Editor's Note
The real world double-agents and deception pioneers of World War II were far more adventurous and exciting than anything I could put into our fiction. They managed to accomplish the impossible, hide from the Nazis two entire Allied armies (1st US Army & 2nd British Army) and the amphibious landing that brought them to Europe. This was accomplished through understandings the weaknesses and flaws of the authoritarian fascist mindset in general and those specific to the Nazi brand of the same, then use those vulnerabilities against them. They also, of course, used an awful lot of Jews, Slavs, intellectuals, 'degenerates', and everyone else threatened and denigrated by the Nazis... They took those attacked and rejected by fascists and built them into the force that destroyed fascism in the world for more than a generation.
Unfortunately, it wasn't THAT much more than a generation. But they can inspire us, even as we listen to their warnings. Their legacy lives on in some of the weirdest places. The double-agents of the British Double-Cross System, XX, were by and large a collection of dedicated anti-fascists that the Nazis accepted as their prime source of intelligence on the degenerate West, and then filtered their fabricated reports through the filter of their own prejudices and desires, much as Russia did with Ukraine in our own time. The real story of those like BRUTUS, MUTT & JEFF, and the bravery and dedication of the system that allowed them to bring the Nazis to their own ruin is if anything more incredible and fantastical than anything dreamed up in our days. BRUTUS, who I called RED here, Roman Czerniawski, was if anything more bloody-minded and relentless than I was able to depict, and far more bad-ass and influential. The RAINBOW Detachment, BLUE, ICEPEAK, and ICEWHITE, Radio Technician Alton Adams, Capt Oakes, and Lt Weismiller, is inspired by the real world OSS detachment that did much the same style of wireless deception, but they did it behind enemy lines, in far greater danger. The Ritchie Boys and the Nisei of the Defense Language Institute, from whom I count my military legacy in two distinct lineages, were an amazing tribute to what refugees and immigrants bring to building and safeguarding a nation-- and the risks a system takes when they start eliminating those they find insufficiently pure.
The authoritarian rot was not unique to Nazi Germany, nor was the cure unique to the US and UK. The Nisei, Japanese immigrants that served as the intelligence backbone of the US forces in the Pacific, were famously fighting as their families were interned at home. And the best World War II dramatic series of all time, the Soviet TV series "Seventeen Moments of Spring", was famous for the double-entendre of the struggle of against a world gone mad, as those trapped under Stalin and Brezhnev understood the analogy for those that were suffering under the authoritarian yoke even as those applying that yoke were blind to the nuance. It is said even today to be Putin's favorite television program, even as it shows exactly the systemic blindness and stupidity that is the true Cosmic Horror of bureaucratic madness. Paperwork That Mankind Was Not Meant To Fill Out. Our own broligarchs are this era's Yog Sothoths, but unlike those that drove poor HP mad (and maybe drove him racist, to boot), these are forces that we can fight against, and win. We have before. For the Elder Gods are strong but ultimately so, so stupid. And we poor mad rats beneath their heels can form nests and warrens that will stand against them, keep them from recognizing when the Stars are (Far) Right. Because ultimately the race isn't to the swift nor victory to the mighty, but instead to those that Just Hang On against all odds. Survival of the Stubbornest, just like in World War II.
I am grateful to the now declassified reports that outline the true story of these amazing unsung heroes, to those that depicted them before me (Connie Willis and Ruthanna Emrys have done amazing jobs delving into the intricacies of the contradictions and struggle), and most of all to these rejected and forgotten warriors of deception. Their example is still cited in military deception conferences to this day, I can say from personal experience (yes, there are conferences for improving military deception, and they are both far weirder and more boring than you'd ever imagine). The inaccuracies and limits of my imagination are all my own-- no fiction can ever be as brave or strange as their truth.
Historical References:
Masterman, J. C. (1972). The double-cross system in the war of 1939 to 1945. Yale University Press.
Knobelspeisse, AV. Center for the Study of Intelligence. (2012). "Masterman revisited: The double-cross system in retrospect". Central Intelligence Agency. https://www.cia.gov/resources/csi/static/Masterman-Revisited.pdf
Cowden, R. Center for the Study of Intelligence. (n.d.). "A pioneering experiment: OSS double-agent operations in World War II". Central Intelligence Agency. https://www.cia.gov/resources/csi/static/OSS-Double-Agent-Operations.pdf
Polish Exiles of WW2. (n.d.). Roman Czerniawski. Polish Exiles of WW2 Database.
Inspirations:
Willis, C. (2010). Blackout and All clear. Spectra.
Emrys, R. (2014–2018). The Innsmouth Legacy [Book series]. Tor Books.
Spencer, W. B. (1995). Résumé with monsters. White Wolf Publishing.
Semyonov, Y. (1969). Seventeen moments of spring (Семнадцать мгновений весны). Moscow, USSR: Voenizdat.
Lioznova, T. (Director). (1973). Seventeen moments of spring (Семнадцать мгновений весны) [Television series]. Moscow, USSR: Gorky Film Studio.
Chambers, R. W. (1895). The king in yellow. F. Tennyson Neely.
Chandler, R. (1938, March). The king in yellow. Dime Detective Magazine, 24(3).