Tony Insall

Europe, 1940. Naziforces sweep across the continent, with a British invasion likely only weeksaway. Never before has a resistance movement been so crucial to the war effort. In this comprehensiveappraisal of Anglo-Norwegian cooperation in the Second World War, Tony Insallreveals some of the most striking successes of the Norwegian resistance,particularly the reports produced by the heroic SIS agents living in thecountry’s desolate wilderness. Their coast-watching intelligence highlightedthe movements of the German fleet and led to counter-strikes that sank manyenemy ships – most notably the Tirpitz in November 1944. Delving deep into thearchives, Insall also shows how SIS and SOE’s effective cooperation with theirNorwegian counterparts produced some of the most remarkable achievements of thewar. This fully updatededition draws on a wealth of new source material, revealing previously unknownstories of fraught sea crossings, a disastrous British-Norwegian operation,covert dealings with the Russians and much more.

Group Captain Gilbert Insall holdsa unique record: he is the only person to have both won a Victoria Cross andescaped successfully from a German prisoner of war camp during the First WorldWar. The Madness of Courage describes how, when forced down by enginedamage after destroying a German fighter, Gilbert ignored intensive shelling inorder to repair his aircraft and return to base. But a few weeks later, he wasshot down and captured. And thus began a distinguished career in prisonbreaking. He tunnelled out of Heidelbergprison camp and later hid among boxes on a horse-drawn cart to get away fromCrefeld, each time being recaptured. Then, in Stroehen, Gilbert and severalcompanions concealed themselves in a claustrophobically small space they hadexcavated under the floor of the bathhouse. They remained there for seventeenhours, while a fruitless search for them was carried out, and eventuallyemerged and successfully reached Holland. Meticulously told by Gilbert'sgreat-nephew, the critically acclaimed intelligence historian Tony Insall, TheMadness of Courage is a gripping true story about a remarkable man at atime before the Geneva Convention was signed, when conditions for prisoners ofwar were often appalling and the British War Office did little to helpprisoners escape. Instead, Gilbert's family, assisted by French intelligence,gave him the support he needed to break out of captivity in an extraordinaryfeat of bravery, resilience and ingenuity.