Undercover Agent

How one of SOE's youngest agents helped defeat the Nazis

Mark Seaman

$24.99

Paperback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

BONNIER
02 July 2020

History; British & Irish history; Second World War; Military intelligence

Tony Brooks was unique. He was barely out of school when recruited in 1941 by the Special Operations Executive (SOE), the wartime secret service established by Churchill to 'set Europe ablaze'. After extensive training he was parachuted into France in July 1942 - being among the first (and youngest) British agents sent to support the nascent French Resistance.

Brook's success was primarily due to his exceptional qualities as a secret agent, although he was aided by large and frequent slices of luck. Among much else, he survived brushes with a British traitor and a notorious double agent; the Gestapo's capture of his wireless operator and subsequent attempts to trap Brooks; brief incarceration in a Spanish concentration camp; injuries resulting from a parachute jump into France; and even capture and interrogation by the Gestapo - although his cover story held and he was released.

In an age when we so often take our heroes from the worlds of sport, film, television, music, fashion, or just 'celebrity', it is perhaps salutary to be reminded of a young man who ended the war in command of a disparate force of some 10,000 armed resistance fighters, and decorated with two of this country's highest awards for gallantry, the DSO and MC. At the time, he was just twenty-three years old.

This remarkable, detailed and intimate account of a clandestine agent's dangerous wartime career combines the historian's expert eye with the narrative colour of remembered events. As a study in courage, it has few, if any, equals.

By: Mark Seaman
Imprint: BONNIER
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 190mm, Width: 140mm, Spine: 20mm
Weight: 293g
ISBN: 9781789461435
ISBN 10: 178946143X
Pages: 368
Publication Date: 02 July 2020
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Mark Seaman, MBE, is an historian with the Cabinet Office in London, and before that with the Imperial War Museum. He has studied SOE and the French Resistance for nearly forty years. Given his close association with many SOE veterans over the years, and his extensive knowledge of secret archives in Britain and abroad, he holds an unrivalled expertise in his subject. A long-time friend of Tony Brooks, Mark inherited all his unpublished papers on the former SOE agent's death, and recorded his wartime experiences first hand. He is the author of Bravest of the Brave, the official biography of 'Tommy' Yeo-Thomas, GC, the famous SOE agent codenamed 'White Rabbit'.