Spymistress by William Stevenson

Spymistess is an incredible true story written by William Stevenson. William Stevenson is better known by his codename, Intrepid. He successfully ran covert operations during WWII and was personally acquainted with the British spymistress, Vera Arkins.

Vera Arkins began life as Vera Maria Rosenberg, a Romanian Jew. When she came to England, she took the name Arkins to hide her Jewish roots. If her heritage had been exposed, her enemies within the British government would have used the Alien Act of 1793 and other laws to destroy her. Her secret remained safe throughout the war, and most never knew her as anyone other than Vera Arkins.

Vera Arkins became the leader of the Special Operations Executive SOE. They made full use of Sir Winston Churchill’s directive “to develop a reign of terror to make the lives of German occupiers an eternal torment.” The SOE developed special training schools to teach agents skills of sabotage, survival in enemy territory, and what to expect if captured and interrogated by the brutal Gestapo.

The SOE was shrouded in secrecy, which many in the British government condemned. High-placed regular military officials were repulsed by guerilla warfare. They did not consider it to be fighting fair. Their sense of honour and traditions were more important than saving lives and shortening the war. For example, the SOE and other resistance groups could effectively and inexpensively sabotage German trains with zero civilian casualties. The military leaders preferred the less effective aerial bombing method, which could cost up to 70 innocent lives and risk both pilots and expensive aircraft.

The official British Secret Intelligence Service - SIS - deliberately worked against the SOE and wanted to see them dismantled, as did many people in high-placed government positions. The SOE operated with volunteers, was underfunded, and struggled to get the equipment needed to complete their missions. Yet, despite all of this, they achieved tremendous accomplishments, often at great sacrifice. Vera was able to convince President Roosevelt that the Allies could win the war, which was influential in America joining the war.

After reading this book, I marvel that the Allies won the war. The British government was divided about Nazi Germany, with some wanting to be allied with Germany against Russia. The in-fighting within different agencies, the false pride and the unwillingness to believe the Nazi atrocities all hindered the war effort. The SIS, which strongly opposed the SOE, was later shown to have been infiltrated by both Nazi and Soviet spies.

This is an excellent book for a behind-the-scenes look at SOE operations during WWII. If not for the SOE and resistance groups like them delaying German troops and equipment from reaching the Front, D-Day would have been a defeat, and it is doubtful whether the Allies would have won the war. The towering but secret figure behind much of that was Vera Arkins.

Note: The book does not dwell on Nazi atrocities, but it does mention a few of them. There is the rare use of potty words and one F-bomb. Just FYI.

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