The “Mad” Spy

 

The “Mad” Spy Who Parachuted Into France: Nancy Wake – The White Mouse

Nancy Wake was a New Zealand-born journalist who became one of the most decorated Allied agents of WWII — and the Gestapo's most wanted woman.

Before the war, she was a reporter living in France. She saw early signs of Nazi brutality and swore to fight it. When Germany invaded France, she joined the French Resistance. Her code name? The White Mouse — because the Gestapo said she was impossible to catch.

She smuggled messages and refugees, bribed officials, and organized escape routes — all under constant threat of capture. At one point, she was almost caught and fled on foot across the Pyrenees Mountains into Spain — in the snow.

But she didn’t stop there.

In 1944, she parachuted back into Nazi-occupied France as a Special Operations Executive (SOE) agent. Her mission: organize resistance fighters and sabotage the Nazis in advance of D-Day.

She led thousands of guerrilla fighters, coordinated parachute drops of weapons and supplies, and personally blew up bridges, railroads, and enemy supply lines.

At one point, when the group’s radio operator was killed, she biked over 300 miles in three days through enemy territory to deliver a vital message to London — dodging German patrols the whole way.

Nancy killed Nazis, outwitted spies, commanded men, and showed no mercy to collaborators. She once said:

“I was not a very nice person. And it didn’t put me off killing them.”

After the war, she was awarded medals by the UK, US, France, and Australia. When she was asked why she risked everything, she said:

“Freedom is the only thing worth living for.”

She lived to be 98 and never lost her edge.