Possibly the most important UK wireless traffic in World War II was handled by a unit formed in 1938 by Brigadier Richard Gambier-Parry head of MI6 Section VIII - the communications division of SIS. This book tells of its formation and includes diary entries by one of the 'founding fathers' recording the secret meetings that took place, and the assembly of its talented staff. It reports the earlier days of the original SIS wireless 'Station X' based in Barnes in south west London, and the building of its second station in a bungalow in Surrey with the strange name of 'Funny Neuk' - which turned out to be owned by Admiral Sir Hugh Sinclair - 'C' - Chief of Secret Intelligence Services. The units wireless station at Bletchley Park is described and its replacement by the stations at nearby Whaddon Hall which then became the wartime headquarters of Section VIII. It documents the work of our agents in embassies abroad, and of those in German occupied territories; the story of Churchill's personal wireless operator, and there is the description by a German soldier of the Afrika Corps of his operating an Enigma machine at Rommel's headquarters in the desert. The curious story of 'Black Propaganda' is told and the units handling of the military ULTRA traffic out to commanders in the field. Personal tales by those who were part of this most secret of units abound in the book and it is an important record of people and events that-it is no exaggeration to say-helped to win the war. Whilst essential, the technical side of the tale has not been allowed to dominate the book which is profusely illustrated.

Edgar Harrison, was born in South Wales on St David's Day in 1915. He was a senior colleague of Geoffrey Pidgeon in MI6 (Section VIII) and he had the most extraordinary adventures in World War II. He was in Norway at the time the Germans invaded from where he had to beat a hasty retreat, and was in Brussels during the Blitzkrieg before escaping back to England via Dunkirk. While stationed in Greece the Nazis launched an overwhelming attack. However, he refused to surrender with other Allied troops. Instead, he made his escape via Kalamata in a rowing boat before being rescued by a British destroyer, MS Kandahar. He was landed in Crete where he handled the Ultra traffic during the invasion by the Germans, and later evacuated to Cairo where he spent time recuperating from the wounds sustained in Greece during the retreat to Kalamata. Edgar was then parachuted into Yugoslavia with wireless gear for General Mihailovic and he became involved in close-quarter fighting between the various factions. His security situation became intolerable and he was taken out by submarine. He was then sent to the Ukraine, ostensibly training Russian tank crews in the use of British wireless equipment. After a number of close encounters at the front, he returned to Cairo. There, and in view of Rommel's successful drive into Egypt, he was ordered to set up the agents' wireless station deep in the Libyan desert down at Kufra Oasis, the base of the Long Range Desert Group. From there he was posted to Algiers, then to Sicily and on to Italy. Eventually he returned to MI6 (Section VIII)'s HQ at Whaddon Hall, five miles west of Bletchley Park, before going to France and Germany. During all this he was, on five occasions, the MI6 wireless operator assigned to Winston Churchill at meetings with Allied leaders. After the war Edgar became the Principal Signals Officer of the Foreign Office - not bad for a boy who joined the Royal Corps of Signals as a boy apprentice in 1929 - age 14.