Helen Fry

This fascinating book, which is based on first-hand accounts from veterans, provides an important insight into how Germany and Austria were rebuilt after the end of the Nazi tyranny.

The incredible story of Willy Field, born Willy Hirschfeld, a German concentration camp survivor who became a British soldier. Willy chose to fight for Britain against the country of his birth in order to give something back to the British for saving his life, and never regretted being part of the D-Day invasion despite suffering personal losses.

Thomas Kendrick was central to the British Secret Service from its beginnings through to the Second World War.

Under the guise of "British Passport Officer," he ran spy networks across Europe, facilitated the escape of Austrian Jews, and later went on to set up the "M Room," a listening operation which elicited information of the same significance and scope as Bletchley Park. Yet the work of Kendrick, and its full significance, remains largely unknown.

Helen Fry draws on extensive original research to tell the story of this remarkable British intelligence officer. Kendrick's life sheds light on the development of MI6 itself-he was one of the few men to serve Britain across three wars, two of which while working for the British Secret Service. Fry explores the private and public sides of Kendrick, revealing him to be the...

From the twentieth century onward, women took on an extraordinary range of roles in intelligence, defying the conventions of their time. Across both world wars, far from being a small part of covert operations, women ran spy networks and escape lines, parachuted behind enemy lines, and interrogated prisoners. And, back in Bletchley and Whitehall, women's vital administrative work in MI offices kept the British war engine running.

In this major, panoramic history, Helen Fry looks at the rich and varied work women undertook as civilians and in uniform. From spies in the Belgian network "La Dame Blanche," knitting coded messages into jumpers, to those who interpreted aerial images and even ran entire sections, Fry shows just how crucial women were in the intelligence mission.