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LONDON - A British double agent codenamed "Agent Zigzag" offered to blow up Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler in a suicide bombing during World War II.
Eddie Chapman wanted to go down in history as the man who killed Hitler but was talked out of it by MI5, Ben Macintyre, who has just penned a book on him, wrote in the Times. Chapman said his German spymaster had promised to take him to a Nazi rally and would place him near Hitler.
"Whether or not you succeeded, you would be liquidated immediately," Chapman was told by his British case officer, Ronnie Reed. "Ah, but what a way out!" Chapman replied. Reed told superiors: "He can think of no better way of leaving this life than to have his name prominently featured throughout the world's press and to be immortalised in history books for all time."
Chapman was told "not to undertake any wild enterprises" by his British spymaster, Colonel Tommy Robertson.
Chapman, a professional criminal and safe-cracker, died in 1997.AFP
