SOE in France: An Account of the Work of the British Special Operations Executive in France 1940-1944

Contemporary Review, Nov, 2004

SOE in France: An Account of the Work of the British Special Operations Executive in France 1940-1944. M.R.D. Foot. Frank Cass. [pounds sterling]55.00. xxxix 526 pages. ISBN 0-7146-5528-7. The author, himself part of SOE during the war, has been for years the country's leading expert on the organisation.

This exhaustive history, first published by HMSO in 1966, won considerable acclaim as a balanced and fair account of SOE's work in France after 1940. In this revised edition Prof. Foot has been able to be more open, to add some new material from archives, and to say more about 'the decipher and deception services'. Now as in the 1960s the book is a solid riposte to a new generation of arm-chair generals and journalistic historians who argue that SOE was at best irrelevant and at worst, harmful to the British war effort. It was neither as this history bears witness. (T.B.)