W4ASZ
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Thank you as well, Lone Ranger. I am comforted to know that the experts here are of that opinion. I would hate to have missed something !
Chasseur said:I would second what AmateisGal wrote, in general the scholarly concensus is that the German espionage in the US and particular the UK was not generally that successful. Unless something pretty recent has come out.
LONDON – Her secret is out. But it is too late for Eileen Nearne to bask in the glory Britain loves to bestow on its World War II heroes.
She died alone, uncelebrated, on Sept. 2 of a heart attack at age 89. Only on Tuesday did the nation learn of her bravery behind enemy lines: She went on a clandestine mission to France in 1944 at the tender age of 23 to operate a wireless transmitter that served as a vital link between the French resistance and war planners in London.
Nearne posed as a French shop girl. She meanwhile helped coordinate supply lines and weapons drops in advance of the D-Day invasion that marked the beginning of the liberation of Europe, then stayed on the job until the Nazis caught her in July 1944, and sent her to the Ravensbruck concentration camp. She later escaped after being sent to a smaller nearby camp.
The accounts of her extraordinary deeds — her grace under fire — were made public by military historians and special forces veterans who had read her secret files and knew what Nearne had accomplished but declined to discuss. Her wartime role was not publicly acknowledged until local officials went into her apartment after her death and found a treasure trove of medals, records and memorabilia, including French currency used during the war.
"She was an excellent agent, very imaginative, but very unobtrusive, and that is a very important quality," said Royal Air Force veteran Beryl Escott, author of an upcoming book on the Special Operations Executive, set up by wartime leader Winston Churchill to infiltrate mainland Europe and provide support for resistance forces. "It was vital and dangerous work, especially for wireless operators."
Story said:
Story said:On Tuesday, the anonymity that Ms. Nearne had cherished in life was denied her in death...
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/22/world/europe/22nearne.html?_r=2&ref=obituaries
But once again she had already made good her escape.
Of course, if it's fiction, then he can write whatever he wants.
Daniel Silva's first book, The Unlikely Spy, tells the story of a German sleeper spy cell in the U.K. that almost ruined the secret of where the invasion was to take place. Never happened, but it made for a darn good thriller.
I would second what AmateisGal wrote, in general the scholarly concensus is that the German espionage in the US and particular the UK was not generally that successful. Unless something pretty recent has come out.