The new Rowan class have been studying Nancy Wake aka The White Mouse as part of our immersion topic, We learned about her life and the success she had as a Special Operations Executive (SOE) member in France during World War Two. We learned about her leading people to safety along the freedon trail.
We decided to write our own diary entries in the style of Nancy Wake. Here’s a selection:
Holly
To
write a diary entry in character
Dear Diary,
Today I could have lost my life. I wasn’t safe and neither
were the people I helped escape.
I slept almost all day and when I did eventually wake up, I
was tempted to go back to sleep, but that wasn’t an option. I hauled myself out
of bed and put on dark, green clothes that would hopefully camouflage me in the
woods. Once I was dressed and darkness was planted upon me, I crept outside.
I glanced at the airmen quickly- and even in the quickest
of glances I could tell how nervous they were. I gave out my basic instructions
quietly and the airmen nodded in return.
We silently disappeared into the woods so that I could get
the British airmen into the hands of the Spanish who would take them and keep
them safe. I knew I was risking my life, but this had to be done. We didn’t
dare to make a sound because if we did, the Germans (who were surrounding the
woods) would come after us and kill us.
Walking slowly, I soon became aware that someone or
something was very near. I pulled the airmen behind a tree as I saw the violent
eyes of a German dog. My heart beat quickened. I could hear the airmen
breathing intensely beside me and I knew they were thinking the same as I was.
We had been caught.
The dog had tracked our smell or something, as it suddenly
bounded towards us, baring its teeth. I could make out figures in the distance,
running towards us. A small leaf landed on the dog’s back and it spun round,
barking furiously. This was our chance! I pulled the men behind another tree,
just in time as the dog spun round again. Two Germans stood either side of the
dog. Their expressions became grim as they muttered furiously about stupid
dogs.
Fortunately, the Germans hadn’t seen us. We were safe! The
dog angrily glared into the distance until it turned around and walked away. I
turned to face the airmen and noticed that their teeth were chattering, their
eyes were almost frozen in shock and their lips were a dark shade of blue from
the icy weather. The only thing that mattered now was getting them to safety.
Several hours passed as we trudged through the woods. I
couldn’t help thinking about how lucky we were that the leaf had fallen on the
dog’s back; if that hadn’t have happened, we’d probably be dead by now. I
almost even smiled to myself.
Eventually two Spanish guards came into clear view. I
almost leapt for joy- we were safe, my job was done and I had achieved the
almost impossible!
The British airmen thanked me hugely and I watched them walk into the distance with a spring in their step. I just about stopped myself from cheering out loud.
Joe
To
write a diary entry in character
Dear diary,
Today was stressful but I’m relived its done.
The day started at 4.00pm under the cover of darkness. I
put on my darkest clothes and left the lodge.
Once I had gotten to the safe house there were 2 British
airmen waiting for me, they were petrified when I came because they thought I
was a Nazi. I said to them, once they realised I wasn’t a Nazi,
“If you do what I do, you will be safely at the rendezvous
point”.
When we got to the woods I tell the airmen, “Don’t make any
loud noises”. Every time we heard a German we froze praying he hadn’t seen us.
Suddenly a German soldier started coming towards us … until another soldier
called him and then he left.
After that we carried on going. Finally, we saw the opening
one hour later with the Spanish people there ready to take them across the
Pyrenees mountains to Spain.
Mission accomplished.
Annaliese
To
write a diary entry in character
Dear diary,
Today I think that I had had an extremely narrow escape
from the Germans My day started in the afternoon, I had overslept until four
o’clock as I had to help some British airmen across the freedom trail. I didn’t
know what the day would hold but I knew that I had help as many people as I
possibly could.
I got out of bed and put on my baggy camouflage trousers
and my army green woollen jumper-it is my most comfortable and camouflaged
jumper-and went downstairs. I waited for five more ours until I decided it was
dark enough to make my way to the safe house in the woods.
When I arrived in the safe house, I noticed something;
there wasn’t anyone there. But then I heard the clinking of cutlery on china
and I knew that they were in the kitchen. I entered the room. There was an army
general and the house maid sitting in the room eating disgusting, red corned
beef.
In less than a millisecond, the general, who had his cap on
backwards, stood up and saluted me. I told him not to do that, so he sat down
and said in a voice that was quieter than a whisper “OK ma’am.” I then
explained to him that his hat was on backwards and that no-one needs to call me
ma’am or anything fancy like that. He just needed to finish his unappetising
corned beef and follow me.
Half an hour later, we finally set off. He was slower than
a sloth. He definitely had no brains! He walked straight into a German search
beam. Idiot! It was almost like he wanted us to get caught. I pulled him back, but it was too late…We had
been spotted. There were dogs barking, sirens wailing and men shouting. We were
doomed! Without warning the general started itching his neck. Then he suddenly
lifted his whole face off and revealed who he really was…Adolf Hitler! So he
was not an old bumbling fool after all. That was the last I remembered of that
night.
A few minutes later, I woke up. I was in my own comfortable bed. The time was four o’clock. I was covered in cold sweat. My clothes were where I had left last night. It must have been a dream…or was it?
James
To write a diary entry in character
Dear Diary,
Today was a stressful day. I had to get two airmen out of
German captivity! I started the day off by sleeping in till 4.00pm, I only did
this because the dangerous mission that lay ahead was in the evening after
dark. It started to get dark at 6.30pm. When I got up and got dressed I wore my
dull blue top, my heavy black combat boots and my dark green trousers. Then I
started walking down the dark street.
When I got to the forest I started to crawl to keep a low
profile and stay quiet so that the Germans in the forest couldn’t hear me or
see me. After 45 minutes of crawling I finally made it to the airmen -they both
looked petrified. With my finger I indicated to them to follow me. They both
nodded their heads slowly, then we started to move back in the direction we
came.
After 15 minutes of walking disaster struck….. one of the airmen coughed! Immediately after that, a huge German Shepard appeared out of the bushes baring its teeth! Then I heard sirens and the voices of men: we all stood dead still. Just then a badger, who had obviously been disturbed, ran out past the dog, the dog chased it and luckily the Germans took it as a false alarm. We waited for what felt like hours the we kept on moving towards the edge of the forest where we met men who would fly them back home. After 30 more minutes of walking through the dense, dark forest we finally made it out. The two airmen would be flown back to base and I would go home and go back to bed.
