This cinematic tale of World War II espionage is a one-man
spy-versus-spy thriller - spying on behalf of both Britain and the
Nazis was the same dashing rascal. Eddie Chapman, born in a small
English village in 1914, was known to his German intelligence
handlers as "Little Fritz." To his British MI5 controllers, he was
"ZigZag," and he was a fearless hero, a womanizing rogue and a
thief. The cheeky fellow started his career as a safecracker
pursued by Scotland Yard before he joined the Coldstream Guards.
Then came the war and, fresh from a Parisian prison (where he
enjoyed erotic assignations with female inmates), he was recruited
for the Fuhrer's service. Under the supervision of a jolly
spymaster, he learned how to parachute at night as well as the
arcane arts of hidden writing, clandestine radio communication and
explosive detonation. When he was dropped into the English
countryside, however, he reported directly to His Majesty's Secret
Service. Because the Nazi's Enigma code had been cracked, he or
someone much like him was expected. As stipulated by a formal
contract with the Abwehr, he was to demolish an aircraft factory.
The destruction was cleverly faked by film studio artists, and back
to the Germans went the double agent to much praise and further
assignments. He was to sink a British freighter; he was to report
on the effectiveness of the new buzz bombs. For false information,
Little Fritz received the Iron Cross. In Berlin in 1944, he saw how
the war was going and soon returned home and retired by MI5. Years
later, the old English agent recalled meeting Hitler. After a
botched attempt by others at a movie of his romantic exploits,
ZigZag died peacefully in 1997. Booth offers a wonderful spy story
based chiefly on Chapman's memoirs, his widow's recollections and,
best of all, on files recently freed under Britain's Official
Secrets Act. (Chapman's story is so good that a similar book, Agent
ZigZag, by Ben Macintyre, will be published by Harmony Books in
October 2007.) A fascinating chronicle of a largely unappreciated
detail of The War. (Kirkus Reviews)
Eddie Chapman was a womaniser, blackmailer and safecracker. He was
also a great hero - the most remarkable double agent of the Second
World War. Chapman became the only British national ever to be
awarded an Iron Cross for his work for the Reich. He was also the
only German spy ever to be parachuted into Britain twice. But it
was all an illusion: Eddie fooled the Germans in the same way he
conned his victims in civilian life. He was working for the British
all along. Until now, the full story of Eddie Chapman's
extraordinary exploits has never been told, thwarted by the
Official Secrets Act. Now at last all the evidence has been
released, including Eddie's M15 files, and a complete account of
what he achieved is told in this enthralling book.
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