Revealed: The lethal arsenal of James Bond-style hidden weapons deployed in WWII to allow spies to overpower guards if captured 

  • The incredible collections consists of seemingly innocuous everyday items  
  • But secret agents could use tools including a garrote wire behind enemy lines
  • Other lethal items include an assassination lapel spike and fountain pen dagger
A lethal arsenal of James Bond-style weapons used by World War Two spies behind enemy lines has emerged more than 70 years on.
The covert tools were given by MI9, a department of the war office between 1939 and 1945, to Special Operations Executive agents.
The chilling collection of 'escape and evasion' items - including an assassination lapel spike and a fountain pen dagger - have been amassed by a collector of World War Two memorabilia over the years but are now coming up for sale.
An OSS Escape Utility Knife: The knife encases three small hacksaw blades, a tyre slasher blade and a wire cutter tool
An OSS Escape Utility Knife: The knife encases three small hacksaw blades, a tyre slasher blade and a wire cutter tool
The Assassination Lapel Spike: A decorative steel pin worn on the lapel of a jacket, but when fully exposed is a slender 4ins long dagger with a razor-sharp barb
The Assassination Lapel Spike: A decorative steel pin worn on the lapel of a jacket, but when fully exposed is a slender 4ins long dagger with a razor-sharp barb
The assassination lapel spike is a decorative steel pin worn on the lapel of a jacket but when fully exposed is a slender 4ins long dagger with a razor-sharp barb.
It would have been used to overcome a German guard or slash the tyres of a vehicle in the campaign to sabotage enemy operations in Nazi-occupied Europe.
A similar weapon was a 3ins long dagger disguised as a fountain pen.
A length of garrote wire - strip of barbed wire with finger rings attached to either end - was also carried by the agents and would have proved just as deadly.
The collection also includes an escape utility knife which encased three small hacksaw blades, a tyre slasher blade and a wire cutter tool.
And an iron key has an end that screws off to reveal the hollow centre where lethal poison could be kept.
Another item used by SOE operatives in the sale is a tunic button that concealed a compass, shoes with a compass in the heel and combs and pencils with a knife in the middle. 
Protona Microphone Spy Watch Recorder: Used to covertly record a conversation, the watch contains a wired microphone connected to a recording device or a small transmitter
Protona Microphone Spy Watch Recorder: Used to covertly record a conversation, the watch contains a wired microphone connected to a recording device or a small transmitter
The Commando Garrote Wire: A length of garrote wire - strip of barbed wire with finger rings attached to either end - was also carried by the agents and would have proved just as deadly
The Commando Garrote Wire: A length of garrote wire - strip of barbed wire with finger rings attached to either end - was also carried by the agents and would have proved just as deadly
The Royal Air Force Tunic Button with a concealed compass would help stranded agents
The Royal Air Force Tunic Button with a concealed compass would help stranded agents
Mathew Tredwin, of C&T Auctioneers of Ashford, Kent, said: 'Some of these weapons are quite chilling when you look at them now but they give you an immediacy of a kill or be killed scenario many of these agents woulds have faced.
'You can imagine an SOE operative, many of whom were women, being cornered by a German soldier and all you had was a stealth weapon to fight your way out.
'Or on creeping up behind a sentry and disposing of them quietly with the garrote wire.
'It was incredibly dangerous. If you were caught that was it, you would be executed.
'They were real heroes of the war and a lot of them didn't get the credit they deserved, many of their stories remain untold.
'These stealth weapons are few and far between. Once they were used by the secret agents they were often disposed of. 
'It is very rare to find a whole group of them like this one. There are keen collectors out there. I think because of they are very much James Bond in style there is a bit of romanticism attached to them.' 
The Concealment Key: The iron key has an end that screws off to reveal the hollow centre where lethal poison could be kept
The Concealment Key: The iron key has an end that screws off to reveal the hollow centre where lethal poison could be kept
The button compass could be used by those lost behind enemy lines during the war
The button compass could be used by those lost behind enemy lines during the war
The Special Operations Executive was a British organisation formed to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in occupied Europe against the Axis powers, and to aid local resistance movements.
The organisation directly employed or controlled just over 13,000 people, about 3,200 of whom were women, although few people were aware of SOE's existence.
It was an incredibly risky role as any spy caught by the Nazis was executed.

Behind enemy lines: Secrets of US Special Forces who were stationed in Berlin to bring down the Soviet Union from within are finally revealed 



  • The Special Forces Berlin unit was created in 1956 to counter the Soviet menace
  • The team were trained in the art of sabotage and gathering secret intelligence
  • In the event of war, the team would go behind enemy lines and cause havoc 
  • Several times during their 40-year history they were put on full alert  



The secret exploits of the men stationed in Berlin to sabotage the Soviet Union from within had the Cold War turned hot have been revealed for the first time.
Incredible images show the men from the clandestine Special Forces Berlin unit, which the USA only revealed existed in 2014, on training exercises and meeting up in casual wear.
Other shots show the graffiti-clad Berlin Wall with Soviet soldiers patrolling along the top, tunnels and sewers the Special forces used and various identity cards the undercover soldiers used.
The US Special Forces Berlin unit, pictured,  were trained to sabotage enemy communications and infrastructure in the event the Cold War ever turned hot
The US Special Forces Berlin unit, pictured,  were trained to sabotage enemy communications and infrastructure in the event the Cold War ever turned hot
The men were trained to operate behind enemy lines - such as these Berlin sewers - and create havoc to stall any Soviet invasion of Western Europe with just two hours' notice 
The men were trained to operate behind enemy lines - such as these Berlin sewers - and create havoc to stall any Soviet invasion of Western Europe with just two hours' notice 
The men all had to learn German and fully immerse themselves in local culture and were very close to being called up on several occasions - such as when the Berlin Wall was created
The men all had to learn German and fully immerse themselves in local culture and were very close to being called up on several occasions - such as when the Berlin Wall was created
The never-before published pictures have been included in a new book, Special Forces Berlin, which details the clandestine Cold War operations of the US Army’s Elite between 1956 and 1990.
The book is written by ex-soldier James Stejskal who served with the Berlin unit in the 1970s and 1980s for a total of eleven years. 
He said: 'The wartime mission was 1) cause havoc behind the enemy’s lines through the sabotage of critical infrastructure and 2) report enemy movements by HF Radio, so that the US Air Force could hit them as they moved forward and to let the US Commander know what was unfolding at his front.
'The Commander in Chief's order was "Buy Me Time!" In the early 1970s the unit received an additional mission: Counterterrorism, making it the first US military unit to be so designated.'
Some of the times the unit was placed on full alert are still classified and cannot be published
Some of the times the unit was placed on full alert are still classified and cannot be published
In order to remain undiscovered, the soldiers had to blend into the local population by learning the German language and culture and copying the fashions of the time.
The unit was trained to go to war within two hours’ notice and came extremely close to being called into actions on numerous occasions, most notably when the Berlin Wall went up.
Stejskal said: 'In 1961 when the Wall went up, the unit was placed on full alert. There were several other occasions throughout the years when incidents happened elsewhere (Cuban missile crisis, Gary Powers being shot down, Arab Israeli wars, and several others still classified) that the unit went on full alert.
'The unit would not have waited for the first shot to be fired. It was prepared to go when the Commander of US Forces in Europe said so - even before actual hostilities.
'If the unit had been called into action six teams would have immediately moved out into the city and then the surrounding countryside to attack targets that would slow the Soviet and other Warsaw pact countries moving forward.
Some of the men were tasked with destroying vital infrastructure in West Berlin to frustrate Soviet efforts of controlling the city and buying time until the counter offensive began 
Some of the men were tasked with destroying vital infrastructure in West Berlin to frustrate Soviet efforts of controlling the city and buying time until the counter offensive began 
The men of the unit were deployed during the first Iran hostages rescue mission in 1980
The men of the unit were deployed during the first Iran hostages rescue mission in 1980
The unit was officially stood down at the end of the cold war - put could be recommissioned
The unit was officially stood down at the end of the cold war - put could be recommissioned
'These would have included critical bridges, railway junctions, power and fuel depots, and command and control headquarters. Some men would have remained behind to destroy infrastructure in the city of Berlin that was needed to keep things running - thus making it difficult for the Russians and East Germans to control West Berlin.'
Men spent anywhere from two to five years at a time living in Berlin and preparing for the mission.
Special Forces Berlin was also on the first Iran Rescue mission in 1980 and would have gone on the second before it was cancelled by President Ronald Reagan’s election.
The team had weapons stashed at locations near their targets to speed up their destruction
The team had weapons stashed at locations near their targets to speed up their destruction
Occasionally one of the team, pictured in the VW Beetle was sent back while crossing 
Occasionally one of the team, pictured in the VW Beetle was sent back while crossing 
The men trained West German soldiers sabotage techniques to be used if the Soviets invaded
The men trained West German soldiers sabotage techniques to be used if the Soviets invaded
Mr Stejskla explained how much damage the unit would have done behind the Iron Curtain to slow the Soviets down.
He said: 'The preparation was constant - planning, training, exercising, and running operations. Not everything was in direct confrontation with the Russians or East Germans.
'There were clandestine operations that remain classified. We had very good intelligence on what we had to strike.
'We had the materials to do the mission prepared and placed where we could get to it without delay. We knew the best way to get to the target and crucially how to survive on the battlefield when war came.
This picture, taken shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall, shows the team were still operational right up until the end of the Cold War and communism's dramatic collapse
This picture, taken shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall, shows the team were still operational right up until the end of the Cold War and communism's dramatic collapse
Here, members of the team prepared for parachute training at Tempelhof Airfield in 1959
Here, members of the team prepared for parachute training at Tempelhof Airfield in 1959
The group regularly took pictures of East German border guards to learn their routines and to find weaknesses along the frontier to make it easier to sneak in and out 
The group regularly took pictures of East German border guards to learn their routines and to find weaknesses along the frontier to make it easier to sneak in and out 
'The unit was closed when we achieved "peace" with the Soviet Union / Russia, leaving little unconventional warfare capability in the US Army. That is changing and the legacy the unit left is being revived.'
James Stejskla served for twenty-three years with Special Forces, including two tours of Berlin, retiring as a Chief Warrant Officer 4. He then served with the CIA as a senior Operation Office in Africa, Europe and Asia.

The Special Forces Berlin Unit were based in this building under the title Physical Security Support Element. It is believed the East Germans never discovered the building's real purpose
The Special Forces Berlin Unit were based in this building under the title Physical Security Support Element. It is believed the East Germans never discovered the building's real purpose
Here the men of the unit are involved in an ambush in 1956
Here the men of the unit are involved in an ambush in 1956
The book, Special Forces Berlin, is published by Casemate and is released later this month
The book, Special Forces Berlin, is published by Casemate and is released later this month