INTRODUCTION

As the Germans fortified Europe and gazed hungrily at the British coast, Churchill and his intelligence service were fighting a complex and inventive intelligence war, intending to pull the wool over the eyes of Hitler and his generals to open the way for an Allied counter-attack. Culminating in the ‘turning’ of German agents in Britain, this deception left Hitler chasing shadows across Europe, giving the Allies the advantage that they needed to successfully launch Operation Overlord: D-Day.

THE BOOK

Osprey Publications Ltd has released Deceiving Hitler - Double Cross And Deception In World War II as a paperback book with 352 pages. Included with the text are black and white photographs, black and white maps and detailed captions. It has a 2013 copyright and the ISBN is 978-1-78200-331-1. As the title states, the book examines and discusses various acts of deception that were developed and put into use against Adolf Hitler and his war machine during World War II.

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements
Preface
Prologue

• Snow
• The Invasion Spies
• Burning Lies
• The System
• Snow Falls
• The ‘Dicky’ Period
• Spanish Intrigues
• ‘A’ Force
• The Controlling Officer
• El Alamein
• The Development of Agent Cases
• Mincemeat
• London Calling
• The Fortitude Plan
• By Special Means
• Vindication
• Mediterranean Swansong
• The Final Deceits

Epilogue
Appendices
Sources and Further Reading
Endnotes
Index

THE TEXT

Terry Crowdy has done an excellent job of detailing some of the various acts of deception that were developed and put into use against Adolf Hitler and his war machine during World War II. The contents portion where I listed the contents of the book is accurate as to what is discussed. Terry Crowdy provides the reader with very specific and minute details of the events listed in the contents section and places the reader where the action is by detailing every detail leaving nothing to guess as to what took place by whom and when. Various dates and day by day actions are all listed providing all of the details the reader would want and or need when studying this important part of World War II history. Due to all of these factors the reader is supplied with a non-biased narrative and informative history. As I read through the text I didn’t notice any spelling or grammatical errors throughout the book. Grammar and spelling might not be an important factor to everyone however it is something that I take notice of and pass on my findings. I feel that if the text is well written then it shows that the author has taken the time to be a professional with their writing. Anyone interested in World War II military deception will find this excellent book very informative and interesting and will leave the reader with no doubt as to what took place during this famous historical conflict.

THE PHOTOGRAPHS

There are a total of 40 black and white photographs shown throughout the book. The majority of the photographs are of specific individuals whose job it was to deceive Germany. Most of the others are of visual props that were made and deployed to cause deception when photographed. These are of subjects such as inflatable tanks and trucks and wooden mock-ups of tanks, landing craft, ships and aircraft. While looking at the photographs of the mock-ups I was reminded of the 1981 movie “Eye of the Needle” when the German agent Donald Sutherland sneaks onto an allied post and takes photographs of the mock aircraft. Most of the photographs are nice, clear, centered and focused images and are of a good quality and will benefit the reader. Many of the featured photographs are images that I have not seen before and I was pleased with this. I definitely consider that a bonus as it is nice to have a reference book that contains several lesser known photographs. Terry Crowdy has stuck with photographs that I refer to as even specific meaning that they are of or in relation to the various acts of deception that were developed and put into use against Adolf Hitler and his war machine during World War II and not just random photographs used as filler. The photographs of the mock-up props should prove to interesting and helpful to the scale modeler as they provide details for some interesting scratch-build projects.

MAPS

There are 4 black and white maps included in this volume and are of:

• Abwehr Stations And Areas Of Influence
• Operation Bertram – The Cover Plan For El Alamein
• The Cover Plans For Operation Husky
• Operation Bodyguard – The Cover Plans For Normandy

THE CAPTIONS

The captions are very nicely written and contain a wealth of detail and explain the accompanying photographs well. The captions are a bit brief for the most part but are still informative nonetheless. As I read through the captions I didn’t notice any spelling or grammatical errors. As I stated before, grammar and spelling might not be an important factor to everyone however it is something that I take notice of and pass on my findings. I was pleased with Terry Crowdy’s captions as they are very helpful to the reader.

CONCLUSION

This is a very nice book that contains event specific photographs and well written and detailed text and captions. I would have no hesitation to add other Osprey titles to my personal library nor would I hesitate to recommend this book to others as it will be a welcome addition to one’s personal military reference library. An excellent well written and researched reference and history book of the various acts of deception that were developed and put into use against Adolf Hitler and his war machine during World War II that will benefit the military enthusiast and historian.

REFERENCES

Deceiving Hitler - Double Cross And Deception In World War II at the Osprey Publishing web site Live links

Deceiving Hitler - Double Cross And Deception In World War II at the Amazon web site Live links

Kindle Edition of Deceiving Hitler - Double Cross And Deception In World War II Live links