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Martin Mace
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Unearthing Churchill's Secret Army: The Official List of SOE Casualties and Their Stories Kindle Edition

by Martin Mace (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.2 out of 5 stars 39 ratings
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.
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  1. Print length
    564 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Pen & Sword Military
  4. Publication date
    December 19, 2012
  5. File size
    13.8 MB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
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  8. Enhanced typesetting
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

JOHN GREHAN has written, edited or contributed to more than 300 books and magazine articles covering a wide span of military history from the Iron Age to the recent conflict in Afghanistan. John has also appeared on local and national radio and television to advise on military history topics. He was employed as the Assistant Editor of Britain at War Magazine from its inception until 2014. John now devotes his time to writing and editing books.

Martin Mace has been involved in writing and publishing military history for more than twenty-five years. He began his career with local history, writing a book on the Second World War anti-invasion defences and stop lines in West Sussex. Following the success of this book, he established Historic Military Press, which has published a wide range of titles. In 2006 he began working on the idea for Britain at War Magazine, the first issue of which went on sale in May 2007. This publication has grown rapidly to become the best-selling military history periodical on the high street. Martin now devotes his time to writing and editing books.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00DN5V58A
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Pen & Sword Military (December 19, 2012)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ December 19, 2012
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 13.8 MB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 564 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 out of 5 stars 39 ratings

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Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
39 global ratings

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Top reviews from the United States

  • Urs
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in the United States on March 21, 2018
    Verified Purchase
    I bought the book for my husband who is deeply "into" it.
    Helpful
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  • anne dewar
    1.0 out of 5 stars Inaccurate and possibly libellous - at least as regards my father
    Reviewed in the United States on February 8, 2014
    In the story regarding Marcel Fox the authors make reference to my father and the ‘suspicion’ of his betrayal that led to Marcel Fox’s arrest. As the author states this ‘suspicion’ was never proved or it appears even explained. Consequently I think it totally irresponsible of the authors to put my father’s name in the statement. My father survived the war (after more than 2 years in active SOE service in France), was never caught or even interrogated, commended by de-Gaulle by personal letter and was then recruited by MI6 to track down Nazi’s in Germany – so much for his ‘betrayal’!
    I guess that, because he survived, the authors were not interested in him but quite prepared to besmirch the name of someone who risked their life for the country, freedom and justice. See also another review with similar complaint.
    I have e-mailed the Martin Mace for explanations…
    7 people found this helpful
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  • Nigel FELANGUE
    1.0 out of 5 stars Re: Page 107. Lt Eugene Francis Levene S.O.E.
    Reviewed in the United States on February 5, 2013
    Page 107 regarding my father and his activities whilst a French Section Agent was inaccurate and badly edited. His birthdate
    was 14/6/1912 and not 4/6/1912; other relevant information was not included. The assumption that my father betrayed
    HEWITT is incorrect and not based on factual evidence ! The authors should contact me for further information.
    7 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Bertie
    5.0 out of 5 stars A valuable record of bravery
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 27, 2019
    Verified Purchase
    Bought this as recently discovered that a member of my family was in the Special Operations Executive. It includes a photo of him and a short biography which has really opened my eyes to what he went through. The book consists of pictures and biographies of other members of Churchill's Secret Army and one cannot help being moved and astounded by their bravery.
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  • Richard
    4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent content, elementary errors.
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 3, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    While this is an excellent book and essential reading for anyone interested in SOE, the presentation is marred by basic errors : in my copy, the same photo is used for agents ADLER and BUTTON and 3 names are spelled incorrectly in the photo section captions. While the photo section contains a gratuitous photo of one of the authors pointing to a war memorial (in case we don't know what a war memorial looks like?) no space can be found for a photo of the legendary Violette Szabo.
    Poor production values seem to be a persistent feature of some Pen and Sword titles. Some of the later editions of the Battleground Europe battlefield guides are riddled with spelling errors and typos. I think P&S should consider recruiting a few proof-readers and sub-editors.
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  • Mr. S. Reay
    5.0 out of 5 stars Were their deaths a forgone conclusion?
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 8, 2012
    Verified Purchase
    Another good book about some of the bravest people in WW2.
    Reading between the lines (and cross referencing) some of these brave souls were comprimised before they they even left safe soil. Some of Buckmasters comments when the agents were captured on landing are atrocious, he seemed to focus on them not being able to do their duty as opposed to what they were about to endure, torture, deprevation and if they were "lucky" a bullet in the back of their neck, the other way the were murdered was by hanging. By piano wire.
    The book has a good foreword to bring readers up to speed and then has short succinct sections on each of the agents that perished, their objectives, where they were caught/tortured/killed.
    A well written, often sad, book.
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  • Dan DJ Roberts
    5.0 out of 5 stars Very enjoyable and informative book
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 17, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    I bought this as a birthday present for my grandad who was part of the SOE during the war, He has enjoyed reading every bit of the book and has told me about parts that he was apart. This book is a fascinating glimpse into the world of the SOE where missions were of the utmost secret and rarely any information about them was leaked.

    This book is a fantastic present for anyone who has served in the SOE or if you are interested in the underground and top secret missions carried out during WWII.
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  • History bird
    2.0 out of 5 stars when cross referencing the four stories of the SOE agents who were executed at Dachau I was amazed to find staggering inconsiste
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 17, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    I was looking forward to using this so called 'Official list' as a reference book, however whose official list it is I do not know. However, when cross referencing the four stories of the SOE agents who were executed at Dachau I was amazed to find staggering inconsistency within each agents story. These four women travelled together to Dachau and were executed on the same day at roughly the same time, although there is debate as to who was with you and where it all happened. However, according to this book Madeleine Damerment travelled on 12th September, Eliane Plewman on the 11th September and Yolande Bekman on 10th September. Then instead of being consistent across the board with accounts of their deaths each individual mini biography is different, with different facts and accounts. I haven't read any further than this, I don't want to. This book is poorly cross referenced and cross checked. What a shame, it promises so much and delivers so little.
    Report

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