La Dame Blanche and Clarence
Helen Fry

This is the gripping history of the greatest SIS /MI6 intelligence networks behind enemy lines in World War One and World War Two. La Dame Blanche (‘The White Lady’) and Clarence Service brings this history to life through primary sources and oral testimonies. La Dame Blanche took its name from a legend that if the ghost of a white lady appears, she would herald the demise and downfall of the Hohenzollern royal dynasty, the ruling family of Brandenburg-Prussia (and later imperial Germany). The symbolism is clear – by its work, La Dame Blanche network of spies would facilitate the end of German rule in Belgium and see the downfall of the royal dynasty. In the Second World War the network was reawakened as the Clarence Service. Across Belgium, observation posts were set up to gather intelligence on the German army, defences, train movements and military installations. What intelligence did they secure and how did it impact, if at all, on these two major European conflicts? There are points of high drama and tension in the lives of the leaders and agents, as well as betrayal. Helen’s research uncovers the heroism of the women and men of these networks and the ingenious ways in which they gathered intelligence for London.