4. Agent Zigzag Proved to be One of WWII’s Most Effective Spies
Eddie Chapman was arrested soon after he landed in Britain. He immediately accepted an offer to become a double agent – an easy choice, since the likeliest alternative would have been a hangman’s noose. Given the codename “Agent Zigzag”, a plan was concocted to fake the bomber factory’s destruction. It convinced the Germans, and raised Chapman high in their esteem. From then on, his radio reports, carefully fed him by British intelligence, were treated as gospel by the Germans, who came to see him as one of their most effective spies. He was recalled and given a hero’s welcome by the Nazis. Soon after D-Day, he was awarded an Iron Cross and sent back to Britain to report on the effectiveness of the German V1 and V2 rocket strikes on London.
Chapman set up shop, and under British control sent the Germans inflated figures about deaths from their rockets. He also deceived the Nazis about the rockets’ actual impact points, which led the Germans to shift their aim. As a result, the V1s and V2s tended to fall on lower population density parts of London, with correspondingly fewer casualties. After the war, Chapman continued his colorful life. He went into smuggling, moved to the colonies, started a farm, and in violation of the Official Secrets Act, got his exploits published in The Eddie Chapman Story (1953), Free Agent: Further Adventures of Eddie Chapman (1955), and The Real Eddie Chapman Story (1966). The three books collectively formed the basis of a 1967 movie, Triple Cross.
