A
ACSpectre
Guest
A good read, I recommend it.
In 1943, less than a year before the Allies planned to finally launch their Cross-Channel attack on France's northern coast, the Allied shadow warfare chiefs recognized a crucial gap in their strategy. The Gestapo was rapidly arresting their agents in the secret Resistance networks in France, just when the Resistance networks would be needed the most, to make hell for the Germans as the Allies finally attacked. Now that plan was falling apart. The solution: Operation Jedburgh, one of the most hazardous covert operations of World War II.
In the run-up to D Day, three hundred young American, British, and French soldiersâ€â€volunteers allâ€â€were dropped deep behind enemy lines in France. Working with the beleaguered French Resistance, the “Jeds†launched a deft and stunningly effective guerrilla campaign against the underbelly of the German war machine. Colin Beavanâ€â€whose grandfather helped direct Operation Jedburgh for the Office of Strategic Servicesâ€â€draws on scores of interviews with the surviving Jeds and their families to tell the incredible story of the rowdy daredevils and thrill seekers who carried out America’s first special-forces missionsâ€â€and changed the way American waged war forever.
Dodging Gestapo spies, living hand-to-mouth in the devastated French countryside, the Jeds helped arm and train fighters who liberated Paris, snarled German transport across France, and provided essential cover to the invading Allied forces. The young Jeds had to be reckless to take on such a mission, but their courage never flagged, leaping from airplanes into the dark night, knowing they faced at best being killed in battle against the Germans swarming behind the lines in Franceâ€â€and at worst, capture, excrutiating torture and an agonizing death. For decades, few of those who survived would speak to their families of anything they had seen or done as Jed in France.
This was the birth of the type of behind-the-lines special operations that peppered American history for the next 50 years. Jedburgh was a joint operation with the British and French, but it was the first of its type for the United States and became the precedent for many operations that followed. Beavan focuses on key figures who would go on to become the CIA’s director (William Colby), found the Green Berets (Aaron Bank), and become embroiled in the Iran-Contra affair (John Singlaub)â€â€all of whom had their first lesson in covert warfare as Jedburghs.
At once a restored chapter in the history of World War II, a book that reads like a wartime thriller, and a tribute to three hundred brave, long-silent men, Operation Jedburgh makes a major contribution to our understanding of American warfare.
6" x 9"; 416 pp.
two 16-pp. b&w inserts; 6 maps
ISBN: 0-670-03762-1
$27.95 ($36.50 CAN)
Published by Viking
May 2006
In 1943, less than a year before the Allies planned to finally launch their Cross-Channel attack on France's northern coast, the Allied shadow warfare chiefs recognized a crucial gap in their strategy. The Gestapo was rapidly arresting their agents in the secret Resistance networks in France, just when the Resistance networks would be needed the most, to make hell for the Germans as the Allies finally attacked. Now that plan was falling apart. The solution: Operation Jedburgh, one of the most hazardous covert operations of World War II.
In the run-up to D Day, three hundred young American, British, and French soldiersâ€â€volunteers allâ€â€were dropped deep behind enemy lines in France. Working with the beleaguered French Resistance, the “Jeds†launched a deft and stunningly effective guerrilla campaign against the underbelly of the German war machine. Colin Beavanâ€â€whose grandfather helped direct Operation Jedburgh for the Office of Strategic Servicesâ€â€draws on scores of interviews with the surviving Jeds and their families to tell the incredible story of the rowdy daredevils and thrill seekers who carried out America’s first special-forces missionsâ€â€and changed the way American waged war forever.
Dodging Gestapo spies, living hand-to-mouth in the devastated French countryside, the Jeds helped arm and train fighters who liberated Paris, snarled German transport across France, and provided essential cover to the invading Allied forces. The young Jeds had to be reckless to take on such a mission, but their courage never flagged, leaping from airplanes into the dark night, knowing they faced at best being killed in battle against the Germans swarming behind the lines in Franceâ€â€and at worst, capture, excrutiating torture and an agonizing death. For decades, few of those who survived would speak to their families of anything they had seen or done as Jed in France.
This was the birth of the type of behind-the-lines special operations that peppered American history for the next 50 years. Jedburgh was a joint operation with the British and French, but it was the first of its type for the United States and became the precedent for many operations that followed. Beavan focuses on key figures who would go on to become the CIA’s director (William Colby), found the Green Berets (Aaron Bank), and become embroiled in the Iran-Contra affair (John Singlaub)â€â€all of whom had their first lesson in covert warfare as Jedburghs.
At once a restored chapter in the history of World War II, a book that reads like a wartime thriller, and a tribute to three hundred brave, long-silent men, Operation Jedburgh makes a major contribution to our understanding of American warfare.
6" x 9"; 416 pp.
two 16-pp. b&w inserts; 6 maps
ISBN: 0-670-03762-1
$27.95 ($36.50 CAN)
Published by Viking
May 2006