As a fully documented study of a Second World War Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) operative, Our Man in Yugoslavia is absolutely unique. Its subject is Owen Reed, an army officer recruited into SIS in the summer of 1943 and then parachuted in to German-occupied Croatia to work with Tito's Partisans and other Allied secret organisations. After reporting back to London in July 1944, Reed returned to Yugoslavia to find relations with the Partisans deteriorating. His erstwhile comrades began working against him and the intelligence he passed to the SIS came increasingly to focus on the communist takeover. Reed found himself at the centre of the first great confrontation of the Cold War. Blending biography and operational history, Our Man in Yugoslavia is a remarkable case study, illustrating how SIS operatives were recruited and trained, and describing their work in detail.

The British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS, also known as MI6) is one of the world's most secretive organisations. SIS is not bound by the 30 Years Rule, under which British government departments release their records to the National Archives, and consequently hardly any documented histories of its activities have been written. As a fully documented study of a Second World War SIS operative, Our Man in Yugoslavia is therefore unique. Its subject is Owen Reed, an army officer recruited into SIS in Cairo in the summer of 1943. Reed was parachuted in to German-occupied Croatia, where he worked successfully with Tito's Partisans and with other Allied secret organisations, such as the Special Operations Executive, gathering intelligence, arranging airborne supplies and helping escaped prisoners of war to reach freedom. But after reporting back to London in July 1944, Reed returned to Yugoslavia to find relations with the Partisans deteriorating. His erstwhile comrades now began working against him, and the intelligence he passed to the SIS came increasingly to focus on the communist takeover, rather than residual German resistance. In the spring of 1945, Reed found himself at the cen

The author begins with a general survey of British aircraft manufacturing in the inter-war period, focusing on the technical and productive capacity of the industry prior to rearmament and on government thinking on wartime expansion. Subsequent chapters examine Air Ministry production policy, airframe and aero-engine production, manpower supply and utilization, finance and investment and contractual relations between state and industry. The final chapter is concerned with the mobilization of the aircraft industry on the outbreak of hostilities in 1939, the revision of pre-war development and production programmes, the emergency measures of 1940 and the formulation of longer-term plans for the remainder of the war.

The author begins with a general survey of British aircraft manufacturing in the inter-war period, focusing on the technical and productive capacity of the industry prior to rearmament and on government thinking on wartime expansion. Subsequent chapters examine Air Ministry production policy, airframe and aero-engine production, manpower supply and utilization, finance and investment and contractual relations between state and industry. The final chapter is concerned with the mobilization of the aircraft industry on the outbreak of hostilities in 1939, the revision of pre-war development and production programmes, the emergency measures of 1940 and the formulation of longer-term plans for the remainder of the war.