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BRIXMIS: The Last Cold War Mission
BRIXMIS (British Commander-in-Chief’s Mission to the Group Soviet Forces of Occupation in Germany) is one of the most covert elite units of the British Army. They were dropped in behind ‘enemy lines’ ten months after the Second World War had ended and continued with their intelligence-gathering missions until the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989. During this period Berlin was a hotbed of spying between East and West. BRIXMIS was established as a trusted channel of communication between the Red Army and the British Army on the Rhine. However, they acted in the shadows to steal advanced Soviet equipment and penetrate top-secret training areas. Here Steve Gibson offers a new understanding of the complex British role in the Cold War.
400 pages, Paperback
Published December 1, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 8, 2022
If you’ve no real knowledge of Brixmis then it’s fair to say you might enjoy this.
It smacks of jolly-japes, getting one over on the opposition, and justifying an existence.
There are pages and pages and pages describing life on a tour, the procedures, the thrill, the mishaps, the scares, the close shaves: it goes on and on and on.
Brixmis was a team of uniformed military personnel who took motorised tours of Eastern-Germany as liaison officers, keeping lines of communication open and friendships intact, just in case there may be a breakdown in relations at a critical time. There was a reciprocal arrangement with the Soviets; they toured Western-Germany with the same goals. Of course this left both missions in a position where they might be able to glean a little intelligence along the way.
And Brixmis did - it gained credible Intelligence (HUMINT) that could be confirmed: namely, the moral of the citizens, their daily lives, their wealth and well-being.
Brixmis took uncountable amounts of photographs - mostly the movement of military units. SIGINT was pretty well-versed at that; and at the time the German theatre had one of the worlds largest SIGINT operations.
One could say: “If the other mission had not taken the opportunity to tour in the other's backyard, the other might have decided that the other had other ways of keeping track on what the other was up to, and the other might not want that.”
With a little research, you’ll find information that details the number of state security personnel employed by the East-Germans: did they care too much for their job and doing it well? You can easily find answers to that question. If the East-German state was that concerned about Brixmis and their overt presence and their ‘quasi covert intelligence gathering’ each vehicle would have been surrounded the minute it crossed the border and followed for every inch of its tour.
There was, as this book is happy to detail, times when things got a little testy: we are all human, we get out of the wrong side of the bed, we decide today is the day I’ll give them boys a fright.
I’m not saying don’t read this, but do keep in mind; these guys were an overt presence, in uniform, in vehicles known to used by Brixmis.
All intelligence is good intelligence as it can confirm or deny other intelligence, but also, an overt, active, presence racing around in the backyard can obscure a covert presence behind the coal shed.
It’s not too difficult to figure why the budget was allowed, especially when those holding the purse strings could report back on how vital the mission was. Of course, once the budget is awarded, it’s not that difficult to transfer money across from one account to another IN TIMES OF NEED and ‘times of need’ do occur on regular occasions.
If you enjoy thrills and spills, with a little 'Boys Own' danger in the mix, it’s a worth-while read.
It smacks of jolly-japes, getting one over on the opposition, and justifying an existence.
There are pages and pages and pages describing life on a tour, the procedures, the thrill, the mishaps, the scares, the close shaves: it goes on and on and on.
Brixmis was a team of uniformed military personnel who took motorised tours of Eastern-Germany as liaison officers, keeping lines of communication open and friendships intact, just in case there may be a breakdown in relations at a critical time. There was a reciprocal arrangement with the Soviets; they toured Western-Germany with the same goals. Of course this left both missions in a position where they might be able to glean a little intelligence along the way.
And Brixmis did - it gained credible Intelligence (HUMINT) that could be confirmed: namely, the moral of the citizens, their daily lives, their wealth and well-being.
Brixmis took uncountable amounts of photographs - mostly the movement of military units. SIGINT was pretty well-versed at that; and at the time the German theatre had one of the worlds largest SIGINT operations.
One could say: “If the other mission had not taken the opportunity to tour in the other's backyard, the other might have decided that the other had other ways of keeping track on what the other was up to, and the other might not want that.”
With a little research, you’ll find information that details the number of state security personnel employed by the East-Germans: did they care too much for their job and doing it well? You can easily find answers to that question. If the East-German state was that concerned about Brixmis and their overt presence and their ‘quasi covert intelligence gathering’ each vehicle would have been surrounded the minute it crossed the border and followed for every inch of its tour.
There was, as this book is happy to detail, times when things got a little testy: we are all human, we get out of the wrong side of the bed, we decide today is the day I’ll give them boys a fright.
I’m not saying don’t read this, but do keep in mind; these guys were an overt presence, in uniform, in vehicles known to used by Brixmis.
All intelligence is good intelligence as it can confirm or deny other intelligence, but also, an overt, active, presence racing around in the backyard can obscure a covert presence behind the coal shed.
It’s not too difficult to figure why the budget was allowed, especially when those holding the purse strings could report back on how vital the mission was. Of course, once the budget is awarded, it’s not that difficult to transfer money across from one account to another IN TIMES OF NEED and ‘times of need’ do occur on regular occasions.
If you enjoy thrills and spills, with a little 'Boys Own' danger in the mix, it’s a worth-while read.
January 2, 2021
An untold story of overt spying behind enemy lines and the risks in doing so
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews