West, Nigel MI6. British Intelligence Service Operations 1909-1945

Written by the renowned expert Nigel West, this book exposes the operations of Britain's overseas intelligence-gathering organisation, the famed Secret Intelligence Service, MI6, and traces its origins back to its inception in 1909. In this meticulously researched account, its activities and structure are described in detail, using original secret service documents. The main body of the book concerns MI6's operations during the Second World War, and includes some remarkable successes and failures, including how MI6 financed a glamorous confidant of the German secret service; how a suspected French traitor was murdered by mistake; how Francos military advisors were bribed to keep Spain out of the war; how members of the Swedish secret police were blackmailed into helping the British war effort; how a sabotage operation in neutral Tangiers enabled the Allied landings in North Africa to proceed undetected; and how Britains generals ignored the first ULTRA decrypts because MI6 said that the information had come from "a well-placed source called BONIFACE". In this new edition, operations undertaken by almost all of MI6s overseas stations are recounted in extraordinary detail. They will fascinate both the professional intelligence officer and the general reader. The book includes organisational charts to illustrate MI6's internal structure and its wartime network of overseas stations. Backed by numerous interviews with intelligence officers and their agents, this engaging inside story throws light on many wartime incidents that had previously remained unexplained.

This new edition traces the operations carried out by almost all MI6 stations overseas in extraordinary detail. The account will fascinate both the professional intelligence officer and the general reader. The book includes organisational charts to illustrate the internal structure of MI6 and its wartime network of overseas stations. Drawing on numerous interviews with intelligence officers and their agents, this gripping insider's history sheds light on many wartime events that have previously remained unexplained.