Spies Who Changed History

Spies Who Changed History Synopsis

Spies have made an extraordinary impact on the history of the 20th Century, but fifteen in particular can be said to have been demonstrably important. As one might expect, few are household names, and it is only with the benefit of recently declassified files that we can now fully appreciate the nature of their contribution. The criteria for selection has been the degree to which each can now be seen to have had a very definite influence on a specific course of events, either directly, by passing vital classified material, or indirectly, by organizing or managing a group of spies. Those selected were active in the First World War, the inter-war period, the Second World War, the Cold War and even the post-Cold War era. These include Walther Dewé who formed a spy ring in German-occupied Belgium during the First World War. This group, known as 'White Lady', reported on German troop deployments and possible weaknesses in the German defences. Extending its operations into northern France, the ring provided 75 per cent of the information collected by resistance groups. By the time of the Armistice in 1918, Dewé's group had a staggering 1,300 members. Olga Gray, the 19-year-old daughter of a _Daily Mail_ journalist was employed as a secretary by the Communist Party of Great Britain. In 1931 she undertook a mission for MI5 to penetrate the organization and discover its secret channel of communication with Moscow. Gray learned that the Party's cipher was based on _Treasure Island_ and this breakthrough enabled the Party's messages to be read by Whitehall cryptographers. Renato Levi, an Italian playboy, was the longest-serving British agent of the Second World War and is credited with creating the concept of strategic deception. While operating in Cairo as a double agent working for both the German _Abwehr_ and the British MI5, he was instrumental in misleading the Germans into sending reinforcements into Greece rather than North Africa which helped Montgomery achieve his victory over Rommel's Afrika Korps at El Alamein. So successful was Levi in this and other deceptions, he was employed in convincing the Germans that the D-Day invasion would take place in the Pas-de-Calais. These, and other surprising stories, are revealed in this this fascinating insight into a secret world inhabited by mysterious and shadowy characters, all of whom, though larger than life, really did exist.