It's Not All Glamor in Espionage

Nancy Wake is credited with saving the lives of thousands of downed Allied pilots and refugees during the German Occupation. When France fell to Germany, it was split into two parts. Northern France became the occupied zone and southern France, also known as Vichy France, was the unoccupied zone. Although unoccupied by German forces, Vichy France was still collaborative with the Gestapo, and was a dangerous place for Allied servicemen to be.

Nancy, who resolved to oppose the Germans at every turn, began relaying messages, delivering radio transmitters and distributing food to the stranded Allied soldiers. She and her husband, Henri, would host soldiers in their home before either Nancy herself or her contacts would escort them across the Pyrenees into neutral Spain.

Henri was a wealthy industrialist, and Nancy knew that having Allied soldiers in their home was putting his business and his family at risk. Eventually, she decided to buy a flat on the other side of town that she could harbor the soldiers in before they made their escape.

Nancy had to convince her realtor, a friend, that she was having an affair and that's why she needed the extra apartment. The downstairs neighbor to the secret safe house thought that Nancy must have colic due to the number of times the toilet flushed in a day. It was not always glamorous work being a courier and a spy.

To read more about Nancy's life during WWII you can order her biography on Amazon.