Download or read book The SOE on Enemy Soil written by R. A. Fallick and published by McCleery & Sons Publishing. This book was released on 2003 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill's plan for liberating Europe from the Nazis during the darkest days of the Second World War was ambitious: provide a few men and women, most of them barely out of their teens, with training in subversion and hand-to-hand combat, load them down with the latest in sophisticated explosives, drop them by parachute into the occupied countries, then sit back and wait for them to "Set Europe Ablaze." No story has been told with more honesty and humor than Sergeant Fallick tells his tale of service. The training, the fear, the tragic failures, the clandestine romances, and the soldiers' high jinks are all here, warmly told from the point of view of "one bloke" who experienced it all and lived to tell about it.
Download or read book RAF and the SOE written by John Grehan and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2016-10-30 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Special Operations Executive developed a vast network of agents across Occupied Europe which played a vital role in developing and sustaining Resistance movements that persistently sought to subvert German control of their territories. The culmination of their efforts was seen when the Allied armies landed at Normandy in June 1944, with the SOE and the Resistance causing widespread destruction and disruption behind the German lines.None of this would have been possible had it not been for the Royal Air Force. Not only the RAF supply the SOE, and the movements it led and coordinated, with the thousands of tons of arms and equipment needed to undertake this role, it also delivered and retrieved agents from under the very noses of the enemy.Compiled at the end of the war by the Air Historical Branch of the RAF, this is an extremely detailed and comprehensive account of the RAFs support for the SOE, and in it we learn of the enormous and complex arrangements undertaken by the Special Duties squadrons as well as showing how the material delivered by these aircraft was used in the field.This account is reproduced here in its entirety, along with a detailed appendix containing the official historical record of Bomber Command aircrews and aircraft engaged in clandestine operations. Taken together, this book represents the most comprehensive account of the RAFs support for SOE ever published.
Download or read book A Most Ungentlemanly Way of War written by Bernd Horn and published by Dundurn. This book was released on 2016-01-30 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An examination of the SOE, its accomplishments, and the Canadian connection to the organization. During the Second World War, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill created the Special Operations Executive (SOE) to conduct acts of sabotage and subversion, and raise secret armies of partisans in German-occupied Europe. With the directive to “set Europe ablaze,” the SOE undertook a dangerous game of cat and mouse with the Nazi Gestapo. An agent’s failure could result in indescribable torture, dispatch to a concentration camp, and, often, a death sentence. While the SOE’s contribution to the Allied war effort is still debated, and many of its files remain classified, it was a unique wartime creation that reflected innovation, adventure, and a fanatical devotion on the part of its personnel to the Allied cause. The SOE has an important Canadian connection: Canadians were among its operatives and agents behind enemy lines. Camp X, in Whitby, Ontario, was a special training school that trained agents for overseas duty, and an infamous Canadian codenamed “Intrepid” ran SOE operations in the Americas.
Download or read book Cloak of Enemies written by Tom Keene and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2012-02-29 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: SOE was born from Churchill’s vision to set ‘Europe ablaze’. However, Tom Keene’s book reveals for the first time how close it came to never existing at all. Many saw SOE as a threat to the existence of MI5 and other intelligence agencies, and some in the armed forces refused to work with the new agency, fearing its broad remit and lack of experienced operatives. SOE, in turn, became ever more secretive, hiding details of their operations from anyone outside the agency. This backstabbing climate of rivalry, confusion and secrecy, not only nearly destroyed SOE, but also had tragic repercussions for the daring Commandos who took part in the legendary ‘Cockleshell Raid’.Cloak of Enemies exposes the secret war within Whitehall and its far-reaching consequences.
Download or read book Behind Enemy Lines with the SOE written by Ernest Barker and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2021-05-12 with total page 359 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With his special forces training completed, Sergeant Roland Barker was allocated to Operation Arundel as its radio operator. Led by Major Bill Smallwood, he was parachuted into the Dolomites in 1944. The team’s brief was to cause havoc in the area around the Italian border and to infiltrate into Austria. During the mission, Major Smallwood was injured in a fall and was unable to move rapidly. Despite their best efforts, both Smallwood and Barker were subsequently captured by pursuing German troops who they were unable to outpace. Barker provides a vivid account of being ‘interrogated’ by the SS and Gestapo and despite the threats and the terrible conditions, the true nature of their mission was never revealed to the enemy. Having survived these experiences, he was incarcerated in Stalag Luft XVIII in Southern Austria. Ever defiant, Barker escaped by having himself admitted to the camp hospital and made his way into Hungary, from where, as this account of his wartime service reveals, he was eventually repatriated to the UK. After the war Barker opted to remain in the Army, at which point he took a commission. Promoted to Major, Barker became the Officer Commanding 22 SAS in Malaya. He was killed in a helicopter crash in Malaya in 1953, before he could see through his plan to have his memoir published.
Download or read book Proceedings of the Bath Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club written by Bath Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club (Bath, England) and published by . This book was released on 1889 with total page 518 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book SOE s Mastermind written by Brian Lett and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2016-09-30 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first complete biography of Britain’s WWII spymaster presents an intimate look at his life and career, as well as an insider’s look at the SOE. Major General Sir Colin Gubbins was the driving force behind Britain’s Special Operations Executive, the secret military organization established by Winston Churchill in 1940. First as its Operations and Training Director, and then its Commander, Gubbins orchestrated every aspect of the SOE’s worldwide covert operations. Though Gubbins made enormous contributions to Allied victory, his life and work have remained shrouded in secrecy until now. With copious research and unprecedented access to family archives, biographer Brian Lett reveals the war hero’s early experiences in the Great War, as well as in Russia, Ireland, Poland, and as Head of British Resistance. The result is a fascinating biography that reveals as much about SOEs extraordinary activities as it does about the man who inspired and commanded them.
Download or read book Topics in Radio Technology Applications Techniques and Countermeasures in WWII and Early Cold War written by John Guntharp and published by eBookIt.com. This book was released on 2019-09-03 with total page 119 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why: To provide selected examples of World War II and early Cold War events, operations, procedures, systems, and equipment related to the use of electronics and radio measures, countermeasures, and surveillance. When: WWII and early Cold War. Where: Geographically, the events and actions addressed in this document occurred in Britain (primarily the WWII Battle of Britain), Germany (Luftwaffe actions over Britain and British special operations in WWII occupied France), cold war events in London (surveillance and counter-surveillance), and Russian electronic surveillance within the United States embassy in Moscow. Who (the players): Royal Air Force (RAF), German Air Force (Luftwaffe), MI5 (British Security Service), MI6 (British Secret Intelligence Service), British Special Operations Executive (SOE -- primarily British F-Section French operations), Government Code & Cipher School (GC&CS --Bletchley Park codebreakers), British Y-Service (communications intelligence and support to SOE), German-British-Soviet counterintelligence, Soviet KGB (Committee for State Security), and Soviet GRU (Main Intelligence Agency). What (equipment and support): Radio electronics in general. More specifically: Radar (ground and airborne detection, warning, weapons system control), radio navigation and bombing aids, general radio communications, covert radio operations, radio countermeasures, radio counter-countermeasures, electronic surveillance, espionage (electronic surveillance and agents), WWII SOE agent operations, procedures, codes, and codebreaking. How: Operational procedures, techniques, support, and equipment.
Download or read book Unearthing Churchill s Secret Army written by Martin Mace and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2012-12-19 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Special Operations Executive was one of the most secretive organizations of the Second World War, its activities cloaked in mystery and intrigue. The fate, therefore, of many of its agents was not revealed to the general public other than the bare details carved with pride upon the headstones and memorials of those courageous individuals.Then in 2003, the first batch of SOE personal files was released by the National Archive. Over the course of the following years more and more files were made available. Now, at last, it is possible to tell the stories of all those agents that died in action.These are stories of bravery and betrayal, incompetence and misfortune, of brutal torture and ultimately death. Some died when their parachutes failed to open, others swallowed their cyanide capsules rather than fall into the hands of the Gestapo, many died in combat with the enemy, most though were executed, by hanging, by shooting and even by lethal injection.The bodies of many of the lost agents were never found, destroyed in the crematoria of such places as Buckenwald, Mauthausen and Natzweiler, others were buried where they fell. All of them should be remembered as having undertaken missions behind enemy lines in the knowledge that they might never return.
Download or read book The Men Who Came Out of the Ground written by Paul Cleary and published by Hachette Australia. This book was released on 2011-07-26 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'This account . . . is breathtaking in its scope and riveting in its research' - Sydney Morning Herald The gripping story of a small force of Australian Special Forces commandos that launched relentless hit and run raids on far superior Japanese forces in East Timor for most of 1942. These Australians were the men of the 2/2nd Australian Independent Company - a special commando unit. Initially stranded without radio contact to Australia, the Japanese declared these bearded warriors ‘outlaws’ and warned they would be executed immediately if captured. The Australians drawn mainly from the bush, were chosen for their ability to operate independently and survive in hostile territory. As film-maker Damien Parer said after visiting in Timor in late 1942, ‘these men are writing an epic of guerrilla warfare’. Expertly researched by Paul Cleary, who is fluent in Tetum, the main language of the indigenous group of East Timor, it also contains insightful black and white photos. 'A cracker of a read' - The Age 'Paul Cleary has brought to life one of the great success stories of World War II' - Daily Telegraph
Download or read book Special Operations Consolidated B 24 Liberators written by William Wolf and published by Air World. This book was released on 2024-01-30 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite being America’s most produced bomber, the Consolidated B-24 Liberator has forever flown in the shadow of its more famous and glamorous B-17 rival. The workmanlike B-24 performed multiple unheralded roles in all theatres beyond its also multiple offensive missions, making it the war’s most versatile heavy bomber. Besides its offensive bombing, anti-submarine, and mining missions, the Liberator performed many little known “inoffensive” duties. Undoubtedly the most colorful of all Liberators were the so-called assembly ships of the Groups of the 2nd Air Division. Their unique paint schemes of stripes, polka dots, and checkerboard, were designed to make them ultra-conspicuous for their task of acting as leaders on which a Group formation could assemble their combat formations more quickly for a combat mission The Consolidated F-7 was a photographic reconnaissance version of the B-24 Liberator. The F-7 saw service in most theatres of the war. The long range of the Liberator also made it well suited to mapping missions during the war and post-war. Beginning in early 1944, to aid the Allied liberation of Europe, Carpetbagger B-24s were utilized to parachute spies, called “Joes” or “Janes”, or provide aerial supply of weapons and other matériel to resistance fighters in occupied Europe. Liberators also participated in the dropping of 2.75 billion propaganda leaflets using various techniques and delivery devices. Electronic Warfare played an important part in Allied global pre-invasion plans to discover the location of enemy radars, and, if possible, destroy them. This interception and analysis of an enemy electronic radiation was the origin of present day ELINT (ELectonicINTelligence). Modified RAF B-24D Airborne Electronic Reconnaissance Liberators, codenamed Ferret, were Radio Counter Measures and Electronic Intelligence aircraft that played a major role in European air opera¬tions. During 1942 the AAF became interested in aerial refueling as a means to bombing Japan. A shorter-range B-17E was selected as the receiver aircraft while the more spacious B-24D acted as the tanker. Although these tests were considered to be successful, the availability of longer-ranging B-29s and bases ever closer to Japan diminished the urgency of wartime aerial refueling. During the war, eighty-three B-24s crashed or made forced landings in Switzerland, sixty in Sweden, and several in Russia, Spain, Portugal, and Turkey. Many of these Liberators landed undamaged or were repaired to be flown by these nations. Of particular interest are the six Liberators that were captured and flown by the Luftwaffe. Packed with a unique collection of photographs. Special Operations Consolidated B-24 Liberators reveals the most unusual and little-known facets of the Second World War’s most versatile bomber.
Download or read book SOE s Ultimate Deception written by Fredric Boyce and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2009-03-12 with total page 181 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the closing months of the Second World War, General Eisenhower exhorted the Western Allied forces to redouble their efforts to break the German will to resist. In considering this appeal, General Gubbins, whose Special Operations Executive was making a significant contribution to the liberation of occupied territory, was faced with a fundamental difficulty in the case of Germany. Although opposition to Nazism was present in some areas, it was neither organised nor pro-Allied. Then someone had the idea of creating an entirely fictional German resistance movement and 'selling it' to the Nazi security authorities. From January until April 1945, SOE rained propaganda leaflets on the hapless population fleeing the ruins of their cities and the oncoming Allied ground forces; they broadcast messages to the 'resistance'; they planted the most scandalous lies about eminent Nazis; and at the end they even dropped four agents on fictitious missions. This imaginative response to Ike's exhortation and the sheer audacity of the operation itself demand to be told to a wider audience.
Download or read book The SOE s Brothers of Vengeance written by Peter Jacobs and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2020-04-01 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: December 1941. After setting up one of the first resistance organisations in Vichy France and escaping over the Pyrenees into Spain, brothers Henry and Alfred Newton received devastating news. SS Avoceta, carrying their parents, wives and children to the safety of Britain, had been torpedoed by a German U-boat. All of their family were dead. From that moment on, the Newton brothers were consumed by revenge. Recruited by SOE, and known to everyone simply as the Twins, they returned to France and waged their own personal war against the Nazis. For nine months they lived on the edge before they were betrayed, and the net finally closed. They were caught by the Gestapo and tortured at the hands of the Butcher of Lyon, Klaus Barbie, before being taken to the dreaded Buchenwald concentration camp. In The SOE's Brothers of Vengeance, acclaimed historian Peter Jacobs reveals the full story of Henry and Alfred Newton. Drawing on personal archives and new research, theirs is a dramatic tale of courage steeped in vengeance – and of the bonds of brotherhood in the face of hell on earth.
Download or read book A Remarkable Man written by Andrew Murtagh and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2013-01-20 with total page 410 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: I can truthfully say that there has never been a nicer man in the game. George Chesterton is a gentleman to the core. And he wasn't a bad bowler either!' Tom Graveney OBE. Wartime pilot dropping supplies over occupied Europe; county cricketer; housemaster teaching and disciplining mischievous teenage boys; family man and civic figure, there have been few dull moments in George Chesterton's life. And he can probably manage to turn even those into amusing anecdotes. Andrew Murtagh tells the story of this remarkable man.
Download or read book Report of the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts written by Großbritannien and published by . This book was released on 1881 with total page 1120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book SOE in France written by M.R.D. Foot and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2004-04-22 with total page 667 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: SOE in France was first published in 1966, followed by a second impression with amendments in 1968. Since these editions were published, other material on SOE has become available. It was, therefore, agreed in 2000 that Professor Foot should produce a revised version. In so doing, in addition to the material in the first edition, the author has had
Download or read book Warfare in the Enemy s Rear written by Otto Heilbrunn and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-05-30 with total page 197 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book, first published in 1963, is an analysis of modern warfare in the enemy’s rear, written by the leading authority on irregular warfare, and stemming from a close examination of real-life examples. Rear warfare on scale poses many problems, such as the exact field of operations; supply line issues; combat or harassment; and coordination with frontline troops. There is also the issue of protecting one’s own rear troops.
