La Guerre Secrete 1940-1945

Olivier d'Olne, the Administrator of the Fraternelle des Agents Parachutistes, gave an excellent presentation of their newly published La Guerre Secrete 1940-1945, a history of the Belgians who were recruited, trained, equipped, and infiltrated into occupied Belgium from England during World War Two. Their mission was to link up with the various elements of the resistance movement to collect intelligence, build morale, sabotage the German war machine, and rescue downed Allied pilots. La Guerre Secrete 1940-1945 is the first comprehensive history of those efforts. It is divided into two parts. The first part explains how the effort was organized between the British Government and the Belgian government-in-exile in London. It includes key personalities and the secret support organizations (SIS, MI9, SOE) in England, as well as the secret networks in Belgium and France, for intelligence collection, psychological operations, special operations, and evasion and escape. The second part of the book includes personal histories, photos, and the missions of each of the 300 agents, many of whom were killed, captured, or wounded in the four-plus years of supporting and guiding the Belgian resistance.