What do you think?
Rate this book
Secret War Heroes
Founded by Churchill, Special Operations Executive (SOE) was the forerunner of the SAS, and during WWII they sent many hundreds of specially-trained agents deep undercover in Nazi-occupied Europe. Here Marcus Binney explores the extraordinary stories and daring exploits of some of the male agents who made up these little-known war heroes, and who helped change the course of the twentieth century with their bravery and sacrifice.
The author has undertaken ground-breaking research in previously classified Foreign Office files in order to write this book.
The author has undertaken ground-breaking research in previously classified Foreign Office files in order to write this book.
336 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2006
5 people are currently reading
78 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 31, 2018
Over the years I have read many such books detailing various key events from the Second World War. This one is very much one of--if not THE best. It is focussed on the 'doings' - some of them distinctly 'derring' of ten SOE personnel . SOE was the Brits. Secret Operations Executive. Very much supported and promoted by Winston Churchill this venture was tasked to 'Set Europe Ablaze'. Europe of course mainly by then being in the hands of the Nazi's. SOE were 'coordinating and creating sabotage and subversion' pretty much by any and all means imaginable. I think that the name 'The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare' (the title of another fine book on these maverick heroes ) sums up the aims, and ambitions rather well.
As it happens my Aunt was in SOE , in Sweden helping to smuggle vital steel and ball bearings to the UK, and so I was very interested in one of Marcus Binney's chapters therein which detailed the extraordinary and brave success engineered by his step father George Binney (later and very deservedly Sir George) do just that. Lets be clear- No engine can run without ball bearings. So George Binney's three separate smuggling operations across the German dominated North Sea saved the British war effort from fizzling out as they were running out of planes, tanks, trucks and other weapons. Sometimes book cover blurbs seem to an exchange of compliments...'You review mine...and I'll review yours,' but I think the ringing endorsement of this brilliant book by no lesser authority than Max Hastings in this case rings very true. Not overly stuffed with jargon, lingo and acronyms ... it's a seriously informative book in brilliantly readable style. Please read it and wonder at the bravery of those men and women who helped make the freedoms we enjoy today possible.
As it happens my Aunt was in SOE , in Sweden helping to smuggle vital steel and ball bearings to the UK, and so I was very interested in one of Marcus Binney's chapters therein which detailed the extraordinary and brave success engineered by his step father George Binney (later and very deservedly Sir George) do just that. Lets be clear- No engine can run without ball bearings. So George Binney's three separate smuggling operations across the German dominated North Sea saved the British war effort from fizzling out as they were running out of planes, tanks, trucks and other weapons. Sometimes book cover blurbs seem to an exchange of compliments...'You review mine...and I'll review yours,' but I think the ringing endorsement of this brilliant book by no lesser authority than Max Hastings in this case rings very true. Not overly stuffed with jargon, lingo and acronyms ... it's a seriously informative book in brilliantly readable style. Please read it and wonder at the bravery of those men and women who helped make the freedoms we enjoy today possible.
May 14, 2023
A sobering book, that can be recommended. Courage comes in different ways. The courage of a soldier 'going over the top' with his platoon in battle; the courage of someone standing up and admitting their mistakes; the courage of a man, maybe an officer of the law, facing up to a hostile group. Then there is the cold-blooded courage of someone who goes into enemy-occupied country and tries to live like an innocent citizen while engaging in espionage, sabotage or organising an underground resistance network.
The men who are the main subjects in this book all lived perilous double lives in enemy-occupied countries, trained in secrecy and security but never knowing if they would be betrayed, or if a minor error or bad luck might bring them under surveillance. In most of these chapters the agent was sooner or later arrested. Some were tortured. Most of them managed to escape by bribery or trickery and often bravely continued their secret work. Most survived the war, but very many of their associates were arrested, usually tortured and executed.
The accounts written by Marcus Binney are really gripping, but it is surprising that the editors did not make changes before publishing. There are simple errors, and in places a story needs some background to make it easier to follow. The final chapter: 'Envoi' is a short account of a number of other men and women who risked and in some cases gave their lives to help the Allied cause in the 1939-45 war. There are eight pages of photographs. The book ends with a good index, a glossary, notes on the author's sources and a bibliography.
The men who are the main subjects in this book all lived perilous double lives in enemy-occupied countries, trained in secrecy and security but never knowing if they would be betrayed, or if a minor error or bad luck might bring them under surveillance. In most of these chapters the agent was sooner or later arrested. Some were tortured. Most of them managed to escape by bribery or trickery and often bravely continued their secret work. Most survived the war, but very many of their associates were arrested, usually tortured and executed.
The accounts written by Marcus Binney are really gripping, but it is surprising that the editors did not make changes before publishing. There are simple errors, and in places a story needs some background to make it easier to follow. The final chapter: 'Envoi' is a short account of a number of other men and women who risked and in some cases gave their lives to help the Allied cause in the 1939-45 war. There are eight pages of photographs. The book ends with a good index, a glossary, notes on the author's sources and a bibliography.
June 16, 2020
Ten chapters on ten different men who parachuted behind the lines during World War II and an epilogue with details on a few more.
All were members of the UK's Special Operations Executive, a clandestine force organized to keep the German army on edge. At great risk to their own lives. Some of the chapters relied on information in performance evaluation reports more than others making these chapters somewhat flat and less dramatic. Performance evaluation language being what it is.
Mind-boggling daring-do by men whose adrenalin permits them to live on the edge of triumph and danger.
All were members of the UK's Special Operations Executive, a clandestine force organized to keep the German army on edge. At great risk to their own lives. Some of the chapters relied on information in performance evaluation reports more than others making these chapters somewhat flat and less dramatic. Performance evaluation language being what it is.
Mind-boggling daring-do by men whose adrenalin permits them to live on the edge of triumph and danger.
October 26, 2010
A very interesting book detailing the activities of the SOE (Special Operations Executive - the forerunners of the SAS) during WW2. Essentially this book is all about the secret agents who were typically parachuted into Nazi-occupied France, where they helped Resistance members and sabotaged/attacked various German installations.
This book is very well laid out into ten different chapters, each covering the career of a different agent. The breadth of the action is wide, involving various incidents: the liberation of Madagascar, the sabotage of a Peugeot factory, a secret landing on the Normandy beaches prior to D-Day and an innocuous looking gentleman who was one of Britain's toughest hand-to-hand fighters. The majority of the chapters are very interesting and entertaining, with only a couple of duds (the Swedish blockade bit is political and heavy). A few black and white photographs accompany the text and there are summmary chapters at the beginning and end.
Altogether a book I'm very glad I sat down to read.
This book is very well laid out into ten different chapters, each covering the career of a different agent. The breadth of the action is wide, involving various incidents: the liberation of Madagascar, the sabotage of a Peugeot factory, a secret landing on the Normandy beaches prior to D-Day and an innocuous looking gentleman who was one of Britain's toughest hand-to-hand fighters. The majority of the chapters are very interesting and entertaining, with only a couple of duds (the Swedish blockade bit is political and heavy). A few black and white photographs accompany the text and there are summmary chapters at the beginning and end.
Altogether a book I'm very glad I sat down to read.
August 6, 2011
Stirring tales of derring do by some of the unlikeliest heroes: a book which cannot fail to inspire even the most cynical reader. It is impossible to comprehend the bravery of many of those described in a detailed and fascinating account of just a few of the many S.O.E. agents whose charge was, in Churchill's famous phrase, "to set Europe ablaze".
I recommend this to anyone interested in one small but vital part of the war effort in those dark days of the early 1940s when the future of the World lay in the hands of individuals to whom we must never forget.
I recommend this to anyone interested in one small but vital part of the war effort in those dark days of the early 1940s when the future of the World lay in the hands of individuals to whom we must never forget.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews