When Germany invaded Denmark in 1940, some Danes went to extraordinary lengths and displayed extraordinary valour in fighting back against the Nazis. The story of one of Denmark’s war heroes is told in The Hornet’s Sting: The Amazing Untold Story of World War II Spy Thomas Sneum, by Mark Ryan. As a pilot in Denmark’s Fleet Air Arm, Thomas Sneum was immensely frustrated when the country was surrendered without a fight, and he began looking for ways to escape to England and join the Royal Air Force.
After discovering a German radar installation on Fanoe, Sneum managed to escape to neutral Sweden and visit the British Legation with drawings and a report. Instead of being rewarded with a place in the RAF, he was recruited as a spy and sent back to Denmark. After gathering more vital intelligence including photos and a movie, he, together with a friend, escaped to England in a stolen de Havilland Hornet Moth, a harrowing adventure which required a mid-air refuelling.
After training in England, Sneum was parachuted back into Denmark to continue his work as a spy, and when his cover was finally blown he escaped by walking across the frozen sea to Sweden where he was arrested and then returned to England where he was suspected of being a double agent, and subjected to extensive cross-examination and a long period in jail.
Unfortunately the parts of the story dealing with Sneum’s aviation escapades seem to indicate the author’s unfamiliarity with the world of pilots. All altitude and distance measurements are given in metres, which would only be understood by pilots from China, Mongolia or the former Soviet Union, as the rest of the world measures altitude in feet and distance in nautical miles. Further, it seems surprising that an experienced pilot like Sneum would not have known about carburettor icing when he encountered it, as it is something which all trainee pilots learn about.
Notwithstanding these minor flaws, the book tells a compelling and apparently true story of one man’s heroism, the enormous obstacles that he faced, and the extreme lengths to which he went to overcome them.