5. Chapman Foils Hitler’s Vengeance Weapons
Eddie Chapman was arrested soon after parachuting into Britain, and he immediately offered to become a double agent for British intelligence. Considering that the alternative was probably death by hanging as a traitor, it is unclear how much of that offer was driven by patriotic altruism and how much by an animal instinct for survival. Whatever his motives, Chapman was given the codename “Agent Zigzag”, and a plan was hatched to fake the bomber factory’s destruction. It convinced the Germans, and raised Chapman in their esteem. From then on, Chapman’s reports, carefully fed him by British intelligence, were treated as gospel by his German handlers. The Germans eventually recalled Chapman, and gave him a hero’s welcome.
Soon after D-Day, Chapman was awarded an Iron Cross, then sent back to Britain to report on the effectiveness of the German V1 and V2 rocket strikes on London. Under British control, Chapman sent the Germans inflated figures about deaths from their rockets, while deceiving them about their actual impact points. That led the Germans to shift the rockets’ aim points, causing them to fall on lower population density parts of London, with correspondingly fewer casualties. After WWII, Chapman continued his colorful life. He got into smuggling, moved to the colonies, and started a farm. Then, in violation of the Official Secrets Act, he published his wartime exploits in The Eddie Chapman Story (1953); Free Agent: Further Adventures of Eddie Chapman (1955); and The Real Eddie Chapman Story (1966). Those books formed the basis for a 1967 movie, Triple Cross.
