The Great Escapers | WW2

The Great Escapers | WW2

Author: SPYSCAPE July 28, 2026 Duration: 53:22
In September of 1943, thousands of British servicemen were being held in Italian PoW camps. When Mussolini fell, many stayed put, hoping to be liberated by an Allied advance. But others took their fates in to their own hands - melting into the Italian countryside. These escapees are the subject of historian Karen Farrington's latest book, The Great Italian Breakout - and in this episode, you'll hear two very different approaches to the art of escapology. From SPYSCAPE, the home of secrets. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: Joe Foley. Produced by Joe Foley. Karen Farrington is the author of The Great Italian Breakout: The Most Audacious Escapes of the Second World War. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Imagine pulling back the curtain on the most secretive missions ever conducted. That’s the experience offered by True Spies, a podcast from SPYSCAPE that moves beyond the Hollywood gloss to sit down with the actual intelligence officers, detectives, and operatives who lived these events. Hosted by a compelling roster including Hayley Atwell, Vanessa Kirby, and Daisy Ridley, each episode is a direct conversation with the people who know the answers. You’ll hear firsthand about the split-second decisions, the specialized skills, and the profound moral dilemmas faced in the shadows. This isn’t speculative fiction; it’s a deep exploration of authentic espionage cases, political intrigues, unsolved murders, and complex investigations that have shaped real-world events. The narratives covered in this podcast consistently reveal how the most astonishing truths are often more gripping than any invented thriller. By focusing on documentary-style storytelling and historical context, the series provides a rare, unfiltered look into the high-stakes worlds of crime and national security. Each story invites you to consider not just what happened, but how it felt to be in the room, and what you might have done when everything was on the line.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

True Spies: Espionage | Investigation | Crime | Murder | Detective | Politics
Podcast Episodes
Bitter Fruit and Black Ops | CIA/MI6 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:53
As the Iron Curtain descends across Eastern Europe, the West is determined to roll back the march of Communism - starting with Albania. Historian Stephen Long is your guide to Operation BGFiend/Valuable - the joint MI6-C…
Brief Histories: Spy Cities - Berlin [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 33:44
Content Warning: This episode contains sex references. In the second season of Brief Histories, True Spies producer Joe Foley is your guide to the shadowy side of the world's espionage capitals. In Berlin, we'll meet a 1…
True Spies Classic: Hunting The Wolverine | CIA [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:01
In the desert of Southern Afghanistan, CIA Case Officer Douglas Laux is on the hunt. He's traced a number of deadly IED attacks to a shadowy figure with ties to the Taliban. In this classic episode of True Spies, his mis…
An Extremely Violent Year | DEA [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 43:21
It's the summer of 2006, and former DEA Agent Jeffrey James Higgins is your guide to an audacious HUMINT operation against an Afghan narco-terrorist. But in a lawless part of the world, the life of a lawman is a dangerou…
True Spies Classic: New Russia, New Rules | CIA [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 41:29
It's 1993, and Russia is tearing itself apart. A violent coup is threatening to derail Boris Yeltsin's fragile post-Soviet government. Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, Deputy Chief of Station for the CIA in Moscow, is caught in the…
True Spies Debrief: Sean Wiswesser on Russian Intelligence Strategy [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 48:10
True Spies producer Morgan Childs joins ex-CIA officer and Russia expert Sean Wiswesser to go deep on the strategy, ideology and political goals of the Russian intelligence community. From SPYSCAPE, the home of secrets.…
Brief Histories: Spy Cities - Beijing [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 35:57
Content Warning: This episode contains references to torture and mutilation. In the second season of Brief Histories, True Spies producer Joe Foley is your guide to the shadowy side of the world's Espionage capitals. In…
Red Rag to a Grey Bull | Private Sector [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 52:50
Bryan Stern and his team at Grey Bull are specialists in exfiltrating Americans from highly volatile contexts. In this episode, we follow Bryan into the heart of the conflict in Ukraine, where he'll need to rely on his w…
True Spies Classic: White Traitor | ANC [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 52:36
To her colleagues, South African journalist Sue Dobson appeared to be a pro-Apartheid conservative. Nothing could have been further from the truth. In fact, she was a trained paramilitary and secret agent, infiltrating t…