WWII Espionage

[Lone_Ranger]

Hi all -

I need to start doing research on WWII espionage for an upcoming project of mine. I have quite a few books on the OSS, but I'm looking for more information about agents who might have infiltrated Germany between the years of 1939-1943.

Also - any basic books on espionage from the British perspective or other European nations during WWII would be appreciated, as well. I've found a few, but I'd really like to get your opinions!

Thanks in advance...

Melissa

It misses your time mark by a year, but The Jedburghs: The Secret History of the Allied Special Forces, France 1944, was a great book.

And I recommend a trip to the International Spy Museum in DC.

Though someone has already mentioned those. I just finished a book called Zig Zag, it was on the triple-agent Eddie Chapman.

 

[byronic]

'A man called intrepid' by William Stephenson, and 'Between silk and cyanide' by Leo Marks should be required reading.

 

[Haversack]

There is a new book out I am meaning to read. It is called: _The Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington_ by Jennet Conant. It is about author, (then RAF Pilot), Roald Dahl's role in the UK's undercover, (literally!), efforts to influence the US to be pro-British and to discredit and dissuade American isolationists. Other characters involved include David Ogilvy and Ian Fleming. Dahl in particular was used to both write pro-British pieces for the media, (Gremlins are his invention), and to bed and influence young wealthy women of consequence.

Haversack.

 

[Story]

Poland to exhume WWII commander's remains

AP - Tuesday, November 11
WARSAW, Poland - A Polish official says the remains of the country's World War II prime minister and chief army commander, Gen. Wladyslaw Sikorski, will be exhumed as part of a probe into whether he died accidentally in a 1943 plane crash or was assassinated.

The head of the state-run National Remembrance Institute said Monday investigators will open Sikorski's tomb Nov. 25 at the Wawel Cathedral in Krakow, where his remains rest among those of Polish kings. They will be returned Nov. 26.

Sikorski died July 4, 1943, just moments after his aircraft crashed into the sea after taking off from Gibraltar.

For decades, his death has generated theories that he was murdered, alternatively by British, Soviet or even Polish factions.

See also
http://www.poland.gov.pl/Wladyslaw,Sikorski,(1881-1943),1973.html

 

[Story]

A whole series on : soldier of Le Clerc's Free French troops dashes to aid French resistance fighter taking aim at German sniper attacking crowd during tour by Gen. Charles DeGaulle following Paris liberation by Allies following spontanious uprising of French Forces of the Interior (FFI).
Location: Paris, France
Date taken: August 25, 1944

http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l?q=pistol+source:life&imgurl=9f530f25df5347f4

and

Maquis officer giving the coup de grace w. a pistol to the head of the 3rd of 6 members of the Nazi collaborationist Milice (Vichy police) lying dead after being shot by a Maquis firing squad, in front of brick factory where 23 patriots were executed by
Location: Grenoble, France
Date taken: September 02, 1944


http://images.google.com/hosted/lif...:life&start=40&ndsp=20&hl=en&safe=active&sa=N

 

[Story]

Save Bletchley Park: Why I'm ashamed to be British
Bletchley Park is an example of British brains at its best and we must act to preserve it, writes Sue Black.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/...tchley-Park-Why-Im-ashamed-to-be-British.html

Have you heard of Bletchley Park? It’s just north of London, where more than ten thousand men and women worked during WW2 to decode messages sent between the German forces, most notably by Hitler, and the German high command. The cracking of the codes, the use of the intelligence gained and the subsequent related actions of the Allies is said to have shortened WW2 by two years possibly saving an estimated 22 million lives.

Bletchley Park is also the birthplace of the computer. The world's first programmable, digital, electronic computer, Colossus, was invented and built by Tommy Flowers and his team at Bletchley Park and Dollis Hill during World War Two. It automated a critical part of the process of deciphering encrypted German messages.

If all that work, carried out by thousands of dedicated people for years on end, had not happened many of us would not be here now. Thousands of us today had relatives working at Bletchley Park: many of us may not know it due to the Official Secrets Act, fortunately some of us do.

Bletchley Park needs sustained government funding to preserve it. But then of course we’re in an economic downturn - so how could the government afford it?

Well, here’s a comparison. In the short term Bletchley Park needs £10 million, which is a pittance compared to how many millions, or is it billions now, that have recently been given to the banks? And how much more than the original estimate is being spent by us on the Olympics?

 

[Chasseur]

For a bird's eye view the works of Christopher Andrew are generally good:
Secret Service" on the British service, "KGB" on the Soviets, and "For the President's Eyes Only" for the US. Martin Alexander's work is also good.

While it has flaws, Douglas Porch's book "The French Secret Services" is very readable. Less readable, but a far better book and better researched is Peter Jackson's "France and the Nazi Menace" for the French services in the 1930s.

 

[dr greg]

reminds me of this brilliant film,
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118020/

and apropos of the current thread:
I've always wondered why the Germans, who aren't what you call unintelligent people in a technical sense, were so outclassed by the Allies in espionage,what were the social reasons? Too much conformity?

 

[Diamondback]

Doc, I'd suspect that's part of it--culturally, Germans are very orderly, which was also their problem on the battlefield, I believe Rommel himself was the one who said "War is chaos, and the Americans excel in it because they praqctice chaos on a daily basis" or words to that effect.

Anyway, a covert operative has to operate almost totally unfettered by any chain of command, totally autonomous with their only direction (aside from targeting) as to cultivating sources and developing techniques of fieldcraft being from the society they are infiltrating--they must, as Chairman Mao said, "move through the masses like a fish through water."

Not sure if I already suggested 'em, but speaking of Christopher Andrew, the two he co-wrote with Vasily Mitrokhin, The Sword and the Shield and The World Was Going Our Way, are very good for a detailed view of Soviet intel, albeit mainly in the Cold War.

 

[Harp]

Anyway, a covert operative has to operate almost totally unfettered by any chain of command, totally autonomous with...

unlimitednoquestionsasked expense account.
...with pier diem/combat/overseas/jump pay/leave/PX ration cards/
uniform allowance included at no extra hassle
and get-out-of-jail-free card.

 

[Diamondback]

MACV-SOG*, perchance, Harp?lol

*To the uninitiated: Military Assistance Command Vietnam--Studies & Observation Group, IIRC accountable only to MACV HQ and the President. Almost woulda been my dream job when I was someone I'm trying to leave behind, except for a few nasty details...

 

[Harp]

MACV-SOG*, perchance, Harp?lol

MAAG-USAEUR/Middle East 1974-76

Greece, when the Colonels were ousted,
and the Russians were being their usual cooperative selves. lol

 

[cookie]

Hi all -

I need to start doing research on WWII espionage for an upcoming project of mine. I have quite a few books on the OSS, but I'm looking for more information about agents who might have infiltrated Germany between the years of 1939-1943.

Also - any basic books on espionage from the British perspective or other European nations during WWII would be appreciated, as well. I've found a few, but I'd really like to get your opinions!

Thanks in advance...

Melissa

Prolific Aussie journalist Peter Fitzsimons has writen a book "The White Mouse" on Aussie female spy Nancy Wake http://www.harpercollins.com.au/boo...y/nancywake.htm32274566/Nancy_Wake/index.aspx http://www.awm.gov.au/people/332.asp

 

[mclmm]

I was just looking at a bunch of SOE/OSS training manuals.

http://abmmbunkerblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/abmm-q-store-goes-guerilla-soe-oss-and.html

Gotta buy them though.

Cheers

 

[Story]

Posted in this thread, see bold

From Finnish sources :

Divers find Soviet submarine sunk in Åland Sea in 1940
Ten-year search proves successful

On January 3rd, 1940, during the Winter War, J.A. Eckerman, the guard of the Märket lighthouse in the Åland Sea between the Åland Islands and the Swedish coast, was making observations.
Eckerman caught sight of a submarine off the eastern peninsula of Märket. On its tower he could see the inscription “C-2", which suggested that it was a Soviet vessel. In the Cyrillic alphabet the letter C is pronounced “S”.
The submarine appeared to be moving in a northerly direction. Then it suddenly turned east, and then north again.
*
The 78-metre long vessel had a crew of 46. There were also four other passengers, including Gavril Tutyshkin, commander of the 13th submarine division of the Soviet Navy. shhhhhhhh

Complete article here
http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Di...arine+sunk+in+Åland+Sea+in+1940/1135246670472

The similarly written CNN piece -
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/06/09/sweden.ww2.sub/

What remains of the sub was found between the Swedish coast and the Finnish island of Aland, northeast of Stockholm, in late February, the divers announced Tuesday.

The submarine was very badly damaged by the explosion, said Marten Zetterstrom, one of the divers. The front gun is still there, and a torpedo is still in one of the tubes, but about 20 meters (about 65 feet) of the vessel is missing.

 

[Lone_Ranger]

Operation Pastorius, is an interesting story.

On June 13, 1942, the first submarine (U-202 the Innsbruck) landed in Amagansett, New York. This is about 115 miles east of New York City, on Long Island, at what today is Atlantic Avenue beach. It was carrying George Dasch, who was the head of the team, and three other saboteurs (Burger, Quirin, and Henck). The team came ashore wearing military uniforms so that if they were captured they would be classified as prisoners of war rather than spies. They also brought ashore, and buried, enough explosives, primers, and incendiaries to support an expected two-year career in the sabotage of American defense-related production.

Their mission was to stage sabotage attacks on American economic targets: hydro-electric plants at Niagara Falls; the Aluminum Company of America's plants in Illinois, Tennessee and New York; locks on the Ohio River near Louisville, Kentucky; the Horseshoe Curve, a crucial railroad pass near Altoona, Pennsylvania, as well as the Pennsylvania Railroad's repair shops at Altoona; a cryolite plant in Philadelphia; Hell Gate Bridge in New York; and Pennsylvania Station in Newark, New Jersey. They were given a quick course in sabotage techniques, given nearly $175,000 in American money and put aboard two submarines to land on the east coast of the United States.


http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=949

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Pastorius

 

[Jedburgh OSS]

This is an amazing story. I've been hearing about it for years and surprise people when I tell them during WWII talks. They have no idea how close such potentially damaging sabotage came to this country. There was a newspaper on ebay from October, 1942 with a front page article about the trial of the eight. (Note the bus-train crash.) http://cgi.ebay.com/DETROIT-16-DIE-...s=65:13|66:2|39:1|240:1318|301:0|293:1|294:50

Perhaps the best book to cover this incident is Saboteurs: The Nazi Raid on America http://www.amazon.com/Saboteurs-Naz...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1245182501&sr=1-1
I was lucky enough to find a hard cover copy at the Green Valley Book Fair southeast of Harrisonburg, VA, a farm of several barns and buildings full of publishers' overstock with some up to 90% off.

Always thought it would make a great movie in the hands of the right scriptwriter and director.

 

[Diamondback]

Never mind that the biggest thing to thwart it was that the team-leader turned and sought out the FBI almost as soon as he came ashore...

That man, in spite of his being a damn (believe me, I'm working very hard to keep my language polite here) black-bagger, was a hero in my book.

 

[Story]

Always thought it would make a great movie in the hands of the right scriptwriter and director.

Yeah, something a bit less hokey than this.. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036426/

 

[Eyemo]

Check out..(just in case you missed it) what I found a couple of weeks back..

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=41753