What do you think?
Rate this book
Deceiving Hitler: Double-Cross and Deception in World War II
During the Second World War the Allies controlled every active German agent in Britain. This placed Allied Intelligence services in a unique position. The Allies were able to feed spurious information back to Germany which mixed scraps of truthful information with misleading details in a believable mix of information. Out of this process of deception grew an entire organization which specialized in the manufacture of elaborate deceptions to confuse and hinder Axis powers. To maintain the deception, complex camouflage and tactical deception operations were to be undertaken on the ground, involving the use of inflatable tanks, fake towns which misdirected the German blitz, bogus troop formations and a catalog of Hollywood-style special effects.
At times bizarre and often intriguing, these operations were used in all the major theaters of the war and saved countless Allied lives. From disappearing North African pipelines to bogus radio stations, this book is an entertaining and absorbing account of the deceptions used by the Allies in World War II. The third in a series of books by Terry Crowdy that exposes the underworld of military history, Deception uses rare, recently declassified information and photographs, much of which is being made available to the public for the first time to reveal the art of military misdirection.
At times bizarre and often intriguing, these operations were used in all the major theaters of the war and saved countless Allied lives. From disappearing North African pipelines to bogus radio stations, this book is an entertaining and absorbing account of the deceptions used by the Allies in World War II. The third in a series of books by Terry Crowdy that exposes the underworld of military history, Deception uses rare, recently declassified information and photographs, much of which is being made available to the public for the first time to reveal the art of military misdirection.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published September 23, 2008
14 people are currently reading
81 people want to read
About the author
Terry Crowdy
32 books11 followersTerry Crowdy was born in London in 1970. Initially a re-enactor, his interest in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars led to writing for specialist magazines, and then to book authorship.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
October 30, 2014
Terry Crowdy draws us into the realm of Double Cross, MI5’s systematic procurement of Nazi Germany’s entire raft of spies in Britain during World War II. Some were executed, more rarely left their prison cells, but many were ‘turned’ and sent back to the Reich – via wireless or letter – all sorts of misinformation designed to aid not Germany but Britain. Once the first Nazi spy was caught and turned, requests were made for more to be sent from Germany. Then they were picked up upon arrival – often straight off the boat, as they wandered up the beach.
Some double agents were encouraged with money or, in the case of Agent Tricycle, women (Crowdy dispels the rumour that Tricycle, a Yugoslavian playboy, earned his code name because of his penchant for three in a bed). One spy didn’t need to be turned at all. Joan Pujol Garcia lived in Barcelona and served for the communists and then fascists during the Spanish Civil War; he developed a hatred of both. On three occasions early in World War II, Pujol offered Britain his services as a spy, in order to do something "for the good of humanity". But the British rejected his offer. So, he logically assumed, the thing to do was to first establish himself as a spy for Germany. He created an identity as a pro-Nazi official working for the Spanish government and successfully became a German agent. He moved to Lisbon but pretended to be in Britain. He created bogus reports, ostensibly from England, using an array of public sources, such as cinema newsreels and a Baedeker guide to Britain. He ‘recruited’ fictional sub-agents who could be blamed for any mistakes. Eventually, Britain decided it was riskier to leave Pujol out of the fold than it was to recruit him. So they moved him and his family to Britain and Pujol was given the code name ‘Garbo’.
Garbo’s workload, and the Double Cross system as a whole, gained momentum during Operation Fortitude, the morass of deception which misled the Germans about the timing and location of the invasion of occupied Europe in 1944. The false information Garbo supplied helped persuade German intelligence that the main attack would be near Calais rather than Normandy, and they positioned their armed forces accordingly.
Crowdy’s book tells the stories of a plethora of agents than mentioned above. I found it not only a riveting read, but vital in my research for a novel partly based around the Double Cross system (please see www.paulletters.com). Crowdy builds upon the work of a 1970s book (The Double-cross System) by one of the architects of Double Cross, the aptly named J C Masterman. It is a fascinating subject brought to life by the remarkable stories of those involved.
Some double agents were encouraged with money or, in the case of Agent Tricycle, women (Crowdy dispels the rumour that Tricycle, a Yugoslavian playboy, earned his code name because of his penchant for three in a bed). One spy didn’t need to be turned at all. Joan Pujol Garcia lived in Barcelona and served for the communists and then fascists during the Spanish Civil War; he developed a hatred of both. On three occasions early in World War II, Pujol offered Britain his services as a spy, in order to do something "for the good of humanity". But the British rejected his offer. So, he logically assumed, the thing to do was to first establish himself as a spy for Germany. He created an identity as a pro-Nazi official working for the Spanish government and successfully became a German agent. He moved to Lisbon but pretended to be in Britain. He created bogus reports, ostensibly from England, using an array of public sources, such as cinema newsreels and a Baedeker guide to Britain. He ‘recruited’ fictional sub-agents who could be blamed for any mistakes. Eventually, Britain decided it was riskier to leave Pujol out of the fold than it was to recruit him. So they moved him and his family to Britain and Pujol was given the code name ‘Garbo’.
Garbo’s workload, and the Double Cross system as a whole, gained momentum during Operation Fortitude, the morass of deception which misled the Germans about the timing and location of the invasion of occupied Europe in 1944. The false information Garbo supplied helped persuade German intelligence that the main attack would be near Calais rather than Normandy, and they positioned their armed forces accordingly.
Crowdy’s book tells the stories of a plethora of agents than mentioned above. I found it not only a riveting read, but vital in my research for a novel partly based around the Double Cross system (please see www.paulletters.com). Crowdy builds upon the work of a 1970s book (The Double-cross System) by one of the architects of Double Cross, the aptly named J C Masterman. It is a fascinating subject brought to life by the remarkable stories of those involved.
August 29, 2016
A detail heavy read. Think William Dalrymple. Your brain gets overloaded with the jargon and spy pseudonyms. But - the fact on which this is based is an eye-opener. The subterfuge, the movie industry jumping into help and the intricacies of the great game made me ensure I finished the book. Not really a spoiler here - the whole German espionage system during WWII was actually managed by Great Britain. It was visionary in how they stuck with it from the early years of the war. And with Bletchley Park cracking away at Enigma - the depth of Allied knowledge about the German war effort was huge.
I am a spy story geek and picked this up during a visit to the International Spy Museum in DC. And could connect a lot of the incidents to what was showcased in the museum.
I am a spy story geek and picked this up during a visit to the International Spy Museum in DC. And could connect a lot of the incidents to what was showcased in the museum.
Read
March 14, 2014This work was often rather dry and tedious reading due to the maze of details necessary to military history, but the scope and ingenuity of Allied WWII deception -- mostly successful -- is extraordinary and well worth your time and effort.
December 23, 2013
This is the best Osprey book I've read this year!
April 24, 2015
this aspect of the war never fails to fascinate me, no matter how many books i read about it
December 19, 2017
A very good book which relates the fantastic story of how Britain managed to "turn" all (or almost all?) the Nazi spies sent against it.
It is an extremely convoluted story of codes, codenamed and deceit operations which, even with the excellent description in this book, is at times very difficult to follow. An extremely tangled web which must have been as difficult for those running to follow as it was for those it was aimed against.
It is an extremely convoluted story of codes, codenamed and deceit operations which, even with the excellent description in this book, is at times very difficult to follow. An extremely tangled web which must have been as difficult for those running to follow as it was for those it was aimed against.
February 8, 2023
Genuinely incredible account of the successes (and failures) of British counter intelligence and deception in WW2.
The XX system was amazing and some of the deceptions, such as the famous mincemeat, are great stories.
The XX system was amazing and some of the deceptions, such as the famous mincemeat, are great stories.
July 30, 2017
Astounding Book. Terrific !!!!!
January 5, 2021
It was well written and good as a general history of the deceptions. That said, there was very little in the way of new information for those who like to read up on how Hitler was deceived.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews