UPDATE 1:10pm: AUSTRALIA'S most decorated World War II servicewoman Nancy Wake has died.
Nancy Wake, known as the White Mouse, died on Sunday in a hospital in London, where she had lived since 2001. She was 98, and just three weeks shy of her 99th birthday.
A close friend confirmed Ms Wake's death early Monday (Australian time).
The fearless WWII French resistance fighter and leader had lived in a London nursing home for retired veterans since suffering a heart attack in 2003. Her health recently deteriorated after being admitted to hospital with a chest infection.
After a typical fighting recovery late last week, her condition worsened over the weekend and she passed away peacefully on Sunday evening at the Kingston Hospital.
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When France was occupied by the Nazis in 1940 she and her French husband Henri Fiocca became active in the resistance movement.
Ms Wake saved thousands of Allied lives by setting up escape routes and sabotaging German installations. Trained as a spy by the British, she led 7000 resistance fighters in D-Day preparations and was on top of the Gestapo's most wanted list.
Leave your tributes to Nancy Wake on our Legacy page.
Called the White Mouse by the Germans because of her ability to evade capture, Ms Wake learned at the end of the war that Fiocca was tortured and killed in 1943.
Ms Wake is regarded as a heroine in France which decorated her with its highest military honour, the Legion d'Honneur, as well as three Croix de Guerre and a French Resistance Medal.
She was also awarded Britain's George Medal and the US Medal of Freedom.
She was made a Companion of the Order of Australia in 2004.
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