His German credentials guaranteed by the successful De Havilland ruse in Britain, Chapman enjoyed enormous prestige in the Third Reich, where he assumed the status of a superspy. When he proposed that he be rewarded with a ringside seat at one of the great Nazi Party rallies, all the better to gaze upon Hitler, his drunken, aristocratic German handler promised to make it happen. Chapman suggested to the British that he take advantage of the situation to assassinate Hitler. The offer was rejected without explanation.
"MI5's files are suspiciously silent on the subject," Macintyre writes.
As the war progressed, demands from both sides escalated. The Germans, convinced that the British had developed a submarine-finding bomb, dispatched Chapman to get the plans. British intelligence was more than happy to send back some artful fakes. For the British Chapman supplied information on the V-1 rocket and transmitted false data to Germany about where the V-1s were falling. For stellar work throughout the war, the Germans awarded him the Iron Cross; he is the only British citizen to be granted one.
No task was too dangerous, or ridiculous, for Zigzag. "What Chapman seemed to want was another breathless episode in the unfolding drama of his own life," Macintyre writes.
After D-Day, with desperation mounting, the Germans sent Chapman on an absurdly ambitious mission to turn the tide of the war, but not without giving him a party first. Nursing a colossal hangover and clutching a suitcase filled with photographic equipment, Zigzag parachuted over Cambridgeshire and promptly vomited the remains of his banquet on his overalls. From a farmer's telephone he rang up headquarters in London and announced: "It's Eddie. I'm back, with a new task."
Zigzag, despite his many talents, did not fit into the peacetime plans of MI5. His involvement in rigged dog races toward the end of the war certainly dampened enthusiasm for a continued role with British intelligence. Wisely, MI5 paid him off, wiped his legal slate clean and waved farewell. Agent Zigzag was no more. Mission accomplished.
RSS