt an ambulance even though she couldn't drive
       • Nancy delivered a package to Cannes even though Henri was against it
         • A cafe owner warned Nancy that she was being followed
           • Nancy left Henri to return to Britain because she wanted to continue to help with the war and Henri wanted Nancy to be safe - they would eventually seek her out once it was known she was the White Mouse
             • Difficulties in escaping France
               • Storms blocked mountain passes for the first three months.
                 • Captured and put in prison
                   • Rescued by Patrick O'Leary in guise of being his mistress
                     • Nancy returned to France in April 1944 to help organise reistence before DDay. She organised parachute drops of arms and equipment
                   • Hitler was scared of Nancy and he had a lot of people searching for her
                     • There was a Gustapo spy on every train

3. 1938 - Berlin and Austria

   • She wanted to get the story first hand and didn't want to miss any action as a journalist
   • In Berlin, she saw the Germans being hypnotised by the Nazis
   • In Austria she saw the Jews being harshly treated

4. Henri Fiocre

   • Fell in love
     • Gave social status to marry someone with connections from a wealthy family
       • Henri's father disliked Nancy as she was protestant and foreign
         • Nancy felt guilt about the death of her husband, Henri, because he was the husband of the White Mouse and the Germans killed him because he refused to tell anyone where she was even when he was being tortured before his execution.

5. War efforts

   • French Milice
     • Vicious new French police force that targeted Jews and the French Resistence
   • Special Operations Executive
     • Did training in England to become a silent killer with physical hard work in which she did around men
       • Nancy joined in October 1943
       • Did physical training in Scotland
       • She was also taught weaponry, codes, morse code and disabling a tank
     • The purpose was to wage a secret war
       • Agents were mainly tasked with sabotage and subversion behind enemy lines
         • It was established to wreak havoc on Europe to make life intolerable for the Germans occupying France. It included wrecking of railways and factories who were working for the German war effort and sabotage.
           • French resistance leader Gaspard doubted Nancys abilities and thought that she was just there for sex
             • He wanted to deal with a man, Den Den, who was supposed to be bringing the radio, so that they could call London and organize supplies.
           • The SOE could provide drops from London including money, ammunition, guns and resources. They also provided radio and radio controller. Moreover, they provided boots, great coats, bandages and tea.
         • Sabotage: Crippling key supplies, manufacturing, strategic locations and logistic routes.
     • She doesn’t want the French to think like the Nazis think and behave in the way of the Nazis, as that is not what they are fighting for so doesn't want Nazis to be tortured
     • Established by Winston Churchill June 1940
   • Oradur-sur-Glane in Haute-Vienne, 10 June 1944
     • The village in Nazi-occupied France was destroyed almost 650 of its villagers, including non-combatant women and children. They burned the bodies and set fire to the town. The men were accused of ambushing German troops and women died in the flames locked up in the church.

6. Resistance Movement in France

   • Radios were critical as it enabled supplies of ammunition and resources to be delivered, and were important in managing the escape lines of France.
     • It was important to get the Allied pilots who had crashed in France back to Britain because they needed to avoid them being captured or killed by the Nazis . The Allied pilots needed to rejoin the military and to get them to unoccupied Spain
   • Every person they managed to get out of France was a win against Hitler
   • D-Day 1944
     • Before D Day the role of the French Resistance changed to prepare for the Allied invasion in June. The role of the SOE was to organize the French Resistance bodies and have them armed and with ammunition.
   • Nazis invaded France in 1940
     • In the immediate aftermath of the June 1940 surrender, France went into a period of shock. The public had been assured that the French army, along with the Maginot Line, was more than strong enough to resist a German attack. The speed and severity of Blitzkrieg had shocked the French people.
   • The resistance movement developed to provide the Allies with intelligence, attack the Germans when possible and to assist the escape of Allied airmen.

7. She was given the George Medal, Britain's second-highest civilian honor, and the Medal of Freedom, the United States' second-highest. France gave her the Legion d'Honneur, the highest military honor it bestows.