Wednesday, April 17, 2013

A mixture of WWII history and fiction.

W.E. B. Griffin is one of my favorite military historical novelists.  In this work, he combines with William E. Butterworth IV.

Much of Griffin's best work is in the past but I read this novel with an open mind and was entertained.

During WWII, Germany places two two-men groups in America in order to do what they can to disrupt the American way of life. Their activities might consist of setting off bombs in railroad stations or blowing up electrical power stations, the men had freedom to pick their targets.

The OSS was still a young agency under Wild Bill Donovan. It was fresh from success of helping an important scientist escape from German rule.

Now, OSS agents are assigned to teams to enter France and encourage resistance groups prior to the Allied invasion of France.

I enjoyed the cavalier attitude of many of these young OSS agents. They didn't accept traditional authority based on outdated ideas and they didn't care for narrow minded officers. However, these agents were ready to die for their country.

This is a complex book and a compelling read with historical details of actions prior to the Allied invasion of Europe. I found it enlightening how the OSS used Mafia connections to appeal to the loyalty of the Mafia members and help with planned actions in Sicily where Mussolini was taking actions against the Mafia.

1 comment:

K. Lyn Wurth said...

This looks like a book both my husband and I would enjoy reading. Thanks for your great review!

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