Operatives, Spies, and Saboteurs

I picked this book up thinking it might be an interesting book to read - and it was. Until it wasn't. It started off light enough, with wacky ideas thrown out, and interesting characters. But than it got dark. Really really dark, as in torture, whole teams dying dying from both assassination and the elements - I couldn't read anymore of it - war is inhuman. And being tortured, or doing torture, leaves you inhuman. Ultimately, the men in this book are heroes. Their story needs to be told - but never forgot the cost, both in loss of lives, but also the toll it takes on the living.

As for the book itself. Its an odd one. I don't know how much of this history is known, but the book is written from narratives from the men and women who lived show more it. At times, its hard to follow and names are thrown out without context, but the story is written from interviews, years later, so its to be forgiven. show less

The first-ever full story of American sabotage operations in World War II, based on hundreds of revealing interviews.

The battles of World War II were won not only by the soldiers on the front lines, and not only by the generals and admirals, but also by the shadow warriors whose work is captured for the first time in Operatives, Spies, and Saboteurs. Thanks to the interviews and narrative skills of Patrick O'Donnell and to recent declassifications, an entire chapter of history can now be revealed. A hidden war—a war of espionage, intrigue, and sabotage—played out across the occupied territories of Europe, deep inside enemy lines. Supply lines were disrupted; crucial intelligence was obtained and relayed back to the Allies; show more resistance movements were organized. show less

Once again, O'Donnell presents a collage of oral history, collecting first-hand recollections on the WW II pre-CIA clandestine operations. Drawn from interviews and memories, the scope tends to be at the individual operation level. There are many underwater frogmen ventures that standout, as they obviously did to Ian Fleming who drew inspiration from the training for them. Of course, not all succeeded and several operatives from the division-strength organization ended in Nazi hands, at times eyeless and hanging from meat hooks.

Spies, double agents, cyanide pills, umbrella guns and “the Limping Lady”!

I started to read this when I paused reading "The Town and the City" by Jack Kerouac, right at the bombing of Pearl Harbor in that tale. Then I switched to this volume about "...the Men and Women of WWII's OSS"!

Interesting how often prostitutes were used to gather information! And pretty sad how many agents were tortured and killed, often in gruesome ways. This is an interesting read, both as a World War II book and as a book about spies. I grew up reading the James Bond books, so this was right up my alley! Interesting, interesting stuff!

This is a well-documented book about the Office of Strategic Services in World War Two. It is anecdotal in format using oral history of OSS veterans. It has many footnotes and a lengthly bibliography.

It is a balanced book showing the good and the bad, the successes and failures of the organization. The book also shows how nasty the business can be, the dirty deals and betrayals that are part of it almost inescapable given the nature of espionage.

You would think that a real life book about espionage would be interesting, but nope. Maybe it's because the author has to leave out too much, or because there is not enough good source information, so the author has to guess. But both of these were hard to get through. Too much boring detail to get through and not enough pictures. Too much politics, not enough action.

This one was about the OSS, organized by division. WAAAAAY too much detail. There were maps, but I was still confused about what was going on. The most interesting part to me was about the 'amphibious squadron' - sorry, I had a Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow moment. But you know what I mean, the forerunners of the Navy Seals. I also liked the part about how the OSS show more got started. But I basically skipped around in this one. show less

I read a few chapters and put it back down. It's interesting -- and yet morbid! So focused on war (which is to be expected)...I just found it depressing after a while.