Forget Martinis shaken, not stirred – former intelligence officer Will Britten says real-life spies are more likely to end up smelling like Slow Horses<\/a> boss Jackson Lamb than sipping posh cocktails.<\/p>\n Recalling a mission, when he was tasked with rummaging for clues through rotting rubbish, he tells The Mirror<\/a>: \u201cIn the summer it was absolutely revolting, the stench, bugs, creatures, maggots, you could feel the rubbish moving.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t mind it so much, as the time passed quickly, but the smell was pretty awful and lingered on your clothes for days. There were a couple of dumps that were close to Soviet military hospitals<\/a> and some agents came across needles, syringes and even limbs. People think intelligence work is glamorous or sexy but, in reality, it\u2019s a lot of grind.\u201d<\/p>\n READ MORE: Tropical paradise with \u00a32.30 pints you can fly to from UK for \u00a330<\/a><\/p>\n Will, 65, was a senior officer in BRIXMIS (the British Commanders\u2019-in-Chief Mission to the Soviet Forces in Germany), a top-secret elite intelligence-gathering unit of the British Army, operating behind the Iron Curtain in East Germany during the Cold War. After the surrender of Nazi Germany in 1945, an agreement was established between the UK, United States and the Soviet Union to facilitate liaison between their military governments in occupied Germany.<\/p>\n It was 1989 when Will arrived – just six months before the wall between East and West Germany came down. As a British agent, he had to stay one step ahead of any British \u2018enemies,\u2019 playing a vital role as part of NATO\u2019s early warning system. \u201cWe found some fascinating military intelligence,\u201d Will says. \u201cNothing that was classified, but we confirmed that in Afghanistan<\/a> the Soviets were using chemical weapons through finds on rubbish dumps in East Germany.<\/p>\n “Whenever new equipment came into the Soviet arsenal, it always reappeared in the DDR on the frontline. \u201cWe had a very important role in providing technical intelligence, looking at new equipment and how it was used tactically. It allowed our side to evaluate how effective the equipment was and for Nato to take counter measures to negate any advantage the Soviet had. Our job was to stay ahead of what the East block was doing.\u201d<\/p>\n In his book Over the Wall: A BRIXMIS Intelligence Officer Behind the Iron Curtain, Will reveals how every day from 1945 until the fall of the Berlin Wall, agents would tour East Germany in three-man teams with their ears to the ground, looking for clues and watching and recording the military activity of their Cold War enemies.<\/p>\n When they weren\u2019t rummaging through rancid garbage, agents would observe from cover, making full use of camouflage – often hiding out in a Mercedes<\/a> G-Wagen which could be easily mistaken for the UAZ-469 Russian jeep. While 007 would have his Aston Martin and his watch with a remote explosive detonator to help him defeat the enemy, BRIXMIS agents only had thermal imaging gear, cameras and cassette recorders to help them.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were stalkers, in the traditional, purist sense,\u201d Will adds. \u201cTo do the job well, you have to understand the environment within which you\u2019re working, the threats that you\u2019re facing and how far you can push those threats.\u201d<\/p>\n All tours began at the Glienicke Bridge, the infamous exchange point for Cold War spy swaps, which marked the frontier between Berlin and Potsdam, the border between east and west. More than three decades later, Will still remembers clearly what it felt like crossing over the Glenicke bridge to Potsdam.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/0_.jpg\")
The author with a trio of fraternal comrades. <\/p>\n![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/1744779249_113_0_.jpg\")
An aerial view of the Glienicke Bridge, \u2018The Bridge of Spies\u2019, looking into the East.<\/p>\n