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    The London Cage: The Secret History of Britain's World War II Interrogation Centre
    The London Cage: The Secret History of Britain's World War II Interrogation Centre
    The London Cage: The Secret History of Britain's World War II Interrogation Centre
    Audiobook11 hours

    The London Cage: The Secret History of Britain's World War II Interrogation Centre

    Written by Helen Fry

    Narrated by Jennifer M. Dixon

    4.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Behind the locked doors of three mansions in London's exclusive Kensington Palace Gardens neighborhood, the British Secret Service established a highly secret prison in 1940: the London Cage. Here recalcitrant German prisoners of war were subjected to "special intelligence treatment." The stakes were high: the war's outcome could hinge on obtaining information German prisoners were determined to withhold. After the war, high-ranking Nazi war criminals were housed in the Cage, revamped as an important center for investigating German war crimes.

    This riveting book reveals the full details of operations at the London Cage and subsequent efforts to hide them. Helen Fry's extraordinary original research uncovers the grim picture of prisoners' daily lives and of systemic Soviet-style mistreatment. The author also provides sensational evidence to counter official denials concerning the use of "truth drugs" and "enhanced interrogation" techniques. Bringing dark secrets to light, this groundbreaking book at last provides an objective and complete history of the London Cage.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateNov 21, 2017
    ISBN9781541488991
    The London Cage: The Secret History of Britain's World War II Interrogation Centre

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    Reviews for The London Cage

    4.5/5

    7 ratings2 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Not an easy read, but one dealing with a largely unknown, but hugely important unit interrogating, mainly, German PoWs during WW2 and afterwards high-ranking Nazis to determine if they were war criminals. The author has pulled together a large body of previously unpublished research to build a comprehensive picture of the London Cage.
    • 5/5
      In the end, this is a book about morality. The London Cage was a top secret interrogation centre set up by British intelligence during the Second World War. Located in Kensington Palace Gardens, it was closed down in 1948. For most of that time, it was a place that German prisoners of war passed through, where they were questioned, and valuable intelligence was gathered. From 1945 onwards, it collected evidence for use in war crimes trials. No one questions that the Cage, and its commanding officer Colonel Alexander Scotland, did collect useful intelligence that helped the Allies win the war. And it is also clear that Colonel Scotland's team did excellent work in helping to prepared the cases that led the imprisonment, and sometimes hanging, of German Nazi war criminals in the years after 1945. The moral issue is that despite Colonel Scotland's insistence that everything done under his command was strictly in accord with the Geneva Convention, there is some evidence of mistreatment of some prisoners. There have been allegations of torture, and there were four suspicious deaths in custody at the London Cage. Helen Fry has done an outstanding job with this book, going deep into the archives to find new sources and to attempt to reconstruct what actually happened at the London Cage. Among her many interesting finds was the original, uncensored memoir by Colonel Scotland himself.The reputation of Colonel Scotland reminds me a bit of what happened with Arthur "Bomber" Harris, who led the strategic bombing campaign against Germany. Harris clearly contributed to a successful conclusion of the war, though the tactics he employed -- which destroyed entire German cities -- proved embarrassing to some after the war. It took several decades, but eventually a statue was erected to Harris in London, and Bomber Command got its own memorial in Green Park. One wonders if some day Colonel Scotland will also be recognised for his contribution to victory. If that ever happens, this book will have made an important contribution to rediscovering the work he and his staff did in the London Cage.