This WWII espionage history reveals how a British counterintelligence program turned Nazi spies into valuable double agents.
Far from the battlefields of the Second World War, a secret conflict of intelligence and counterintelligence was being waged. As German spies infiltrated the United Kingdom, they were captured by MI5—and offered a deal. Through the Double Cross System, they could turn on their own country and spy for the British.
The Double Cross System and the spies it produced saved thousands of Allied lives. They even contributed to the success of the D-Day landings at Normandy. Double agents helped convince Nazi Germany that the Allied invasion of Europe would take place across the English Channel, at Calais. One double agent was so good at what he did that Germany awarded him the Iron Cross, whilst Britain made him a Member of the British Empire (MBE).
Stephen is a retired police officer having served with Essex Police as a constable for thirty years between 1983 and 2013. He is married to Tanya and has two sons, Luke and Ross, and a daughter, Aimee. His sons served five tours of Afghanistan between 2008 and 2013 and both were injured. This led to the publication of his first book, Two Sons in a Warzone – Afghanistan: The True Story of a Father’ s Conflict, published in October 2010. Both Stephen’ s grandfathers served in and survived the First World War, one with the Royal Irish Rifles, the other in the Mercantile Marine, whilst his father was a member of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps during the Second World War. When not writing Stephen can be found walking his three German Shepherd dogs with his wife Tanya, at some unearthly time of the morning, when most normal people are still fast asleep.