Overview

In July 1940, a desperately weakened Britain licks her wounds after the humiliating retreat from Dunkirk. How can the fight be taken to the enemy? New Prime Minister Winston Churchill orders the creation of the Special Operations Executive, to 'set Europe ablaze' through subversion and sabotage. But this most secret of agencies must be kept secure. Guardians of Churchill's Secret Army tells the mostly unknown human stories of the men who were brought into SOE, straight from Intelligence Corps training, to do just that. They were junior in rank, but far from ordinary people. They were Australian, Anglo-French, Canadian, Scandinavian, East European and British. They had been schoolteachers, journalists, artists, ship brokers, racehorse trainers and international businessmen. Each spoke several languages. These men stood alongside courageous agents in training: encouraged them, assessed their character, and tried to teach them the caution and suspicion that might just keep them alive, deep in enemy territory. But they did much more. Many became agents themselves and displayed great bravery. All played a crucial role in the global effort to undermine the enemy. We find them not only in the Baker Street Headquarters of SOE, but also in night parachute drops, in paramilitary training in the remotest depths of Scotland and in undercover agent training in isolated English country houses. We follow them to occupied France, to Malaya and Thailand under threat of Japanese invasion, to Italy and Germany as they play their part in the collapse of the Axis regimes. As we do so, we find a world of heroism and commitment so different from our own experience that it is scarcely believable.

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9780993508042

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Reviews

'A fascinating and important study of a long-hidden corner of SOE history.' Dr Roderick Bailey, Pembroke College, Oxford, Advisor to BBC TV series Secret Agent Selection: WW2.; 'This book fills an important gap in the history of SOE and that of the Intelligence Corps.' Colonel (Retired) Nick Fox OBE, Deputy Colonel Commandant of the Intelligence Corps.; 'Includes the fascinating stories of a number of individuals, generally unknown, who deserve to emerge from the shadows.' Paul McCue, SOE historian and author.

Author Information

Peter Dixon is a researcher, author and lecturer. He served over 30 years as a Royal Air Force pilot and spent the next decade leading the charity Concordis International in its conflict resolution work in Sudan and other divided societies. He completed his doctoral research at the University of Cambridge in 2015, studying outside intervention in civil wars. His writing has included Amazon Task Force, the story of a medical expedition in the Peruvian Amazon, and Peacemakers: Building stability in a complex world. He and his wife Ingrid, also an author, live in Gloucestershire. They have two adult children and five grandchildren.

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