Spies I Knew - Softcover

McKenna, Marthe

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1935907875 ISBN 13: 9781935907879

Publisher: Westphalia Press, 2014

Synopsis

Born in Flanders, Marthe Cnockaert McKenna (1892-1986) was recruited in 1915, during World War I, to an Anglo-Belgian espionage ring. Her cover was as a nurse, and the Germans awarded her the Iron Cross for her hospital work. After a period as a double agent she was apprehended by them and sentenced to death. The sentence was not carried out and she was released from prison at the Armistice in 1918. Cited for heroism by Winston Churchill, she received the French and Belgian Legions of Honour. The star Madeline Carroll portrayed her in Victor Saville’s 1933 thriller, I Was A Spy. She became a British subject and during World War II the Nazis included her in The Black Book of leaders to be arrested when they invaded England. This book appeared in 1934 and was perhaps her most forthright and psychologically interesting work, showing signs of the influence and collaboration of “Jock” McKenna, the British Army officer she had married.

About this title

About the Author:

In addition to receiving the Iron Cross from the Germans for her wartime contribution as a nurse, Marthe Mckenna (nee Cnockaert, codename Laura ) was later mentioned by Douglas Haig in British Despatches and was awarded the French and Belgian Orders of the Legion of Honour for her espionage work. I Was A Spy! was first published in 1932 with an extended Foreword by Winston Churchill and was made into a film in 1933 directed by Victor Saville and starring Madeleine Carroll. The success of the book encouraged Marthe to write further memoirs of her wartime exploits, and those of her small band of fellow spies, and also led to a series of espionage novels written in collaboration with her British husband John Jock McKenna.

About this edition

• Publisher: Westphalia Press
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1935907875
• ISBN 13: 9781935907879
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 286