The Secret War: Spies, Lies and the Art of Deception in World War II

by Anthony Tucker-Jones

Most of the great military campaigns and breakthroughs of World War II would not have been successful without the efforts of teams of people working unsung and undercover. The codebreakers of Bletchley Park cracked codes that allowed for the interception and exploitation of German intelligence but many took the secret of their wartime activities to the grave. Others put their lives on the line to gather information for their countries, infiltrating other nations' secrets at great personal risk.

This fascinating book covers some of the main campaigns carried out by the secret services such as the fabled Operation Mincemeat, and others, such as Operation Fortitude, carried out in support of D-Day. It also looks at the case of the fifth columnists and stories of double agents such as Agent GARBO.

240 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 1, 2025

About the author

Defence analyst Anthony Tucker-Jones spent nearly 20 years in the British Intelligence Community before establishing himself as a defence writer and historian: commenting on regional conflicts, counter-terrorism, intelligence and military affairs.

He is a highly experienced expert with particular strengths in editing, feature writing, report writing, communicating to specialists and non-specialists alike.

Anthony Tucker-Jones has been extensively published in numerous titles and on various news websites. He has also written a number of books.

He is widely travelled with assignments in Africa, Europe, the Far East, Latin America and the Middle East. He lived for a time in Bahrain.

Anthony holds an MA in International Relations & Strategic Studies from Lancaster University.

(Taken from official website.)

Reviews

[John Purvis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anthony Tucker-Jones (https://atuckerjones.com) is the author of more than 70 books. The Secret War was published last July. It is the 76th title I’ve completed reading in 2025.

I received an ARC of this book through https://www.netgalley.com with the expectation of a fair and honest review. My opinions are unbiased and entirely my own. I categorize this book as G.

Tucker-Jones summarizes the clandestine efforts of both the Axis and Allied nations during WWII. He reviews the intelligence agencies of each nation, as well as some of their spymasters. Tucker-Jones discusses the best-known agents and double agents of the war, then examines the impact of codes and codebreaking from both sides.

While not strictly spying, he speaks on the efforts made by both sides to deceive their adversaries. He also talks about the home-grown opposition in various countries, the partisans, and guerrilla forces that were active during the war. He wraps up with a look at the engineering and scientific contributions to the war efforts.

The 5+ hours I spent reading this 240-page WWII-era history were interesting. The book offers a broad, yet relatively shallow, examination of the intelligence efforts during the war. It is a dry read as it mostly just delivers facts about the people, places, and organizations. I have read a few other books by Mr. Tucker-Jones, and they have all been enjoyable. Those include Radio Operator on the Eastern Front: An Illustrated Memoir, 1940-1949, Churchill, Master and Commander: Winston Churchill at War 1895–1945, Life and Death on the Eastern Front: Rare Colour Photographs From World War II, Hitler's Armed SS: The Waffen-SS at War, 1939–1945, and The Fall of Berlin: The final days of Hitler's evil regime. I give this book a rating of 3.8 (rounded to 4) out of 5.

[Ron Baumer · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a disappointment. I have read several of Jone's SAS books and enjoyed them for their storyline, content and action. Sadly, this book had none. The book reads like an encyclopedia or a "WHO's Who," rather than a novel. The book contains a series of one paragraph entries about who was spying in the Allied and Axis forces, what spy organizations were formed and very little of actual events. There are a couple of stories that were well-known such as the D-Day ruse and the body in the Med, but overall, there was no substance and little information. This book is more of a reference than one you can read and enjoy the actions that went on behind the scenes or in secret. I would not recommend this book, unless you are looking for a reference guide.

Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

[Mitchell J Shively · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this to be a quick and quite interesting read of a part of WWII that's not well understood. Particularly fascinating are the sections about the partisan resistance/collaborations that took place in the occupied countries -- it's easy to see the seeds of many of the conflicts we've experienced since WW II in these stories.