SOE

SOE PDF Author: Fredric Boyce
Publisher: Sutton Pub Limited
ISBN: 9780750940054
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
This book is unique and well-documented account of how Winston Churchill's goverment used scientific and technical skills to support the heroic efforts of SOE agents world wide during World War II.

SOE

SOE PDF Author: Fredric Boyce
Publisher: Sutton Pub Limited
ISBN: 9780750940054
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
This book is unique and well-documented account of how Winston Churchill's goverment used scientific and technical skills to support the heroic efforts of SOE agents world wide during World War II.

SOE: The Scientific Secrets

SOE: The Scientific Secrets PDF Author: Fredric Boyce
Publisher: The History Press
ISBN: 0752475800
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 283

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Book Description
The history of Special Operations Executive (SOE) seems to spring a never-ending run of surprises, and here are some more. This book explores the mysterious world of the tools SOE used for their missions of subversion and sabotage. An often grim reality is confronted that is more akin with the world of James Bond and Q's workshop than previously believed. Written by two scientists, one of whom served in the SOE and one who was tasked with clearing up after it was disbanded; their insider knowledge presents a clear account of the way in which SOE's inventors worked. From high explosive technology to chemical and biological devices; from the techniques of air supply to incendiarism; from camouflage to underwater warfare; and from radio communications to weaponry. SOE: The Scientific Secrets is a revelation about the tools that allowed the murky world of spying and spies to operate during wartime.

The Global Infrastructure of the Special Operations Executive

The Global Infrastructure of the Special Operations Executive PDF Author: Derwin Gregory
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351718339
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 170

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Book Description
During the Second World War, the British government established the Special Operations Executive (SOE) for the purpose of coordinating ‘all action, by way of subversion and sabotage, against the enemy overseas’. Although the overseas operations of this branch of the British Secret Services are relatively well known, few studies have explored the ‘backroom sections’ of this organisation. This book draws together the infrastructure developed to support an agent’s ‘journey’ from recruitment to despatch to the field. At the start of the Second World War there were few existing facilities established within the UK to support clandestine operations. As the conflict progressed, in parallel to learning the operational procedures of their trade, SOE also had to rapidly expand their support infrastructure around the world. The organisation could effectively support their agents only by establishing facilities dedicated to training, research and development, supply, transportation, communication, and command and control. By predominately focusing on the organisation’s ‘agent facing’ infrastructure, this book provides a backdrop to the brave men and women who conducted operations abroad. In addition, it gives an overview of the facilities in which SOE’s backroom staff lived and worked. The book will be of interest to students and scholars of archaeology, history and war studies.

The A to Z of British Intelligence

The A to Z of British Intelligence PDF Author: Nigel West
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
ISBN: 0810870282
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 722

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Book Description
The A to Z of British Intelligence offers insight into the history and operations of British Intelligence through its more than 1,800 entries, covering a vast and varied cast of characters: the spies and their handlers, the moles and defectors, the political leaders, the top brass, the techniques and jargon, and the many different offices and organizations. Covered also are the agencies; leading individuals and prominent personalities; operations, including double agent and deception campaigns; and events, using the most up-to-date declassified material, but written in a style for the professional and general reader alike. This text features 16 black-and-white photographs, an extensive chronology, and a comprehensive bibliography.

Station 12

Station 12 PDF Author: Des Turner
Publisher: The History Press
ISBN: 0752468189
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 247

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Book Description
The full story of Aston House in the Second World War has never been told before. Its activities were top secret and as important to the Allied war effort as those of Bletchley Park, but in a different way. Situated near Stevenage, Aston House was one of many British country houses requisitioned during the Second World War by the Special Operations Executive (SOE). Born out of Bletchley Park, where it began life as SIS Section 'D' (for Destruction), Station 12's scientific and military personnel invented, made and supplied 'toys' for the Commandos, Special Boat Service, SAS, and resistance groups. Included in their deadly arsenal of weapons were plastic explosives, limpet mines, pressure switches, tree spigots, incendiary bombs, incendiary liquids and arrows, and a variety of time fuses. They worked on the tools for famous operations, such as the St Nazaire and Dieppe Raids, and the assassination of Himmler's deputy in Prague. Also revealed are the human stories of personnel stationed in this extremely remote village and the explosive pranks they played on each other, and certain visitors, which add some light relief to their destructive purpose.

SOE's Ultimate Deception

SOE's Ultimate Deception PDF Author: Fredric Boyce
Publisher: The History Press
ISBN: 0750959037
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 181

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Book Description
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.

The Means to Kill

The Means to Kill PDF Author: Gerrit Dworok
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786497173
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 313

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Book Description
Throughout human history, technological innovation has functioned as a driver of civilization and inspired many people's belief in progress. When it comes to warfare, where technology is applied with a cruel and deadly logic, a nuanced view is needed. From siege engines to drones, innovation has often served a less enlightened aim: elimination of the enemy. This collection of new essays from specialists in military history examines the interdependence between war and technology from a number of regional perspectives.

Historical Dictionary of British Intelligence

Historical Dictionary of British Intelligence PDF Author: Nigel West
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
ISBN: 0810878976
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 787

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Book Description
British Intelligence is the oldest, most experienced organization of its kind in the world, the unseen hand behind so many world events, and glamorized by James Bond. Despite the change in role, from a global power controlling an Empire that covered much of the world, to a mere partner in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union, the country’s famed security and intelligence apparatus continues largely intact, and recognized as “punching above its weight.” Feared by the Soviets, admired and trusted by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), British Intelligence has provided the hidden dimension to the conduct of domestic and foreign policy, with the added mystique of Whitehall secrecy, a shroud that for years protected the identities of the shadowy figures who recruited the sources, broke the codes, and caught the spies. This second edition of Historical Dictionary of the British Intelligence covers the history through a chronology, an introductory essay, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 1,000 cross-referenced entries on specific operations, spies and their handlers, the moles and defectors, top leaders, and main organizations. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about the British Intelligence.

Ian Fleming and SOE's Operation POSTMASTER

Ian Fleming and SOE's Operation POSTMASTER PDF Author: Brian Lett
Publisher: Grub Street Publishers
ISBN: 1783030798
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 455

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Book Description
The true story of the force of “licensed to kill” secret agents who became the basis for the James Bond spy series. Brigadier Colin Gubbins was M. The Special Operations Executive was his Secret Service. Professor Dudley Newitt was Q. Capt. Gus March-Phillips commanded “Maid of Honor Force,” the team of “James Bonds” who, in a daring operation, sailed a ship to West Africa and stole three enemy ships from a neutral Spanish port on the volcanic island of Fernando Po. Ian Fleming worked closely with M to oil the wheels that made the operation possible, and prepared the cover story, in which the British government lied in order to conceal British responsibility for the raid. M’s agents prepared the ground on Fernando Po, even enmeshing the governor in a honey trap. March-Phillips and his team carried out the raid successfully in January 1942, despite much opposition from the local regular Army and Navy commanders, and in the face of overwhelming odds. Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden told Fleming’s lies on the international stage, denying any British complicity in the operation. As a result, a secrecy embargo enveloped Operation POSTMASTER until recently. This gripping book proves beyond doubt that this thrilling operation, and the men who carried it out, were the inspiration for Fleming’s fictional 007.

Undercover Agent

Undercover Agent PDF Author: Mark Seaman
Publisher: Kings Road Publishing
ISBN: 1789460212
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 330

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Book Description
Tony Brooks was unique. He was barely out of school when recruited in 1941 by the Special Operations Executive (SOE), the wartime secret service established by Churchill to 'set Europe ablaze'. After extensive training he was parachuted into France in July 1942 - being among the first (and youngest) British agents sent to support the nascent French Resistance. Brook's success was primarily due to his exceptional qualities as a secret agent, although he was aided by large and frequent slices of luck. Among much else, he survived brushes with a British traitor and a notorious double agent; the Gestapo's capture of his wireless operator and subsequent attempts to trap Brooks; brief incarceration in a Spanish concentration camp; injuries resulting from a parachute jump into France; and even capture and interrogation by the Gestapo - although his cover story held and he was released. In an age when we so often take our heroes from the worlds of sport, film, television, music, fashion, or just 'celebrity', it is perhaps salutary to be reminded of a young man who ended the war in command of a disparate force of some 10,000 armed resistance fighters, and decorated with two of this country's highest awards for gallantry, the DSO and MC. At the time, he was just twenty-three years old. This remarkable, detailed and intimate account of a clandestine agent's dangerous wartime career combines the historian's expert eye with the narrative colour of remembered events. As a study in courage, it has few, if any, equals.