MI6 : British Secret Intelligence Service Operations, 1909-45.

West, N.

ISBN 10: 0297782908 / ISBN 13: 9780297782902

Published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, first edition, 1983, 1983

About this Item

Cloth, 8vo, 25 cm, xvi, 266 pp, plus 12 pp of plates A densely-detailed history of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service, MI6, from its modest beginning in 1909 to the end of the Second World War. This was the first authoritative account of MI6's operations and structure. The main part of the book concerns the service's operations during World War II and includes some remarkable successes - and failures: how MI6 financed a glamorous confidante of the head of the German secret service; how a suspected French traitor was murdered by mistake; how Franco's military advisers were bribed to keep Spain out of the war; how the Swedish secret police were blackmailed into helping the British war effort; how a sabotage operation in neutral Tangiers enabled the Allied landings in North Africa to proceed undetected; and how Britain's generals ignored the first ULTRA decrypts because M16 said that the information had come from 'a well-placed agent code-named BONIFACE'. Operations undertaken by almost all of M16's overseas stations are recounted in extraordinary detail and will fascinate both the professional intelligence officer and the amateur historian alike. The book contains organizational charts to illustrate M16's internal structure and wartime network of Stations abroad. Backed by hundreds of interviews with intelligence officers and their agents, this is a highly readable inside story. Very Good in Near Very Good dustwrapper.

Seller Inventory # ABE-31584

Bibliographic Details

• Title: MI6 : British Secret Intelligence Service Operations, 1909-45.
• Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, first edition, 1983
• Publication Date: 1983
• ISBN 10: 0297782908
• ISBN 13: 9780297782902
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included
• Seller catalogs:
  • Miscellaneous Books

About this title

Synopsis

Nigel West's book traces the history of MI 5 from its modest beginnings in 1909 until 1945. The focus is on its role in WW II, recalling the enemy agents rounded up in Britain; the manipulation of the Axis espionage networks by the use of "turned" Abwehr agents and the all-important check on its success provided by the intercepted German signals decoded at Bletchley.

Laced with true anecdotes as bizarre and readable as espionage thrillers, this book is based on interviews of Nazi and Soviet agents, counter-intelligence officers, case officers and, most remarkably, more than a dozen of the double agents.

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