Michael Burgan - World War II Spies: An Interactive History Adventure

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The Second World War is brewing in Europe and Asia. Every country involved has secrets they want to keepand information they want to steal from the enemy. Thats where spies come in.

In this book youll explore how the choices people made meant the difference between life and death. The events youll experience happened to real people.

Chapter One sets the scene. Then you choose which path to read. Follow the links at the bottom of each page as you read the stories. The decisions you make will change your outcome. After you finish one path, go back and read the others for new perspectives and more adventures. Use your device's back buttons or page navigation to jump back to your last choice.

YOU CHOOSE the path you take through history.

You are living through World War II. It started in 1939. But the wars roots are deep, going back to the end of World War I in 1918.

The winning nations of World War I, including the United States, Great Britain, and France, forced the losers to pay a high price. For example, Germany had to give up some of its land and reduce its military.

During the 1920s Germans became increasingly angry at this treatment. A political leader named Adolf Hitler promised to make Germany powerful again. Hitlers Nazi Party came to power in 1933.

Along with rebuilding the military, Hitler took away the rights of the countrys Jewish people and sent them to . He believed the Jews had weakened Germany.

Starting in 1936 Hitler sent troops into parts of Europe where Germans lived, claiming the land for his country. Meanwhile, Italian leader Benito Mussolini sent troops into North Africa. And in Asia, Japan was invading China. All three nations thought they had a right to rule other countries. These three nations became the Axis alliance.

In September 1939 German troops invaded Poland and then continued west across Europe. France and Great Britain joined forces to try to stop the Nazis. France, Britain, the United States, and other countries later became known as the Allies.

Some people secretly fought the Nazis in the nations Germany attacked. These resistance groups often received British aid. Even before the war, nations carried out . Agents tried to gather information about other countries military activities. Some of these spies belonged to special government departments, such as Great Britains MI5 or Germanys Abwehr.

Agents from the U.S. Office of Strategic Services received Morse code training.

Collecting intelligenceinformation obtained secretlyabout the enemy became important once the war began. Spies also spread false information in order to fool enemies.

In the United States, military intelligence agents cracked the secret codes Japan used to send messages overseas. By the end of November 1941 President Franklin D. Roosevelt knew from these messages that Japan was preparing an attack. He knew the attack would be somewhere in the Pacific. But only on the day of the attack, December 7, did he learn that the target was the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

A stunned United States quickly declared war on Japan. Japans close relations with Italy and Germany prompted those two countries to declare war on the United States.

Troops from many countries began to wage war in Asia and Europe. Fighting spread to Africa and across the worlds oceans.

In June 1942 President Roosevelt created a new spy agency, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). Its agents gathered intelligence, committed sabotage to stop enemy attacks, and spread false information.

Youve always been interested in espionage, and you value the work that spies do. You also know that you risk being caught by the enemy. You might even be killed. But youre willing to take that risk.

You are a college student living in Denmarks capital, Copenhagen, with your family. Since Germany invaded Poland, youve closely followed the events of the war. Its now April 1940, and you hate the Germans for their brutal ways. Denmark shares a border with Germany, so your homeland could be another Nazi target.

Early on the morning of April 9, you wake to a loud buzzing outside your house. German planes!

Weve been invaded, you say to your sister, Helena. The Nazis are in control now. You learn they have invaded Norway too. The Netherlands and Belgium are taken next.

To reassure his people, Danish King Christian X rode his horse through the streets daily during the Nazi occupation of Denmark.

The Germans let the Danish government stay in power. But Danish leaders have little control. And Denmarks military is too weak to put up a fight. You and your friends think that the Danish people can resist on their own. We can start a secret newspaper, your friend Jorgen says.

You know that the official Danish papers cant print anything the Germans dont like. It would be good to tell people the truth. But you want to do more. Ive heard that the British are training agents to carry out resistance, you say. But Carl points out that youd have to get to London first.

Maybe you should stay here to look out for your family. But you think you can do more to fight the Germans if you can get to London.

That night you tell your parents about your plans to go to London. Theyre worried, but your father says, Im proud you want help defeat the Nazis.

Jorgen is going with you. You take a fishing boat to Sweden. That country has remained neutral during the warthey havent taken a side. Resistance leaders there can help you get to London.

In London, Danes in the resistance direct you to the Special Operations Executive (SOE), a British agency. The SOE trains resistance fighters from all the countries occupied by Germany.

SOE agents teach you and Jorgen how to be secret agents. You learn how to shoot, use explosives, pick locks, and parachute. You receive fake identity papers and learn how to disguise yourself.

After weeks of training, youre eager to use your new skills in Denmark. We have two missions planned, a British officer says. We need two men to parachute in with a radio so the resistance movement can easily contact us. If you go, you can take Jorgen with you. We also need one person to weapons to arm the resistance. Which would you prefer?

Youd feel safer working with Jorgen. But just setting up a radio seems boring. Getting weapons to the resistance fighters would strike a blow to the Nazis right away.

You wish Jorgen luck before boarding a truck that takes you to an airfield. You board a British military plane heading to Lolland, a large island belonging to Denmark. The plane drops a huge crate of weapons. Your job is to follow and make sure the weapons get into the right hands. Your parachute floats you safely to the ground.