Espionage Behind the Wire

Prisoners of War
ISBN 1-903953-33-2
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by Howard Greville
The  secret history of a British intelligence network operating within German prisoner of war camps during World War II

This well-written memoir contains a wealth of information valuable to historians and researchers interested in the activities of British intelligence during the Second World War and in particular the activities of MI9 and MI19, who were responsible for gathering intelligence information from agents working within prisoner of war camps behind enemy lines.

This book reveals the untold story of how British prisoners of war incarcerated in German POW camps during World War II were recruited by British military intelligence in England.

Taken prisoner in Greece in 1941 and later imprisoned in a POW camp in Austria, Howard Greville was nevertheless able to obtain useful items of intelligence such as details of aircraft production, the location of a German Battle HQ in Italy and the names of key German commanding officers and pass this information on to his handlers from MI19 to be relayed back to their headquarters in London.

On another occasion the remote location of a German chemical warfare plant near Breslau in Poland was obtained and this information taken in person by the author to his Control. This entailed a hazardous rail journey, travelling with falsified papers whilst accompanied by an unsuspecting armed German guard.

British military intelligence units MI-9 and MI-19 had instigated this field of intelligence. (MI-9 was responsible for Military Intelligence whilst MI-19 controlled escape lines, and was headed by Airey Neave on his return to England after escaping from Colditz.

Howard Greville is a  gifted raconteur and has the ability to captivate his readers with charm and a ready sense of humour as he reveals the exciting and hitherto untold details of British espionage behind the wire.

details: softback | 140 x 205 mm | 220 pages
genre: military memoir / Second World War history
themes: World War II | espionage | prisoners of war
readership: military historians / general readers