Bodyguard of Lies is a massive brick of a book focusing on the deadly game of deceit and espionage between British and German intelligence agencies around the D-Day Landings. While Fortitude North, the well-known creation of a fake army under the command of General Patton to pin Nazi reserves as Pas de Calais during the invasion of Normandy, is the climax of the book, Brown covers everything, from the early days of the Phony War, through the desperate aftermath of Dunkirk and the clever ruses in North Africa. His command of the facts is impeccable, based on dozens of interviews and (at the time) recently declassified reports. The only area where I think material has been made available today is Bletchley Park, which was Top Secret right up until Bodyguard of Lies was published.

Brown takes a rather unique tack, focusing on the deception operation as the province of a small group of Etonian elites, the true masters of the British Empire, who orchestrated the movement of millions of men to produce a coherent and false picture for Hitler. Against them were matched the Prussian old guard, exemplified by the Abwehr spymaster Canaris, loyal to Germany and trying to move against Hitler. While the SOE was "setting Europe ablaze", a cadre of anti-Hitler German generals tried again and again to set up a coup with assurance of some sort of free Germany in the aftermath. This Schwarze Kappelle--Black Orchestra, made multiple attempts on Hitler's life, all thwarted through unlikely chances, but never achieved their political ends. The Allies already had all the intelligence they needed on Nazi intentions thanks to Ultra radio decryption, and FDR's policy of unconditional surrender made it hard to offer terms. I've divided on this stance. On the one hand, shortening the war with a surrender would have saved millions of lives. On the other hand, Aldo Raines has some good points on what Nazis deserve.

I wish there had been a little bit more on the early special forces, the SAS and SBS and SOE, and commando warfare. For all it's key importance, the XX Committee and the fact that every single Nazi spy in England was turned into a British agent didn't get a chapter to itself. But over all, Bodyguard of Lies is a detailed compilation of a very secret war.