Customer Reviews

Codename: Magpie: The Final Nazi Espionage Mission Against the U.S. in WW II

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Never judge a book by its cover. I was not sure what I was expecting when I got my hands on a simple and non-discreet looking book called "Codename: Magpie - the final espionage mission against the U.S. in WWII". What I found inside was far from a simple telling of historic events about Nazi spies in America but a brilliantly written story that puts all the pieces together for the entire spy ring that Germany had in the U.S., England and other places. I was hooked and could not put the book down. Author James L. Centner nails the important issues and gives a superb analysis of the entire operation and the people involved.

It is not just the facts of this story that make this a great book but it is how Centner captures the full character and nuisances of each participant. He gets inside their heads and gives you an insightful look at what these people were like and what motivated them. I was duly impressed and fascinated. In fact, I could not put the book down until I finished it completely. It is as much a page turner as any novel. But if this were a fictional accounting of these events no one would ever believe it--it is just that hard to believe that this group was so incompetent. This whole history of this spy ring and how they actually helped Germany to lose the war is amazing stuff.

I was born in 1946 and for whatever reasons, I had missed this whole little piece of Nazi history and I thought I was a real student of WWII events. I can honestly say that I learned something from this book and enjoyed doing so. Centner makes this history come alive and is very entertaining reading. His narratives work very well as he weaves facts and details into the fabric of his story. I honestly enjoyed reading this book.

When one reads the author's bio in the back of the book it is not hard to see why this book is as good as it is. James Centner seems to have done everything in his life at the highest levels of achievement. He also has a extensive background in intelligence and the military among other things. I would actually love to read the author's autobiography someday if he chooses to write one.

This book is given the MWSA's highest book rating of FIVE STARS! It also receives my personal recommendation as a must read book. Even non-history buffs will enjoy the story.

James Centner was a former World War II army combat intelligence officer and, luckily for us, he survived to become a professor, a historian, and a meticulous researcher. We now benefit from his experience and talent in his fascinating book, CODENAME: MAGPIE.

Few Americans alive today remember the U-boat menace near our shores during World War II, a time when torpedoed merchant ships could be seen burning from beaches on the Gulf of Mexico to the shores of Maine. Those few Americans might also remember headlines about teams of Nazi spies and saboteurs the U-boats landed in daring operations Berlin named Pastorius and Elster. Centner's slim volume first reviews the 1942 Pastorius operation as a precursor to the detailed story of the second and final effort in 1944. We learn two of the Pastorius team members lost their nerve, turned themselves in to the FBI, and in less than a month all ten spies were arrested, ultimately tried, convicted and sentenced to death. Only the two who contacted the FBI were spared, their death sentences commuted to life in once case, and 30 years in the other.

Then we come to Operation Elster. It was mounted in 1944 to attempt sabotage and to gather information on the Manhattan Project's work on the atomic bomb. The course of World War II might have turned out differently except for the faint-hearted braggart of the team, a German-American traitor named Colepaugh. The book's careful recounting of the mission, from its beginnings in Germany to the landing in Maine, is nothing short of superb. I will only hint at the ending to say that had the war continued for a few months longer, the fate of the spies would have had a much different conclusion.

The book is backed up with a glossary, bibliography, photographs, and documents - an impressive array of corroboration for Centner's 172 page analysis. If you are a history buff or if you just like true spy stories, CODENAME: MAGPIE is for you. (It has even been translated into Japanese!)

Chet Nagle is the author of IRAN COVENANT, available on Amazon.
Iran Covenant

Although I am a peaceable old woman whose professional life was spent teaching English literature to college students, I have an interest in military history, especially accounts of the "good war", which shaped so much of the imagination of my generation. I have been reading with enjoyment an excellent account of a relatively unknown episode of that conflict: Codename: Magpie, by James L. Centner. Colonel Centner's encyclopedic knowledge of his subject, as well as his lively style combine to make an extremely entertaining story of the almost incredibly consistent failure of Germany's espionage and sabotage, especially in the effort to carry these out in the United States. It is sobering to reflect that World War II was won by great valor, sacrifice and determination, but also by the seemingly providential failures of the enemy, the results of that hubris, arrogance and folly that consistently underestimated his foes.

Codename: Magpie resonates in today's world in ways that make the reader grateful for the past, wary of the future, hopeful that, ultimately, good prevails.