Outwitting the Enemy

Andrew was recruited into the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) in 1939 for his linguistic talents and other qualities suitable for working in the Service. <br>By early July 1940 he had already been sent on four missions including the sabotaging of a train carrying tank engines inside Germany assisting in the evacuation of BEF soldiers from Dunkirk on one of the 'small ships' and surviving a number of life-threatening incidents when bringing King Haakon and the Norwegian cabinet from northern Norway to exile in London. <br>In November 1940 he is persuaded to help at Camp 020 with the interrogation of German spies captured in England; a few weeks later he completed his naval officer training in Scotland and southern England. <br>With the Atlantic convoys being attacked by U-boats operating out of the German-occupied ports of Lorient and St Nazaire with heavy losses he is sent at the end of March 1941 to spy on the building of the submarine pens for a possible raid by the RAF later in the year. He narrowly avoids being captured by the Wehrmacht and returns to London with vital information. <br>He undergoes parachute training in May 1941 before being dropped in NE France where he is escorted by a French Resistance group to Koblenz. His mission is to deal with a member of the SIS that had become a senior officer in the German intelligence service (the Abwehr). By some good fortune he manages to escape by Lysander back to England. <br>The story is a most compelling absorbing and attractive read with strong classical elements. It has a clean plot for the time period covered which develops and unfolds through a captivating storyline; the relatable cast of characters will keep the reader enraptured up to the very last page.