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; resistance movements were organized.

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 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.

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.