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Codename TREASURE G Peter Winnington

Codename TREASURE By G Peter Winnington

Codename TREASURE by G Peter Winnington


$25.99
Condition - Very Good
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Summary

First published biography of Lily, using her own writings and unpublished family papers. One of MI5's five D-Day spies who mis-led the Nazis, from Hitler downwards, into believing that the Allied landing would take place in the Pas de Calais, thus saving countless lives on the beaches of Normandy.

Codename TREASURE Summary

Codename TREASURE: The Life of D-Day Spy, Lily Sergueiew by G Peter Winnington

This is the first biography of an intrepid young French woman, Lily Sergueiew, who led an adventurous life and became famous as one of the five D-Day spies. In 1939, her bicycle ride from Paris to Saigon was interrupted by the outbreak of war. Disgusted by the Fall of France in 1940, she took the courageous decision to personally help the Allies drive the Nazis out of France: she would get the Abwehr to train her as a spy and have herself sent to England. Once there, she would betray the Nazis and place herself at the disposal of the Allies. It took three emotionally exhausting years to achieve this. She arrived in England just in time to become TREASURE, one of the five spies who misled the Nazis into believing that the Allies would land in the Pas de Calais. This disinformation operation saved countless lives. But Lily found the English cold and ungenerous towards her. They knew that she had a fatal medical condition. She had also risked her life - and her parents' lives - every day she worked for the Nazis, yet the English would not let her bring the dog who was such a comfort to her. They told her that her work was vital to their cause, but for Lily their behaviour meant that it was not worth a dog. So she hid from them that the Nazis had given her a control code to prove that her radio messages were genuine: it gave her a sense of power to know that she could destroy her work - and the whole D-Day deception - with a single keystroke. She did not intend to use it, but once she had revealed it, she was dismissed straight after D-Day. This meant that she could join the Free French Forces and be sent to France to care for Displaced Persons left in the wake of the retreating Nazis. Working with liberated prisoners from Buchenwald, she married the American Major in charge of the region who had fallen in love with her. He took her to America where he hoped that her condition could be cured. It could not, and she died (largely forgotten) with her husband at her side in 1950.

About G Peter Winnington

Although he was born in England, Peter Winnington spent his working life teaching English literature at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland. As a hobby, he edited books and periodicals. This led him to write a biography of Mervyn Peake, which was published in 2000 to coincide with the BBC's screening of Gormenghast, an adaptation of the first two of Peake's novels about Titus Groan. Since then, Peter has been writing biographies, concentrating on the lives of women who have been undeservedly forgotten.

Additional information

GOR013920736
9781399045278
139904527X
Codename TREASURE: The Life of D-Day Spy, Lily Sergueiew by G Peter Winnington
Used - Very Good
Hardback
Pen & Sword Books Ltd
2023-07-20
224
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in very good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

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