01.05.02
Secret
Agent - Britain's Wartime Secret Service
By
David Stafford
'In
the darkness of Nazi occupation the Special Operations Executive
fanned the flames of hope and kept alive the flag of freedom. For
this alone it deserves remembering.'
In
1940, with Adolf Hitler already in command of Europe and planning
the invasion of Britain, Winston Churchill appointed a new top-secret
organisation to get behind enemy lines, spark revolt and undermine
Hitler's Europe from within. This organisation is what history now
knows as the Special Operations Executive, or SOE.
With
a brief from Winston Churchill to 'set Europe ablaze', the agency
was given the dangerous task of co-ordinating subversion and sabotage
against the enemy by all means necessary - using disguise, deception,
bribery, explosives, guerrilla warfare and even assassination -
something that had never been attempted before on such a scale.
Secret
Agent gives a fascinating insight into the lives of the agents who
risked their lives to fight this secret war. Through the first-hand
accounts of these courageous men and women, David Stafford reveals
the covert world of the SOE:
- how
the SOE was formed and the operatives were recruited
- the
daring missions they carried out
- the
radio and coding systems that kept them in touch with London
- the
James Bond-style gadgets designed to help them carry out their
missions
A real-life
wartime thriller, Secret Agent narrates the true story of this remarkable
group of people and the war they waged in Nazi-occupied territory.
David
Stafford is the author of several highly acclaimed books on espionage
and intelligence, including Camp X, The Silent Game: The Real World
of Imaginary Spies, Churchill and Secret Service, and Roosevelt
and Churchill: Men of Secrets. A former diplomat, he is currently
Visiting Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities
at the University of Edinburgh and Project Director at the University's
Centre for Second World War Studies. He is the author and narrator
of several radio documentaries for both the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ and the Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation, and worked as a consultant for the accompanying
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ television series on the Special Operations Executive, which
was first broadcast in 2000. He lives in Edinburgh.
Publication
Date: 2 May 2002
Price:
Β£7.99 paperback
ISBN: 0 563 48811 5
Service
to Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Readers/Listeners: This title is available from all good
bookshops, the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Shop ()
or the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Listener Enquiry Line on T: 020-8433 2236.
|
