Edward Arnold CHAPMAN, codenamed ZIGZAG: British. CHAPMAN had been a burglar and...

Edward Arnold CHAPMAN, codenamed ZIGZAG: British. CHAPMAN had been a burglar and expert safe-blower before the Second World War. He was imprisoned by the Nazis in 1940 during the occupation of Jersey. Having offered his services to them as a spy, he was trained, equipped and later dropped by parachute near Ely, Cambridgeshire. He immediately sought to tell the British authorities about his recruitment by the Nazis and was taken on by MI5 as a Double Cross agent. CHAPMAN's training by the Germans had been as a sabotage agent; he had been supplied with money and explosives and tasked with sabotaging the De Havilland factory at Hatfield, Hertfordshire, where the Mosquito was being manufactured. After an 'attack' on the factory had been concocted by MI5, he returned to his German controllers in 1943 via Lisbon. He was awarded the Iron Cross. In June 1944 CHAPMAN was again dropped by parachute, this time charged with espionage on military targets and reporting on V-bomb damage. Back in England, CHAPMAN gave his British handlers much useful information about Germany. By October 1941, however, MI5 had discovered that CHAPMAN had, despite his denials, shared details of his role as spy and counter-spy with friends, some of whom were former criminals. The case was discontinued as a result. He published his own account of his wartime exploits in a book which formed the basis of a film.

For an item extracted from this piece see

MF 1/61

Topics

Manufacturing

Europe and Russia

Conflict

Weapons

Intelligence

Operations, battles and campaigns