Her enemies christened her White Mouse. The Australian Peter Fitzsimons, who dedicated a biography to her, named her "our greatest war heroine". And it's not an exaggeration. Born in New Zealand, after several geographical leaps, Nancy Wake landed in London, where she became a journalist after having worked as a nurse in New York, and ended up in Paris as a correspondent for the Hearst Corporation.
He witnessed Adolf Hitler's rise to power. Married to the French industrialist Henri Fiocca, when the Nazis took Paris she did not hesitate to abandon the life she led to join the Resistance. It is estimated that he helped more than 5,<> Allied pilots, fallen in enemy territory, when leaving France.
The Gestapo put a price on his head: 5 million francs. Under this threat he fled to Spain and then to London; Her husband stayed on French soil. It was not until the war was over that Wake learned of his fate: the Gestapo captured him and tortured him to death, trying to find out his wife's whereabouts. Meanwhile, in Britain, Nancy joined the Directorate of Special Operations.
He would return to France by parachute in the Auvergne region. He took charge of the activity of the Resistance before the landing in Normandy and commanded attacks on German installations and the Gestapo headquarters in Montlucon. The 7,22 men under his command faced 1,400 SS soldiers, caused 100,<> casualties and lost only <> of their own.
Those who knew her praise her courage and bravery, which proved her to the test: she even strangled an SS member with her hands to prevent him from giving notice during a raid. After the war he returned to Australia, where he tried unsuccessfully to reach Parliament. She traveled to Britain, married a second time, and returned to Australia, where she lived for four decades until she was widowed.
He died in London shortly before his 99th birthday. He received the highest decorations and until the end maintained that freedom is the only thing worth living for.