Counter intelligence, the conflict, and the conquest

by Edward R. Koudelka

Counterintelligence during World War II, as in every war in history, was not publicized as a glamorous job. History books generally ignore the contributions of counterintelligence agents in saving lives and bringing an early end to the conflict. This book is a first in that regard. It contains the recollections of a former U.S. Army counterintelligence special agent operating in Iceland, England, France, Belgium, and Germany during World War II. It is a reflective and human account, combining dangerous, serious, and amusing aspects of the activities of one man. Koudelka was involved, on a daily basis, with the important task of protecting the security of American forces in occupied and liberated countries. There is no other book available which gives a firsthand account of the U.S. Army's counterintelligence actions during World War II. This book should be in every military history library.

Paperback

Published January 1, 1986

Reviews

[Ernesto · Rating 3 out of 5]

A excellent book about the Army counter intelligence efforts in Northern Europe during WWII. A short easy read.

[Cameron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Edward Koudelka was a US Counter Intelligence Agent during WWII. He wrote this rare first-person account of his experiences in 1986, forty years afterwards. It is remarkably detailed and though unpolished, it gives a good idea of the work CIC agents did during the war. Although the CIC deployed thousands of men in Europe and the Pacific between 1941 and 1945, only four other first-person accounts of former CIC agents survive. Koudelka's is especially unique because he spent six months in Iceland, and very little has been written about the war there.

Like many other agents, Koudelka was a gifted linguist, speaking Czech, Polish, and French and teaching himself Icelandic during his service in a small village on Iceland's east coast. Most of his wartime service was spent in France before, during and after the Battle of the Bulge, and his main job was arresting and interrogating French collaborators or suspected spies. He was sent back to the US in March 1945, just as the allies were crossing the Rhine.

Comparable in scope and readability to Melchior's Case by Case and Schwarzwalder's We Caught Spies, Koudelka's book is far superior to Vaughan's Counterspy Mission in WWII and Myers' Hey Nazis, I'm Coming For You.