A Spy in Her Spare Time

Nancy Wake, to me, is particularly inspiring because she exploited the Germans' assumptions about her. They assumed she wasn't a threat because she was a woman, and she used it against them.

She was able to travel all over southern France, relaying secret messages, under the ruse that she was simply a wealthy woman who liked to travel.

Because of her unique ability to fool the Germans, she got more and more involved with the resistance. She was purchasing supplies from the black market, delivering radio transmitters, and facilitating the escape of Allied pilots, but it all had to be done in her spare time.

"I had to appear to friends and neighbors as I was an ordinary person." Nancy said. "Anything I did was in my spare time. I never had time to worry. I was too busy to be afraid."

When the Gestapo finally caught on, Nancy and her husband Henri both knew, for her safety, she had to leave France and leave Henri behind.

"I felt numb about it" Nancy said. "I had to go out and I had to pretend I was coming back because we had a man living on the same floor as our apartment, and I knew he was a rotten fishy chief of police. I knew he was watching us very closely."

"I can remember that I went out the door and I called back to Henri 'Back soon!' But of course my dog knew. He started howling. It was a dreadful thing to me, but it had to be done."

"It happened so quickly. I didn't have time to say all the things I wanted to say to my husband. I just had to go. It was a dreadful thing to pretend you're just going out to do a bit of shopping. 'Course I never saw him again."

Months after Nancy left, Henri was arrested by the Gestapo and tortured for information on Nancy's whereabouts. He refused to tell them where she went, and the Gestapo executed him.

After Nancy fled France, she became an agent for the British Operations Executive. She no longer had to keep up the appearance that she was simply a housewife. She dove in and became a force of nature that earned her the title as WWII's most decorated servicewoman.