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She was born Nancy Grace Augusta Wake in Wellington, New Zealand, on Aug. 30, 1912. In 1914 her family moved to Australia.
She ran away from home at the age of 16 years old, to become a nurse. With 200 pounds she received from a relative, Nancy moved to London and trained herself to become a journalist. She worked in Paris during the 1930's. Later she worked for Hearst newspapers European correspondent. In 1935 she witnessed Nazi violence while in Vienna.
In 1935 she met French industrialist, Henri Fiocca. They were married in 1939. She was living in Marseille, France when the Germans invaded. After the Fall of France, she became a courier for the French Resistance, and later joined the escape network of Captain Ian Garrow. The Gestapo called her the "White Mouse". When the network was betrayed in Dec. of 1943, she had to escape to Marseille, leaving her husband behind. She was later arrested in Toulouse but was released 4 days later. Her 5th or 6th attempt to cross the Pyrenees to Spain was successful. She then went to Britain and joined the Special Operations Executive (SOE).
Nancy Wake was parachuted into Auvergne on the night of April 29th 1944, and was a liaison between London and the local maquis group. She coordinated resistance activity prior to the Normandy Invasion and recruited more members. She also led attacks on German installations and local Gestapo Headquarters in Montucon. In April of 1944, her 700 Maquisards fought 22,000 SS soldiers, causing 1,400 casualties. Her compatriots, especially Henri Tardivat, praised her fighting spirit, amply demonstrated when she killed a SS sentry with her bare hands to prevent him from raising the alarm during an Allied raid. On another occasion, in order to replace codes her wireless operator had been forced to destroy in a German raid, Nancy rode a bicycle for more than 100 miles through several German checkpoints.
After the war, she learned that her husband had been taken by the Gestapo and beaten to death in 1943. She worked for the Intelligence Department at the British Air Ministry attached to the embassies of Paris and Prague. In 1957 she married John Forward and returned to Australia. In 1985 she wrote her autobiography, The White Mouse. In 1988 she received the French title of Cavalier of the Legion of Honor. Her husband, John Forward, died in 1997. In March of 2004, she was made the Companion of the Order of Australia. She now lives in London.
She received the following medals: (shown in order above)
- George Medal
- U.S. Medal of Freedom
- Medaille De La Resistance
- Croix De Guerre (3 times)
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