The Special Observations Executive - the SOE - was the British dirty tricks department formed in July 1940 with the mission from Churchill to 'set Europe ablaze' through subversion and sabotage against the enemy. It was disbanded shortly after the end of the war. The men and women of the SOE - names like Christine Granville, Francis Cammaerts, Nancy Wake, Xan Fielding and Patrick Leigh Fermor - were undercover agents who blew up special targets, armed and trained the Resistance, acted as political advisors and, all too frequently, gave their lives in the most terrible circumstances. SOE was exceedingly unpopular in parts of Whitehall and detested by its rivals, the established Secret Intelligence Service, for its seemingly free rein to create mayhem. But the critical role these brave men and women played in winning the war is now universally recognised. Patrick Howarth, himself a former member of the SOE provides this thrilling and authentic account of the personalities involved in the undercover war. Francis Cammaerts, the former conscientious objector who became one of the most remarkable of all SOE agents and had under his command 10,000 men and women of whom half at least had been armed by his efforts, has written a new introduction for this edition.