SOE in Denmark: The Special Operations Executive's Danish Section in WW2: The Special Operations Executive's Danish Section in WW2

I was interested in reading about the occupation in Denmark my birth country.I do remember a lot as I was a child and to see what I remember was correct and it is and more I could tell. But will keep that memory’s.It is a lovely book I very much enjoyed the reading going back in time.

This is a fascinating book, comprising as it does the official record of aspects of the activities of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) in occupied Denmark during the Second World War. Written from an official perspective, and therefore not influenced by the historical perspective provided subsequently by other sources and changed perceptions since the mid 1940s over some of the activities of the SOE, it may appear to some readers as a rather cold, clipped - and even clinical - account of the activities of spymasters and agents in the field. Other readers, however, will value the opportunity to make their own judgements based on the very straightforward accounts provided by the author of the official records, who doubtless drew on the knowledge of a range of colleagues. Another unusual aspect of the book Is that the narrative is exceeded in length by an extensive set of appendices. A useful piece of advice for readers looking for accounts of the SOE inspired activities would be to take some time to seek out the accounts of some actions provided in the appendices. Similarly, readers with an appetite for data may be fascinated to read of the staggering quantities of arms, ammunition and explosives dropped to agents by the RAF, or shipped into Denmark by sea.A more chilling reminder of the high stakes involved during sabotage and armed attacks against the occupying Nazi forces is the matter of fact way that people believed to have been traitors were simply ‘liquidated’. Reinforcing this sense of high stakes activities the remarkably courageous efforts of Allied pilots and crews in mounting two successful low level raids targeting Gestapo headquarters in occupied Denmark are briefly highlighted. The narrative explains the reasons for requesting such a difficult operation in relation to captured agents being held in the headquarters and compromising data that it was hoped would be destroyed in the raids..In summary, whilst the book may appear a rather dry account of the SOE’s activities in Denmark, it has the valuable quality of reflecting how these activities were seen at the time by those intimately involved with the SOE.Recommended to those readers who enjoy exploring the more hidden corners of the history of the Second World War.