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Operatives, Spies, and Saboteurs: The Unknown Story of the Men and Women of World War II's OSS Hardcover – March 2, 2004

by Patrick K. O'Donnell (Author)

58 customer reviews

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A history of World War II espionage and covert operations activities, presented from the perspective of OSS agents, recounts numerous secret missions that contributed to the war's outcome.

Operatives, Spies, and Saboteurs: The Unknown Story of the Men and Women of World War II's OSS

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

No longer satisfied with gentlemanly intelligence gathering, with the advent of WWII the United States changed its espionage policy and opted for more daring tactics like decoding secret messages and detonating exploding cigars. Under the guidance of decorated WWI hero William "Wild Bill" Donovan, the Office of Special Services, the CIA’s predecessor, assembled a motley assortment of agents who set the stage for the Allied armies’ most important missions, like the invasion of North Africa and the storming of Normandy. Through first person narratives from a slew of OSS operatives, O’Donnell explores the thrilling world of spying before satellites and computer hacking boxed agents into cubicles. The WWII OSS hauled hardened criminals out of jail to burgle enemy embassies and culled spies from the Free French who fled to England and North Africa. The sophisticated seductress "Cynthia" used her sex appeal to gather ciphers for breaking Polish, Italian and Vichy codes from high-ranking military men. Elsewhere, Virginia Hall supplied the French Resistance with arms and continually sabotaged the Gestapo while limping with a wooden-leg. The book also chronicles psychological operations by the Allied "Sauerkraut agents" who demoralized German troops by spreading rumors of defeat, disease and desperation. The chapter on the OSS’ covert weapons, like exploding baseballs and umbrella pistols, vividly recalls 007’s pre-mission encounters with "Q." This book is far more than a simple historical survey and reads like a satisfying cloak and dagger yarn, making it a good choice both history and mystery buffs.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

O'Donnell, author of two books on U.S. elite units in World War II's European and Pacific theaters, turns to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), and as in his previous books, writes from the perspective of the men--and in the OSS, some women--on the front lines. For the OSS, those lines were largely in German-occupied Europe, where operatives gathered intelligence and provided weapons, communications, and leadership to a wide variety of resistance organizations. The danger from the ruthless and frequently effective German forces was great, particularly for the local personnel. So, too, was the risk of being caught in factional quarrels in France and Italy and outright fratricidal slaughter in the Balkans. O'Donnell doesn't denigrate the OSS as do some other historians, who prefer other agencies and services that had turf fights with it throughout the war. Instead, he argues persuasively that the OSS made both material and psychological impacts on European resistance and, through it, on the Germans. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product details

Hardcover: 384 pages
Publisher: Free Press; First edition (March 2, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 074323572X
ISBN-13: 978-0743235723
Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 1.2 x 9.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
Average Customer Review: 58 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #199,194 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #32 in Books > History > Military > Life & Institutions
- #225 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > True Crime > Espionage
- #344 in Books > History > Military > Intelligence & Espionage

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Eye-opener

BySuppresston March 30, 2013

Format: Audio CassetteVerified Purchase

If you're seeking a credible, broad overview of OSS operations in WWII then you'll find it in this work. The audiocassette version I listened to was fine except the narrator struggled a little bit with various foreign accents he had to put on.

Most striking was the variance between what I thought life as an operative, spy or saboteur was like based on popular portrayals, and the reality. It turns out it is very, very difficult to operate behind enemy lines without a great deal of support, either from base or from the resident population. The popular notion of somehow living off the land or blending into the population is mostly fantasy. Without a lot of support most operatives, spies or saboteurs either starve or get captured or killed. One learns from reading this and other works of like kind that if one elects to become an operative, spy or saboteur then one must be prepared to suffer and die alone at the hands of the enemy. To go into combat as a member of a unit limits the real and psychological prospects of death, but to battle an enemy alone require that one, first, confront the probability that one will not only likely suffer torture and/or death, but will suffer those alone - as Samson did as Judge over ancient Israel, as Jesus did as saviour for mankind.