No Moon as Witness: Missions of the SOE and OSS in World War II

by James Stejskal

The creation and intense training regimens of the British Special Operations Executive and the American Office of Strategic Services leading into WWII.   Winston Churchill famously instructed the head of the Special Operations Executive to “Set Europe ablaze!” Agents of both the British Special Operations Executive and the American Office of Strategic Services underwent rigorous training before making their way, undetected, into Occupied Europe. Working alone or in small cells, often cooperating with local resistance groups, agents undertook missions behind enemy lines involving sabotage, subversion, organizing resistance groups, and intelligence-gathering. The SOE’s notable successes included the destruction of a power station in France, the assassination of Himmler’s deputy Reinhard Heyrich, and ending the Nazi atomic bomb program by destroying the heavy water plant at Vemork, Norway. OSS operatives established anti-Nazi resistance groups across Europe, and managed to smuggle operatives into Nazi Germany, including running one of the war’s most important spies, German diplomat Fritz Kolbe. All of their missions were incredibly dangerous and many agents were captured, tortured, and ultimately killed—the life expectancy of an SOE wireless operator in occupied France was just six weeks.   In No Moon as Witness, historian James Stejskal examines why these agencies were established, the training regime and ingenious tools developed to enable agents to undertake their missions, their operational successes, and their legacy.  “The book is well organized and also an excellent read. It examines the close history of the SOE and OSS—and how they worked together . . . or not. In addition, the ‘tools of the trade’ chapter includes images and sketches that often do not appear in other books.” —SOF News

Genres: Nonfiction

204 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 30, 2021

About the author

James Stejskal spent 35 years as a soldier and intelligence officer working in far off places with interesting people, which gives him inspiration for his writing.

As a novelist, he writes 'the Snake Eater Chronicles' tales of Cold War special operations and espionage carried out by an eclectic band of Green Berets.

He also is a military historian and author of "Special Forces Berlin" and "Masters of Mayhem," a study of Lawrence of Arabia and the inception of modern British unconventional warfare, a Military History Matters Silver Medal winner.

Reviews

[Darren Bourn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I came across this group, Military Thriller Book Group, about two years ago and thought that after being made aware of a slew of great authors and building a TBR (To Be Read) pile of books, that if they were physical copies would be leaning dangerously to one side or another. One of the authors that I was turned onto was James Stejskal and this is my review of one of his books, No Moon as Witness: Missions of the SOE and OSS in World War II

This novel gives a bit of the history with regard to the creation and intense training regimens of the British Special Operations Executive and the American Office of Strategic Services leading into WWII. Working alone or in small cells, often cooperating with local resistance groups, agents undertook missions behind enemy lines involving sabotage, subversion, organizing resistance groups, and intelligence-gathering.

I would rate this novel a solid four stars out of five and believe that this novel would be a definite favourite of action aficionados and those who enjoy reading the history of two special forces organizations - the British SOE and their American cousins, the OSS (the forebearer to the CIA).

As with all my literary ramblings, these are my five cents worth.

[Stacy Rogers · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very quick read. I was amazed at how many of these stories I've already heard through different movies and TV shows. this is a good introduction for people unfamiliar with the SOE and OSS.