Churchill's Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare

November 15, 2016
An elegant presentation of Winston Churchill's special guerrilla operations force, which consistently met the dirty exigencies of war.Prolific British author Milton (When Hitler Took Cocaine and Lenin Lost His Brain: History's Unknown Chapters, 2016, etc.) manages to offer a fresh take on the undercover work of a small specialty unit of the British War Office, begun as MI(R) before becoming the Special Operations Executive, or known simply as Baker Street. Led by the canny Scotsman and former Indian Army officer Colin Gubbins and the engineering genius Millis Jefferis, this group of "pirates" was carefully selected for their mental and physical toughness for under-the-radar guerrilla operations to trip up the swiftly advancing Germans in Norway, France, and, potentially, Britain. Using unconventional, powerful new inventions of destruction, such as a "monstrous hydraulic digger" engineered by Cecil Clarke, the so-called limpet mine, L-Delay fuse, and the anti-U-boat Hedgehog mortar, the unit employed effective sabotage against the German war machine. Milton engagingly re-creates some of these spectacular operations, including the destruction of the Pessac, France, transformer station (Operation Josephine B), the dismantling of the Normandie Dock, where the formidable Tirpitz was moored, and the strike on the Norsk Hydro station in Norway, which eliminated the possibility of Hitler using heavy water for atomic weapons. Although assassination was officially frowned upon in Whitehall, Gubbins' unit worked with Czech intelligence to execute the ruthless Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia, Reinhard Heydrich. Milton sets up each of these extraordinary sabotages in skillful fashion, underscoring the training, planning, and personnel involved. Gubbins eventually had highly trained agents all over the continent and, once the Americans were involved, had to compete with the work of William "Wild Bill" Donovan. The author also introduces some of the key women in the operation, including Joan Bright. An exciting, suspenseful tale of international intrigue.

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February 1, 2017
Britain's WWII sabotage organization, the Special Operations Executive (SOE), recurrently inspires accounts of its exploits, such as Neal Bascomb's The Winter Fortress (2016). In his contribution to the SOE annals, Milton (When Hitler Took Cocaine and Lenin Lost His Brain, 2016) draws on memoirs by SOE personnel to profile Colin Gubbins, operations chief, and Millis Jefferis, designer of odd weaponry. Playing up their unconventionality, Milton accents the underhanded warfare they planned and conducted. Gubbins' 1940 assignment was to form a guerrilla army in case Germany invaded Britain; when that did not materialize, Gubbins refocused, at Churchill's behest, on industrial sabotage in German-occupied Europe, including disablement of a power plant, destruction of a dry dock, assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, capture of Axis ships, demolition of a railway bridge, and immobilization of a German tank division following D-Day. With conventional land warfare resumed in 1944, SOE was disbanded. Eschewing a historical controversy about the high human cost of SOE's operations, Milton emphasizes the audacity and eccentricity of SOE's leaders, striking the chord that makes the organization so popular with history readers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

September 15, 2016

In 1939, Winston Churchill built a top-secret organization aimed at sabotaging Hitler's war machine--which he really did call the Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. From the author of the BBC-serialized Nathaniel's Nutmeg.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2016

Former British prime minister Winston Churchill (1874-1965) was an early advocate of unconventional warfare as an adjunct to standard military units. He supported, often against stiff resistance by conventional military leaders, a Special Operations Executive unofficially referred to as the Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. The ministry generated a variety of measures to spy on Germany and raise occupied populaces. Some attempts were spectacular successes; others were less productive. Using mostly secondary sources, Milton (When Hitler Took Cocaine and Lenin Lost His Brain) documents the six-year effort that resulted in numerous instruments of sabotage, specialized weapons, and several high-profile missions with significant consequences. The well-footnoted book concentrates on six men who spearheaded Churchill's pet projects and navigated bureaucratic, scientific, and manpower snags throughout World War II. Included are lengthy sections on the Norwegian heavy water sabotage in the 1940s; the St. Nazaire Raid and the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, both in 1942; with thinner material on events such as Operation Jedburgh. VERDICT While this work is heavy on superlatives and light on analysis, overall it is an entertaining read that will keep readers turning the page. For medium to large World War II collections.--Edwin Burgess, Kansas City, KS

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.