How to Win an Information War: The Propagandist Who Outwitted Hitler

Pomerantsev's third book takes an unexpected turn — away from the contemporary information environment and back to the Second World War, where he finds in the figure of Sefton Delmer the most instructive case study in effective counter-propaganda ever documented. Delmer was a British propagandist of German origin who ran the 'black' radio operations that broadcast fake German content to Wehrmacht soldiers and the German public — undermining morale, sowing doubt, and contributing meaningfully to Allied victory. The book is partly biography, partly operational history, and partly an extended argument about what actually works in information warfare.

The contemporary resonance is deliberate. Pomerantsev draws explicit parallels between the information environment of the 1940s and today, arguing that Delmer's methods — understanding the enemy's information environment from the inside, exploiting the gap between official propaganda and lived reality, and meeting audiences where they are rather than where you wish they were — remain the most effective available framework for counter-influence operations. For practitioners who need both historical grounding and practical insight into what counter-disinformation actually looks like when it works, this book is essential. Written with Pomerantsev's characteristic narrative drive, it is also simply a gripping read.