Nancy Wake — The White Mouse Who Made the Gestapo Chase Shadows

Australian-born Nancy Wake earned the nickname 'White Mouse' from the Gestapo for her uncanny ability to evade capture. After witnessing Nazi persecution in Vienna in 1937, she began working as a journalist and later became a courier for the French Resistance. After the fall of France, she helped over 1,000 Allied personnel escape across the Pyrenees into neutral Spain. The Gestapo placed a 5 million franc bounty on her head. In 1944, she parachuted back into France from Britain as an SOE organizer, leading 7,000 Maquis fighters in sabotage operations. At age 32, she routinely cycled 200 km through German checkpoint territory, even killing a German sentry with her bare hands to avoid compromising her position. After the war, she was awarded the George Medal and the Medal of Freedom, among others. Her response to being called a hero was: 'I was not a hero. I was just a person who did what needed to be done.'