Marthe Mathilde Cnockaert, later Marthe McKenna, was a Belgian nurse who became a spy for the United Kingdom and its allies during the First World War.
13 Facts About Marthe Cnockaert
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Marthe Cnockaert later became a novelist, and is credited with writing over a dozen spy novels in addition to her memoirs and short stories.
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Marthe Mathilde Cnockaert was born on 28 October 1892 in the village of Westrozebeke in the Belgian province of West Flanders, to Felix Cnockaert and his wife Marie-Louise Vanoplinus.
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Marthe Cnockaert was awarded the Iron Cross by the Germans for her medical service.
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Around this time, she was approached by a family friend and former neighbour, Lucelle Deldonck, who revealed to Marthe Cnockaert that she was a British intelligence agent, and wished to recruit her to an Anglo-Belgian intelligence network operating in the town.
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Marthe Cnockaert mostly worked with two other female Belgian spies: an elderly vegetable seller codenamed "Canteen Ma", and a letterbox agent codenamed "Number 63", both of whom helped her relay messages to and from British General Headquarters.
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Marthe Cnockaert attempted to relay harmless but seemingly important information to him for a short time, but when operating as a double agent became too difficult, she arranged for him to be killed.
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Madeleine Carroll 8.
Marthe Cnockaert discovered a disused sewer tunnel system located underneath a German ammunition depot, and placed the explosives to destroy the ammo dump; however, this operation led to her exposure and capture when she lost her watch, engraved with her initials, while placing the dynamite.
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In November 1916, Marthe Cnockaert was sentenced to death for her espionage; however, her sentence was commuted to life imprisonment due to her Iron Cross honour.
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Marthe Cnockaert served two years in grim conditions in a prison in Ghent, and was released in 1918 when the Armistice with Germany was declared, ending the war.
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Marthe Cnockaert married John "Jock" McKenna, a British army officer.
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The publication of her memoir was prompted by the visit of an English author who encouraged Marthe Cnockaert to write and publish details of her wartime experiences.
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Marthe Cnockaert was portrayed by Madeleine Carroll in Victor Saville's 1933 film I Was a Spy, based on her memoirs.