White Mouse HITLER FIXED 5,000,000 FRANCS FOR HER HEAD DIED AT AGE 98,AUGUST 7,2011

WORLD WAR  II  HEROINE -HITLER
FIXED 5,000,000 FRANCS FOR HER HEAD DIED  AT AGE 98,AUGUST 7,2011

She was known as the White Mouse for her uncanny ability to run rings around the Gestapo in occupied France, in spite of a 5m franc price on her head.

List of honours[edit]

Ribbon	Issuing authority	Description	Date awarded	Notes/citation
	Commonwealth of Australia	Companion of the Order of Australia	22 February 2004	The award recognises the significant contribution and commitment of Nancy Wake, stemming from her outstanding actions in wartime, in encouraging community appreciation and understanding of the past sacrifices made by Australian men and women in times of conflict, and to a lasting legacy of peace.[24]
	United Kingdom	George Medal	17 July 1945	FANY: Special operations in France[11][29][30]
	Commonwealth of Nations	1939–1945 Star		[31]
	Commonwealth of Nations	France and Germany Star		[32]
	United Kingdom	Defence Medal		[32]
	United Kingdom	War Medal 1939–1945		[32]
	French Republic	Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur	1970	[33]
	French Republic	Officier de laLégion d'Honneur	1988	[33]
	French Republic	Croix de Guerre		with two Palms and a Star[33][34]
	United States of America	Medal of Freedom		with Bronze Palm. (Only 987 issued with Bronze Palm during WWII)[35][36]
	French Republic	Médaille de la Résistance		[37]
	New Zealand	Badge In Gold	15 November 2006	Royal New Zealand Returned and Services' Association[26]

Biographies[edit]

A World War II heroine spy who topped the Gestapo’s wanted list after her daring exploits behind enemy lines helped pave the way for the D-Day landings has died aged 98.

Nancy Wake, who inspired the film Charlotte Gray after becoming one the Allies' most decorated servicewomen for her role in the French resistance, passed away in a nursing home in London yesterday.

The Australian, who the Nazis codenamed 'The White Mouse' due to the ease with which she escaped capture, left strict instructions to be cremated in a private ceremony

She wants her ashes to be scattered at Montlucon in central France, where she fought in a heroic 1944 attack on the local Gestapo headquarters.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard today said: 
‘Nancy Wake was a woman of exceptional courage and resourcefulness whose daring exploits saved the lives of hundreds of Allied personnel and helped bring the Nazi occupation of France to an end.’

Miss Wake, who had no children and was the widow of British fighter pilot John Forward, once famously said she was ‘sorry I didn’t kill more Nazis’.

Trained by British intelligence in espionage and sabotage, Wake helped to arm and lead 7,000 resistance fighters in weakening German defences before the D-Day invasion in the last months of the war.

While distributing weapons, money and code books in Nazi-occupied France, she evaded capture many times and reached the top of the Gestapo's wanted list, according to her biographer, Peter FitzSimons.

‘They called her the 'la Souris Blanche,' 'the White Mouse,' because every time they had her cornered ... she was gone again,’ FitzSimons told Australian Broadcast Corp. radio on Monday.

‘Part of it was she was a gorgeous looking woman,’ he said. 
‘The Germans were looking for someone who looked like them: aggressive, a man with guns - and she was not like that.’

France decorated her with its highest military honour, the Legion d'Honneur, as well as three Croix de Guerre and the Medaille de la Resistance.

The United States awarded her its Medal of Freedom and Britain, the George Medal. 

Her only Australian honour did not come until 2004, when she was made a Companion of the Order of Australia.

Born on August 30, 1912, in the New Zealand capital of Wellington, Nancy Grace Augusta Wake was the youngest of six siblings.

When she was two the family moved to Sydney, but her father left the family soon after and returned to New Zealand.

Miss Wake became a nurse before an inheritance from a New Zealand aunt enabled her to run away from home in 1931 and fulfil her dream of travelling to New York, London and Paris, she said in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corp. in 1985.

After studying journalism in London, she became a correspondent for The Chicago Tribune in Paris and reported on the rise of Adolf Hitler in Germany. 

A 1933 trip to interview Hitler in Vienna led her to become committed to bringing down the Nazis.
‘I saw the disagreeable things that he was doing to people, first of all the Jews,’ she told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio in 1985. ‘I thought it was quite revolting.’

When World War II broke out in 1939, she was living in the French city of Marseille with her first husband, French industrialist Henri Fiocca. 

She helped British servicemen and Jews escape the German occupying force.

Her husband was eventually seized, tortured and killed by the Gestapo. 

But Wake managed to escape in 1943 through Spain to London, where she received the espionage training before helping to lead the French resistance in its final days.

Wake continued working for British intelligence in Europe after the war until 1957, when she moved back to Australia and married Mr Forward.

a 1945
Nickname(s)	Heléne (SOE) Andrée (French Resistance/SOE Identity) White Mouse (Gestapo in France) Witch (Operation:)
Born	30 August 1912 Wellington, New Zealand
Died	7 August 2011 (aged 98) London, England
Allegiance	France  United Kingdom
Service/branch	Special Operations Executive First Aid Nursing Yeomanry
Years of service	1943–1945 (SOE)
Rank	Captain
Unit	Freelance
Battles/wars	World War II
Awards	Companion of the Order of Australia George Medal Officier de la Légion d'Honneur Croix de guerre (France) Medal of Freedom (United States) RSA Badge in Gold (New Zealand)

She moved back to Britain in 2001, four years after his death