Edward Crankshaw (3 January 1909 – 30 November 1984)[1] was a British writer, author, translator and commentator; best known for his work on Soviet affairs and the Gestapo (Secret State Police) of Nazi Germany.
Edward Crankshaw was educated in the Nonconformist public school Bishop's Stortford College, Hertfordshire, England.
[clarification needed] During World War II he served as a "Y" (Signals Intelligence) officer in the British Army.
[3] Following a breakdown in "Y" cooperation with the Soviet General Staff in December 1942, the British "Y" Board recalled Crankshaw to London in February 1943.
He obtained a transcript of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev's secret denunciation of Stalin in 1956, a newspaper sensation.