Operation Sparrow: The Incredible True Story of the Spies Who Tricked Hitler and Won the War

by Jason Bell

March 16, 1944: Col. Florimond Duke, Lt. Guy Nunn, and Lt. Alfred Suarez embarked on the most dangerous mission of their military careers, Operation: SPARROW, a covert mission that would have them parachuting deep into Europe to negotiate Hungary's surrender to the Allies. As secret agents the men faced more danger than regular soldiers as combatants engaged in espionage are not granted prisoner-of-war status, allowing them to be treated as criminals; knowing full well the risks, the men are committed to serving their country and ending the war. Unfortunately, within three days they're imprisoned as Hitler sends in thousands of German forces.

Unbeknownst to their captors, the Sparrows' commanders have planned for this express outcome. While they're being shuttled back and forth between different custodians and countries, vehemently denying being spies and desperately holding on to the military uniforms that protect them under the Geneva convention, the agents execute their second underlying mission: in the fact of increasingly harrowing interrogation they take every opportunity to sow disinformation. In particular they claim that the Allies are planning an attack in the Balkans, miles away from the intended target of Normandy. They won't realize the full implications of their false intel until after the war.

While they never accomplished their original goal, Duke, Nunn, and Suarez waged their own war of deception, returning home from Europe as uncontested champions. Of the tens of millions of men who fought in WW2, these are the only three whose mission directly involved being captured and interrogated by the Nazis. Now, for the first time, historian Jason Bell brings this untold story to life.

352 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication September 29, 2026

About the author

Jason Bell, PhD, is a professor of philosophy at the University of New Brunswick. He has served as a Fulbright Professor in Germany (at Winthrop Bell’s alma mater, the University of Göttingen), and has taught at universities in Belgium, the United States, and Canada. He was the first scholar granted exclusive access to Winthrop Bell’s classified espionage papers. He lives in New Brunswick, Canada.