Renegades

At the end of World War II, nearly 200 British citizens were investigated for aiding Nazi Germany. While figures like William Joyce and John Amery gained notoriety, this meticulously researched study reveals a much larger and intriguing narrative. Drawing from original documents, eyewitness accounts, and intelligence files, the author traces the history of treason during the war, starting with Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists, through wartime activities, and subsequent MI5 investigations that led to trials, imprisonment, and executions of traitors. Since its initial publication in 1994, new files from the Public Records Office and MI5 have been released, prompting a revision that enhances its comprehensiveness and authority. Historians will find new insights, including the complete account of the British Free Corps, a Waffen-SS unit of British subjects, along with the identities of its members, some of whom were interviewed for this study. The book also uncovers the remarkable story of a conman who joined the Special Air Service, informed on fellow POWs, and later fought with the Waffen-SS, as well as a British spinster who worked with the Gestapo in France. Despite being deemed dangerous, German attempts to recruit British traitors were largely unsuccessful, largely due to a British Fascist turned double agent operating within the Third Reich.