Double Cross: The True Story of the D-Day SpiesNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The “superb [and] intensely readable” (The Washington Post) untold story of one of the greatest deceptions of World War II and the extraordinary spies who achieved it—from the bestselling author of Prisoners of the Castle “Not since Ian Fleming and John le Carré has a spy writer so captivated readers.”—The Hollywood Reporter On June 6, 1944, 150,000 Allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy and suffered an astonishingly low rate of casualties. A stunning military achievement, it was also a masterpiece of trickery. Operation Fortitude, which protected and enabled the invasion, and the Double Cross system, which specialized in turning German spies into double agents, tricked the Nazis into believing that the Allied attacks would come in Calais and Norway rather than Normandy. It was the most sophisticated and successful deception operation ever carried out, ensuring Allied victory at the most pivotal moment in the war. This epic event has never before been told from the perspective of the key individuals in the Double Cross system, until now. These include its director (a brilliant, urbane intelligence officer), a colorful assortment of MI5 handlers (as well as their counterparts in Nazi intelligence), and the five spies who formed Double Cross’s nucleus: a dashing Serbian playboy, a Polish fighter-pilot, a bisexual Peruvian party girl, a deeply eccentric Spaniard, and a volatile Frenchwoman. Together they made up one of the oddest and most brilliant military units ever assembled. With the same depth of research, eye for the absurd, and masterful storytelling that have made Ben Macintyre an international bestseller, Double Cross is a captivating narrative of the spies who wove a web so intricate it ensnared Hitler’s army and carried thousands of D-Day troops across the Channel in safety. |
Contents
Preface | 1 |
Raw Recruits | 7 |
A Bit of an Enigma | 29 |
Roman and the Cat | 45 |
Coat Trailing | 55 |
The Club | 63 |
Garbo Takes the Stage | 77 |
Popov Goes Shopping | 91 |
Montys Double | 221 |
The Double Dash | 231 |
Jebsens New Friend | 245 |
Am I Not Always Careful? | 257 |
Operation Dora | 273 |
Guest of the Gestapo | 287 |
Bronx Gets Toothache | 299 |
Garbos Warning | 311 |
The Great Game | 103 |
The Flock | 113 |
True Agent False Agent Double Agent | 123 |
Cockade | 141 |
Discovered Treasure | 153 |
The WalkIn | 163 |
A Time for Fortitude | 175 |
Enriching the Chicken Feed | 189 |
Second Innings | 321 |
Aftermath | 337 |
Acknowledgments | 359 |
189 | 369 |
Artist Paints a Picture 205 | 373 |
Select Bibliography | 383 |
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Common terms and phrases
Abwehr Abwehr officer Allied Aloys Schreiber Anthony Blunt anti-Nazi arrested arrived Artist asked attack Babs believed Benton Berlin Bleicher Brandes Britain Bronx Brutus Calais Canaris Carré Churchill code name code-named command D-Day deception double agents Double Cross System Double Cross team Dusko Popov Elvira enemy England espionage fake forces France French FUSAG Garbo German German intelligence Gestapo Guy Liddell handlers Hansen Harris Hitler Hugh Astor Ian Wilson Ibid interrogation invasion Johnny Jebsen Juan Pujol Karsthoff Kliemann knew Kuebart Kühlenthal landing Lily Sergeyev Lisbon Madrid Mary Sherer Mathilde Mathilde Carré military Nazi never Normandy Operation Fortitude Ostro Paris Pas de Calais pigeons played Polish radio recruited Reile reported Robertson Roenne Roman Czerniawski Salis Saved D-Day London Schreiber secret ink Secret Service Rendered Secret Sources sent Sergueiev spies Spy/Counterspy spymaster story telegram tion told Tricycle troops wanted warning wireless wrote