Download or read book OSS Training in the National Parks and Service Abroad in World War II written by John Whiteclay Chambers and published by www.Militarybookshop.CompanyUK. This book was released on 2018-10 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Before there was the CIA, there was the OSS. The places where they trained for their dangerous mission are now national parks. This is an official history prepared by the National Park Service of the United States.
Download or read book OSS Training and Service Abroad in World War II written by U S National Park Service and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2015-04-10 with total page 640 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Because of the secrecy that enveloped the U.S. Office of Strategic Services in World War II, it surprises most people, including nearby residents, to learn that spies were trained in some of the National Parks-not just spies but guerrilla leaders, saboteurs, clandestine radio operators and others who would be infiltrated behind enemy lines. What are today known as Catoctin Mountain Park in Maryland and Prince William Forest Park in Virginia played a vital role in the training of the operatives of the U.S. Office of Strategic Services. Known by its initials, the OSS was a specially created wartime military agency that fought a largely invisible and covert war against the Axis powers between 1942 and 1945. America's first national centralized intelligence agency with thousands of clandestine operatives, spies, and intelligence analysts, the OSS is acknowledged as the predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency. With its Special Operations troops and Operational Group commandos, the OSS is also widely considered a forerunner of today's Special Forces. From 1941 to 1945, the men and women of the OSS were part of a "shadow war," a war largely behind the scenes and often behind enemy lines around the world. Highly secret during the war and in many instances for years thereafter, that effort was designed to help undermine the conquests of Nazi Germany, fascist Italy, and militaristic Japan. The "shadow warriors" sought to supply and guide local resistance movements, demoralize the enemy through "black propaganda," and to gather intelligence and commit sabotage in enemy occupied territory to contribute to the victory of the Allies' armed forces as they overcame the totalitarian, Axis aggressors.
Download or read book OSS Training in the National Parks and Service Abroad in World War II written by John Whiteclay Chambers and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 618 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Bang Bang Boys Jedburghs and the House of Horrors written by John Whiteclay Chambers, II and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2016-03-04 with total page 692 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bang-Bang Boys, Jedburghs, and the House of Horrors is an authoritative look at the history of the training and operations of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during World War II. The OSS, created by President Frankin Roosevelt in June 1942 (seven months after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor) and headed by William "Wild Bill" Donovan, the OSS was to fill a vital role of intelligence-gathering and special operations during the war. From the intensive training at several National Park service units in the U.S. and at overseas camps, the men and women of the OSS were trained to fight, survive, and successfully complete their missions under unimaginably dangerous conditions. Bang-Bang Boys, originally prepared for the U.S. National Park Service in 2008 as OSS Training in the National Parks and Service Abroad in World War II, and based on the exhaustive research and interviews conducted by the author, tells their story. Included are 54 pages of maps and photographs. Author John W. Chambers II is a Distinguished Professor of History at Rutgers University and the author of a number of books on military history.
Download or read book Sisterhood of Spies written by Elizabeth P. McIntosh and published by US Naval Institute Press. This book was released on 1998 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An enthralling tribute to the largely unsung women agents who worked undercover to help win WWII told with aplomb.
Download or read book A Spy s Diary of World War II written by Wayne Nelson and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2009-10-21 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Here is the wartime diary of Wayne Nelson, an OSS officer who served in North Africa and Europe during World War II. A prewar colleague of Allen Dulles, Nelson joined an infant OSS after failing to join the Navy because of a vision disability, and he went on to serve in North Africa, Sicily, Sardinia, Italy, Corsica, and mainland France. Erudite and a skilled writer, Nelson captured intriguing observations about some of the most important spy operations of the war, and his diary entries offer a thrilling, readable and informative glimpse into the life of a spy during World War II.
Download or read book The OSS and Ho Chi Minh written by Dixee Bartholomew-Feis and published by University Press of Kansas. This book was released on 2006-05-12 with total page 446 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Some will be shocked to find out that the United States and Ho Chi Minh, our nemesis for much of the Vietnam War, were once allies. Indeed, during the last year of World War II, American spies in Indochina found themselves working closely with Ho Chi Minh and other anti-colonial factions-compelled by circumstances to fight together against the Japanese. Dixee Bartholomew-Feis reveals how this relationship emerged and operated and how it impacted Vietnam's struggle for independence. The men of General William Donovan's newly-formed Office of Strategic Services closely collaborated with communist groups in both Europe and Asia against the Axis enemies. In Vietnam, this meant that OSS officers worked with Ho Chi Minh and the Viet Minh, whose ultimate aim was to rid the region of all imperialist powers, not just the Japanese. Ho, for his part, did whatever he could to encourage the OSS's negative view of the French, who were desperate to regain their colony. Revealing details not previously known about their covert operations, Bartholomew-Feis chronicles the exploits of these allies as they developed their network of informants, sabotaged the Japanese occupation's infrastructure, conducted guerrilla operations, and searched for downed American fliers and Allied POWs. Although the OSS did not bring Ho Chi Minh to power, Bartholomew-Feis shows that its apparent support for the Viet Minh played a significant symbolic role in helping them fill the power vacuum left in the wake of Japan's surrender. Her study also hints that, had America continued to champion the anti-colonials and their quest for independence, rather than caving in to the French, we might have been spared our long and very lethal war in Vietnam. Based partly on interviews with surviving OSS agents who served in Vietnam, Bartholomew-Feis's engaging narrative and compelling insights speak to the yearnings of an oppressed people-and remind us that history does indeed make strange bedfellows.
Download or read book Special Operations in WWII written by James Stejskal and published by Casemate. This book was released on 2020-04-30 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A brief history of secret British and American World War II organizations, their training, tools, successes, and their legacy. Winston Churchill famously instructed the head of the Special Operations Executive to “Set Europe ablaze!” Agents of both the British Special Operations Executive and the American Office of Strategic Services underwent rigorous training before making their way, undetected, into occupied Europe to do just that. Working alone or in small cells, often cooperating with local resistance groups, agents undertook missions behind enemy lines involving sabotage, subversion, organizing resistance groups and intelligence-gathering. SOE’s first notable success was the destruction of a power station in France, stopping work at a vital U-boat base. Later operations included the assassination of Himmler’s deputy Reinhard Heyrich and ending the Nazi atomic bomb program by destroying the heavy water plant at Vemork, Norway. OSS operatives established anti-Nazi resistance groups across Europe, and managed to smuggle operatives into Nazi Germany, including running one of the war’s most important spies, German diplomat Fritz Kolbe. All missions were incredibly dangerous and many agents were captured, tortured, and ultimately killed—the life expectancy of an SOE wireless operator in occupied France was just six weeks. In this short history, historian James Stejskal examines why these agencies were established, the training regime and ingenious tools developed to enable agents to undertake their missions, their operational successes, and their legacy.
Download or read book The OSS in World War II written by Edward Hymoff and published by Eagle Publishing Corporation. This book was released on 1986 with total page 456 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Secret War written by George C. Chalou and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 1995-12 with total page 410 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The proceedings of the first major scholarly conference on the OSS, which was in existence from 1941 through 1945. Includes 24 papers presented by veterans and historians of the OSS. Offers new insights into the activities and importance of the U.S.'s first modern national intelligence agency. Discusses: the U.S. on the brink of war; the operations of the OSS at the headquarters level and in the field throughout Western Europe, the Balkans, and Asia. Also explores the legacy of the OSS. Contributors include: Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., William Colby, Walt W. Rostow, Robin Winks, and Aline, Countess of Romanones.
Download or read book Operatives Spies and Saboteurs written by Patrick K. O'Donnell and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-10-28 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: O'Donnell has tracked down and interviewed more than 300 elite and mysterious former OSS (Office of Strategic Services) members and, for the first time, relates their incredible true stories of World War II--stories that may read like the best spy novels but are shockingly true. 16-page photo insert.
Download or read book Office of Strategic Services 1942 45 written by Eugene Liptak and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2013-02-20 with total page 133 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Office of Strategic Services, the forerunner of the CIA, was founded in 1942 by William 'Wild Bill' Donovan under the direction of President Roosevelt. Agents were enlisted from both the armed services and civilians to produce operational groups specialising in different foreign areas including Italy, Norway, Yugoslavia and China. In 1944 the number of men and women working in the service totalled nearly 13,500. This intriguing story of the origins and development of the American espionage forces covers all of the different departments involved, with a particular emphasis on the courageous teams operating in the field. The volume is illustrated with many photographs, including images from the film director John Ford who led the OSS Photographic Unit and parachuted into Burma in 1943.
Download or read book How to Be a Spy written by and published by Dundurn. This book was released on 2004-04 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During World War II, training in the black arts of covert operation was vital preparation for the 'ungentlemanly warfare' waged by the Special Operations Executive (SOE) against Hitler's Germany and Tojo's Japan. Reproduced here is the most comprehensive training syllabus used at SOE's Special Training Schools (STSs) showing how agents learnt to wreak maximum destruction in occupied Europe and beyond. The training took place in country houses and other secluded locations ranging from the Highlands of Scotland to Singapore and Canada. An array of unconventional skills are covered - from burglary, close combat and silent killing through to propaganda, surveillance and disguise - giving insight into the workings of one of World War II's most intriguing organizations. Denis Rigden's introduction sets the documents in its historical context and includes stories of how these lessons were put into practice on actual wartime missions.
Download or read book The Princess Spy written by Larry Loftis and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2021-02-09 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES, WALL STREET JOURNAL, AND USA TODAY BESTSELLER “As exciting as any spy novel” (Daily News, New York), The Princess Spy follows the hidden history of an ordinary American girl who became one of the OSS’s most daring World War II spies before marrying into European nobility. Perfect for fans of A Woman of No Importance and Code Girls. When Aline Griffith was born in a quiet suburban New York hamlet, no one had any idea that she would go on to live “a life of glamour and danger that Ingrid Bergman only played at in Notorious” (Time). As the United States enters the Second World War, the young college graduate is desperate to aid in the war effort, but no one is interested in a bright-eyed young woman whose only career experience is modeling clothes. Aline’s life changes when, at a dinner party, she meets a man named Frank Ryan and reveals how desperately she wants to do her part for her country. Within a few weeks, he helps her join the Office of Strategic Services—forerunner of the CIA. With a code name and expert training under her belt, she is sent to Spain to be a coder, but is soon given the additional assignment of infiltrating the upper echelons of society, mingling with high-ranking officials, diplomats, and titled Europeans. Against this glamorous backdrop of galas and dinner parties, she recruits sub-agents and engages in deep-cover espionage. Even after marrying the Count of Romanones, one of the wealthiest men in Spain, Aline secretly continues her covert activities, being given special assignments when abroad that would benefit from her impeccable pedigree and social connections. “[A] meticulously researched, beautifully crafted work of nonfiction that reads like a James Bond thriller” (Bookreporter), The Princess Spy brings to vivid life the dazzling adventures of a spirited American woman who risked everything to serve her country.
Download or read book German Anti Nazi Espionage in the Second World War written by Jonathan S. Gould and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-09-13 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book tells the dramatic story of the recruitment and training of a group of German communist exiles by the London office of the Office of Strategic Services for key spy missions into Nazi Germany during the final months of World War II. The book chronicles their stand against the rise of Hitler in 1930s that caused them to flee Germany for Czechoslovakia and then England where they resettled and awaited an opportunity to get back into the war against the Nazis. That chance would arrive in late 1944 when the OSS recruited them for these important missions which became part of the historic German Penetration Campaign. Some of the German exiles carried out successful missions that provided key military intelligence to the Allied armies advancing into Germany while others suffered untimely deaths immediately upon the dispatch of their missions that still raise troubling issues. And based on declassified East German government files, this book also reveals that notwithstanding the US military alliance with the Soviet Union, a few of the German communist exiles betrayed the trust that the OSS had placed in them by working with a secret spy network in England that enabled its agents to receive top secret mission related information and OSS sources and methods. That spy network was run by the GRU, the Red Army military intelligence service. This is the same intelligence service that has just been cited by US law enforcement officers as having hacked into computers run by the Democratic National Committee and launched a social media campaign in order to influence the outcome of the 2016 U.S. presidential election. While the dual loyalties of the German exiles later became known to the United States military, such knowledge did not prevent it from posthumously awarding military decorations to the men who led these missions. Until that day, no German national had ever been presented with such medals for their service to the Allied armies in World War II.
Download or read book The Office of Strategic Services and Italian Americans written by Salvatore J. LaGumina and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-10-05 with total page 189 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the contributions of Italian Americans employed by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during World War II. Italian Americans fluent in Italian language and customs became integral parts of intelligence operations working behind enemy lines. These units obtained priceless military information that significantly helped defeat the Axis. They parachuted into frozen mountains tops to link up with Italian guerilla units in northern Italy or hovered in small patrol torpedo boats and row boats across the Mediterranean Sea in pitch black darkness to destroy railroad junctions.
Download or read book No Bugles for Spies written by Lt.-Col. Robert Hayden Alcorn and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2017-07-19 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The unvarnished behind-the-scenes tale of the OSS—and the incredibly daring men and women who put their lives at stake in the most dangerous game of all. “By mid-1942, after a Washington shuffle, the Office of Coordinator of information had become the Office of Strategic Services. By then, Colonel, later General, "Wild Bill" Donovan, the "Wizard of OSS", was "sitting stop a lusty, burgeoning, dynamic organization stamped with its own imprint". The story of how that organization grew, the sort of operatives and methods it employed, the schemes and techniques of financing its activities, and the things it was able to accomplish for the war effort still makes exciting reading, even this many years after the war. Alcorn served with the organization from its earliest days, with Donovan both directly and indirectly; his observations would indicate that the man was nearly unique in his ability to grasp quantities of detail. While Alcorn does not leave out some mention of prima donnas and other undesirable; who occasionally cropped up, and he is moderately censorious of MacArthur's refusal to let OSS operate freely in the Pacific theatre, his overall picture is one of uncommon harmony for such a complex effort. The emphasis is on people, rather than techniques, he has a real grasp of how to project human-interest material. The thrills, chills, and tears are well balanced, and the effect is exhilarating.”—Kirkus Reviews “One of the best”—Detroit News “The thrills, chills, and tears are well balanced, and the effect is exhilarating.”
