Book Review: ‘Agent Zigzag’

Was there a more enigmatic and successful World War II double agent than Eddie Chapman?

I don’t think so.

Chapman, a charming con man, philanderer, safecracker and self-taught explosives expert, offered to work as a spy for the Germans in 1940, but gave himself over to the British after being parachuted into England in 1942 with a wireless set, revolver and cyanide pill with instructions to sabotage an aircraft factory.

Repeatedly risking his life, Chapman fed an extraordinary amount of vital disinformation to the Nazis, and drawing on his base instincts, amorality and extraordinary survival skills, fooled his German handlers all the way through to the end of the war.

Thanks to the declassification of massive sections of Chapman’s long secret MI5 files, Ben Macintyre has now written far and away the best book of the several about the double agent – Agent Zigzag: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal (Harmony Books, 2007).

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