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Author: Dr Steve Gibson
ISBN No: 978-0752465807
Review date: 11/07/2026
No of pages:
Publisher: The History Press
Publisher URL:
http://www.thehistorypress.co.uk
Year of publication: 11/09/2012
Brief:
A second edition paperback.
Steve Gibson has brought out a second edition of his first-hand account of Brixmis – the British Army’s secret unit behind enemy lines in the Cold War. From 1946 until the end of the ‘war’ in 1990 the missions monitored the hundreds of thousands of Soviet troops stationed in East Germany. He’s tacked on at the end of his account a chapter of ‘reflections’ on security, risk and intelligence, as pungent and stimulating a read about current affairs as any I have come across lately. But the bulk of the book is as gripping a read as you could wish for without gunfire, as – with permission – Brixmis were a ‘legitimate spying operation’. ‘Often at enormous risk to their own safety these men were themselves regularly watched, followed, rammed, beaten and shot during their function as the eyes and ears of the intelligence community beyond the Iron Curtain.’ Gibson gives detailed and exciting accounts of avoiding (and meeting) the ‘Sovs’, taking useful photos (all seasons, day and night) and driving away from scenes at speed. Besides, there’s deep analysis and human sympathy. For instance, when the Iron Curtain is crumbling, Gibson sees a duty officer at the border with a pained face. “The future unravelled in a single glimpse, The awful consequences for him, part of a country that had ‘lost’ a war, thankfully never really fought, and the uncertainty for me, ‘winning’ a war against a former ally, suddenly made me as vulnerable as him.” Whether or not you lived through the Cold War, this is a thrilling account – with sobering reflections.
