Readers

A few years back, I came upon an episode of NOVA on PBS called “3DSpies of WWII” (season 39, episode 3). It described how the Allied forces used aerial reconnaissance and stereo photography to spy on the Nazis. The program emphasized the outsized role women had in the enterprise and for me, the hook was set. I spent a few years learning all I could about the program, reading books and visiting places of interest, and finally Millie’s story was born.

The timelines and major events have been represented in Through Her Lens as accurately as possible. Please forgive any small adjustments. As for the characters, most are the invention of my imagination, with a few exceptions.

For those of you who know your WW2 history, names like Churchill, Eisenhower, Hitler, and Goebbels will not be new. Others like Duncan Sandy, Hugh Hamshaw Thomas, Douglas Kendall, and Lord Cherwell may no tbe so familiar. While Millie and the others were concocted through the compilation of real people, a few, those listed above, Constance Babington Smith, and Amnianix (a.k.a. Jeannie Rousseau) are real people. I included them so you mightknow their names and contributions, especially the women. Constance Babington Smith is credited by some for discovering the V1 flying bomb while working closely with the Crossbow team. Amnianix worked for Allied intelligence as a member of the Druid network in France. They and many other women, most of whose contributions have been lost to history, helped stop the Nazis, including thework they were doing at Peenemunde. It is my hope that I have done their legacy justice on the pages of my book.