WW2 in Real Time: Spies & Ties — Season 1

In a re-upload of one of our D-Day 24 Hour videos, Astrid introduces you to the war's most effective counter-espionage and deception programme, The Double Cross system. Today she'll talk about their operations before and during D-Day and introduce you to some of the most important double agents. Their mission - fool the Führer.

She's the gambler with a hotline to the Abwehr. The party girl tearing up the London social scene. Now she's doing her bit to hold back the Panzer Divisions and pave the way for D-Day. This is the story of Elvira Concepcion Josefina de la Fuente Chaudoir, Double Cross's most flamboyant double agent.

Juan Pujol Garcia's neighbours think nothing of the new Spanish family that moves in during the war. But this quiet man who lives in suburban London and works for the BBC is a master of military deception. He runs a Double Cross network of invisible men who run rings around the Germans before, during, and after D-Day.

The problem with some Double Agents is that it's very hard to trust them. After the mercurial Polish pilot and spymaster Roman Czerniawski offers his service to the Allies, MI5 and Double Cross worry that their new man will turn out to be a Triple Agent! But they'll have to learn to trust agent Brutus because he might just hold the key to success in Operation Fortitude.

The intrigue of espionage lies in the shadows of trust. When the enigmatic Russian-born Nathalie Sergueiew is caught between German recruitment and British counter-intelligence, MI5 faces a quandary. Agent Treasure's unpredictable nature makes her a challenging asset, teetering between an invaluable ally and a potential risk. Yet, amidst the dance of deception, it becomes clear: Treasure's role is more golden than her codename suggests.

Dusko Popov and Johnny Jebsen, Double Cross and Abwehr resistance working in perfect harmony. Together they forge a friendship that outfoxes the Nazis. But Popov and Jebsen are just a small part of a much wider story that goes to the heart of the anti-Nazi resistance and brings in our old friends Admiral Canaris and Hans Oster.

South-America is home to one of Germany's most effective spy-networks. In Operation Bolivar, dozens of German operatives transmit information from and to the USA, Brazil, Argentina, and other South and Central American countries, giving the Abwehr and SD access to crucial information on politics, economics, and military business.

A spy story almost forgotten to history that is key to understanding the espionage campaign that was waged as Hitler, Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill publicly directed the frontlines. Coming together here are the histories of cryptography, Nazi double-agents, and nuclear weapons.

All belligerents are working hard to develop a powerful nuclear super-weapon. The Americans wonder how far along the Germans are, and send in their spies.

An extensive network of spies and radio operators are gathering intelligence and sending it to Moscow from Western Europe. They are a colourful group of people who go by the name of Die Rote Kapelle, or Red Orchestra.

The Polish played a big part in cracking the Enigma codes. From there, the Polish spy and intelligence operation became even bigger.

The Abwehr was the German military intelligence agency during World War Two. At the same time, it was the home of some high-ranking anti-nazi resistance members.

Astrid talks about spying all the time, but what was it actually like for people on the ground? We look through the lens of the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) to find out!

World War Two gave birth to a new American Centralised Intelligence Agency: The OSS. Led by "Wild Bill" Donovan, it is the cradle of many outrageous plans, spy stories, and gadgets.

The Soviet Union is built on distrust and paranoia, giving birth to a system of intelligence and a huge spy network ran by agencies such as the GRU and NKVD. But what good is all that information if you don't believe it?

To smooth the way for the Allied invasion off French North Africa, Operation Torch, a massive spy operation is set up in 1941 and 42.

Japanese spy rings were somewhat successful up until December 1941, but after Pearl Harbor, Japanese intelligence remains only a shell of its former self.

During World War Two, china was ripped up by many different warring parties, all of which were also playing spy games with crosses, double-crosses and triple-crosses.

Britain's MI6 is caught off guard when war breaks out. As the Germans advance across Western Europe MI6's networks collapse, and Britain becomes almost blind. MI6 have their secret weapons at Bletchley Park but they now face a painful struggle to rebuild their eyes in Europe.

As a neutral country surrounded by occupied and axis countries, Switzerland was a major spy hub during World War Two. Surrounded by the Swiss Alps, the Axis and Allies fought a paralel spy war to get the upper hand.

We've seen it time and time again in this war. Supposed Allies arguing with each other instead of fighting the enemy. But when SOE and MI6 begin vying for leadership of Britain's secret war, it's more than cross words. Now there are lives at stake.

We've encountered plenty of different secret agents. Men, women, Allied, Axis, Partisans. They all fight for different reasons: patriotism, vengeance, or cold hard cash. But they've all had one thing in common. They've been alive. We've never had a dead secret agent. Yet...

We've already seen the power of signals intelligence. Churchill loves being fed information from MI6's Ultra. Now it brings a vengeance for his American allies. They manage to bag the scourge of Pearl Harbor, C-in-C of the Imperial Japanese Navy, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto.

Neutral Turkey appears to be an island of peace in a sea of war. But if you look a little closer though and there's another story. Assassins ply their deadly trade. Spies slip in and out of occupied Europe. The Allies and Axis battle for influence. The secret war is in full swing.

Glyndwr Michael, the dead secret agent, has deposited his deceptive letters in Spain. Now the next phase of Operation Mincemeat begins. If Charles Cholmondely of MI5 and Ewen Montagu of Naval Intelligence have done their job right, the letters should make their way into Hitler's hands.

Being allies does little to discourage Moscow from recruiting double agents in the British establishment. The most famous of them all, Kim Philby and the Cambridge Five, penetrate deep into MI5, MI6, and Bletchley Park. With friends like the NKVD, who needs enemies?

The typical image of the French Resistance is of a man, beret at an angle, cigarette hanging from his bottom lip, captured MP40 across his chest. But one of the most successful resistance leaders is a woman – Marie-Madeline Fourcade. And right now, the Germans have her on the run!

The NKVD have wormed their way into British society. Across the pond, America is also teeming with communist spies. They're in the government, military, even OSS, and the FBI. Now they're going for the biggest secret of all – the atomic bomb.

They say every masterpiece has its cheap copy. Well, the German Sicherheitsdienst are trying to copy the success of the Soviet Partisans. With Walter Schellenberg, Heinrich Himmler, and Reinhard Heydrich in charge, you know it's going to be a bloody affair.

SOE agents come from all walks of life but very few can claim to be royalty. Few except Noor Inayat Khan. She's been sent as a radio operator to France, arriving right in the middle of a German crackdown on the resistance. Now she is the sole link between London and Paris.

Colonel Reinhard Gehlen is head of German military intelligence in the East. He likes to think he's a master of his craft. But all along he's been a victim of the NKVD and a man named Max. Gehlen thinks he can hold off the Red Army. But as things go from bad to worse his thoughts will start to turn to the possibility of a new world...

The popular image of the Gestapo is as black leather-jacketed fiends whose spies keep the nation under constant surveillance. They are so powerful that the terrified population has no choice but to sell out its family and friends. But how true is this? Are all Germans living in fear of the Gestapo all the time?

We are getting closer and closer to D-Day and the potential liberation of Nazi Europe. But how much do the Germans know about this? Is the leak inside the British Embassy in Ankara enough to thwart the efforts of Operation Bodyguard, Operation Fortitude, and everything else the Allies are doing to deceive Adolf Hitler? Let's find out. This is the story of Cicero.

After years of undermining the Nazi regime and aiding the resistance, Abwehr Chief Wilhelm Canaris finally loses his battle with Heinrich Himmler and the SS. The Abwehr Trojan Horse is no more, and German intelligence is at death's door at the most crucial moment.

So far, the German resistance haven't had much luck with their attempts to kill the Führer, Adolf Hitler. But now, the German war hero Claus von Stauffenberg, together with Friedrich Olbricht and Henning von Tresckow, drives the resistance forward. It's time to kill Hitler. It's time for Operation Valkyrie.

Stauffenberg, Olbricht and the plotters launch Operation Valkyrie. The army moves in to seize power, troops surround the government quarter in Berlin, and Joseph Goebbels is arrested. But things start going wrong pretty much immediately and far away in East Prussia the Nazi fightback begins.

The Germans are assaulting London with waves of V-1 flying bombs. But Eddie Chapman, a career criminal, serial womaniser, and masterful double agent working for MI5's Double Cross is fighting a secret battle to beat the bombs. When he's done with that, he pulls the wool over Reich's eyes to help Britain beat the Kriegsmarine. This is Agent Zigzag.

In the New Mexico desert, a secret team of scientists is working flat out to develop atomic bombs. It's the most important American military project in history. But one of those scientists lives a double life. Klaus Fuchs has decided to betray his country and share America's most secret technology with the Soviet Union. But is he the only person who has turned traitor?

Last episode we saw Klaus Fuchs steal details of the American atomic bomb for the Soviet Union. But he's only one component of a much bigger conspiracy. Today, Astrid introduces you to the mysterious web of Soviet atomic spies. Their work will change our world forever.

Military deception is tricky. Sometimes you need to destroy a crucial piece of war industry or make an entire harbour disappear. Who do you call for this sort of job? Well, someone who knows a thing or two about tricking the eye. You need a professional magician. You need Jasper Maskelyne. But is there more to this illusionist than meets the eye?

What if I told you that a new conflict will sweep the globe in less than a year? It will open not with gunshots but with silent, shadowy espionage. The man who will kick off the Cold War is a quiet Canadian pilot, millionaire, and spymaster. A trusted aide to Churchill and FDR. I bet you haven't heard this name before. William Stephenson.

What is the best way to extract information from enemy spies? British interrogator Robin "Tin Eye" Stephens reckons that physical torture is pretty useless. Instead he has great success with a method of psychological terror that breaks the spy's will and even turns some of them into double agents. But when the war is over, will he stick to his principles?

Should spies be suave gentlemen or streetwise crooks? Today, Astrid and Anna introduce you to two of MI6's original gangster spies, Walter Dicketts and Arthur Owens. They quickly bring some impressive results. But, the thing about criminals is that it can be hard to trust them. Just a couple of years into the war, MI6's Double Cross System might be in a lot of trouble...

What convinces a Nazi spy switch sides? For some it's a deeply held opposition to the murderous ideology of the Third Reich. Sometimes it's a love of money, adventure, or an affinity with Britain. But for others, the reason is simple: to save their own skin. One of those is Agent Tate, a man who never renounces his Nazi beliefs.

Geoffrey Pyke is remembered as an eccentric scientist who spewed out ideas like giant aircraft carriers made of icy Pykerete. But there was much more to him than that. He was a spy, a special operations mastermind, and his novel ideas contributed to the success of D-Day.

Italy, 1945. Karl Wolff of the SS is looking for a way to save his skin. In his desperation he turns to Allen Dulles and the American OSS. Wolff's bargaining chip? The surrender of German forces in Italy. The price? Escape from the hangman's noose. Is it a price worth paying? And what will Joseph Stalin say when he finds out his allies are talking to the Nazis?

As the Allies advance further into Germany, they turn their eyes to a new objective: recovering as much of the Nazi science and as many of the scientists as they can. Advances in jet fighters, chemical and biological weapons, rockets, all of these will be useful in the inevitable future confrontation between East and West.

So, you think you know the Enigma Story? The Poles, the French, Bletchley Park, Alan Turing, and daring raids on sinking U-Boats. Well, there's one figure you may never have heard of. Today, Anna and Astrid tell the story of a German Double Agent named Hans Thilo-Schmidt and his vital but forgotten part in the Enigma story.

On a snowy night, two tall men are walking along the highway on the coast of Maine. They could hardly be more suspicious. They wear light European coats, no hats, large suitcases, and they leave a trail of footprints down to the beach… These strange men are German spies on the hunt for America's biggest secrets!

Astrid and Anna take a break from tales of espionage to bring you one of international cooperation. Developed by a small group of highly driven individuals working in top secret, Proximity Fuzes are the new Allied super weapon changing the face of warfare forever. They're just one of many impressive new developments which are helping the Allies win the war. Defeating the Axis is a righteous cause of course. But at its core, so much of our scientific progress is in the service of finding more effective ways to kill one another. What does this mean for our future?

How did so many Nazi war criminals escape to Argentina? The answer is the infamous network of ratlines stretching from Europe to South America. Joseph Mengele, Adolf Eichmann, Ante Pavelic, all of these monsters escape justice thanks to the efforts of former SS men, Juan Peron, the Red Cross, and perhaps even the pope.

What did the RAF and Luftwaffe think of each other's toys? Who were the Zirkus Rosarius and the RAFwaffe? And what happens when American and German engineers team up to save the Luftwaffe's wonder weapons? Deception, trickery, and subterfuge await once again in another instalment of Spies & Ties.

Why do so many famous American scientists have German names, just like Wernher von Braun? Well, the answer lies in a decade-spanning secret operation conducted by the USA to recruit and harness the intellectual prowess of Nazi Scientists. Stay tuned to learn how Truman, the State Department, and the military all played their parts!

Strap in and prepare yourself to find out how Paperclip manages to navigate through the shitstorm, and how its fate becomes inexorably intertwined with the new cool Kid on the Block, the CIA. This sinister partnership soon involves former Nazi top scientists in some of America's shadiest programs.

In this eye-opening episode, we delve into the secretive Soviet operation known as Operation Osoaviachim—often dubbed "the Soviet Paperclip." As World War II draws to a close, the alliance between east and west begin to fracture, and the race for scientific supremacy intensifies. This video explores how the Soviet Union strategically "recruited" German scientists to gain an edge over the West, setting the stage for the future conflicts. Join us as we uncover the intricate details of this clandestine mission and its far-reaching implications.