Books

The Spy in the Tower - header

The Spy in the Tower – Review in After the Battle magazine Volume 188

My journey to uncover the story of Josef Jakobs, my grandfather, really took off when I found the eleventh edition of After the Battle magazine in late 1980s. The two page spread on Josef in the magazine gave me way more information than any I had found to date. After contacting the editor, Winston Ramsey, […]

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Book Review – Langes Seil, Schneller Tod – Traugott Vitz

The Book Langes Seil, Schneller Tod: Wie Großbritannien seine Mörder hängte.[Long rope, Fast Death: How Great Britain hanged their Murderers] Traugott Vitz, Kirchschlager. 2016. Background I had come across an English translation of a chapter from Langes Seil, Schneller Tod in February 2017. The chapter dealt with the execution of various wartime spies in Great

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Book Review – Out of Nazi Germany and Trying to Find my Way – Irene Matthews

The Book Out of Nazi Germany and Trying to Find my Way. Irene Matthews. Upfront Publishing. 2002. Background A relation of the Hagen clan, living in Norway, put me onto this book. Irene Matthews is the daughter of Ernst David & Clara Hagen, individuals who appeared as clients of Jürgen Ziebell in the black market

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Book Review – The M Room: Secret Listeners who Bugged the Nazis – Helen Fry

The Book The M Room: Secret Listeners Who Bugged the Nazis. Helen Fry, Create Space Independent Publishing Platform, 2012. Background I bought this book as an e-book two years ago. Last year, it was republished on Yale University Press with a different title (The Walls Have Ears: The Greatest Intelligence Operation of World War II).

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Book Review – Cover Name: Dr. Rantzau – Nikolaus Ritter, translated by Katherine R. Wallace (2019)

A few years ago, I stumbled my way through Nikolaus Ritter’s memoir: Deckname Dr. Rantzau – Die Aufzeichnungen des Nikolaus Ritter, Offizier under Canaris im Geheimen Nachrichtendiesnt. [Cover Name Dr. Rantzau – The Notes of Nikolaus Ritter, Officer under Canaris in the Secret Intelligence Service]. I say stumbled, because my schoolgirl German found the espionage

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Book Review – Operation Fortitude – Joshua Levine (2011)

The Book Operation Fortitude: The Story of the Spy Operation that Saved D-Day. Joshua Levine. Lyons Press. 2011. Summary In the lead-up to the D-Day landings in Normany, the Allies operated a number of plans designed to mislead the Germans as to the actual landing zone. The overall plan codenamed Operation Bodyguard had several sub-plans,

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Book Review – Agent TATE: The Wartime Story of Harry Williamson – Tommy Jonason & Simon Olsson (2012)

The Book Agent TATE: The Wartime Story of Harry Williamson. Tommy Jonason and Simon Olsson. Amberley Publishing. 2012. Summary The story of double agent TATE (LEONHARDT to the Germans) is one of the classic tales of the British double cross system from the Second World War. One can read key snippets of his story in

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Tower of London

A Window into the Minds of Abwehr Officers – Die Nachhut

Over the course of the last year, I’ve written a few blog posts in which an Abwehr officer named Walter Schulze-Bernett played a role. Dutchman Harm Knol Bruins – German Spy and Civil Engineer– 18 Dec 2018 Irish Naturalization – Wolpe, Roos and Smith – Black Market Passport Business – 11 Oct 2019 From June

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