Unearthing Churchill's Secret Army

Hi All,

Without doubt, some of the bravest men and women to do battle with the forces of darkness and tyranny which was Nazism were the agents of the Special Operations Executive (SOE). The secrecy which has surrounded this organization since it was founded in July of 1940 right up to recent times has, to a very great extent, prevented us from acquiring a full appreciation of these daring exploits.

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'Unearthing Churchill's Secret Army - The Official List of SOE Casualties and Their Stories' by John Grehan and Martin Mace focuses on the agents who paid the ultimate price, very often with an ignominious death following extreme physical torture. Almost all SOE agents which were captured by the Germans were treated as spies and consequently were not afforded the protection of the Geneva Convention. The book lists 140 agents, mostly but not exclusively from F (French) Section, who never made it home.

Each name carries a story, spread over two pages or so, and it is this style which creates the impact. On flicking from story to story, knowing how each one ends, the reader is confronted in each case by a small passport size photograph of the agent in question. I found myself looking at the 140 faces and wondering will they be afforded the remembrance due to them, or will the world just forget that each one had a future, a life cut short, in order to provide future generations with a place to live in the sun. This book, I hope, will help to keep the names of these courageous people alive in ours and future generations' memories.

I was surprised to learn from reading the book that only an estimated 15% of SOE records survive to the present day and these small, tantalizing windows into this secretive body were only released by TNA in 2003.

The book is not without controversy however, as will be seen on the Amazon review page and it is perhaps unfortunate that suspected traitors and double agents are named in the book where it would appear that no solid proof of guilt was ever found, at least in some cases.

One addition I would personally have liked to have seen included would be a location list or map of all the SOE Circuits and Networks which were set up in France. These are named in each story but the geographical location where they operated is not always made clear. I would be especially interested to learn more of Circuits set up in Normandy.

Overall, this is a good book which has left a solid impact with this reviewer and a thirst to learn more about these brave and audacious agents, who in France alone, contributed to the final Allied victory by effect far and above their number in the field. They bravery deserves our recognition and this book will see to it that their names do not fade into the mist of time.

Regards,

Pat

 

Hi Allan,

I don't think it was a matter of where German control was most effective, but rather the size of the canvas over which the opportunity for sabotage was available.

In my view, it was a combination of the sheer physical size of the country and the fact that France was always going to be the only practical route for the invasion of Europe, which determined that F Section was going to be the largest and best resourced in SOE. It was therefore inevitable that the highest causality rate was going to be suffered here and consequently the book reflects this.

The amount of railway track alone in France is phenomenal as I know only too well from recent work on the 'unlocatable' NCAP frames and a little ongoing project I am currently working on trying to find a 2nd or 3rd radius bend on a single railway track which is shown under attack from rocket firing typhoons in this BP footage. Starting at Brest, I have spent the last three weeks trying to find the location without success :s

Yes, I did read your latest post regarding 412 RSU. Just going over there now.

Regards,

Pat

 

Hi Ellen,

If you have the time, we would be delighted to read your thoughts on the book.

I have always been fascinated by the exploits of agents in German occupied Europe. Its one thing to fight a war with the protection of a uniform, quite another to risk your life with only the protection of a cyanide capsule.

Regards,

Pat