The SOE was a group of people that were dedicated to sabotage and resistance during WWII. I've been interested in them for quite a while and read a few books on them.
Harry wanted to fight in the war. On his first mission with the BEF, he was forced to retreat and that bothered him. He then volunteered for the SOE, where he went through a broken leg, arrest, and spending time in Buchenwald concentration camp. He came out the other side alive, but never the same. He preferred to stick to the shadows in the aftermath of the war, but he still fought with the memories.
I want to mention the most surprising thing about this book is that of the listed 362 pages, not even 3/4 of this is the "meat" of the book. The first appendix started on page 259 (67%). The remainder of the book consists of Appendix A (DSO Citation), Appendix B (Croix de Guerre Citation in French and English), Appendix C (SOE Agents in France), Pictures, Glossary, Notes and References, Documentary Sources, Bibliography and Index.
The other thing is the number of people mentioned in the book. I'm the type of person that when I read a book about a subject I'm interested in, I'll stop and write down names I don't recognize so I can look into them later. While I recognized some of them, there are close to 100 people mentioned in this book, and most of them are spoke of in passing and never spoken of again. For someone like me, that is a bit overwhelming and slightly irritating.
The book itself is well researched, using interviews and Harry's own papers. I think the most heartbreaking chapter was the one revolving around peacetime. It's unfortunate that people who went through so much had to deal it for the rest of their lives. Harry was definitely a hero, but I understand why he never went through the pain of organizing his thoughts into a book. Even though I prefer to read autobiographies, I liked this book. Good Book!
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