In 1942, John Eppler was one of two German spies inserted behind British lines in Egypt after an epic crossing of the Western Desert organised by the Hungarian explorer Count László Almásy, Operation ‘Condor’. But this was far from his first adventure. Of German origin but raised since childhood in a wealthy Egyptian family and a convert to Islam, he had travelled widely in the Middle East for German Military Intelligence.
The book details German links with Arab nationalists during the War: indeed, one of Eppler’s contacts in Cairo was a young officer called Anwar el-Sadat, later President of Egypt. Before Operation ‘Condor’. Eppler had been the interpreter when the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem met Hitler in Berlin, and the book gives a full description of this controversial encounter.
This story has inspired numerous films, such as Foxhole in Cairo (1960), where John Eppler was played by Adrian Hoven, and more recently Operation ‘Condor’ was referenced in the Oscar-winning The English Patient (1996). This is the genuine, first-hand account of one of the most daring missions of the Second World War.
