Product Description

Compiled from interviews, diaries, letters and contemporaneous first-person accounts - many never before published - this oral history follows the adventures of the courageous men and women who volunteered for service with Britain's Special Operations Executives and the United States' Office of Strategic Services. They parachuted behind enemy lines, often alone, with orders to cause mayhem. Arrest almost always resulted in torture and emprisonment; sometimes in execution. In occupied France, equipped wih false identities, they played a deadly game of cat and mouse with the Gestapo; in the Balkans they discovered that the fiery politics of the region were as dangerous as the enemy; in the Burmese jungle they led native marauders in surprise attacks against the Japanese. Supported by a team of backroom boffins who dreamed up ingenious devices like exploding rats and invisible ink, the special agents of World War II really were a breed apart. This is their extraordinary story, in their own words.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #114745 in Books
• Published on: 2002-07-11
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 308 pages

Review
This is the story of Special Operations in World War Two as it has never been told before - directly by those who took part.

About the Author
Born in East London, Russell Miller began his career in journalism at the age of 16. While under contract to the Sunday Times magazine, he won four press awards and was voted Writer of the Year by the Society of British Magazine Editors. He is the author of eleven previous books, including the widely acclaimed Nothing Less than Victory and, most recently, the acclaimed history of the legendary Magnum photo agency Magnum: Fifty Years at the Frontline of History.

Customer Reviews

Totally engrossing read!
In 'Behind The Lines' Russell Miller presents us with a superb collection of first person accounts of life in the wartime SOE and OSS. The accounts start at the original conception of the organisations and go through describing recuiting, training and of course the operations and missions that these brave special agents set out for, often not to come back, in those dark days of 1941-1945.
Each chapter begins with an intial introduction by the author before the agents, wireless operators, boffins etc tell of the various adventures and escapes that they lived through. Each account is so full of interest it is hard to put the book down.
The only downside is the fact the book does include any photographs, the inclusion of which could have increased the overall immersion even more.
Nevertheless the book is a fantastic must read for anyone with a passing interest in Spys, Special Operations, or just World War Two in general. Recommended.