BOOK REVIEWS BY JOAN G. SMITH JGS 368 DOUBLE CROSS THE TRUE STORY OF THE D-DAY SPIES BY: BEN MACINTYRE

Ben Macintyre is famous for telling the true stories of one double agent in World War II in Agent Zigzag. However, in Double Cross. just out in 2012, he tells the untold story of the brilliant spies that managed to make D-Day the success it was and changed the outcome of World War II .

There is quite a list of men and women from many countries that became double and triple agents for a multitude of reasons. I found myself putting this book down to read something else and rest my brain, but returning to it constantly to find out “what next!”

These people were charming—big spenders, sophisticated, womanizers, and brilliant. They were the best at the trickery and manipulation involved in convincing the Nazis, turning some to their side, and running operation Fortitude, always against all odds, that the big invasion in June 1944 would be an attack at Calais and Norway. rather than Normandy.

Many books have been written about the soldiers who fought, the tacticians who planned it and the generals who got them there. However, the story of the key agents in the Double Cross system has never been told. They were the strangest gallery of military units ever assembled including a Polish fighter pilot, a Serbian playboy, a Spaniard specializing in chicken farming and a party-girl from Peru. The Frenchwoman with the pet dog is not to be forgotten and too many more to mention here. Both German and British spy masters kept things together and rolling, and it was not easy.

There is a section of photographs of the main players I had to keep referring to them to keep these volatile actors straight in my head!

Macintyre is a writer at large for The Times of London and has an eye for the absurd, researching and story telling. What a story it is!!

Published: Crown Publishers a division of Random House, Inc. New York, NY Copyright: © 2012 By: Ben Macintyre Reviewed: 04/02/13 – 368 Copyright: © 2013 by Joan G. Smith 368