Sabotage & Subversion: Stories from the Files of the Soe and Oss

by Ian Dear

The shadowy undercover work of the American OSS and the British SOE, usually behind enemy lines or close to the action, makes a story of extraordinary daring and great personal heroism. In a compilation of actual events in World War II, this book demonstrates the important role of these two undercover organizations in the Allied victory. Using first-hand research with veterans and original archive material, it describes many covert actions and tactics: codebreaking, blockade running, guerilla action, bombing missions, sniper work, assassinations, running double agents, training work and recruitment methods in both the American OSS and the British SOE.

Genres: History, Military History, World War II, War, Military Fiction

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[Ted]

An excellent overview of SOE-OSS ops in WWII. It covered a broad range of operations, succinctly and effectively, in barely more than 200 pages. From selection, training, and equipment, through operations in Norway, France, Greece, the Balkans, Burma, China, not to mention propaganda, smuggling of strategic materials, counterfeiting, etc. this little book touches on nearly every important aspect of SOE-OSS ops. And although I've read a bit on ops in France, this was the first time I saw the term "sabotage blackmail" - Referring to instances where the French Resistance (led by SOE/OSS) would contact French factory owners and offer them the option of agreeing to self-sabotage their production or their plant would be targeted for aerial bombing. Of course, at that time, aerial bombing was a much uglier option as even state-of-the-art precision bombing in the 1940s resulted in tremendous collateral damage to a wide surrounding area.

Overall this was a great read, highly recommended. If you're only going to read one book on special ops in WWII, let it be this one.

[Mike Allison]

Interesting and very informative but can sometimes be a slog.

[Shannon]

Thorough analysis of a few select missions - their outcomes, pitfalls, and objectives. The author was able to contextualize these events within the greater war effort in a logical and effective way. I would have been interested to read more about the individuals involved.

[Grand Nerd]

This Book provides A good overview of operations of these organisations during WW2. Pretty good.

[Tezz Allan]

It genuinely baffles me as to how somebody can take such an interesting and fascinating topic and turn it into a chore to read.

As another reviewer said, it’s a hard slog to get through.

The first few chapters were an attempt at a history lesson but offered no real insight or explanation of sabotage or subversion. It was just a tedium of pointless names of former leaders and under explained techniques and equipment used. None of which were really necessary or relevant to the stories told.

Which leads me to the stories told. All told in bland, underwhelming, overly detailed where unnecessary, unnecessary under detailed where necessary condescending monotone that what should be exciting stories feel like punishment to read.

I would avoid this book at all costs. I only paid 50 cents from a second hand charity shop and I still want my money back.

[Matt]

First couple of chapters where a bit like a school text book but once past those and reading about the missions it became more enjoyable and very informative. I enjoyed it but feel it could have been written in a less text book style!

[Andreas Michaelides]

A very good book about what it takes to Sabotage and submerse the enemy.
I found it very informative and interesting.