His final report on the Bari casualties was immediately classified, but not before his breakthrough observations about the toxic effects of mustard on white blood cells caught the attention of Colonel Cornelius P. Eisenhower acted in concert to suppress the truth, insisting the censorship was necessitated by military security.Īlexander defied British port officials and heroically persevered in his investigation.

He quickly diagnosed mustard gas exposure, but was overruled by British officials determined to cover up the presence of poison gas in the devastating naval disaster, which the press dubbed “little Pearl Harbor.” Prime Minister Winston Churchill and General Dwight D. Caught in the surprise air raid was the John Harvey, an American Liberty ship carrying a top-secret cargo of 2,000 mustard bombs to be used in retaliation if the Germans resorted to gas warfare.Īfter one young sailor after another began suddenly dying of mysterious symptoms, Lieutenant Colonel Stewart Alexander, a doctor and chemical weapons expert, was dispatched to investigate. Richly detailed and meticulously researched, Conant's compelling narrative draws on never-before-seen wartime letters, diaries, and interviews and provides a rare, and remarkably candid, insider's view of the counterintelligence game during the tumultuous days of World War II.On the night of December 2, 1943, the Luftwaffe bombed a critical Allied port in Bari, Italy, sinking seventeen ships and killing over a thousand servicemen and hundreds of civilians. It is an extraordinary tale of deceit, double-dealing, and moral ambiguity - all in the name of victory. He and his colorful co-conspirators gossiped, bugged, and bungled their way across Washington, doing their best to carry out their cloak-and-dagger assignments, support the fledgling American intelligence agency, and see that Roosevelt was elected to an unprecedented fourth term.

In an account better suited to a work of spy fiction, Jennet Conant shows Dahl progressing from reluctant diplomat to sly man-about-town. Dahl would soon be caught up in a web of deception masterminded by Intrepid, Churchill's legendary spy chief. When Roald Dahl, a dashing young ex-RAF pilot, took up his post at the British Embassy in Washington, his assignment was to use his good looks, wit, and considerable charm to gain access to the most powerful figures in American political life.

The irregulars by jennet conant