Today is Wednesday, April 29, 2020.

On this day in 1944, British spy Nancy Wake parachuted into France to help coordinate the French

resistance for the upcoming Allied invasion. It was the second time

Nancy worked behind enemy lines to defeat the Nazis.

Welcome to today in true crime, a Parcast Original. I'm Vanessa Richardson and today I'm

joined by guest host Kate Leonard. Parcast fans will likely recognize her from our originals, The Dark Side of, Kingpins, and her

newest show, Dictators.

Thanks for having me, Vanessa.

I'm so happy to join today's dive into dark history.

In fact, every week on dictators, I explore the harrowing true events

that allowed men to seize and abuse absolute power.

If you haven't heard dictators yet, I definitely recommend it.

And for today, Kate's bringing her historical insight to the story

while I'll present the narrative. Now let's go back to the

evening of April 29th, 1944 as a B24 liberator hummed across the English Channel. A little after midnight, 31-year-old SOE agent Nancy Wake leaned against the cold metal airplane

wall with her eyes closed.

She wasn't tired, far from it.

In fact, if anything, Nancy had always been something of a night owl. No, Nancy was trying her hardest not to throw up. She was

battling an unpleasant mixture of air sickness and brutal hangover, and they were still only halfway over the English

channel.

Nancy was making her way towards Nazi-occupied France.

Her mission, parachute behind enemy lines,

...