Product Description
Forgotten Voices of the Secret War
Author(s): Roderick Bailey
Format: Paperback
An Inside History of Special Operations in the Second World War
'The Gestapo kept me three days in this interrogation house. They especially wanted to know what I did after my escape, and precise things on the organisation of the SOE. And just for fun I suspect, because I had really not much to tell them, they pulled one of my toenails out...' - Robert Sheppard, SOE agent
The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British organisation created early in World War 2 to encourage resistance and carry out sabotage behind enemy lines: in Winston Churchill's famous phrase, to 'set Europe ablaze'.
Drawing on the vast resources of the Imperial War Museum Sound Archive and featuring a mass of previously unpublished personal testimonies, Forgotten Voices of the Secret War tells the stories of SOE agents, HQ staff, diplomats, aircrew and naval personnel in their own words. As the war unfolds, we learn of parachute drops into enemy territory, torture by the Gestapo and nerve-wracking sabotage missions in far-flung climes.
Forgotten Voices of the Secret War is both an incredible account of espionage during World War 2 and a fitting testament to the efforts and sacrifices of a dedicated group of courageous men and women.
About the Author
Roderick Bailey is a Research Fellow in the history of medicine at the University of Oxford. His previous books include the Sunday Times bestseller Forgotten Voices of the Secret War and, as one of the SOE’s official historians appointed by the Prime Minister, Italy: The Secret War against Mussolini. In 2011 he deployed to Afghanistan as a British Army reservist and was awarded a Queen’s Commendation.
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