Two hundred and fifty exhausted, disoriented survivors converged on two remote English country houses. They had lived through Nazi shipwrecks from North Africa to North Cape, from blockade runner to battleship.
They met a highly tuned intelligence production line created to draw valuable information from their heads as quickly and painlessly as possible. Few of the castaways disgorged at Latimer House and Wilton Park still believed in victory, a gift for their experienced, adaptable, patient interrogators.
The system had two secret weapons. Every word the captives said in their cells was overheard and, if interesting, recorded by covert listeners. And some prisoners had changed sides, thrown in their lot with their captors.
Read how it was done, how it tilted the balance of the sea war, and the human stories behind the machine.
Reviews
“This is a fascinating book… and it’s well worth a read.”
Jim Tyro
“An incredibly detailed account of information garnered from prisoners at the house, which gave Jules a lovely insight into what went on at the house, including the fact that prisoners were taken out on trips.”
Jules Wake, Much Ado About Writing
“Such vignettes pepper this excellent little book which gives us a fresh insight into the mentality of the ordinary German Matrose (matelot), painting an unvarnished picture of the men and their leaders. It’s also another nail in the coffin of the ‘clean Wehrmacht’ myth gradually destroyed over the past couple of decades. It should be on the shelves of anyone interested in the Kriegsmarine or WW2 at sea.”
Navy News, October 2017