Hitler’s British Traitors cover art

Hitler’s British Traitors

Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

£5.99/mo after trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options

Hitler’s British Traitors

By: Tim Tate
Narrated by: Tim Tate
Try for £0.00

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £18.11

Buy Now for £18.11

Summary

Hitler’s British Traitors is the first authoritative account of a well-kept secret: the British Fifth Column and its activities during the Second World War.

Drawing on hundreds of declassified official files - many of them previously unpublished - Tim Tate uncovers the largely unknown history of more than 70 British traitors who were convicted, mostly in secret trials, of working to help Nazi Germany win the war, and several hundred British Fascists who were interned without trial on evidence that they were working on behalf of the enemy. Four were condemned to death; two were executed.

This engrossing audiobook reveals the extraordinary methods adopted by MI5 to uncover British traitors and their German spymasters as well as two serious wartime plots by well-connected British fascists to mount a coup d’etat which would replace the government with an authoritarian pro-Nazi regime.

The audiobook also shows how archaic attitudes to social status and gender in Whitehall and the courts ensured that justice was neither fair nor equitable. Aristocratic British pro-Nazi sympathisers and collaborators were frequently protected while the less-privileged foot soldiers of the Fifth Column were interned, jailed or even executed for identical crimes.

©2019 Tim Tate (P)2019 Audible, Ltd
Freedom & Security Military Politics & Government War Espionage Imperialism
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_c
All stars
Most relevant
A really enjoyable read exploring an area not normally covered by historians of the 2nd World War. The story of how our secret services worked to stop home grown men and women spying for the enemy. Potential spies from the lowest strata of society to the aristocracy, what they did, how they were stopped and how the class system protected the rich and famous from real punishment for their efforts at treason, whilst ordinary folk suffered much stiffer punishment. Fascinating stuff

Britain's 5th Columnists

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Worth a listen but could have been shorter : with some of the narrative quite repetitious.

Interesting but a bit repetitious

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Tate draws on fairy recently released archives of counter-espionage and security services documents of surveillance and and in (necessarily circumspect) newspaper reports in the thirties and forties to portray the character and extent of fascist and antisemitic groups in the UK, and their efforts to help Nazi Germany win the war.
The reluctance of those in power to act against those of wealth or social standing is made clear in Tate’s account - “one of us”, old school tie, plus ability to employ eminent lawyers and establishment connections protected them from the harsher punishments meted out to ordinary mortals!
The UK was no more prepared in the matter of legislation, strategy and Human Resources to combat subversion from within, as in military readiness on 3 September 1939.
It’s about time to add nuance to the monochrome portrayal of a nation all pulling in one direction, heroes to a man and woman. Oswald Mosley and William Joyce (Lord Haw-Haw) are remembered but they were not alone.

The other side of the WWII legend.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

This book truly shocked me, as to the extent of the class system of the United Kingdom, which sadly is still very much ongoing, in some parts of our, so called Democratic country.

Some of the files on these people were sealed for 100 years, many of these traitors were not given the correct due punishment, due to class mainly, while lesser citizens , we're very harshly treated.

It could be argued that : traiters, of whatever creed; should have very similar judicial sentances, alas I feel still today, this would not always be seen to be the the case, as justice for all, seems to remain a distant dream.

Wars are still going on all over the world, but we have not learnt from 2 world wars, and several more conflicts since, that iwar not a solution to anything.

I hope not to see a third world war in my lifetime, however future generations I don't think will be that lucky!


Illuminating

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

How the British managed to survive WWII is surprising.

The utter incompetence of the intelligence services combined with the fascism and corruption of people in power ... including members of Parliament ... blows the mind.

The book is well read and easy to follow. I'm listening for a second time as it was such a shocking listen first time.

There are still modern parallels.

Fascinating Listen.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

See more reviews