BRIXMIS

BRIXMIS (British Commander-in-Chief's Mission to the Group Soviet Forces of Occupation in Germany) is one of the most covert elite units of the British Army. They were dropped in behind 'enemy lines' ten months after the Second World War had ended and continued with their intelligence-gathering missions until the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989. During this period Berlin was a hotbed of spying between East and West. BRIXMIS was established as a trusted channel of communication between the Red Army and the British Army on the Rhine. However, they acted in the shadows to steal advanced Soviet equipment and penetrate top-secret training areas. Here Steve Gibson offers a new understanding of the complex British role in the Cold War.

STEVE GIBSON was educated at Lancing College and Birmingham University. Commissioned into the Royal Engineers in 1983 he was selected for special duties training and posted to a unit in West Berlin, operating exclusively in East Germany between 1988 and 1990. A number of staff and military intelligence appointments followed before Steve left the Army in 1993, with the rank of Major and an MBE awarded as a direct result of his work in East Germany.