SOE Recollections and Reflections, 1940-1945 by J. G. [John Grosvenor] Beevor newly listed for sale on the fantastic BookLovers of Bath web site!The Bodley Head, 1981, Hardback in dust wrapper.
Illustrated by way of: Maps [1];
From the cover: SOE, the Special Operations Executive, was a secret British organisation created in July 1940 immediately after much of Western Europe had been overrun by the Nazis. The task of SOE was, in Winston Churchills words, to set Europe ablaze, or, in official phraseology, to co-ordinate sabotage and subversion against the enemy.
During the course of the Second World War resistance movements grew up in some thirteen enemy-occupied countries of Europe and southeast Asia, contributing in varying degrees to the success of Allied operations. Through SOE Britain participated in and supported all of these underground organisations.
At the end of the war SOE was disbanded, and many of its archives destroyed, while access to those that remain is not yet available to historians. As a result, no official overall history of SOE and its activities has so far been published.
Through his own personal involvement in SOE as a senior staff officer during its whole existence, J. G. Beevor is admirably qualified to write this overall outline of resistance movements and special operations between 1940 and 1945 and to assess, with the aid of contemporary reports of military commanders, the value of each to the Allied cause. Drawing on his own personal recollections and those of his colleagues, as well as the available published material, he has presented a valuable assessment of Britains part in these activities, as well as a summary of how SOE functioned in relation to the Allied theatre commanders, to the special operations activities of Allied countries, notably the United States, and to government and service departments.
Good+ in Good+ Dust Wrapper. A little rubbing to the edges of the dust wrapper which is slightly wrinkled, if bright, overall. Price Clipped. Shelf cocked. Untidy mark to the first blank where an address sticker (?) has been replaced with a smaller one. Text complete, clean and tight but a little age-tanned.
Red boards with Gilt titling to the Spine. 269 pages. Index. 8¾” x 5¾”.
Of course, if you don’t like this one, may I tempt with you something from here?
BookLovers of Bath 