Research Catalog

Title

The secret war : spies, codes and guerrillas 1939-45 / Max Hastings.

Author

Hastings, Max

Publication

London William Collins, 2015.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xxvii, 612 pages, 32 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, portraits; 24 cm.

Summary

Packed with insight and terrific spy stories, this masterly book looks at the secret war on a global basis, bringing together the British, American, German, Russian and Japanese histories. In 'The Secret War', Max Hastings examines the espionage and intelligence machines of all sides in World War II, and the impact of spies, code-breakers and partisan operations on events. Written on a global scale, the book brings together accounts from British, American, German, Russian and Japanese sources to tell the story of a secret war waged unceasingly by men and women often far from the battlefields but whose actions profoundly influenced the outcome. Returning to the Second World War for the first time since his best-selling 'All Hell Let Loose', Hastings weaves into a 'big picture' framework, the human stories of spies and intelligence officers who served their respective masters. Told through a series of snapshots of key moments, the book looks closely at Soviet espionage operations which dwarfed those of every other belligerent in scale, as well as the code-breaking operation at Bletchley Park - the greatest intelligence achievement of the conflict - with many more surprising and unfamiliar tales of treachery, deception, betrayal and incompetence by spies of Axis, Allied or indeterminate loyalty.

Subject

• 1900-1999
• World War, 1939-1945 > Underground movements
• World War, 1939-1945 > Cryptography
• World War, 1939-1945 > Electronic intelligence
• World War, 1939-1945 > Secret service
• Intelligence service > History > 20th century
• Espionage > History > 20th century
• Bletchley Park (Milton Keynes, England) > History

Genre/Form

History

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages [561]-587) and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

1. Before the deluge. Seekers after truth -- The British: gentlemen and players -- The Russians: temples of espionage -- 2. The storm breaks. The "fiction flood" -- Shadowing Canaris -- 3. Miracles take a little longer: Bletchley. "Tips" and "cillis" -- Flirting with America -- 4. The dogs that barked. "Lucy's" people -- Sorge's warnings -- The orchestra plays -- The deaf man in the Kremlin -- 5. Divine winds. Mrs Ferguson's tea set -- The Japanese -- The man who won Midway -- 6. Muddling and groping: the Russians at war. Centre mobilises -- The end of Sorge -- The second source -- Gourevitch takes a train -- 7. Britain's secret war machine. The sharp end -- The brain -- At sea -- 8. 'Mars': the bloodiest deception. Gehlen -- "Agent Max" -- 9. The orchestra's last concert -- 10. Guerrilla. Registers and raiders -- SOE -- 11. Hoover's G-men, Donovan's wild men. Adventurers -- Ivory towers -- Allen Dulles: talking to Germany -- 12. Russia's partisans: terrorising both sides -- 13. Islands in the storm. The Abwehr's Irish jig -- No man's land -- 14. A little help from their friends. "It stinks, but somebody has to do it" -- American traitors -- 15. The knowledge factories. Agents -- The jewel of sources -- Production lines -- Infernal machines -- 16. 'Blunderhead': the English patient -- 17. Eclipse of the Abwehr. Hitler's Bletchleys -- "Cicero" -- The fantasists -- The "good" Nazi -- 18. Battlefields. Wielding the Ultra wand -- Suicide spies -- Tarnished triumph -- 19. Black widows, few white knights. Fighting Japan -- Fighting each other -- The enemy: groping in the dark -- 20. 'Enormoz' -- Decoding victory.

ISBN

• 9780007503919 (paperback)
• 0007503911 (paperback)
• 9780007503742 (hardback)
• 0007503741 (hardback)

OCLC

• 921903080
• SCSB-12618274

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library