The Solitary Spy: A Political Prisoner in Cold War Berlin

Of the 2.3 million National Servicemen conscripted during the Cold War, 4,200 attended the secret Joint Services School for Linguists, tasked with supplying much-needed Russian speakers to the three services. After training, they were sent to the front lines in Germany and elsewhere to snoop on Soviet aircraft in real time. Posted to RAF Gatow in Berlin, ideally placed for signals interception, author Douglas Boyd came to know Hitler’s devastated former capital. Pulling no punches, he descr...