The Special Operations Executive was formed from several pre-existing organisations to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in occupied Europe against the Axis powers, and to aid local resistance movements.
I loved reading about the origins of GCHQ, which was probably being built in the area between Gloucester and Cheltenham just a few miles from where I lived from 1946-1963, and the development of wireless technology that remains paramount to our defence and our allies' defence to this day. Nigel West is an acknowledged expert in this field of literature and his latest book is fascinating and intriguing.
Books Monthly
I loved reading about the origins of GCHQ, which was probably being built in the area between Gloucester and Cheltenham just a few miles from where I lived from 1946-1963, and the development of wireless technology that remains paramount to our defence and our allies' defence to this day. Nigel West is an acknowledged expert in this field of literature and his latest book is fascinating and intriguing.
Books Monthly
Although the events in this book happened over a century ago now, this is a page-turning book, much of it following events in different countries, hotting up in the world wars. The tailpiece of the book looks at the moles in the SIS as well as some who were checked for having similar profiles and cleared. It’s also interesting seeing references to the likes of Ian Fleming, Graham Greene and Malcolm Muggeridge prior to their careers as writers. If you’re into spy fiction, the information about the real thing and if any author used its structuring will show which ones did their homework or probably involved themselves.
Read the full review [link=https://www.sfcrowsnest.info/mi6-british-security-intelligence-service-operations-1909-1945-by-nigel-west-book-review/]here[/link]
SF Crowsnest
Although the events in this book happened over a century ago now, this is a page-turning book, much of it following events in different countries, hotting up in the world wars. The tailpiece of the book looks at the moles in the SIS as well as some who were checked for having similar profiles and cleared. It’s also interesting seeing references to the likes of Ian Fleming, Graham Greene and Malcolm Muggeridge prior to their careers as writers. If you’re into spy fiction, the information about the real thing and if any author used its structuring will show which ones did their homework or probably involved themselves.
Read the full review [link=https://www.sfcrowsnest.info/mi6-british-security-intelligence-service-operations-1909-1945-by-nigel-west-book-review/]here[/link]
SF Crowsnest
And for anyone who loves James Bond and Spooks, Nigel's fantastic history of MI5 from its inception through to the present day is the perfect celebration of Britain's secret service and the role it played in both wars and subsequently through to the cold war, which appears to reared its ugly head once more. Thrilling and captivating.
Books Monthly
And for anyone who loves James Bond and Spooks, Nigel's fantastic history of MI5 from its inception through to the present day is the perfect celebration of Britain's secret service and the role it played in both wars and subsequently through to the cold war, which appears to reared its ugly head once more. Thrilling and captivating.
Books Monthly
It was a good call to re-print this work so that it would come to the notice of another generation of readers. The descriptions are vivid, his love life exhausting and his training harsh. This all come through vibrantly and the experience of the author as a storyteller is unmistakable. This is a good book and an excellent insight into the reality of Special Forces during the Second World War.
Robert Bartlett review, 2019
It was a good call to re-print this work so that it would come to the notice of another generation of readers. The descriptions are vivid, his love life exhausting and his training harsh. This all come through vibrantly and the experience of the author as a storyteller is unmistakable. This is a good book and an excellent insight into the reality of Special Forces during the Second World War.
Robert Bartlett review, 2019
Featured by Seb Palmer [link=https://aquestionofscale.blogspot.com/2019/07/book-review-secret-war-story-of-soe.html] here [/link]
Seb Palmer, A Question of Scale, July 2019
Featured by Seb Palmer [link=https://aquestionofscale.blogspot.com/2019/07/book-review-secret-war-story-of-soe.html] here [/link]
Seb Palmer, A Question of Scale, July 2019
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Carve Her Name With Pride
Carve Her Name With Pride is the inspiring story of the half-French Violette Szabo who was born in Paris Iin 1921 to an English motor-car dealer, and a French Mother. She met and married Etienne Szabo, a Captain in the French Foreign Legion in 1940. Shortly after the birth of her daughter, Tania, her husband died at El Alamein. She became a FANY (First… Read more...
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Cracking the Luftwaffe Codes
'An intriguing page-turning and personal account of that most secretive of wartime institutions, Bletchley Park, and of the often eccentric people who helped to win the war' – Beryl Bainbridge Bletchley Park, or 'Station X', was home to the most famous codebreakers of the Second World War. The 19th-century mansion was the key centre for cracking… Read more...
With Britain braced for a German invasion, MI5 recruited an ex RNAS officer, come confidence trickster, called Walter Dicketts as a double agent. Codenamed Celery, Dicketts was sent to Lisbon with the seemingly impossible mission of persuading the Germans he was a traitor and then extract crucial secrets. Once there, the Nazis spirited him off to Germany.… Read more...
'A magnificent biography which finally provides recognition to one of Bletchley's and Britain's lost heroes.' Michael Smith The Official Secrets Act and the passing of time have prevented the Bletchley Park story from being told by many of its key participants. Here at last is a book which allows some of them to speak for the first time. Gordon Welchman… Read more...
How to Undertake Surveillance and Reconnaissance offers you a systemic way to learn about these fascinating subjects—what they are and what they are not. In doing so, it will teach you how to employ the unique tradecraft associated with these interesting occupation in order to help you plan and carry out your own recon missions. In a world of growing… Read more...
