Our Man in Yugoslavia

Book excerpt: As a fully documented study of a Second World War Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) operative, Our Man in Yugoslavia is absolutely unique. Its subject is Owen Reed, an army officer recruited into SIS in the summer of 1943 and then parachuted in to German-occupied Croatia to work with Tito's Partisans and other Allied secret organisations. After reporting back to London in July 1944, Reed returned to Yugoslavia to find relations with the Partisans deteriorating. His erstwhile comrades began working against him and the intelligence he passed to the SIS came increasingly to focus on the communist takeover. Reed found himself at the centre of the first great confrontation of the Cold War. Blending biography and operational history, Our Man in Yugoslavia is a remarkable case study, illustrating how SIS operatives were recruited and trained, and describing their work in detail.