Books > History > World history > From 1900 > Second World War
|
Buy Now
The Venlo Sting - Mi6'S Deadly Fiasco (Hardcover)
Loot Price: R709
Discovery Miles 7 090
You Save: R172
(20%)
|
|
The Venlo Sting - Mi6'S Deadly Fiasco (Hardcover)
Expected to ship within 9 - 15 working days
|
On 9 November 1939, two unsuspecting British agents of the Special
Intelligence Services walked into a trap set by German Spymaster
Reinhard Heydrich. Believing that they were meeting a dissident
German general for talks about helping German military opposition
to bring down Hitler and end the war, they were instead taken
captive in the Dutch village of Venlo and whisked away to Germany
for interrogation by the Gestapo. The incident was a huge
embarrassment for the Dutch government and provided the Germans
with significant intelligence about SIS operations throughout
Europe. The incident itself was an intelligence catastrophe but it
also acts as a prism through which a number of other important
narrative strands pass. Fundamental to the subterfuge perpetrated
at Venlo were unsubstantiated but insistent rumours of high-ranking
Germany generals plotting to overthrow the Nazi regime from within.
After the humiliation suffered when Hitler tore up the Munich
Agreement, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain was anxious
to see just how much truth there was in these stories; keen to
rehabilitate his reputation through one last effort to find a
peaceful rapprochement with Germany. When Franz Fischer, a
small-time petty crook and agent provocateur, persuaded British SIS
operatives in the Netherlands that he could act as a go-between for
the British government with disaffected German generals, the German
Security chief Reinhard Heydrich stepped in and quietly took
control of the operation. Heydrich's boss, head of the Gestapo
Heinrich Himmler, was anxious to explore the possibility of peace
negotiations with Britain and saw an opportunity to exploit the
situation for his personal benefit. On the day before a crucial
meeting of conspirators and British agents on the Dutch-German
border, a bomb exploded in the Burgerbraukeller in Munich in the
exact spot where Hitler had stood to deliver a speech only minutes
earlier. The perpetrator was quickly arrested, and Hitler demanded
that Himmler find evidence to show that the two events were
intimately connected-the British agents were snatched hours later.
While the world was coming to terms with the fearsome power of
German military might the British intelligence capability in
northern Europe was consigned to the dustbin in the sleepy Dutch
town of Venlo. This first full account of the Venlo incident
explores the wider context of this German intelligence coup, and
its consequences.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
|
|
Email address subscribed successfully.
A activation email has been sent to you.
Please click the link in that email to activate your subscription.