The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British organisation set up in 1940 to encourage resistance and carry out sabotage behind enemy lines: in Winston Churchill's famous phrase, to 'set Europe ablaze'. Drawing on previously unpublished interviews in the Imperial War Museum’s Sound Archive, Forgotten Voices of the Secret War (Ebury, 2008) tells the story of SOE in the words of its former operatives and headquarters staff, and resistance fighters, aircrew and naval personnel.

Reviews

"Assembles with great skill a picture of the Special Operations Executive at work behind several fighting fronts . . . A valuable addition to the history of war" (Professor MRD Foot, Literary Review)

"Roderick Bailey has skilfully braided their stories into a coherent narrative, and the quality of their egregious courage catches at the heart" (Magnus Linklater, Spectator)

"An ideal introduction to the whole subject of SOE . . . Thoroughly recommended" (Professor Gary Sheffield, Chair of War Studies, University of Wolverhampton)