Operation Blunderhead
Operation Blunderhead

Author: David Kirby

Publisher: The History Press

Published: 2015-09-07

Total Pages: 222

ISBN-13: 0750965827

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In the autumn of 1942, British Special Operations Executive agent Ronald Sydney Seth was parachuted into German-occupied Estonia, supposedly to carry out acts of sabotage against the Nazis in a plan codenamed Operation Blunderhead. Uniquely, it was Seth and not the SOE who had engineered the mission, and he had no support network on the ground. It was a failure. Captured by Estonian militia, Seth was handed over to the Germans for interrogation and was imprisoned and sentenced to death, but managed to evade execution by convincing his captors that he could be an asset.What happened between Seth’s capture and his return to England in the dying days of the war reads, at times, like a novel – inhabiting a Gestapo safe house, acting as a stool pigeon, entrusted with a mission sanctioned by Heinrich Himmler – yet much of it is true, albeit highly embellished by Seth, who was quite capable of weaving the most elaborate fantasies. He was an unlikely hero, whose survival owed more to his ability to spin a tale than to any daring qualities.Operation Blunderhead is a compelling and original account of an extraordinary episode of the Second World War – a brilliant blend of fact and fiction, contrasting material taken from SOE and MI5 files with Seth’s own fantastical story.

British Intelligence and Hitler's Empire in the Soviet Union, 1941-1945
British Intelligence and Hitler's Empire in the Soviet Union, 1941-1945

Author: Ben Wheatley

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2017-01-26

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 1474297218

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This is the first detailed study of Britain's open source intelligence (OSINT) operations during the Second World War, showing how accurate and influential OSINT could be and ultimately how those who analysed this intelligence would shape British post-war policy towards the Soviet Union. Following the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, the enemy and neutral press covering the German occupation of the Baltic states offered the British government a vital stream of OSINT covering the entire German East. OSINT was the only form of intelligence available to the British from the Nazi-occupied Soviet Union, due to the Foreign Office suspension of all covert intelligence gathering inside the Soviet Union. The risk of jeopardising the fragile Anglo-Soviet alliance was considered too great to continue covert intelligence operations. In this book, Wheatley primarily examines OSINT acquired by the Stockholm Press Reading Bureau (SPRB) in Sweden and analysed and despatched to the British government by the Foreign Research and Press Service (FRPS) Baltic States Section and its successor, the Foreign Office Research Department (FORD). Shedding light on a neglected area of Second World War intelligence and employing useful case studies of the FRPS/FORD Baltic States Section's Intelligence, British Intelligence and Hitler's Empire in the Soviet Union, 1941-1945 makes a new and important argument which will be of great value to students and scholars of British intelligence history and the Second World War.

The Forest Brotherhood
The Forest Brotherhood

Author: Dan Kaszeta

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2023

Total Pages: 338

ISBN-13: 1787389391

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A common view is that the Second World War in Europe ended in May 1945. But fighting continued for over a decade in the Baltic states. Stuck between two totalitarian regimes-Stalin's USSR and Hitler's Reich-the populations of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania had been subjected to a brutal Soviet occupation in 1940, Nazi invasion in 1941, and Soviet re-occupation in 1944, falsely branded as "liberation." Variously labelled "freedom fighters" or "Nazi bandits" by historians, the Baltic partisans who would become known as the Forest Brothers fought a long campaign against occupation that eventually failed under the might of the USSR. Much of this history of armed resistance, which was also a front in the intelligence war between East and West, is little known outside the region. Treachery, betrayal, heroism and lost futures all play a role in this fascinating tale, as Dan Kaszeta explores themes of independence, nationalism, Baltic identity, the fluidity of boundaries in Eastern Europe, and the comparative weight of Nazi and Soviet oppression. Drawing on extensive archival material rarely seen outside the Baltic states, The Forest Brotherhood unpacks the forgotten story of this resistance movement, and reveals its continuing impact on today's world.

A Spy Has No Friends
A Spy Has No Friends

Author: Ronald Seth

Publisher: Review

Published: 2009-09-03

Total Pages: 227

ISBN-13: 0755360508

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From the beginning of his mission as a British agent against the Nazis, Ronald Seth was a hunted man. Shot at as he parachuted down to the Estonian coast, he suffered extremes of deprivation before being captured and sentenced to death by hanging. And then the real hunt began – for what he knew, and for his identity. Seth had only one hope – could he convince his captors that he was a Nazi sympathiser and trick them into employing him as a spy? Enlisted as a German agent, in a position of precarious trust and constant danger, he embarked on a nightmare journey that took him from occupied Paris to the dark heart of the Nazi regime during the fall of Berlin. A SPY HAS NO FRIENDS is the thrilling story of a man playing a dangerous game against a lethal opponent.

From Churchill's SAS to Hitler's Waffen-SS
From Churchill's SAS to Hitler's Waffen-SS

Author: Michael Scott

Publisher: Pen and Sword Military

Published: 2023-01-05

Total Pages: 205

ISBN-13: 1399068652

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"Thoroughly researched and well written, this book astounds the reader as to how its subject managed to get away with all the things he did. The author tells a good story about a bad man and his wartime escapades." —WWII History Magazine Captain Douglas Berneville-Claye was serving with the fledgling SAS with fellow officers such as David Stirling and Blair ‘Paddy’ Mayne when he was captured in the Western Desert. He was ‘turned’ and became a member of the Nazi Waffen-SS. Collaboration with the enemy was confirmed when dressed as an SS captain he approached remnants of the British Free Corps; the Waffen-SS unit composed of renegade British nationals. He exhorted them to serve under his command against Russian forces. Post-war Berneville-Claye was investigated by MI5 for treachery. Following an Army court-martial he was dishonorably dismissed and sentenced to six months imprisonment. Upon release, his escapades and private life were no less contentious. A philanderer and bigamist, he married four times, sired ten children and rubbed shoulders with the criminal underworld in and out of prison. Eventually he succeeded in emigrating to Australia. Thanks to the author’s painstaking research, this is a compelling yet shocking biography of one of the most intriguing, colorful and disreputable characters of his era. How he escaped with his life is a question readers will ponder.

Churchill's Spy Files
Churchill's Spy Files

Author: Nigel West

Publisher: The History Press

Published: 2018-02-26

Total Pages: 530

ISBN-13: 0750987383

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The Second World War saw the role of espionage, secret agents and spy services increase exponentially as the world was thrown into a conflict unlike any that had gone before it. At this time, no one in government was really aware of what MI5 and its brethren did. But with Churchill at the country's helm, it was decided to let him in on the secret, providing him with a weekly report of the spy activities. These reports were so classified that he was handed each report personally and copies were never allowed to be made, nor was he allowed to keep hold of them. Even now, the documents only exist as physical copies deep in the archives, many pages annotated by hand by 'W.S.C.' himself. In Churchill's Spy Files intelligence expert Nigel West unravels the tales of hitherto unknown spy missions, using this groundbreaking research to paint a fresh picture of the worldwide intelligence scene of the Second World War.

Classified!
Classified!

Author: Nigel West

Publisher: Biteback Publishing

Published: 2024-02-29

Total Pages: 244

ISBN-13: 1785908812

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Over the past fifty years, Nigel West has been involved in almost every espionage-related investigation, breakthrough or revelation that you can think of. His molehunts have led to the unmasking of spies within MI5, MI6 and the CIA and the identification of numerous others – some of whom were crucial to the Allied victory in the Second World War and would have died without any public recognition if not for him. His first encounter with the intelligence community was a lecture given at his school by John le Carré, the guest of a Benedictine monk who had recently retired from MI6. Later, West worked as a researcher for SOE agent Ronnie Seth, who was sentenced to death by the Nazis after being captured during Operation blunderhead, and exposed two of the Cambridge spies recruited by Anthony Blunt. For the fortieth anniversary of the D-Day landings, West traced the double agent codenamed garbo and brought him to London so he could be decorated at Buckingham Palace. As action-packed as the lives of the spies he has written about, this is the story of the most enthralling and significant post-war intelligence revelations as told by Britain's most authoritative writer on espionage and the secret services.

The Intelligent Spy's Handbook
The Intelligent Spy's Handbook

Author: Robin Renwick

Publisher: Biteback Publishing

Published: 2024-09-10

Total Pages: 182

ISBN-13: 178590938X

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pFew professions comprise such an eclectic mix of personalities as that of intelligence. The characteristics required to thrive as a spy – ideological conviction, ego, the ability to manipulate, deceive and remain cold – have created some of the most compelling and enduring figures in history. In The Intelligent Spy's Handbook, Robin Renwick provides an overview of the biggest names in the world of espionage, with a wonderful eye for the details that bring each of them to life. We hear, for instance, of how Kim Philby, to have fun at the expense of his colleagues, kept a photograph in his office of Mount Ararat – taken from the Soviet side. We see how the audacious, far-fetched ideas of the naval officer Ian Fleming, aside from creating the most famous of all spies, may have actually inspired the real-life Operation Mincemeat. And the darker side of some of our more heroic stories is exposed, from the chemical castration of Alan Turing to the personal sacrifices Oleg Gordievsky made to become Britain's most successful Soviet mole. Whether you're a seasoned veteran or a first-time reader, this book is the perfect primer on the best-known individuals in the history of intelligence.