This epic event has never before been told from the perspective of the key individuals in the Double Cross system, until now. As German troops began their occupation, a peasant whose papers identified him as Armand Borni wobbled along beside them on a borrowed bicycle, taking mental notes and already congratulating himself. The child of bourgeois Parisian parents, she had studied at the Sorbonne, worked briefly in an insurance company, trained as a teacher, and then married a childhood friend before swiftly discovering she could not stand him. For those who have read the Philby book, it is amusing to see Philby commenting now and then on the machinations of the D-Day spies from his somewhat distant position as the head of the MI6 counterintelligence Iberian desk; his fellow Cambridge spy Anthony Blunt also puts in an appearance. As the Polish army crumbled beneath the German onslaught, Czerniawski escaped to Romania and then, using forged documents, made his way to France, where Polish forces were regrouping.

Double Cross: The True Story of the D-Day Spies by Ben

Simon Winder's The Man Who Saved Britain: A Personal Journey into the Disturbing World of James Bond is published by Picador. A few nights later, he was dining alone at La Frégate, a restaurant in Toulouse, when a young woman asked if she might occupy the empty seat at his table. My second book by Ben Macintyre, and almost as good as the first ( A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal). But this is not fiction, and the broad axe tactics employed by allied counter-intelligence and a motley crew of spies no doubt saved thousand of lives on D-Day.

Operation Fortitude, which protected and enabled the invasion, and the Double Cross system, which specialized in turning German spies into double agents, deceived the Nazis into believing that the Allies would attack at Calais and Norway rather than Normandy. The author is quite aware of how funny his material can be in places but in typical British understated style, simply presents the information knowing that readers would find this funnier for it not being labeled as such. Main character Alex Cross, a homicide detective, is the only one with the experience and the smarts to take this villain on. Well written as usual, there are points where it reads like a spy thriller, even though it was really life.

Double Cross: The Explosive, Inside Story of the Mobste…

Anthony reveals to Sandy that he has received a message from Kyle announcing that he wishes to see DCAK, implying to the audience that they are the DCAK. His loyalty is entirely to his own country, and every problem he sees is bound up with the destiny of the Polish people,” wrote one of his fellow spies.Double Cross is a good example of its genre, but it is unclear whether it is a genre that should thrive. Preoccupied as they were with having fun, the two student friends could not entirely ignore the menacing political changes taking place around them in the Germany of the 1930s. Alex learns of Craig's escape and goes to Florence where he reviews footage of Olsen interviewing Kyle for her latest book. So why did the British succeed where the Nazis didn't, and not only succeed, but succeed with such panache? It really brings home what a slim margin the Allied victory in WW II hung on, and the key roles that a handful of unsung individuals played in making it happen.