135 Days Behind Enemy Lines

By: Gombar, Wayne J.

The male spies kept getting killed. So they dressed a 23-year-old woman as a child, taught her to kill, and dropped her into Nazi-occupied France.

May 1, 1944. Five days before D-Day.

Phyllis Latour stood in the open door of a Halifax bomber, staring down at the darkness of Normandy. She carried no weapon, no uniform, only a bicycle, a ribbon, and a secret mission that would change the course of history. The men sent before her had all been captured and executed. Now, disguised as a fourteen-year-old soap-seller, she would infiltrate the heart of the Reich - armed with nothing but her wits, her training, and a wireless radio hidden beneath the straw of a barn.
For 135 days, she rode through enemy territory, transmitting intelligence that guided Allied bombers and shaped the D-Day invasion. Her messages-encoded on silk, concealed in her hair-saved lives, shortened the war, and humiliated the Gestapo, who never realized the child they waved through checkpoints was one of Churchill's most valuable agents.
When the guns fell silent, she vanished again - living quietly in New Zealand, never speaking of what she had done. Not even her children knew she had been a spy. For fifty-six years, the truth stayed buried in classified files and forgotten memories.

Only when she turned ninety-three did the world finally learn her name.

Based on declassified documents, interviews, and historical archives, The Girl Who Outsmarted the Reich tells the extraordinary true story of Phyllis Latour Doyle - the last surviving woman of Churchill's secret army - and the invisible war she fought to free a continent.

About the Author

Wayne J. Gombar is an author, researcher, and historian whose works explore the hidden dimensions of war, intelligence, and human courage. His writing blends historical accuracy with narrative depth, illuminating the personal stories behind global conflict.

A lifelong student of history and security affairs, Gombar's books-including multi-volume studies on military intelligence, Cold War espionage, and twentieth-century combat-have been praised for their vivid storytelling and scholarly precision.
In The Girl Who Outsmarted the Reich, he brings to life one of World War II's most remarkable true stories: that of Phyllis Latour Doyle, the young SOE agent who helped ensure the success of D-Day and then lived quietly for decades in anonymity.

Gombar's work continues his commitment to honoring unsung heroes who risked everything-often without recognition-to preserve the freedoms we now take for granted.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0FYW6LG58
• ISBN13: 9798272446534
• Release Date: October 2025
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 7.0" x 10.0"