Gallagher, Thomas M. Assault in Norway: Sabotaging the Nazi Nuclear Bomb. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1975. London: Macdonald & Jane's, 1975. Guilford, CT: Lyons, 2002. Gallagher, Thomas M. Assault in Norway: Sabotaging the Nazi Nuclear Bomb. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1975. London: Macdonald & Jane's, 1975. Guilford, CT: Lyons, 2002.
Constantinides notes that the author "tells the story in popular style, emphasizing both the good planning and the bravery that went into the success." However, there are no footnotes, with sources indicated only in the text. See also Haukelid, Attack on Telemark (1974), and Kurzman, Blood and Water (1997).
Garlinski, Jozef. Poland, SOE and the Allies. London: Allen & Unwin, 1969.
Constantinides says that this book gives "a good picture of Polish events and SOE relations to them with a primary focus on Polish personalities and activities in the covert war.... Garlinski's research made use of much material that had not previously been tapped."
Gilchrist, Andrew. Bangkok Top Secret: Being the Experiences of a British Officer in the Siam Country Section of Force 136. London: Hutchinson, 1970.
According to Constantinides, Gilchrist "tells the story of the little-known SOE operations into Siam in World War II ... from the perspective of the headquarters desk officer.... Gilchrist was blessed with a sense of humor and prior experience in Siam."
Giskes, Herman J. London Calling North Pole. London: Kimber, 1953. New York: British Book Centre, 1953. New York: Bantam, 1982. [pb]
Pforzheimer notes that the author headed the Abwehr's counterintelligence branch in Holland. He tells here the story of a German radio-playback and deception operation based on the capture of a Dutch officer parachuted by SOE into Holland. The operation ran undetected for two years and was used to capture 54 other agents and arms and materials dropped for the Dutch Resistance. For Constantinides, Giskes' version "of the means and imagination employed to win this intelligence victory still stands as the accurate and intriguing account from the German side."
Gleeson, James. They Feared No Evil: The Woman Agents of Britain's Secret Armies, 1939-45. London: Hale, 1976.
Clark comment: Includes profiles of the women who served with SOE in France in World War II. Deborah Van Seters, I&NS 7.4/410, finds Gleeson's language in discussing these women agents to be "hackneyed" and revealing of a "patronizing attitude."
Goldsmith, John. Accidental Agent: A Thrilling Account of Underground Warfare in France. London: Leo Cooper, 1971. New York: Scribner's, 1971.
Kirkus Reviews, 1 Sep. 1971, refers to the author's "tenaciously authenticating detail" of the years he spent with SOE in France.
Goldstein, Richard. "Robert de La Rochefoucauld, Wartime Hero and Spy, Dies at 88." New York Times, 9 Jul. 2012. [http://www.nytimes.com]
Trained by SOE and parachuted into France in June 1943, Count de La Rochefoucauld's work with the Resistance was the stuff of legend. Twice captured by the Nazis, he escaped each time. "At his death he was believed to have been one of the last living Frenchmen of Churchill's S.O.E."
Gough, Richard. SOE Singapore 1941-1942. London: Kimber, 1985. Singapore: SNP Editions, 1987.
From publisher: "A true story by a veteran of WWII in Singapore."
Gubbins, Colin [Maj.-Gen. Sir] "SOE and the Coordination of Regular and Irregular War." In The Fourth Dimension of Warfare, vol. 1: Intelligence, Subversion, Resistance, ed. Michael Elliott-Bateman, 83-103. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1970.
Haga, Arnfinn. Skyggen: SOE-agenten Louis Pettersen. Oslo: Cappelen Damm, 2009.
Pettersen ("Shadow") was a Norwegian who served in SOE.
Hamilton-Hill, Donald.
SOE Assignment. London: William Kimber, 1973.
Constantinides: Some of wartime anecdotes included here "will be of value and interest to those concerned with Balkan affairs during World War II." At the same time, readers may find the author's "grasp of the strategic and diplomatic context of events he relates to be weak."
Harrison, Edward D.R.
1. "The British Special Operations Executive and Poland." Historical Journal 43, no. 4 (2000): 1071-1091.
2. "British Subversion in French East Africa, 1941-42: SOE's Todd Mission." English Historical Review 114 (Apr. 1999): 339-369.
Haukelid, Knut. Skis
Against the Atom. London: Kimber, 1954. Attack on Telemark. New York: Ballantine, 1974.
Clark comment: As a member of the Norwegian Resistance in World War II, Haukelid participated in the Norsk Hydro raid and the later operation that destroyed a large shipment of heavy water on the way to Germany. Constantinides says that Haukelid's account of this daring operation "is good but too modest and too terse."
Helm, Sarah. A Life in Secrets: The Story of Vera Atkins and the Lost Agents of SOE. London: Little Brown, 2005. New York: Nan A. Talese, 2006.
According to Peake, Studies 50.1 (Mar. 2006), Atkins was "the very influential special assistant to the head of [SOE's] French branch, F Section, with particular responsibilities for selecting and training personnel." After the war, she went to Europe to try to discover what happened to the operatives who did not return, especially 12 women who she knew personally. This work "tells a fascinating tale about an exceptional woman."
Goulden, Intelligencer 15.2 (Fall-Winter 2006-2007), finds that the author "writes in near-novelistic style and is adept at exploring the emotional issues that are an inescapable part of her story.... In sum: new material, well-written, a highly readable account."
Herrington, Ian. "The SIS and SOE in Norway 1940-1945: Conflict or Co-operation?" War in History 9, no. 1 (2002): 82-101.
Heslop, Richard. Xavier: The Famous British Agent's Dramatic Account of His Work in the French Resistance. London: Hart-Davis, 1970. London: Mayflower, 1971. [pb]
Hibbert, Reginald [Sir]. Albania's National Liberation Struggle: The Bitter Victory. London: Pinter, 1991.
Baldwin, I&NS 7.4, notes that Hibbert served with SOE in Albania for 11 months, beginning in December 1943. The author includes "some magnitude of error" in the outline he provides for early Albanian history, and citations in the work indicate that he "is clearly not keeping up with ... new and different sources." At times, "Hibbert can be disconcertingly self-contradictory," and his book "cannot be read in isolation." For Bailey, I&NS 15.2, fn. 5, this work gives "the most thorough account of SOE's Albanian operations yet available."
Household,
Geoffrey. Against the Wind. London: Michael Joseph, 1958. Boston: Little, Brown, 1958.
Constantinides: Here, a novelist "offers mere glimpses of his war experiences." He was part of the British team that sought to sabotage the oil fields at Ploesti in 1940, so this is "a rare discussion of the operation by a participant."
Howarth, Patrick.
"Patrick John Fielding Howarth, poet, writer, public-relations officer and soldier,... died ... 12 November 2004." Recruited into SOE, he was, for several years, "official controller of some of the most daring British agents in occupied Europe, including the gallant and glamorous Christine Granville." Plowright, The Independent, 19 Nov. 2004.
1. Special Operations. London: Routledge & Keegan Paul, 1955.
2. Undercover: The Men and Women of Special Operations Executive. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1980.
Constantinides: Howarth "adds an extra dimension and insight into [SOE], the persons staffing it, and personal relationships.... [His] biography is one of the most complete on SOE.... [B]ut there are shortcomings.... [There is a] feeling that Howarth unintentionally painted too glowing a portrait of the organization in his anxiety to pay tribute to individual members and operatives."
Hudson, Sydney [LTCOL]. Undercover Operator: An SOE Agent's Experiences in France and the Far East. Barnsley, UK: Pen and Sword, 2003. Oxford: Isis, 2006.
From publisher: "Memoirs of SOE agents have always been rare.... But Sydney Hudson's story ... is just about as dramatic and thrilling as any to have appeared. The author was captured and escaped into Spain, to return to fight with the Marquis."
Hue, André, and Ewen Southby-Tailyour. The Next Moon: The Remarkable True Story of a British Agent Behind the Lines in Wartime France. New York: Viking, 2004. New York: Penguin Global, 2005. [pb]
Kieffer, RUSI Journal, Jun. 2004, finds that this book "provides the lively anecdotal support of so much that has been written on SOE by eminent historians." The book has been "[e]ssentially written" by Southby-Tailyour, and "is based on extensive contemporary notes made by André Hue on his return to England in August 1944." The focus of the book is "the sixty or so days in the life of the author, from being parachuted into the Breton maquis on 5 June 1944, as part of the D-Day preparations, until 10 August.... [It] is a rattling good yarn and deserves to rank with the best books about SOE."
Hutchinson,
James. That Drug Danger. Montrose, Scotland: Standard Press, 1977.
Constantinides: The author headed SOE's RF Section for a year beginning in August 1944. Later, he parachuted into France on a Jedburgh mission. Hutchinson's account of his service slights the former, and more important position, to focus on the latter.
Return to SOE Table of Contents