Secrets of a German POW

The Capture and Interrogation of Hauptmann Herbert Cleff

By: Brian Brinkworth

Narrated by: John FitzGibbon

This is the riveting and extraordinary story of Kapitan Herbert Cleff, presented here for the first time by Brian Brinkworth. Cleff, an officer on the staff of General Wilhelm Ritter von Thoma, attached to the 21st Panzer division operating in the Western desert, was captured near El Dab'a in Libya on the sixth of November, 1942. He was interrogated both in the Western Desert and in the United Kingdom, following assessments that led his British captors to believe that he might prove useful to the Allied war effort. During this interrogation period, Cleff kept releasing tantalizing snippets of information about various advanced projects being undertaken by the scientific and engineering community back in Germany, such as the development of AFV tank engines and armor plating and, most interesting perhaps to the Allies, the progress the Germans were making with jet-powered aircraft propulsion, faster-than-sound flight, and unmanned offensive missiles. Every time his captors thought they had teased all the information out of him that they could, Cleff offered another bit, which ensured he was kept the focus of much attention - and away from a prisoner of war camp. Cleff's explosive revelations intrigued and perplexed in equal measure, and his reputation quickly grew among the Allied interrogation fraternity. Despite countless investigative efforts, the truth of Cleff's enigmatic revelations were never able to be fully proven, meaning that the compelling question remains: were his revelations merely flights of fancy, or were they genuine exploded secrets?

Download the accompanying reference guide.©2014 Brian Brinkworth; First Skyhorse Publishing edition 2015. (P)2015 Audible, Inc.

Not a casual listen

I listened to this with Audible Plus so I didnt pay for it. I only got through the first couple chapters. Not a casual listen, there's a lot of technical information and references to figures which can't be shown. So far more about his technical work/engineering plans than about his life. I don't want to say it's bad because I think it could be interesting, just not really as an audiobook. I think the narrorator's good, again, just hard to make technical details interesting.

Not quite as described

The blurb said “riveting” while I say “tedious” regarding the details about Nazi equipment given by the German. The parts about Cleff were interesting.