Dr Helen Fry | WWII Historian
@DrHelenFry
Author & Historian of 25+ books on WWII, espionage & spies. Expert on Secret Listeners, Germans who fought for Britain & Women in Intelligence: http://amzn.to/3kU7Leq
I am truly delighted to soon share my next book: THE WHITE LADY: The Story of British Secret Service Networks Behind German Lines. I chart the history of the two most important networks in the First and Second World Wars: La Dame Blanche and the Clarence Service. Autumn 2025..
Did you know MI9 enlisted Waddingtons to create special Monopoly games with hidden escape tools for WWII POWs? For instance, a full stop on the ‘Free Parking’ square signalled a concealed map of Northern France and Germany inside the game.
During WWII, the Pyrenees served as a crucial escape route from Nazi-occupied Europe. Guides and helpers trekked hundreds of miles to rescue Allied airmen and soldiers, escorting them to safety to fight again.
During WW2, downed Allied airmen needed a way home through the Pyrenees, relying on local mountain guides. One guide could carry men across raging rivers, navigate the mountains blindfolded, and outwit German patrols—all while slightly tipsy. Meet Florentino Goicoechea: (🧵)
In the 1920s-30s, MI5’s female agents outwitted communist and fascist spies threatening Britain. From foiling Moscow’s plots to infiltrating Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists, their daring coups rewrote intelligence history: (🧵)
On August 17, I'll be giving an online talk on the life and wartime endeavours of Colin Anson - a German Jewish refugee turned elite British 'X Troop' Commando during WW2. The Commandos, also known as the British Commandos, were formed during the Second World War in June 1940,…
In the 1960s, Herman Rothman recognised a name on a list of accused Auschwitz war criminals. It was someone he once knew. He had Perry Broad's diary in his attic. What happened next took him to the courtroom of one of the most infamous Nazi trials in history: (🧵)