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they were by their money, but Nancy very quickly joined the Resistance,
becoming a courier for the Pat O’Leary escape line in 1940 after
an encounter with a British POW in a the bar of Hotel du Louvre in
Marseilles led her into resistance work. This line was established to
help Allied airmen who found themselves behind enemy lines escape
to neutral Spain. Nancy would act as a courier and Henri provided
funds to support. Their at in Marseilles was initially used to house
escapee’s but when this became too dangerous, Nancy set up another
at for the sole use of the Resistance for evaders and also as a base
for arms, ammunition and stores.
The Resistance were keen to
protect their asset and knew that
the Gestapo were suspicious of her,
tapping her phone and intercepting
her mail. The Gestapo called her ‘la
Souris Blanche,’ which translated
as ‘the White Mouse,’ because
every time they thought they had
her cornered, she vanished. They
also placed a reward of 5 million
francs on her head, one of the
highest rewards for an agent.
After Vichy France was occupied by the Wehrmacht troops in November
1942, life became considerably more perilous for Nancy. Her network
was betrayed, and despite all precautions, in early 1943 she got wind
that the Gestapo were moving against her. So, she had no choice but
to follow in the footsteps of those she had previously helped, crossing
“I’d see a German ofcer on the train
or somewhere, sometimes dressed
in civvies, but you could pick ‘em. So,
instead of raising suspicions I’d irt with
them, ask for a light and say my lighter
was out of fuel,” she recalled. She told
how she would get beautifully dressed
and hang around making dates with
Germans to get information. “A little
powder and a little drink on the way, and
I’d pass their posts and wink and say,
‘Do you want to search me?’ God, what
a irtatious little bastard I was.”