Picture of Citizen V (John Watkins)

British officer Lieutenant John Watkins was reported killed during the retreat at Dunkirk in 1940. In fact, he survived, but his superiors saw the opportunity to send him undercover into the occupied countries and help rally local resistance against the Nazis. Operating under the eyes of the Nazi secret police, he adopted the identity of Citizen V while fighting his secret war, leaving a V sign wherever he struck as a way of giving the resistance a symbol. He worked with the assistance of a group of freedom fighters dubbed the V-Battalion