SPIES IN THE SKY is the thrilling, little-known story of the partner organisation to the famous code-breaking centre at Bletchley Park. It is the story of the daring reconnaissance pilots who took aerial photographs over Occupied Europe during the most dangerous days of the Second World War, and of the photo interpreters who invented a completely new science to analyse those pictures. They were inventive and ingenious; they pioneered the development of 3D photography and their work provided vital intelligence throughout the war.

With a whole host of colourful characters at its heart, from the legendary pilot Adrian 'Warby' Warburton, who went missing while on a mission, to photo interpreters Glyn Daniel, later a famous television personality, and Winston Churchill's daughter, Sarah. SPIES IN THE SKY is compelling reading and the first full account of the story of aerial photography and the intelligence gleaned from it in nearly fifty years.

Taylor Downing is a best-selling author and historian and an award-winning television producer. He worked at the Imperial War Museum and Thames Television and then for more than 25 years he ran the highly successful independent television production company, Flashback Television, where he produced more than 200 historical documentaries. He writes popular histories and also books about film and television.

The usage of an Intelligence Corps in the modern army is an established tool that is used to help war-fighting. However the usage of an intelligence system in both collating data and briefing commanders has not always been a coherent part of the British Army or its long term strategy. Often the intelligence systems were created for the “duration” of a war / conflict and disbanded as soon as peace was established. This system did not prove to be ideal and eventually the Army developed a standing Intelligence function but this took place only after World War 1. The book shows how the British intelligence system changed from brave and enterprising individuals acting almost independently to having dedicated staff.

This exciting book has been written by a former Director of the Intelligence Corps and it will appeal to both specialists in this field as well as those interested in intelligence matters.

 

Monty and Tyler Take the Top Road is a delightful, true story of a horse named Monty and his canine friend, Tyler. Monty, a beautiful Dales Cross Cob, and Tyler, a pedigree black Labrador, achieved 'fame' in the media in the summer of 2005 due to a special and unusual skill they mastered. The story, told through the eyes of the dog, Tyler, demonstrates a tender and trusting bond between the animals, as well as the patience of their fun-loving owner who playfully encourages Monty and Tyler to develop a talent born entirely by chance.

Monty and Tyler were the beloved pets of Corporal Sarah Louise Bryant (Nee Feely), a soldier of the Intelligence Corps of the British Army, who was killed in action in Afghanistan on 17th June, 2008. Sarah had often suggested to her father, Des Feely, that the true-life adventures of Monty and Tyler would make a fun and amusing book for children and adults alike. It was this recollection that inspired Mr. Feely to put pen to paper during the months after his daughter's death, which has resulted in a moving and amusing story, lovingly written in memory of Sarah. The book is complemented by more than 40 colour photographs, bringing the true adventures of Monty and Tyler to life, while revealing the joy they brought to Sarah and her family. It is hoped that the book's success will enable Mr. Feely to make donations to various charities that support veterans of war.

• Soft touch cover
• Internal document pocket
• Ribbon marker
• Pen loop with pencil and elasticated band closure
• Castelli notebooks feature FSC® certification and product traceability.

If you like finding out what really happened in the secret Second World War, you will enjoy Setting the Med Ablaze.
In the tradition of Ben MacIntyre and Antony Beevor, it tells the story of the secret Mediterranean base called Massingham. Americans, Brits, French, Italians and Spaniards operated undercover together to defeat Hitler. The subversion and sabotage they spearheaded was crucial to undermining Fascist power in Italy, France and the Mediterranean.
It wasn't easy. Often, they mistrusted each other as much as their common foe.
But it worked. The men and women of Massingham found the courage to rise above the political differences of their capitals. The lives of brave agents were in their hands: parachuting on to a moonlit field, rowing from a silent submarine to a blacked-out beach or transmitting from a clandestine radio.
Discover Massingham's role in Italy's surrender, the conquest of the Mediterranean islands and 'the other D-Day' in Southern France.

This book focuses on telling a history of British Military intelligence from the 19th Century to the most recent campaigns by describing some objects lodged in the Military Intelligence Museum and the Archives at Chicksands in Bedfordshire and then telling the story behind them or explaining why the object is of historical interest.

With a Foreword by Lord Hague of Richmond The Intelligence Corps is one of the smallest and most secretive elements of the British Army. It has existed in various guises since the early twentieth century, but it was only formally constituted in July 1940. In this book, Michael Ashcroft tells the astonishing stories of some of its most courageous and ingenious figures, who have operated all over the world from the First World War to the present day. Whether carrying out surveillance work on the street, monitoring and analysing communications, working on overseas stakeouts, receiving classified information from a well-placed contact or interrogating the enemy in the heat of war, a hugely diverse range of people have served in the Corps, often supplementing their individual professional skills with original thinking and leadership in the name of the Crown. This book pays tribute to them and shows why, in the words of the 1st Duke of Marlborough, 'No war can be conducted successfully without early and good intelligence.'

The incredible true story of the only woman to have worked during the Second World War as a codebreaker at both Bletchley Park and the Pentagon.

The only living World War II codebreaker to have helped to decipher both German and Japanese communications, Betty Webb tells her enthralling story of courage and secrecy in this unputdownable memoir.

Between 1941 and 1945 Betty Webb played a vital role in the top-secret efforts being made to decipher the secret communications of the Germans and later the Japanese. In 1945, as other members of the forces returned home from the war in Europe, she was sent to the Pentagon and was in Washington DC when the atomic bombs fell and when Eisenhower announced the end of the war.

Betty was unable to reveal the true nature of her work, even to her parents, until years later. In this fascinating book, she revisits the key moments of her life and recounts the incredible stories from her time at Bletchley Park.

"An engaging autobiography" - The Daily Telegraph

A groundbreaking history of women in British intelligence, revealing their pivotal role across the first half of the twentieth century
 
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. Filled with hitherto unknown stories, Women in Intelligence places new research on record for the first time and showcases the inspirational contributions of these remarkable women.

The author, then a young Gunner officer, found himself in the midst of this very nasty war.  He describes in vivid detail the horrific conditions faced not just by all elements of the British contingent, but also the Canadian, Australians, New Zealanders and South Africans who fought so well.  The reader is given a clear insight of what it was like to be at the infamous Battle of the Hook, where UN troops held off ferocious massed attacks by the numerically superior Chinese.  Few outside the war zone realised just how appalling and dangerous conditions were.

As a qualified Chinese interpreter and, later, a senior military intelligence officer, the Author is well-placed to analyse the causes and implications of the War, the reasons for the Commonwealth becoming involved, the failure of Intelligence and how the bravery of American troops on the ground counter-balanced errors of policy in the conduct of the War.  The plight of prisoners-of-war, held with no regard for the Geneva Convention, is also scrutinised.

As well as being a rare and gripping personal memoir, Chinese Hordes and Human Waves provides a valuable insight into the broader issues surrounding this all-too-often forgotten conflict.

"Highly readable and written with great modesty"
British Army Review
" A highly recommended book that I found hard to put down"
Tank Magazine

"A detailed personal insight into the fierce fighting that went on in Korea during the early 1950s"

British Legion Magazine

This book explores the ghostly happenings of one of Bedfordshire's most haunted buildings - Chicksands Priory.

Paranormal historian, Damien O’Dell, has published his findings about the facts and myths of the site over the past 1,000 years. Readers can delve into 'Chicksands Priory - England’s Most Haunted House?', and step into the building's clandestine history.

This special edition is devoted to the history and development of P.R. and P.I. and forms the final and closing number of the production, "Evidence in Camera".

Further note (inner cover):

"Publication of this magazine had now been discontinued and future material will be incorporated in the Air Ministry Weekly Intelligence Summary"

An ornate Victorian manor sat in picturesque surroundings overlooking the River Thames at Medmenham, Buckinghamshire. Perhaps not the first place that springs to mind when considering the top-secret photographic interpretation that helped secure an Allied victory in the Second World War, but this was the headquarters of the Allied Central Interpretation Unit. It was here that air photography from all over enemy-occupied Europe was pored over by photographic interpreters, who sought out intricate details of enemy activity which then influenced virtually every Allied operation of the war., These quick-minded men and women were the ones to find out where the infamous German V-weapons were being constructed, were the first to see the results of the Dambusters' raid and were sworn to utmost secrecy on everything they viewed. Women made up half of this work force and were, unusually, treated as equals with their male counterparts: the best person for the job, regardless of gender. Here the women of Medmenham, the `Women of Intelligence' from Churchill's daughter to girls escaping home for the first time, tell the story of their wartime life and work - in their own words.

In Northern Poland in 1940, at the Nazi war camp Stalag XX-A, two men struck up an unlikely friendship that was to lead to one of the most daring and remarkable wartime escape stories ever told.

Antony Coulthard was the privately educated son of wealthy parents and he had a first-class honours degree in modern languages from Oxford. Fred Foster was the son of a bricklayer from Nottinghamshire - he had left school with no qualifications aged 14.

This seemingly mismatched young pair bonded in the prison camp, and hatched a plan to disguise themselves as advertising executives working for Siemens. They would simply walk out of the camp, board a train - and head straight into the heart of Nazi Germany. Which is precisely what they did.

Their route into Germany was one that no one would think to search for escaped PoWs. This breathtakingly audacious plan involved 18 months of undercover work, including Antony (nicknamed 'The Professor' by fellow inmates) spending 3 hours every evening teaching Fred to speak German. They set off for the Swiss border via Germany, doing some sightseeing along the way in Munich and Berlin, taking notes of strategic interest while eating in restaurants and drinking beer with Nazi officers, just yards from Hitler's HQ.

But could they make it out alive?

In July 1940, a desperately weakened Britain licks her wounds after the humiliating retreat from Dunkirk.  How can the fight be taken to the enemy?  New Prime Minister Winston Churchill orders the creation of the Special Operations Executive, to 'set Europe ablaze' through subversion and sabotage.  But this most secret of agencies must be kept secure.

Guardians of Churchill's Secret Army tells the mostly unknown human stories of the men who were brought into SOE, straight from Intelligence Corps training, to do just that.  They were junior in rank, but far from ordinary people.  They were Australian, Anglo-French, Canadian, Scandinavian, East European and British.  They had been schoolteachers, journalists, artists, ship brokers, racehorse trainers and international businessmen. Each spoke several languages.

These men stood alongside courageous agents in training: encouraged them, assessed their character, and tried to teach them the caution and suspicion that might just keep them alive, deep in enemy territory.  But they did much more.  Many became agents themselves and displayed great bravery. 

All played a crucial role in the global effort to undermine the enemy.  We find them not only in the Baker Street Headquarters of SOE, but also in night parachute drops, in paramilitary training in the remotest depths of Scotland and in undercover agent training in isolated English country houses.  We follow them to occupied France, to Malaya and Thailand under threat of Japanese invasion, to Italy and Germany as they play their part in the collapse of the Axis regimes.  As we do so, we find a world of heroism and commitment so different from our own experience that it is scarcely believable.

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