Nancy Wake Research Papers

Nancy Wake, an important woman in the French Resistance during World War II, was born in Wellington, New Zealand, on August 30th 1912. When she was just 20 months old, her family moved to Sydney, Australia, where she grew up. When she was 16 years old, she ran away from home and sought employment as a nurse. However, in 1932, she was able to go to Europe due to a windfall. Nancy Wake made her home in Paris and began working as a journalist for the Hearst group of newspapers. In 1939, she married a French businessman, Henri Fiocca. Shortly after, Nancy and Henri joined the French Resistance movement. Nancy Wake helped many individuals escape through France’s dangerous routes and earned her Gestapo- given code name “The White Mouse”. When she

When Nancy made her way to Europe, she was recruited by the French Section of the Special Operations Executive (SOE), a covert group active in World War II. This is where she was trained to be a professional spy. While Nancy was in training she was said to be a quick and accurate shot. In enemy-held territory, the SOE was in charge of carrying out espionage, sabotage, and other hidden operations. Nancy Wake's responsibility within the SOE was working with the French Resistance and assisting in their coordination with British military operations (Katherine). She was a proficient and successful spy, and the Nazi occupation of France was weakened as a result of her work. One thing Nancy did while being a spy was organizing the parachuting of weapons and supplies. She was assisting the Resistance's fight against the Nazi occupation of France while operating undercover and in secret. Her responsibility was to plan and coordinate these missions, which entailed gathering information, speaking with members of the Resistance, and carefully organizing and carrying out the supply delivery (Nancy Grace Augusta Wake). This helped to continue the battle against the Nazis and assist allies to win in World War II. Nancy made a huge contribution to the War by helping the French Resistance fight against the Nazi occupation of France

She decided she wanted change and was very determined by it. One day, Nancy witnessed something awful and very eye opening. She watched Jewish people getting brutally hurt and tortured by the Nazis. At this point, Nancy realized how miserable it was and that she wouldn't even whip a cat (Fratus). So, in the 1940s, when Germany invaded France, she joined the French Renaissance and put her life in danger as part of a network assisting Jewish and Allied service members to escape (World War II). The Gestapo, a secret state police authority, had Nancy at the top of their most wanted list due to her abilities. She was later nicknamed the “White Mouse” because of how successful her network was (Katherine). Nancy often took groups of refugees, downed Allied pilates, or Jewish families to what she called “safe houses” until they reached the start of the Pyrenees, a mountain range that marks the border between France and Spain. Once the groups arrived at the Pyrenees, another escort would take them across the range to Spain (FitzSimons). Nancy's actions helped many people escape danger and reach safety, which is one of the reasons why she is labeled as a female