Marthe Cnockaert
| Marthe Cnockaert McKenna | |
|---|---|
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Award(s) |
Iron Cross Mentioned in Despatches Legion of Honour |
| Codename(s) | Laura |
|
|
|
| Birth name | Marthe Mathilde Cnockaert |
| Born |
28 October 1892 Westrozebeke, West Flanders, Belgium |
| Died | 8 January 1966 (aged 73) Westrozebeke, West Flanders, Belgium |
| Nationality | Belgian |
| Parents | Felix Cnockaert Marie-Louise Vanoplinus |
| Spouse | John McKenna |
| Occupation | Nurse |
Marthe Mathilde Cnockaert (28 October 1892 – 8 January 1966), later Marthe McKenna, was a Belgian spy for the United Kingdom and its allies during the First World War. She later became a novelist, and is credited with writing over a dozen spy novels in addition to her memoirs and short stories.
Cnockaert was born in the village of Westrozebeke in the Belgian province of West Flanders, to Felix Cnockaert and his wife Marie-Louise Vanoplinus. She began studying at the medical school at Ghent University, but her studies were interrupted by the outbreak of World War I.
In August 1914, German troops razed the village, burning her home down and temporarily separating her family. Having trained as a nurse, Cnockaert gained a job at a German military hospital located in the village, where she was valued for her medical training and her multi-lingual skills, speaking English and German as well as French and Flemish. She was awarded the Iron Cross by the Germans for her medical service.
In 1915, she was transferred to the German Military Hospital in Roulers, where she was reunited with her family who had also moved there after the destruction of their home. Around this time, she was approached by a family friend and former neighbour, Lucelle Deldonck, who revealed to Cnockaert that she was a British intelligence agent, and wished to recruit her to an Anglo-Belgian intelligence network operating in the town.
For two years, Cnockaert (codenamed "Laura") used her cover as a nurse and her frequent proximity to German military personnel—at both the hospital and as a waitress at her parents' café—to gather important military intelligence for the British and their allies, which she passed on to other agents in local churches. She 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. Her exploits during the war included destroying a telephone line which a local priest was using to spy for the Germans; and obtaining details of a planned but cancelled visit by Kaiser Wilhelm II for a British aerial attack. At one stage, her German lodger, Otto, tried to recruit her to spy on the British. 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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