Operation Blunderhead: The Incredible Adventures of a Double Agent in Nazi-Occupied Europe

Operation Blunderhead: The Incredible Adventures of a Double Agent in Nazi-Occupied Europe
ISBN-10
0750965827
ISBN-13
9780750965828
Category
True Crime
Pages
224
Language
English
Published
2015-09-07
Publisher
The History Press
Author
David Kirby

Description

In the autumn of 1942, British Special Operations Executive agent Ronald Sydney Seth was parachuted into German-occupied Estonia, supposedly to carry out acts of sabotage against the Nazis in a plan codenamed Operation Blunderhead. Uniquely, it was Seth and not the SOE who had engineered the mission, and he had no support network on the ground. It was a failure. Captured by Estonian militia, Seth was handed over to the Germans for interrogation and was imprisoned and sentenced to death, but managed to evade execution by convincing his captors that he could be an asset.What happened between Seth’s capture and his return to England in the dying days of the war reads, at times, like a novel – inhabiting a Gestapo safe house, acting as a stool pigeon, entrusted with a mission sanctioned by Heinrich Himmler – yet much of it is true, albeit highly embellished by Seth, who was quite capable of weaving the most elaborate fantasies. He was an unlikely hero, whose survival owed more to his ability to spin a tale than to any daring qualities.Operation Blunderhead is a compelling and original account of an extraordinary episode of the Second World War – a brilliant blend of fact and fiction, contrasting material taken from SOE and MI5 files with Seth’s own fantastical story.

Similar books

  • The Enforcer: A Life Fighting Crime
    By Graeme Pearson

    We arrived to find the shop owner had three trusted staff who had worked with him for a number of years. The four staff dispensed loans from behind a ...

  • Silent Death: The Killing of Julie Ramage
    By Karen Kissane

    At 12.10 pm, Juliedropped by Warren's office and said, 'I didn't have any breakfast and I'm ... Warren wason the phone;she said briefly, 'No worries.

  • Goat Castle: A True Story of Murder, Race, and the Gothic South
    By Karen L. Cox

    There, Charles became the rector of St. James Church in Port Gibson, a small town about halfway between Natchez and Vicksburg. Why he left after serving Christ Church for nearly three decades is a mystery, though his marriage to a ...

  • Texas Lawmen, 1835-1899: The Good and the Bad
    By Clifford R. Caldwell, Ron DeLord

    A 04 - Cherry Wesley 34-W: 18 11, D. 19 - Christian, James Ineligible 22, D, 14 - Clark. Alvin A. On File 21, A, 13 - Clark. David Ineligible 26. A 12 - Clark. William A. 59–E: 25 19, D, 16 - Clendennen, Robert Ned 45–W: 24 09, D 09 ll.

  • Poisoned Vows
    By Clifford L. Linedecker

    There was no sign in the house of the $10,000 Clark had withdrawn from the credit union the previous day or of his billfold with the $500 to $600 pocket money he usually carried around with him. Two rings he wore were still on his ...

  • Smooth Operator: The True Story of Seductive Serial Killer Glen Rogers
    By Clifford L. Linedecker

    Rogers spent the night at the Clark County Detention Center, and was released the next afternoon. ... The white 1979 Mercury was owned by Russell E. Wright of Hamilton and still carried the Ohio license tags when the officers spotted it ...

  • Monster
    By Allan Hall

    Including exclusive photographs and previously unseen evidence, this is a truly heart-stopping record of one of the most elaborate and disturbing cases of abuse in modern times.

  • Missy's Murder: Passion, Betrayal, and Murder in Southern California
    By Karen Kingsbury

    Three years later, a surprise witness exposed the murderers as Missy’s two best friends—one of whom was Karen. New York Times–bestselling author Karen Kingsbury delivers a story full of twists, turns, betrayals, and confessions.

  • Deep Deception: The relentless investigation to bring George Gibney, Derry O’Rourke, Ger Doyle and other abusers to justice
    By Justine McCarthy

    Linda Jones of Howard House, a child abuse therapy centre in north London, has described organised networks as working 'in cells, like terrorist cells. No paedophile who is linked knows of more than one other, so they'll use a child, ...

  • Buckinghamshire Murders
    By Dr Jonathan Oates

    Hatto had earlier worked for Mr Plummer of Gray's, near Henley. The farmhouse was a modern brick building and was located on the site of the ancient Abbey Farm, having been rebuilt for John Pocock (now deceased) some years previously.