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Saturday at M.I.9: The Classic Account of the WW2 Allied Escape Organisation
Saturday at M.I.9 is the inside story of the underground escape lines in occupied North-West Europe which brought back to Britain over 4,000 Allied servicemen during World War Two.
Airey Neave, who in the last two years of the war was the chief organiser at M.I.9 gives his own unique account. He describes how the escape lines began in the first dark days of German occupation and how, until the end of the war, thousands of ordinary men and women made their own contribution to the Allied victory by hiding and feeding men and guiding them to safety.
"There isn't a page in the book which isn't exciting in incident, wise in judgment, and absorbing through its human involvement." Times Literary Supplement.
Airey Neave, who in the last two years of the war was the chief organiser at M.I.9 gives his own unique account. He describes how the escape lines began in the first dark days of German occupation and how, until the end of the war, thousands of ordinary men and women made their own contribution to the Allied victory by hiding and feeding men and guiding them to safety.
"There isn't a page in the book which isn't exciting in incident, wise in judgment, and absorbing through its human involvement." Times Literary Supplement.
328 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 1969
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
August 2, 2018
Detailed accounts of escape networks, coordinated by the author, for allied airmen and soldiers behind enemy lines in Europe in WWII. Very good read
February 12, 2022
Subtitled 'The Inside Story of Underground Escape Lines in Europe in 1940-1945' - this pretty much tells you what to expect. This is an enjoyable and interesting read, if written in a somewhat staid writing style. The opening chapters see the author (a future Conservative MP & shadow minister in the 1970s under Thatcher - before being assassinated by an INLA bomb in 1979) - explain a little of the setting up of, or rather the lack of, an organised escape coordination unit in London at the war's start. Neave then subsequently covers, in the most modest of ways, how he managed along with a Dutch officer, to become the first successful British escapee from the notorious Colditz Castle.
After briefly enjoying his freedom in Switzerland and being told by the British Legation there that he is to jump the queue (there were nine other successful British escapees from assorted POW camps ahead of him!) and 'escape' again - this time to Gibraltar, via neutral Spain and unoccupied Vichy France - in order to rendez-vous in London.
Safely home he is assigned to British Intelligence School Number 9 (the IS9(d) team within MI9 referred to thereafter in the book as "Room 900"). MI9 was tasked with aiding resistance fighters in enemy occupied territory and recovering Allied troops who found themselves behind enemy lines. It also communicated with British prisoners of war. IS9(d) was its more secret and executive branch. Based in two rooms at the War Office in Whitehall - including Room 900 - it was concerned chiefly with facilitating escape and evasion.
Neave tells of his first meeting with MI9's commander Brigadier Crockatt:
"...friendly and relaxed. I could imagine him twenty years earlier. He was of the generation of 1914 and Mons. Behind his smile, there was a look of resignation I had seen before.
He asked me for stories of life in prisoner-of-war camps.
I told him eagerly that in one camp, so it was said, the prisoners tunneled and emerged by mistake in the Kommandant's wine cellar, which was full of rare and expensive wines. The Kommandant was a connoisseur and often asked the local nobility to dinner.
The prisoners managed to extricate over a hundred bottles, drank them, put back the corks and labels after refilling them - I paused - with an unmentionable liquid.
Crockatt laughed. 'We must tell that to Winston'."
Codenamed 'Saturday', the author recollects how he was tasked with co-ordinating the various means of briefing and training new agents with their missions of establishing escape routes across the Pyrenees to Spain, or through occupied France or Belgium to the coast where clandestine return to England could be arranged.
The book is full of tales of extreme bravery on the part of those resistance workers and all sorts of civilians who regularly would risk their lives to aid the Allied cause. There are episodes of betrayal and deception galore, and Neave includes several helpful footnotes to highlight other relevant books to refer to covering similar material (many sadly now out of print, but not all).
Despite the exciting and fascinating subject matter, Neave's writing style is a little understated and rather dry. The book actually became a less interesting read to me on occasions, and I couldn't help but feel somewhat guilty at reading so casually about the immense acts of courage being described. Overall though a book well worth reading if you have any interest in this lesser known subject area within Second World War history.
After briefly enjoying his freedom in Switzerland and being told by the British Legation there that he is to jump the queue (there were nine other successful British escapees from assorted POW camps ahead of him!) and 'escape' again - this time to Gibraltar, via neutral Spain and unoccupied Vichy France - in order to rendez-vous in London.
Safely home he is assigned to British Intelligence School Number 9 (the IS9(d) team within MI9 referred to thereafter in the book as "Room 900"). MI9 was tasked with aiding resistance fighters in enemy occupied territory and recovering Allied troops who found themselves behind enemy lines. It also communicated with British prisoners of war. IS9(d) was its more secret and executive branch. Based in two rooms at the War Office in Whitehall - including Room 900 - it was concerned chiefly with facilitating escape and evasion.
Neave tells of his first meeting with MI9's commander Brigadier Crockatt:
"...friendly and relaxed. I could imagine him twenty years earlier. He was of the generation of 1914 and Mons. Behind his smile, there was a look of resignation I had seen before.
He asked me for stories of life in prisoner-of-war camps.
I told him eagerly that in one camp, so it was said, the prisoners tunneled and emerged by mistake in the Kommandant's wine cellar, which was full of rare and expensive wines. The Kommandant was a connoisseur and often asked the local nobility to dinner.
The prisoners managed to extricate over a hundred bottles, drank them, put back the corks and labels after refilling them - I paused - with an unmentionable liquid.
Crockatt laughed. 'We must tell that to Winston'."
Codenamed 'Saturday', the author recollects how he was tasked with co-ordinating the various means of briefing and training new agents with their missions of establishing escape routes across the Pyrenees to Spain, or through occupied France or Belgium to the coast where clandestine return to England could be arranged.
The book is full of tales of extreme bravery on the part of those resistance workers and all sorts of civilians who regularly would risk their lives to aid the Allied cause. There are episodes of betrayal and deception galore, and Neave includes several helpful footnotes to highlight other relevant books to refer to covering similar material (many sadly now out of print, but not all).
Despite the exciting and fascinating subject matter, Neave's writing style is a little understated and rather dry. The book actually became a less interesting read to me on occasions, and I couldn't help but feel somewhat guilty at reading so casually about the immense acts of courage being described. Overall though a book well worth reading if you have any interest in this lesser known subject area within Second World War history.
May 30, 2025
Neave gives his account of his work in WWII for MI9, the branch of the Intelligence Services that was responsible for bringing Allied servicepeople out of occupied Europe, with the help of local volunteers.
Neave - himself an escapee from Colditz - tells the stories of these volunteers in a very understated and somewhat awkward style, and with some of the unconscious sexism-disguised-as-gallantry which was typical of the time - but what stories they are: many, many ordinary people who spontaneously risked their lives to help escapees and evaders, such as the man who, realising that an agent was hiding in the garden of his neighbour who was a Nazi sympathiser, started singing God Save the King in English to encourage the man to come to his door; teenagers who refused to talk to the Gestapo under torture; a young woman who swapped identities with another who was wanted by the Gestapo for running an escape line, and probably died in a concentration camp because of it.
That escape line was the Comet line, which was one of the most successful and brought 337 people to safety. Thanks to Comet, by 1942 an aircrew shot down over France had a 50% chance of returning to fly again. The most astonishing story, though, is from 1944, when it became clear that the D-Day campaign was going to destroy the transport links the escape lines relied on. In the "Sherwood" operation, MI9 successfully arranged for over 200 people to be hidden in two camps in a forest near Cloyes - one of them practically under the nose of a German weapons depot - where the locals kept them fed and supplied with other essentials from May to August 1944, when the Allied lines got close enough to risk a raid to bring them out. Amazing stuff. I wish I thought I could be half as resourceful or courageous as the people portrayed in this book.
Neave - himself an escapee from Colditz - tells the stories of these volunteers in a very understated and somewhat awkward style, and with some of the unconscious sexism-disguised-as-gallantry which was typical of the time - but what stories they are: many, many ordinary people who spontaneously risked their lives to help escapees and evaders, such as the man who, realising that an agent was hiding in the garden of his neighbour who was a Nazi sympathiser, started singing God Save the King in English to encourage the man to come to his door; teenagers who refused to talk to the Gestapo under torture; a young woman who swapped identities with another who was wanted by the Gestapo for running an escape line, and probably died in a concentration camp because of it.
That escape line was the Comet line, which was one of the most successful and brought 337 people to safety. Thanks to Comet, by 1942 an aircrew shot down over France had a 50% chance of returning to fly again. The most astonishing story, though, is from 1944, when it became clear that the D-Day campaign was going to destroy the transport links the escape lines relied on. In the "Sherwood" operation, MI9 successfully arranged for over 200 people to be hidden in two camps in a forest near Cloyes - one of them practically under the nose of a German weapons depot - where the locals kept them fed and supplied with other essentials from May to August 1944, when the Allied lines got close enough to risk a raid to bring them out. Amazing stuff. I wish I thought I could be half as resourceful or courageous as the people portrayed in this book.
August 5, 2019
Airey Neave, as an introduction to his story of M.I.9's activities in WW2, tells briefly how he escaped from the German POW prison at Colditz Castle and then managed to pass through Germany, Switzerland, France and Spain to return to England. On arrival in London, he was then given credit for this amazing feat by being asked to be one of the members of the small group just being formed to set up M.I.9, to create & manage the escape lines to rescue Allied soldiers & airmen from the Netherlands, Belgium and France. Neave's inside knowledge of M.I.9 - of how it developed from nothing, struggling at times for recognition - along with the stories of many of the key brave citizens in Occupied Europe who enabled these lines to work, makes this an exceptional book regarding the secret war against the Germans.
February 19, 2023
This book is a testament to someone who has ‘been there and done it’ and therefore has authenticity. Airey Neave was murdered in 1979 by the Irish National Liberation Army, much mourned by his friend Margaret Thatcher, but also had an impressive war record. Having made a successful 'home run' following his escape from the PoW camp at Colditz, he joined MI9, the War Office section that helped PoWs and downed aircrew to escape from camps and enemy-occupied countries. In this book, he tells the stories of French men and women of all ages and backgrounds, who, at great personal danger, kept secret escape lines in operation. Many were betrayed by collaborators or agents posing as escapees. The narrative style is matter-of-fact rather than dramatic, but the courage of families and individuals who harboured escapees or escorted them from one hiding place to another comes through clearly.
October 8, 2018
This is a wonderful book. Neave (code name "Saturday") was officer in charge of MI9 for most of the second world war. As the subtitle states, they were charged with overseeing escape lines from Europe back to England, most involving downed airmen. They had no official authority over these lines, since they were manned by underground civilians, but they provided funds, radios, covers, and indeed direction. By the end of the war MI9 had helped nearly 7,000 Allied combatants make it out. Many dozens of civilians gave their lives for this effort. It was a noble, and ultimately successful, sacrifice.
February 8, 2020
I had previously read of the exploits of Airey Neave and his WW2 escape from Colditz and this account of his work at M.I.9 is no less fascinating. What a guy and what an account of the human spirit in the escape organisations that could not be extinguished despite the torture and murder inflicted by the Gestapo, as well as the French collaborators.I hope their courage is remembered today by the current generation as their search for liberty, freedom and equality should be recognised by all generations. Well worth a read.
July 3, 2021
Not exactly a scintillating read, but essential for World War II aficionados. It’s Airey Neave after all. I liked this book.
March 16, 2023
Densely detailed so slightly lost track of dates and names but fundamentally amazing story of some very brave people and a side of WW2 I knew nothing about.
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April 14, 2025Excellent book well written and informative.
June 20, 2008
After escaping from Colditz, Neave was attached to MI9, the military department which dealt with prisoners of war, escapes and so on. Both books are all the sadder given how after his WWII experiences, Neave was finally killed by an IRA bomb.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews