Nicholas Rankin

The story of how the British really won two world wars - by conning the Kaiser, hoaxing Hitler, and bluffing their way out of trouble. Pretend German radio stations broadcast outrageous British propaganda in Germany. British geniuses broke German secret codes and eavesdropped on their messages. Every German spy in Britain was captured, and many were used to send back...

In 1942, Lieutenant-Commander Ian Fleming was a personal assistant to the Director of Naval Intelligence—the dynamic figure behind James Bond's fictional chief, 'M'. Here, Fleming had a brilliant idea: why not set up a unit of authorised looters, men who would go in hard with the front-line troops and steal enemy intelligence? Known as '30 Assault Unit', they took part...

Two months before he shot himself, Adolf Hitler saw where it had all gone wrong. By failing to seize Gibraltar in the summer of 1940, he lost the war. The Rock of Gibraltar, a pillar of British sea-power since 1704, looked formidable but was extraordinarily vulnerable. Though menaced on all sides by Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Vichy France, and Francoist...