UKTV - Secret War (2011) Part 1 The Special Interrogation Group

“The secret agents who set Europe ablaze”

Just when you thought you knew everything about WWII, Secret War uncovers more incredible stories that exist under the radar. As bombs were dropped from planes, missiles were launched and tanks were deployed all over the world, another kind of war was being waged by the Allies a secret war – a war of espionage. This secret war involved countless acts of espionage, courage, ruthlessness, double dealing and betrayal. It featured secret agents risking everything, working undercover on the continent to turn the tide against the Nazis, never knowing who, at any time, they could trust. Some became double agents playing both sides for the thrill of the danger, others did it just to stay alive. Always these extraordinary characters lived their lives on the edge. Secret War tells their amazing stories. Less than a year after World War II began, Hitler’s armies occupied much of mainland Europe—and the island nation of Great Britain stood alone. Rather than wait for the expected German invasion, Prime Minister Winston Churchill decided to hit back at the Nazis any way he could. In the summer of 1940, he set up a secret new organization called the Special Operations Executive, or SOE, and gave it a simple mission “set Europe ablaze.” SECRET WAR goes inside Churchill's secret army, to a dangerous world of agents, double agents, and even triple agents. In 13 episodes, it tells the story of SOE agents and other clandestine warriors who went behind enemy lines to conduct intelligence-gathering, sabotage, and assassination. Sometimes the operations were spectacularly successful, at other times inexplicably inept. But together, the efforts of these intrepid men and women helped save thousands of lives, liberate Europe, and turn the tide of World War II.

Part 1 The Special Interrogation Group

The S.I.G. were German-speaking Jewish volunteers from Palestine who posed as Germans to gain vital intelligence. In 1942, the British army was locked in a deadly back-and-forth struggle in the North African desert with Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps. A small band of soldiers were selected by the British for a unique mission. These men could speak fluent German because they were the children of German Jews, victims of the holocaust. They were called the Special Interrogation Group, the S.I.G. and their task was to infiltrate the German lines. Few were as motivated as 40 or so men ready to risk immediate execution in order to strike at the Nazis behind the front lines. The last surviving member of the S.I.G., 93 year old Maurice Tiefenbrunner speaks just a few years before his death about the group's astonishing adventures.

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