Customer Reviews
Great for those interested in the human side of war - By: Guy Edward, 15 Aug 2008 
I am not a huge fan of the sort of military history books that concentrate on strategy & campaigns without showing what war is really like on a human level. It's the stories people tell that catch the imagination & help us to remember what war was really like for those involvedin the fighting. Rod Bailey has searched the Imperial War Museum's archives to uncover & weave together some fascinating narratives from people who operated behind enemy lines all over the world during the Second World War. If you enjoy reading first-hand accounts of adventure & bravery & want to understand the thoughts & feelings, hopes & fears of ordinary people doing extraordinary thingsin wartime then I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Bailey has committed to print some of the most fascinating accounts of SOE activity during the Second World War. I am sure that those who contributed to the book, all who were associated with SOE then & now, their children & families will be proud to see their stories told & added to our history of the war. I look forward to reading morein the series.
Extracts Only - By: Crazi, 28 Jul 2008 
Not going to waffle. I got to page 20 & gave up. It is full of short extracts with no storyline at least none I could see. Some extracts are less than 10 lines & then - bang - on to someone elses. Perhaps some peoples type of book but not for me...
An appreciation from the son of an SOE agent - By: C Paxton, 23 Jun 2008 My father was an SOE agentin the Second World War. I never knew him & had virtually no knowledge of his wartime exploits. This fascinating & carefully constructed book by Roderick Bailey, based as it is on recorded conversations held with SOE agents themselves, brings to life the experiences (from the terrifying to the hilarious) that they, & my father among them, went through. The Forgotten Voices Of The Secret War has enabled me to appreciate his bravery, & be proud of him. I recommend it to anyone with an interestin the extraordinairy courage of the men & women who put themselves forward for SOE operations.
Outstanding. Highly recommended. - By: R K Illingworth, 22 Jun 2008 This superb book of secret agents' recollections is the latestin the Imperial War Museum's magnificent `Forgotten Voices' series, which draws on the museum's vast archive of original interviews with veterans. This edition tells the story of Britain's Special Operations Executive, the secret army set upin 1940 to help resistance & carry out sabotage behind enemy lines. It is an absolute must-read for anyone interestedin the Second World War.
The book gripped me from start to finish. With skill & balance, Roderick Bailey has selected & structured a powerful collection of eyewitness accounts of extraordinary deeds to take your breath away. Here are stories of hand-to-hand fights with Gestapo agentsin French apartments, of guerrilla fightingin the Balkans, of ambushesin the Burmese jungle. Time & again I was astonished at the courage of the young men & women who volunteered for this dangerous duty. And no one could fail to be moved by the testimonies of agents who fell into enemy hands & were sent to concentration camps.
SOE is famous for its agentsin France, & `Forgotten Voices of the Secret War' contains plenty of tales from men & women who had worked with resistance there. But as the book also shows, there was much more to SOE than that. Norwegian SOE agents disrupted Hitler's atomic bomb plans. Czech agents assassinated Himmler's deputy. Dozens of Polish agents parachuted back into Poland. Other agents parachuted into the Low Countries, Denmark, Austria, Albania, Yugoslavia, Greece & Italy & fought the Japanese across the Far East. Their stories are told too.
Roderick Bailey has also done SOE a great service by raising the `voices' of instructors & staff officers at headquarters & of RAF aircrew who dropped agents behind the lines. It is also good to hear from the unsung backroom boffins who invented SOE's specialist weapons, & from the girls of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry who, among a host of important roles, manned SOE radio sets at base.
As this excellent book demonstrates, allowing gallant men & women to tell their own storiesin their own words is perhaps the most powerful method of getting across the human experience of war. Highly recommended.
A great compilation - one of the best in the series - By: F Winter, 18 Jun 2008 "Forgotten Voices" is a great series of compilations of first-hand accounts from those who were directly involvedin various wars & this title on the SOE by Roderick Bailey is one of the best. I found it gripping reading, & at times very moving. Learning about the experiences, thoughts, concerns etc of the very brave men & women who took part -in their own words - is fascinating & I think Bailey has done a great jobin selecting the content to create a real tribute to the SOE. If you have an interestin the SOE, 2nd World War, or like me just working your way through the series it's definitely worth a read!
