By Russell Miller
This book tells the oral history of the men and women who were involved in covert operations in World War II. For both the British and the Americans this war was the beginning of undercover operations behind enemy lines. These stories are astonishing for both the time capsule they represent as well as the plain gutsy heroics each operative willingly took on despite the complete lack of personal safety and no protection if caught. The methods and tools used were often had the feel of a 50's spy novel, many which simply could not be carried out in the same way today (due to advances in modern technology and communications). But the bravery exhibited by all of these individuals is timeless.
"Memo dated 25 June 1942, containing a 'philosophical blueprint' for the creation and functioning of an OSS Secret Intelligence (SI) section in Eastern Europe:
APOLOGETIC
Espionage is not a nice a thing, nor are the methods employed exemplary. Neither are demolition bombs nor poison gas, but our country is a nice thing and our independence is indispensable. We face an enemy who believes one of his chief weapons is that none but he will employ terror. But we will turn terror against him - or we will cease to exist.
Espionage is mentioned in the Bible and was employed by the Greeks and Romans." Pg. 52
"In my view, women were very much better than men for the work [of espionage]. Women, as you must know, have a far greater capacity for cool and lonely courage than men. Men usually want a mate with them. Men don't work alone, their lives tend to be always in the company with other men." Pg. 10
"In any case, I believe none of us in the field ever gave one thought to danger. Germans were everywhere, especially in Paris; one absorbed the sight of them and went on with the job of living as ordinarily as possible and applying oneself with one's work." Pg 89
On starting rumors:
"Whispering consists in not talking yourself, but in making other people talk. They will do this only if the whisper interests them and this is more important than that they should believe it. Whispers can be started in the following ways:
1. By sub-agents repeating the story by word of mouth.
2. By repeating the story in a loud voice in front of third parties . . . " Pg. 103
" when I got to the hut, I saw there were lots of ski tracks outside. I was rather suspicious, but I still went inside. I was a fool, of course. Then I looked through the window and saw nine or ten Germans approaching the hut. I ran out as fast as I could, jumped into my skis and sped off. Fortunately I still had my rucksack on my back. They started shooting, shouting and shooting. I remember I thought, this is the end, this is the end of my career. " Pg. 115
" We could never understad how they could be as brave as they were. They were incredibly contained and distant and somehow you felt that there was something very special about them. I mean, for a woman to go into this kind of work really took something, and as for their reasons for doing it, its very difficult to understand at all, but, you see, this was wartime, we were all living from one day to the next, so it wasn't that unusual at the time that anybody would do something quite so brave. There were an awful lot of people being terribly brave all the time. " Pg. 132
Book 22
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