Spies of War: Secret Missions that Changed the Course of History | Extra Long Documentary

Part 1 - The Spies Who Fooled Hitler Before D-Day
The first story follows Britain's Double Cross system and Operation Bodyguard, designed to convince Nazi Germany that the main Allied invasion would strike Pas-de-Calais rather than Normandy. Double agents Garbo, Tricycle, Bronx, Brutus and Treasure feed Germany coordinated misinformation, supported by fake armies, inflatable equipment, coded telegrams and secret communications. Even after the Normandy landings on June 6, 1944, the deception continues, keeping German armored forces away from Normandy for weeks.

Part 2 - Operation Mincemeat: The Soldier Who Never Was
The second story begins with preparations for the Allied invasion of Sicily in 1943. British intelligence creates one of WWII's strangest deceptions: dress a corpse as fictitious Royal Marine officer Major William Martin, give him an entire fake identity and plant false invasion documents suggesting Greece and Sardinia are the real Allied targets. The body is released near Spain, the documents ultimately reach German intelligence, and Hitler moves forces away from Sicily. The actual invasion begins on July 10, 1943.

Part 3 - Oleg Penkovsky and the Cuban Missile Crisis
The documentary then jumps to the Cold War and Soviet GRU Colonel Oleg Penkovsky, who secretly offers himself to Western intelligence. Working with the CIA and MI6, he supplies an enormous quantity of Soviet military intelligence, including information about Soviet missile capabilities. His intelligence becomes especially important during the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962, when Washington desperately needs to understand the real strength and intentions of the USSR. The film presents Penkovsky as a spy whose information helped prevent the crisis from becoming nuclear war.

Part 4 - The Soviet Spies Who Stole The Atomic Bomb
The final story investigates Soviet penetration of the Manhattan Project. It follows physicist Klaus Fuchs, courier Harry Gold, David Greenglass and the network surrounding Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Fuchs secretly passes highly sensitive bomb information to Soviet intelligence while working on the Allied nuclear program, and Greenglass provides additional material from Los Alamos. American cryptanalysts eventually uncover Soviet communications through what becomes the VENONA Project. On August 29, 1949, the USSR detonates its first atomic bomb, dramatically ending the American nuclear monopoly.

00:00:00 The Double Agents Who Fooled Hitler
00:50:11 Operation Mincemeat: The Soldier Who Never Was
01:38:15 Oleg Penkovsky and the Cuban Missile Crisis
02:28:05 The Spies Who Stole the Atomic Bomb

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