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SOE
Britain’s Special Operations Executive, an agency set up by Winston Churchill, carried out operations in Albania to support anti-German partisans. In 2008 Roderick Bailey authored ”The Wildest Province: SOE in the Land of the Eagle.” -
Winston Churchill and the SOE
Britain’s PM Winston Churchill sent a handful of young British officers to Washington, DC, to ingratiate themselves on the social scene and advance the British cause through good manners. They included Roald Dahl, Ian Fleming and David Ogilvy. In 2008 Jennet Conant authored “The Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington. -
SS general Reinhard Heydrich was killed
Nazi overlord and SS general Reinhard Heydrich was killed in Prague by Czech commandos, who had parachuted into Czechoslovakia and ambushed his car. Hitler promptly ordered the deaths of 10,000 residents of Lidice, near Prague. Heydrich died of his wounds a week later. The commandos had been sheltered in Lidice and as a result the entire population was either executed or driven out. This has become a hallmark of Nazi brutality. Heydrich was the man charged with “The Final Solution of the Jewish -
Brittish secret agent gose intp France
Pearl Cornioley (1916-2008), a British agent, parachuted into France as a secret agent to help arm and organize the Resistance. In 1995 she wrote an autobiography and in 2006 Royal Air Force officers presented her with her parachute wings in a ceremony at her Paris retirement home. -
COCO CHANEL OMGGGG
A Germany general sent French fashion designer Coco Chanel to Madrid to initiate talks through the British Embassy in a plan code-named “Operation Modelhut.” A travel companion denounced her as an enemy agent and the British ignored her. -
"The White Mouse"
Nancy Wake (1912-2011), a New Zealand-born Australian, parachuted back into France before D-Day, tasked with helping distribute weapons to Resistance fighters. She became known as the "The White Mouse" for her ability to evade the Germans. She and her husband had helped Allied servicemen and Jewish refugees escape into Spain before she took her partner's advice and fled to England in 1943. -
Mary Formi took down two spies
Mary Forni (1915-2006) reported 2 unusual men on the side of a rural road near Bar Harbor, Maine. They turned out to be Erich Gimpel, a German spy, and William Colepaugh, an American defector, who had slipped ashore as spies from a German U-boat. Both men were later captured, tried and sentenced to death. Pres. Truman later pardoned them. -
Tarantella
Russia’s Operation Tarantella, designed to reach emigres who fled after the Communist takeover, turned Viktor Bogomolets back to Moscow. He became a double agent passing British secrets to top-tier Soviet operatives. This was made public in 2007. -
the Avo
The AVO, Hungary’s State Security Agency, was formed under Soviet masters. Its first leader was a Hungarian called Gabor Peter. The role of the AVO was to hunt out anyone who was even vaguely against the rule of Moscow over Hungary. -
Bundesnachrichtendienst
The Organization Gehlen was founded by Gen. Reinhard Gehlen. Many of his recruits were ex-Nazis. It later became known as the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), Germany’s foreign intelligence service. -
Frank wiser joined the OPC
Frank Wisner was recruited by Dean Acheson to join the US State Department's Office of Occupied Territories. In 1948, the CIA created a covert action wing, innocuously called the Office of Policy Coordination (OPC). Frank Wisner was put in charge of the operation and recruited many of his old friends from the NYC Carter Ledyard law firm. Wisner later coined the term “mighty Wurlitzer” to describe the orchestration of the agency’s activities. -
Isaiah Oggins was exicuted by the sovite union
Isaiah Oggins, American-born graduate of Columbia Univ. and Soviet spy, was executed under the direction of Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union. In 2008 Andrew Meier authored “The Lost Spy: An American in Stalin’s Secret Service.” -
the Echelon Began
Echelon began with a secret international agreement between the US, Britain, and Canada to collate electronic intelligence. Australia and New Zealand signing up later. By 2005 it consisted of a global network of computers that automatically searched through millions of intercepted for pre-programmed keywords or fax, telex and e-mail addresses. -
Russians change codes
The Russians, having found out about the US-UK Venona system for breaking Soviet codes, changed their codes and cipher machines, making this Black Friday for code-breakers. -
National Council For A Free Europe
The National Council for a Free Europe was set up, seemingly the initiative of American philanthropists, to help refugees. It was later revealed to be a CIA front group.
