SOE Memoirs and Biographies
Each entry has a highlighted link to Amazon or another relevant web page. Many books are long out of print and some are now pretty rare, so I've noted other available editions and reprints.
Recommended titles have been given a rosette
Approach March: A Venture in Autobiography by Julian Amery (Hutchison, 1973). Amery's autobiography covers his time working with Section D in Belgrade and his part in the 'Concensus II' mission to Albania in 1944.
Sons of The Eagle: A Study in Guerrilla War by Julian Amery (Macmillan, 1948).
The Shadow Man by Geoff Andrews (IB Tauris, September 2015). Life of James Klugmann.
At Close Quarters: The Story of SOE Pistol Instructor Colonel Hector Grant-Taylor by David Armstrong (Fonthill Media, September 2013).
Section D for Destruction: Forerunner of SOE by Malcolm Atkin (Pen and Sword, January 2018).
Code Name Pauline: Memoirs of a World War II Special Agent by Kathryn Atwood (Chicago Review Press, August 2013). English adaptation of Hervé Larroque's book Pauline, a compilation of interviews with SOE agent Pearl Witherington originally published in 1995.
They Also Serve: An SOE Agent in the WRNS by Dorothy Baden-Powell (Hale, 2004).
Forgotten Voices of the Secret War: An Inside History of Special Operations in the Second World War by Roderick Bailey (Ebury Press, 2008). Compilation of interviews with SOE agents taken from the Imperial War Museum's sound archive.
No Cloak, No Dagger by Benjamin Cowburn (Frontline Books, 2009). As the title suggests, Cowburn's account of his four missions to France is honest, modest and convincing. One of the most evocative agent memoirs. First published in 1960.
Spy Princess: The Life of Noor Inayat Khan by Shrabani Basu (History Press, 2006). See also Noor-un-nisa Inayat Khan by Jean Overton Fuller.
Out of Night and Fog: The Story of Major Guy Bieler by Jacqueline Bieler (CEF Books, 2008). Biography of Canadian F Section agent who organised the 'Musician' circuit in Picardy. Written by Bieler's daughter.
Secret War Heroes: The Men of Special Operations Executive by Marcus Binney (Hodder and Stoughton, 2005). Short biographies of Gus March-Phillipps (leader of Maid Honor Force), combat training expert Bill Sykes, agents Georges Bégué, Percy Mayer, Denis Rake, Harry Rée and Benjamin Cowburn, and the author's father George Binney.
The Women Who Lived for Danger: The Women Agents of SOE in the Second World War by Marcus Binney (Hodder and Stoughton, 2002). Same format as Secret War Heroes above, covering Violette Szabo, Noor Inayat Khan, Paddy O'Sullivan, Lise de Baissac, Marguerite Knight, Alix d'Unienville, Paola Del Din, Christine Granville, Pearl Witherington and Virginia Hall.
SOE In France 1941-1945: An Official Account of the Special Operations Executive's French Circuits (Hardback) by Robert Bourne-Paterson (Frontline Books, September 2016). An contemporary appreciation of F Section's work in France, written by one of its senior officers. This is a reproduction of the report held at the National Archives.
Colonel Henri's Story: the War Memoirs of Hugo Bleicher, Former German Secret Agent by Hugo Bleicher and Ian Colvin (Kimber, 1954). Bleicher was the Abwehr agent who pursued and captured agents Peter Churchill, Odette Sansom and Henri Frager. The text includes Churchill's, Odette's and Colvin's comments on Bleicher's version of events.
Nancy Wake by Russell Braddon (History Press, 2009). First published in 1956. See also Nancy Wake's autobiography The White Mouse.
Specially Employed by Maurice Buckmaster (Batchworth Press, 1952). Collection of agents' stories as remembered by the head of the French Section.
They Fought Alone by Maurice Buckmaster (Odhams Press, 1958). Second volume of Buckmaster's reminiscences. A paperback reprint was released in 2014 by Biteback Publishing.
Solitary Confinement by Christopher Burney (Clerke and Cokeran, 1952). Burney's crystal-clear record of the course of his meditations during 562 days in Fresnes prison after capture in August 1942.
Amateur Agent by Ewan Butler (Harrap, 1963).
I Was The Cat by Mathilde Carré (Souvenir Press, 1960).
The Divided Land: An Anglo-Greek Tragedy by Geoffrey Chandler (Michael Russell, 1994). First published by Macmillan in 1959.
The Jungle Is Neutral by Freddie Spencer Chapman (Lyons Press, 2003). Extraordinary story of survival behind Japanese lines in Malaya. First published by Chatto & Windus in 1949. See also Jungle Soldier by Brian Moynahan.
Of Their Own Choice by Peter Churchill (Hodder and Stoughton, 1952). Written in the third person, this is the first of three volumes of Churchill's memoirs.
Duel of Wits by Peter Churchill (Hodder and Stoughton, 1953).
The Spirit in the Cage by Peter Churchill (Hodder and Stoughton, 1954).
A Greek Experience: 1943-48 by Nigel Clive (Michael Russell, 1985). With an introduction by fellow SOE officer Bill Deakin.
A Very English Hero: The Making of Frank Thompson by Peter J. Conradi (Bloomsbury, August 2012). Literary biography of SOE liaison officer and poet Frank Thompson, who was killed in Bulgaria in 1944.
They Came from the Sky by E.H. Cookridge (Heinemann, 1965). Biographies of F Section agents Harry Rée, Francis Cammaerts and Roger Landes.
Patrick Leigh Fermor: An Adventure by Artemis Cooper (John Murray, October 2012).
No Cloak, No Dagger by Benjamin Cowburn (Frontline Books, 2009). First published in 1960.
A Life Well-Lived: Diaries of a Fany in the SOE by Fan Craig with Malcolm Greenwood (Bank House Books, 2014).
Irregular Soldier by M.G.M. Crosby (XB Publications, 1994).
The Extraordinary Life of Mike Cumberlege SOE by Robin Knight (Fonthill, November 2018).
Partisan Picture. Reminiscences of the war in Jugoslavia 1943-1944 by Basil Davidson (Bedford Books, 1946).
Special Operations Europe: Scenes from the Anti-Nazi War by Basil Davidson (Gollancz, 1980).
Illyrian Venture: The Story of the British Military Mission to Enemy-Occupied Albania in 1943-1944 by Edmund Frank ('Trotsky') Davies (Bodley Head, 1952).
The Embattled Mountain by F.W.D. Deakin (Faber and Faber, 2011). First published by OUP in 1971.
Setting Europe Ablaze by Douglas Dodds-Parker (Springwood, 1983).
They Arrived by Moonlight by Captain Jacques Doneux (St Ermin's Press, 2001). A wireless operator for T Section from 1943, Doneux's autobiography describes the strain and the boredom of working undercover in Brussels for five months, followed by an equally difficult return to London via Paris and the Pyrenees. First published by Odhams Press in 1956.
War Diary by Hugh Dormer (Fisher Press, 1994). First published by Jonathan Cape in 1947.
Inside North Pole: A secret agent's story by Pieter Dourlein (Kimber, 1953). One of two Dutch agents to survive the Englandspiel, Dourlein and his compatriot Ubbink escaped to England to reveal the truth of SOE's disaster only to face accusations of being German double agents. Considering his ordeals, Dourlein's memoir is modest and forgiving.
My Secret Mission by Andrew Durovecz (Lugus, 1996). Durovecz was a member of the the ill-fated Operation Windproof team, dropped into Slovakia in 1944. Paperback only, and quite rare.
The Shooting Star: The Colourful Life and Times of Denis Rake, MC by Geoffrey Elliott (Methuen, 2009). A disappointing biography that leaves many questions unanswered. See also Rake's autobiography, Rake's Progress - The Gay and dramatic adventures of Major Denis Rake MC, below.
A Forgotten Man: The Life and Death of John Lodwick by Geoffrey Elliott (IB Tauris, June 2017). Better known as a postwar novelist, Lodwick had a brief career as a saboteur with SOE's French Section before joining the SBS. Bid The Soldiers Shoot, his wartime memoir, was published by Heinemann in 1958.
Vasili: The Lion of Crete by Murray Elliott (Efstathiadis Group, 1992). Life of New Zealander Dudley Churchill Perkins, who was taken prisoner but escaped to join SOE's Force 133 and fought with guerillas on Crete.
I Heard My Country Calling: Elaine Madden, the Unsung Heroine of SOE (Hardback) by Sue Elliott (History Press, October 2015). Biography of a courier for SOE's Belgian Section, who also featured in Elliott's previous book, The Children Who Fought For Hitler.
Heroines of SOE: Britain's secret women in France by Beryl Escott (History Press, October 2012). Sketches of SOE's more well-known female agents, including Nancy Wake, Pearl Witherington, Noor Inayat Khan, Violette Szabo, Mary Herbert and Odette Sansom. Hardback edition was published in 2010.
Mission Improbable: Salute to the Royal Air Force Women of Special Operations Executive in Wartime France by Beryl Escott (Patrick Stevens, 1991). Short chapters on fifteen WAAF agents sent to France.
Confessions of a Special Agent: Wartime Service in the Small Scale Raiding Force and SOE by Jack Evans and Ernest Dudley (Pen and Sword, June 2018).
With SOE in Greece: The Wartime Experiences of Captain Pat Evans by Tom Evans (Pen and Sword, April 2018).
The Gestapo's Most Improbable Hostage by Hugh Mallory Falconer (Pen and Sword, May 2018).
Rogue Male: Death and Seduction in World War Two by Roger Field and Geoffrey Gordon-Creed (Coronet, 2011).
Hide and Seek: The Story of a Wartime Agent by Xan Fielding (Paul Dry Books, August 2013). A reprint of Xan Fielding's second book (published by Secker and Warburg in 1954; reprinted by Mann in 1973) remembering his work for SOE in Crete and with Francis Cammaerts' ‘Jockey’ circuit in south-eastern France. See also his first, The Stronghold: Four Seasons in the White Mountains of Crete.
Nancy Wake: The inspiring story of one of the war's greatest heroines by Peter Fitzsimons (HarperCollins, 2002).
Memories of an SOE Historian by M.R.D. Foot (Pen and Sword, 2008).
Resistance: European Resistance to the Nazis 1940-45 (Dialogue Espionage Classics) by M.R.D. Foot (Biteback, April 2016). Foot's survey of Resistance shows its age but is still a useful reprint. First published in 1975.
Six Faces of Courage by M.R.D. Foot (Pen and Sword, 2003). First published by Eyre Methuen in 1978. Includes sketches of SOE's Harry Peulevé and Victor Gerson.
Double Mission: Fighter Pilot and SOE Agent, Manfred Czernin by Norman Franks (William Kimber, 1976).
The Secret War of Charles Fraser-Smith: The 'Q' Gadget Wizard of World War II by Charles Fraser Smith, with Gerald McKnight and Sandy Lesberg (Michael Joseph, 1981).
Conversations with a Captor by Jean Overton Fuller (Fuller D'Arch Smith, 1973). A prose poem written long after the author's interviews in the 1950s with Ernst Vogt, the SS translator who had interrogated her friend Noor Inayat Khan and many other captured SOE agents at Avenue Foch, and with whom Fuller had developed a close relationship. An oddity.
Déricourt: The Chequered Spy by Jean Overton Fuller (Michael Russell Publishing, 1989). Author's examination of double agent Henri Déricourt, developing material from her previous works.
Double Webs by Jean Overton Fuller (Putnam, 1958). The first of the Overton Fuller's investigations into Déricourt's dealings with German security services. Revised and republished as Double Agent? by Pan Books in 1961.
Noor-un-nisa Inayat Khan by Jean Overton Fuller (East-West Publications, 1988). An extended and updated version of the author's original biography of Noor Inayat Khan, Madeleine, published by Victor Gollancz in 1952.
The Starr Affair by Jean Overton Fuller (Victor Gollancz, 1954). Supportive account of F Section agent John Starr's conduct as a prisoner of the Sicherheitsdienst at Avenue Foch, based on Starr's own testimony. Published in the US by Little, Brown under the title No. 13, Bob.
London Calling North Pole by H.J. Giskes (William Kimber, 1953).
They Fought Alone: The True Story of the Starr Brothers, British Secret Agents in Nazi-Occupied France by Charles Glass (Penguin, September 2018). Account of the lives of George and John Starr, two F Section agents who headed separate networks in France. Not to be confused with Maurice Buckmaster's book of the same name, published in 1958.
Accidental Agent by John Goldsmith (Pen and Sword, October 2016). Reprint of Goldsmith's memoir, first published in 1971. He undertook three missions in France, and was the only agent the Gestapo reportedly put up at the Hotel Continental in Paris, from where Goldsmith escaped.
SOE Singapore 1941 - 1942 by Richard Gough (SNP Editions, 1987).
Jacques de Guélis SOE’s Genial Giant: His Life, His War & His Untimely End by Delphine Isaaman (Unicorn, June 2018).
Dead on Time: The Memoir of an SOE and OSS Agent in Occupied France by Jean-Claude Guiet (History Press, March 2016). Posthumously published recollections of the former SOE wireless operator who parachuted with Violette Szabo in 1944. He later worked for the CIA.
Jungle Diary by Duncan Guthrie (Macmillan, 1946). After serving as a Jedburgh in France, Guthrie joined Force 136 and was injured when dropping into Burma in March 1945. He kept a diary while in hiding, and was rescued three months later.
SOE Assignment by Donald Hamilton-Hall (Kimber, 1973). Hamilton-Hall helped to set up the Auxiliary Units before joining SOE, where he worked with the training section and later supported operations in Italy and Greece.
Venture into Greece: With the Guerrillas, 1943-44 by Nicolas Hammond (Kimber, 1983).
We Fell Among Greeks by Denys Hamson (Ace, 1957). First published by Jonathan Cape in 1946.
Peter Fleming: A Biography by Duff Hart-Davis (Jonathan Cape, 1974).
The Drums of Memory by Stephen Hastings (Pen and Sword, 2001).
Skis Against The Atom by Knut Haukelid (William Kimber, 1954).
A Life in Secrets: Vera Atkins and the Lost Agents of SOE by Sarah Helm (Little, Brown, 2005).
Xavier by Richard Heslop (Biteback, June 2014). A paperback reprint (first edition was published by Hart-Davis in 1970). Honest and typical memoir by one of F Section's defining and most successful organisers.
Undercover Operator: An SOE Agent's Experiences in France and the Far East by Sidney Hudson (Pen and Sword, 2003).
The Next Moon: The Remarkable True Story of a British Agent Behind the Lines in Wartime France by André Hue and Ewen Southby-Tailyour (Penguin, 2005). Hue's early adventures are followed by a drawn-out account of his experiences as an agent operating in Brittany after D-Day.
That Drug Danger by Sir James Hutchison (Montrose Press, 1977). Covers Hutchison’s time as head of SOE's gaullist RF Section, and his inter-Allied mission into France after having undergone plastic surgery.
Churchill's White Rabbit: The True Story of a Real-life James Bond by Sophie Jackson (History Press, September 2012). A confused and unconvincing biography of SOE agent Forest Yeo-Thomas that does little more than speculate on possible links to Ian Fleming and 007.
Codenamed Dorset: The Wartime Exploits of Major Colin Ogden-Smith, Commando and SOE by Peter Jacobs (Frontline Books, July 2014).
A Pacifist at War: The Life of Francis Cammaerts by Ray Jenkins (Hutchison, 2009). An intimate biography which goes far beyond the study of Cammaerts' SOE career.
Within Two Cloaks: Missions with SIS and SOE by Philip Johns (Kimber, 1979).
The Thorns of Memory by Peter Kemp (Sinclair-Stevenson, 1990). Covers the author's adventures in the Spanish Civil War, SOE missions to Romania, Poland and the Far East, and his post-war career as a journalist.
Agent Michael Trotobas and SOE in Northern France by Stewart Kent and Nick Nicholas (Pen and Sword, November 2015).
Operation Blunderhead: The Incredible Adventures Of A Double Agent In Nazi-Occupied Europe by David Gordon Kirby (History Press, September 2015). An attempt to unravel the bizarre and fascinating case of Ronald Seth, the only SOE agent to be dropped into Estonia. Clearly written, this is more of a presentation of the evidence than a typical agent biography, and ably demonstrates Seth's formidable talent for merging the real and the imagined.
Messages in Handlebars: the Youngest Resistance Fighter by Kendrick Kirk (Self published, November 2011). Recollections of Jean-Jacques Auduc, who with his family and other resisters helped the short-lived Sacristan circuit around Le Mans in 1943 (paperback).
Jacqueline by Stella King (Arms and Armour, 1989). Life of F Section agent Yvonne Rudellat.
Flames in the Field: The Story of Four SOE Agents in Occupied France by Rita Kramer (Penguin, 1995).
Knights Of The Floating Silk by George Langelaan (Hutchinson, 1959). Autobiography by a former New York Times journalist and one of the first SOE agents to arrive in France. He was captured but escaped from prison and into Spain in 1942. Now better remembered for his post-war short story 'The Fly'.
Watch for Me by Moonlight by Evelyn Le Chêne (Methuen, 1973). Life of F Section organiser Robert Boiteux-Burdett.
Special Operations Executed: in Serbia and Italy by Michael Lees (Kimber, 1986).
Rossano: Valley in Flames by Gordon Lett (Frontline, 2011). First published by Hodder & Stoughton in 1955.
SOE's Mastermind: An Authorised Biography of Major General Sir Colin Gubbins Kcmg, DSO, MC by Brian Lett (Pen and Sword, July 2016).
Churchill's Secret Warriors: The Explosive True Story of the Special Forces Desperadoes of WWII by Damien Lewis (Quercus, October 2014).
Bid The Soldiers Shoot by John Lodwick (Heinemann, 1958). Lodwick's account of his war years. His SOE service only amounted to a failed sabotage mission in France, but he became a noted novelist after the war. His non-fiction books also included The Filibusters: The Story of the Special Boat Service.
Code Name Lise: The True Story of the Woman Who Became WWII's Most Highly Decorated Spy by Larry Loftis (Gallery Books, January 2019).
Behind Enemy Lines with the SAS: The Story of Amedee Maingard, SOE Agent by Paul McCue (Pen and Sword, 2007).
Behind Enemy Lines: The Autobiography of Britains Most Decorated War Hero by Sir Tommy Macpherson with Richard Bath (Mainstream Publishing, 2010).
From Cloak to Dagger: Special Operations Executive Agent in Italy, 1943-45 by Charles Macintosh (William Kimber, 1982). Macintosh was operations officer with No.1 Special Force in Italy and supported the partisans in the battle for Florence in August 1944. The remainder of the book follows the progress of later tactical missions and concentrates on operational detail.
Eastern Approaches by Fitzroy Maclean (Penguin, 2009). First published by Jonathan Cape in 1949.
The Last SOE Hero: Bob Maloubier and The French Resistance by Bob Maloubier (translated by Tania Szabo) (History Press, September 2016).
From the Red Army to SOE by L.H. Manderstam (Kimber, 1986).
Captain Desmond Ellis Hubble - Royal Artillery Special Operations Executive - From Cradle to Grave by Mick Manise (Grosvenor House Publishing, March 2016).
The Life That I Have by Leo Marks and Elena Gaussen Marks (Souvenir Press, 1999). The poem code written by Leo Marks for Violette Szabo, printed as a gift book with illustrations by Marks' wife.
Between Silk and Cyanide: A Codemaker's War 1941-45 by Leo Marks (History Press, 2007). Bestselling autobiography by SOE's cryptographer. First published by HarperCollins in 1998.
The White Rabbit by Bruce Marshall (Cassell, 2000). The story of F.F.E. Yeo-Thomas GC. First published by Evans Brothers in 1952. See also Mark Seaman's Bravest of the Brave.
Christine: SOE Agent and Churchill's Favourite Spy by Madeleine Masson (Virago, 2005). Life of agent Christine Granville (born Krystyna Skarbek), a Polish countess whose intrepid wartime career included working for Francis Cammaerts' 'Jockey' circuit. First published by Hamish Hamilton in 1975.
Maquis: The French Resistance at War by George Millar (Dovecote Press, 2013). Published only a few months after completing his mission as head of the 'Chancellor' circuit around Besançon, Millar's novel-like memoir is as much an intimate study of the resisters he worked with as a record of his own actions. First published by Heinemann in 1945.
Road to Resistance: An Autobiography by George Millar (The Bodley Head, 1979).
Carve Her Name with Pride by R.J. Minney (Pen and Sword, June 2012). Paperback reprint of biography of celebrated female agent Violette Szabó GC. First published by George Newnes in 1956.
Grandfather Longlegs: The Life and Gallant Death of Major H P Seagrim GC, DSO, MBE by Ian Morrison (Faber, 1947).
Ill Met By Moonlight by W. Stanley Moss (Cassell, March 2014). The story of the kidnap of General Kreipe by Moss and Patrick Leigh Fermor on Crete in 1944. First published by Harrap in 1950.
A War of Shadows by W. Stanley Moss (Bene Factum, April 2014). Follow up to Ill Met by Moonlight (see above). First published by Boardman in 1952.
Jungle Soldier: The True Story of Freddy Spencer Chapman by Brian Moynahan (Quercus, 2009). See also Chapman's own account of his experiences in Malaya, The Jungle is Neutral.
Report on Experience by John Mulgan (Frontline, 2009). Reprint, introduced by M.R.D. Foot. Mulgan's New Zealand roots bring an strong sense of objectivity and detachment to his writing, especially in his views of British civilian and military life before and during the war. His record of serving with SOE in Greece is mostly anecdotal, but no less interesting for that. Originally published by OUP in 1947.
The Spy Who Loved: The secrets and lives of Christine Granville by Clare Mulley (Pan Macmillan, April 2013). A fuller and better informed biography than Madeleine Masson's Christine. Hardback edition was released in 2012.
Sweet is War by Malcolm Munthe (Duckworth, 1954).
Greek Entanglement by E.C.W. Myers (Hart-Davis, 1955). Myers' experiences of working with the Greek resistance during 1942-44 and his attack on the Gorgopotamos viaduct.
The Spark and The Flame by Flemming Muus (trans. Varinka Muus and J. F. Burke) (Museum Press, 1956).
Black Lysander by John Nesbitt-Dufort (Whydown Books, 2003). Autobiography by one of the early Special Duties pilots, who successfully flew the first pick-up operation in and out of Occupied France in 1941. First published by Jarrolds in 1973.
Aristide: Warlord of the Resistance by David Nicolson (Leo Cooper, 1994). Life of F Section agent Roger Landes, who organised the 'Scientist' and 'Actor' circuits in Bordeaux.
The Elusive Madame G: A Life of Christine Granville by Ron Nowicki (Createspace, 2014).
Sisters, Secrets and Sacrifice: The True Story of WWII Special Agents Eileen and Jacqueline Nearne by Susan Ottaway (Harper Element, March 2013).
Violette Szabo: The Life That I Have by Susan Ottaway (Leo Cooper, 2002). See also R.J. Minney's Carve Her Name with Pride, and Tania Szabó's Young, Brave and Beautiful.
The Black Scalpel: A Surgeon with SOE by Geoffrey Parker (Kimber, 1968).
The Wolves at the Door: The True Story of America's Greatest Female Spy by Judith Pearson (Lyons Press, 2009). Life of Virginia Hall.
Spirit of Resistance: The Life of SOE Agent Harry Peulevé by Nigel Perrin (Pen and Sword, 2014).
The Bandits of Cisterna by William Pickering (Leo Cooper, 1991).
Four in the Shadows: A True Story of Espionage in Occupied France by Eric Piquet-Wicks (Jarrolds, 1957). Dramatised accounts of four major resistance figures: Jean Moulin, Pierre Brossolette, Henri Labit and Fred Scamaroni. Piquet-Wicks was the first head of RF Section and he gives some brief autobiographical notes in the prologue.
The Giraffe Has a Long Neck by Jacques Poirier (Pen and Sword, 1995). Poirier's autobiography covers his childhood and early resistance involvement with Harry Peulevé to becoming the organiser of his own 'Digger' circuit and liberator of the Corrèze in 1944.
Operation Autonomous: With SOE in Wartime Roumania by Ivor Porter (Chatto & Windus, 1989). Mainly political history by the wireless operator of the Autonomous mission that parachuted into Romania in December 1943. Porter and his two companions were captured immediately but released after the overthrow of dictator Antonescu the following year.
The Cretan Runner by George Psychoundakis (Penguin, 2009). First published by John Murray in 1955.
Eight Hours From England by Anthony Quayle (Doubleday, 1946). Rare.
South West Secret Agents by Laura Quigley (History Press, September 2014).
Rake's Progress - The Gay and dramatic adventures of Major Denis Rake MC by Denis Rake (Leslie Frewin, 1968). See also Shooting Star by Geoffrey Elliott.
Tales from the Special Forces Club by Sean Rayment (William Collins, February 2014). Tale-tellers include Jedburghs Harry Verlander and John Sharp, Beaulieu staff member Noreen Riols and Special Duties pilot Leonard Ratcliff. Hardback published in 2013.
Teenage Resistance Fighter by Hubert Verneret (Casemate, Sept 2017). First published in 1971, this journal describes Verneret's experiences of the Fall of France through to joining a maquis group in Burgundy during 1944. It includes recollections of Paul Sarrette and Kenneth Mackenzie, whose Gondolier network provided local SOE support.
Blown by Jamie Reid (Racing Post Books, September 2015). Life of racehorse trainer and SOE agent John Goldsmith, who undertook three missions to Occupied France.
The Secret Ministry of Ag. & Fish: My Life in Churchill's Secret Army by Noreen Riols (Pan, May 2014). Recollections of a former F Section staff member who helped to train SOE's agents at the Beaulieu estate.
Full Moon to France by Devereaux Rochester (HarperCollins, 1977). Jaunty, sometimes manic memoir by the American courier for Richard Heslop's 'Marksman' circuit.
Miss Fire - The Chronicle of a British Mission to Mihailovich 1943-1944 by Jasper Rootham (Chatto & Windus, 1946).
Child Of My Love by Sue Ryder (Harvill Press, 1997). Autobiography of the charity worker who was inspired by the bravery of the SOE agents she met before they left for Occupied Europe. First published in 1986, and partly based on And the Morrow is Theirs: The Autobiography of Sue Ryder published by Burleigh Press in 1975.
War Journey by Cynthia Sadler (Artemis, 2003). Life of F Section agent Lilian Rolfe.
The Grand Prix Saboteurs: The Grand Prix Drivers Who Became British Secret Agents During World War II by Joe Saward (Morienval Press, 2006). The stories of Charles Grover-Williams, Robert Benoist and Jean-Pierre Wimille, who were all recruited by F Section and operated the 'Chestnut' circuit near Paris. Only Wimille survived the war.
Bravest of the Brave: The True Story of Wing Commander Tommy Yeo-Thomas by Mark Seaman (Michael O'Mara, 1997). Written with the help of Yeo-Thomas's partner Barbara, this is a more thorough and trustworthy account than Bruce Marshall's The White Rabbit.
Special Forces Commander: The Life and Wars of Peter Wand-Tetley MC by Michael Scott (Pen and Sword, 2011). Wand-Tetley's SOE career was spent working with Greek partisans in the Peloponnese during 1943/44.
Hannah Senesh: Her Life and Diary by Hannah Senesh (Jewish Lights, 2008). Senesh parachuted into Yugoslavia in March 1944 and was executed in Budapest eight months later, having been arrested at the Hungarian border. Aside from her diary, the book also contains her letters and poems along with contributions from her mother and fellow SOE agents.
A Spy Has No Friends by Ronald Seth (Headline Review, 2008). Seth's intriguing account of capture in Estonia and his efforts to survive by posing as a double agent for German Intelligence, which contradicts the report he gave to MI5 on his return to England. First published by Andre Deutsch in 1952. Seth subsequently wrote many books on spies, travel, the Occult, and ‐ under the name of Robert Chartham ‐ sex education.
She Landed By Moonlight: The Story of Secret Agent Pearl Witherington: The Real Charlotte Gray by Carole Seymour-Jones (Hodder & Stoughton, January 2014). A romantically overwrought biography, often reliant on corny reconstructions and wooden dialogue.
Our Man in Malaya: John Davis, CBE, DSO, SOE Force 136 and Postwar Counter-insurgency by Margaret Shennan (History Press, 2009).
Albanian Assignment by David Smiley (Chatto & Windus, 1984). A fairly brief and modest account of the author's experiences with Billy McLean and Julian Amery in Albania, which includes some criticism of SOE's political decisions. He also gives some details of post-war training of Albanian insurgents in Malta.
Report from No. 24 by Gunnar Sonsteby (Barricade Books, 2005). Memoir by one of Norway's most celebrated and decorated Norwegian agents. First published by Lyle Stewart in 1965.
Odette: World War Two's Darling Spy by Penny Starns (History Press, 2009). Biography of agent Odette Sansom.
Opportunity Knocks Once by Sir Campbell Stuart (Collins, 1952). Only one short and reticent chapter addresses his propaganda work relating to SOE.
Shadows in the Fog: The True Story of Major Suttill and the Prosper French Resistance Network by Francis J Suttill (History Press, November 2014).
Baker Street Irregular by Bickham Sweet-Escott (Methuen, 1965). Important memoir by an SOE staff officer who served SOE in many roles, in London, Cairo, Washington and the Far East. Now rare, and deserves a reprint.
Young, Brave and Beautiful by Tania Szabó (History Press, July 2015). Tania Szabo's biography of her mother, Violette Szabó. First published in 2007.
Violette: The Missions of SOE Agent Violette Szabó GC by Tania Szabó (History Press, November 2018). Written by Violette's daughter.
Force 136: Story of a WWII resistance fighter by Tan Chong Tee (Asiapic, 1995).
No Banners by Jack Thomas (WH Allen, 1955). Popular biography of brothers Henry and Alfred Newton,who were captured in 1943 and survived interrogation by Klaus Barbie and fifteen months in Buchenwald.
Odette by Jerrard Tickell (Headline Review, 2008). The first biography of Odette Sansom, published by Chapman & Hall in 1949.
When Men and Mountains Meet by H.W. Tilman (CUP, 1946).
Operations Most Secret: SOE, The Malayan Theatre by Ian Trenowden (Crecy, 1994).
Agent Paterson SOE by Ernest Van Maurik (Pen and Sword, May 2018). Written in the 1980s, van Maurik's memoir recalls an unusually varied SOE career. Sadly it glosses over the training of the Czech agents who undertook the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich in 1942, but includes some interesting details on his later work, particularly in Switzerland.
Unlikely Soldiers: How Two Canadians Fought the Secret War Against Nazi Occupation by Jonathan Vance (HarperCollins, 2008).
My War in the SOE: Behind Enemy Lines in France and Burmah with the Special Operations Executive by Harry Verlander (Independent Books, 2010).
Who Lived To See The Day - France In Arms 1940-45 by Philippe de Vomécourt (Hutchinson, 1961). Self-assured and sometimes caustic memoir by one of SOE's early French organisers. Published in the US under the title An Army of Amateurs.
The White Mouse: The Autobiography of the Woman the Gestapo called The White Mouse by Nancy Wake (Macmillan, 1986). Wake's no-nonsense autobiography, published thirty years after Russell Braddon's Nancy Wake. Includes a couple of brief chapters on her post-war life, and the unsuccessful attempts to film her story.
The Women Who Spied for Britain: Female Secret Agents of the Second World War by Robyn Walker (Amberley, February 2014). Familiar potted biographies of seven of SOE's best‐known agents, similar in style to Beryl Escott's more comprehensive The Heroines of SOE. Ironically a (muddled) chapter on Mathilde Carré – the only woman spy featured in the book – looks out of place.
Moondrop to Gascony by Anne-Marie Walters (Moho Books, 2009). Walters parachuted into south-western France in January 1944 as a courier for George Starr's 'Wheelwright' circuit. First published by Macmillan in 1946 and won the John Llewelyn Rhys Memorial Prize in 1947.
Greek Assignments: SOE 1943 - 1948 by Michael Ward (Lycabettus Press 1992).
Pinstripe saboteur by Charles Wighton (Odhams Press, 1959). Charles Wighton was the pen name of Jacques Weil, who worked with F Section's 'Robin' circuit. This biography of his former boss, Jean Worms, is mixed up with Weil's own story, resulting in an often fictional mess. Foreword by Peter Churchill.
Foreign Fields: The Story of an SOE Operative by Peter Wilkinson (I B Tauris, 2002). Autobiography by one of SOE's founding members, who served as a staff officer in Crete and North Africa, and dropped into Yugoslavia as part of Operation Clowder in 1943. A lot of detail taken from Wilkinson's wartime diaries. First published in 1997.
Gubbins and SOE by Peter Wilkinson and Joan Bright Astley (Pen and Sword, 2010). A well-informed and regarded biography of SOE head Colin Gubbins, which crams in a lot of detailed SOE history. First published in 1993.
Pierre Lalande: Special Agent by Guido Zembsch-Schreve (Leo Cooper, 1996). Swiss-born DF Section agent who ran the 'Pierre-Jacques' escape line and survived Buchenwald and the infamous V-2 factory at Dora.
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