London Calling North Pole

by Hermann J. Giskes

non-fiction war

Genres: History, Military Fiction, Nonfiction

208 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1953

About the author

Hermann Josef Giskes was a German intelligence officer of the Abwehr, the military intelligence department of the German military forces during World War II. He is best known for being the head of the counter-intelligence department of the Abwehr in the Netherlands from 1941 to 1944. He carried out an operation called Englandspiel or Operation North Pole which resulted in the capture of more than 50 agents of Britain's Special Operations Executive (SOE) and the confiscation of tons of military equipment, including weapons, which SOE had parachuted into the Netherlands to arm Dutch groups resisting the occupation of the Netherlands by Nazi Germany. Most of the captured agents were executed after being forced to participate in a disinformation campaign which led SOE to believe that its agents were being successful in organizing and supplying the Dutch resistance.

Reviews

[Chris Zable · Rating 3 out of 5]

This would be a companion-piece to Between Silk and Cyanide -- some of the same events, as seen by a German officer.

[Allyson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a horrifying and enlightening read. I kept hoping that London would be revealed to have been in on the game but as was related at the end, the workers were not nearly as smart as the trainers for the SOE operatives.
Again, a very old book whose pages smell of it's age. A shame this cover cannot be here rendered.

[Mark Barnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read of the German perspective into the British intelligence failings in the Netherlands during World War 2. It suffers a little bit from being written early, and being a personal memoir, and therefore has neither the scope nor the balance from a broader work. It should therefore be read in conjunction with Dutch and British accounts. Nevertheless, a valuable insight into a sometimes forgotten part of the war.

[thistle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was published in 1953, and that's the edition I read.