Behind the Lines: The Oral History of Special Operations in World War II

By Russell Miller

Book Overview

Prepared for any situation from averting interrogation through suicide to derailing a train with nothing but an overcoat--and supplied with such useful items as expertly forged documents, exploding rats, and invisible ink--the men and women of the O.S.S. and the S.O.E. were sent behind enemy lines to cause mayhem, often alone, with an average life expectancy of six weeks. These are their stories in their own words.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 045121112X
• ISBN13: 9780451211125
• Release Date: February 2004
• Publisher: Berkley Books
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.1" x 9.0"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Fascinante = Fascinating

Though Iám spanish and not proficiency writter, my interest for Second World War spy and intelligence operations had found in this book, a perfect source of intrigue and action relates. With several chapters refered to different war stages; divided theiselves into lots of personal descriptions, subsume yourself into risk operations and secret files once upon a time. The writting style it's dinamical, fast, manage to wake up yourself inside the same action. It's not able similar book in spanish language, what a pity !

Special operations & resistance fighters, first hand accounts!

This book chonicles the experiences of various people who served in Special Operations Executive, Office of Strategic Services, and the various resistance groups in occupied Europe, in World War II. Most of the events described take place in Western Europe, particularly France. There is a brief chapter on activities in South-east Asia as well. The veterans tell of their experiences in training for SOE/OSS missions, and harrowing events while deployed overseas. Read about recruitment and training, with several recollections of learning hand-to-hand combat, use of weapons, and other survival skills, from such famous instructors as Fairbairn, Sykes, and Applegate. Read about the missions in occupied Europe, leading up to the D-Day invasion. There is also a chapter devoted to those who worked in the cryptography sections, breaking codes, and intercepting enemy communications. Most of the people interviewed appear only once in the book, some at least twice, and this is the only disappointment. Many of these interviews leave you wanting to know more about what happened next, and what became of these people in the end! One wants to hear the entire account. In fact, every interviewed subject could very well produce a book of their own, with the individual's entire story!

Flawed but fun

This book had its flaws, but it was a fun read. The balance between male and female agents was the real charm. Recommended!

Terrific oral history

This is exactly what it purports to be, a compendium of personal narratives of World War II era spies. The previous reviewer's opinion might be given more weight if the word "awful" were spelled correctly. Five stars to help balance the previous negative review: real rating, about 4 stars.