Ian Fleming’s Secret War:

https://www.casematepublishers.com/9781473853492/ian-flemings-secret-war/

Which I picked up as a sort of companion piece to “Churchill’s Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare”:

https://www.porchlightbooks.com/products/churchills-ministry-of-ungentlemanly-warfare-giles-milton-9781250119032

and “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare”:

https://www.quercusbooks.co.uk/titles/damien-lewis-3/the-ministry-of-ungentlemanly-warfare/9781529432336/

The true stories of which were adapted into the really fun film of the same name:

https://youtu.be/zvwDen1Wrx8

Fleming was a bit player in the other books and the film, and I was interested to learn more about what he did during the war.

I’m about 1/2 way through the Fleming book and the answer seems to be “Well, not much, really.”

He had a great idea to capture a German encryption device. The plan was to pilot a captured German airplane over the English channel, find a suitable German boat and crash the plane in the water nearby.

When “rescued”, the soldiers, dressed as Germans, would capture the boat and the encryption device.

Unfortunately on the day of the mission, there were no suitable boats in the channel and the whole mission was scrubbed. :(

The other two books are captivating in their telling, the Fleming book? Eh, not so much. But I’m not done yet, it could get better!