Bernard O'Connor

Churchill's Italian Angels (eBook, ePUB)

The women engaged by the Special Operations Executive in Italy during the Second World War

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

According to recently declassified documents in the British National Archives, twenty-four Italian women were engaged to provide assistance to officers of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) working clandestinely in Italy during the Second World War. The oldest was 64 and the youngest was 21. The average age was 32, older than might have been expected. Of those who provided details of their occupation, five were students, three had office jobs and two were housewives. Others were a shopkeeper, teacher, dressmaker, designer and a novelist. Four were married, two were widows, two were separated and the rest were single. Two of the older women had daughters living at home who were also engaged to help SOE as couriers and escorts. Fourteen described their work as a courier but most provided other services as well, for example, providing food and accommodation for the organiser and sometimes the wireless operator; hiding supplies like explosives and arms for the partisans and providing military intelligence. One prepared sabotage material. One took photographs of sabotaged targets and another was a propagandist for the BBC. Bernard O'Connor's documentary history tells their stories, most for the first time, using personnel files, mission reports, autobiographies, biographies, history books and websites.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Lulu.com
• Erscheinungstermin: 25. November 2023
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9781447840794
• Artikelnr.: 70256832

Autorenporträt

Bernard O'Connor has taught Geography, History, Religious Education, Citizenship and English in Britain, Australia, Taiwan and China. Now living in the Shropshire Hills, UK, he has researched many aspects of local history. His first publications were on the social, economic, archaeological and environmental impact of the 19th and 20th century coprolite industry in the UK, France, Spain and the United States. This was open-cast mining of phosphatic nodules, thought by some at the time to be fossilised dinosaur droppings. He has also researched and published work on RAF Tempsford, described as Churchill's Most Secret Airfield during WW2. From here the RAF's Special Duties Squadrons (and for a time the US Carpetbaggers) sent in over 600 secret agents and supplied the many resistance groups in occupied Europe. He has published numerous accounts of the women agents, sabotage training and sabotage operations (including blackmail sabotage) in Norway, Denmark, Holland (the Netherlands), Belgium, France, Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Gibraltar He has written accounts of German-trained agents infiltrated into Britain; Soviet Comintern agents brought to Britain and infiltrated by SOE into Western Europe; Spanish Republicans trained for missions in Spain, and surrendered or captured anti-fascist Soviet, Austrian and German soldiers who were trained for SOE sabotage and subversion missions. He had researched the Italian women who helped SOE agents in Italy and Hitler's R-Netz, the stay-behind networks in Spain, France, Belgium, Holland, Denmark and Italy. He is an accomplished speaker and Zoom presenter.