Nancy Wake- Thrillseeker or Idealist Pt 5

Nancy Wake was the most decorated Allied servicewoman of World War 2 and it is reputed that if she had been a man, she would have been awarded two Victoria Crosses on account of her many acts of bravery and selflessness in service during the war.

Originally from New Zealand, she was born on the 30th of August 1912 and moved with her parents to Australia as a child. She ran away from home to become a nurse, saved up $200.00 and moved to the UK, where she trained herself to become a journalist and subsequently wrote for the Hearst Group. In the course of her work in the 1930s, she travelled extensively around Europe and made several romantic and social associations, which were fairly easy on account of her good looks and sharp wit. She was however noted as something of a social butterfly who craved the highlife and glitz (pic from 1932 at top).

She met and married Henri Fiocca, (in second pic from top) a wealthy French businessman in 1939, who its reputed gave her all the trappings of high society she craved and she indeed threw herself into the lifestyle of society as was to be expected.

The story would have ended there, but upon the invasion of France by Germany in WW2, nancy Wake, without hesitation and with the reluctant consent of her husband joined the French resistance acting as a Courier and assisted the escape of several Allied and Resistance figures. She formed a partnership with Captain Ian Garrow, the British Intelligence officer, with whom its reputed she had an affair.

Her work came to the notice of the SS/Gestapo, who nicknamed her the "White Mouse" because of her speed, slight size and efficiency. Whilst it was suspected that the wife of the wealthy Fiocca was the same person, it was almost unfathomable that a society cutie would both risk her life for the resistance cause/be such an efficient resistance figure. This however changed with the betrayal of the resistance in 1943. She had to leave her husband and try and escape from France and made five attempts - in the process being captured and escaping once- and finally succeeded on the final attempt.

She made her way to and formally joined the Special Ops Desk in the UK and not surprisingly was back in France in 1944, having been aerially dropped and re-joined the resistance as a Liaison between the British Intelligence and the Maqui (French Guerilla Resistance) and in fact led several operations. She was also responsible for co-ordinating resistance activities in the lead-up to Normandy Beach.

Her team of 7000, was personally resPonsible for killing 1400 SS operatives, remarkable, being that they were out-numbered almost by three times.. They were also responsible for several attacks on German installations.

She was as brave and effective a soldier as any man in any Army in WW2, famously she once killed an SS Officer with her bare hands, to stop him from raising an alarm during an operation, when asked subsequently what happened to the officer, with a dead-pan expression on her face, she simply ran her finger across her neck..

There were myriad tales of her acts of bravery and immense physical and mental strength, one being when she had to ride a bicycle on a journey of over a 100 miles through several German checkpoints to replace wireless codes destroyed to save them from the enemy.

After the war she was awarded several decorations, namely a. The George Medal; b. The US Medal of Freedom; c. The Croix De Guerre (thrice) and; d. The Medaille De Resistance; e. Chevalier of the Legion of Honour.

Nancy Wake could have lived her life through as a pampered Society -wife, but made a hard choice which not only endangered her life, but that of her husband, who as a result of her work had all his possessions seized by the Nazis and was eventually tortured to death for refusing to reveal her whereabouts.

There is a paradox in that at the time her husband, who plainly loved her dearly was being tortured on her account, she was allegedly conducting an affair with Captain Ian Garrow. It Is however not for us to judge.

Nancy Wake was one of the bravest soldiers- male or female of WW2, her acts took cold courage and incredible ability. I really cannot understand why she was never awarded the Victoria Cross, many less deserving have received the same and quite frankly this is a massive injustice.

Nancy Wake is still very much alive and lives in a rest home in the UK and still attracts considerable attention- she's pictured with the actress Cate Blanchette at bottom pic above.

Thrillseeker or Idealist? The answer is complex, she was first sensitised to the evil of Nazism in Vienna in 1935, that was the turning point for her and indeed the basis of her decision to fight rather than turn away as many of us would have. Was there a thrill? Maybe, but this was an incredibly brave woman and hence the distinction is absolutely irrelevant.

© Edward Keazor