La Dame Blanche & Clarence Service

During the First World War, the Belgian network known as La Dame Blanche gathered information behind German lines, using observers, couriers and clandestine reporting systems to pass military intelligence to the Allies. Its work depended on large numbers of civilians operating under occupation.

A later generation revived related methods during the Second World War through the Clarence Service. Agents reported on German forces, transport and military installations and used covert communications to send intelligence to Britain, including information relevant to new German weapons.

Helen Fry’s The White Lady reconstructs both networks from declassified material in British and Belgian archives. Walthère Dewé is one of the important figures connecting the traditions of intelligence resistance across the two wars.