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“Everyone knows about the Home Guard but what about the other Secret Intelligence Services (SIS and M16)? You can read about them in [this book].” —This England When Winston Churchill made his “we shall never surrender” speech in 1940, he was speaking in the knowledge that Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service was planning a civilian British resistance movement to mobilize after the country had been occupied. Britain’s planning for clandestine warfare developed out of a fierce battle between the Secret Intelligence Service and the War Office for the control of guerrilla warfare and conflicting ideas over the legitimacy of armed civilians. A multi-layered system of secret organi...
This historical study of the UK’s WWII homeland defense service dispels the propaganda and pop culture myths to reveal its true wartime role. In 1940, Britain formed an armed citizen militia to act as the first line of defense in case of Nazi invasion—an essential, if suicidal, mission intended to buy time for the organization of regular forces. Officially, they were the Home Guard. Later, a British sitcom that ran for nearly a decade in the 60s and 70s dubbed them Dad’s Army. That show contributed to a distorted perception of the Home Guard that persists today. But as Malcolm Atkin reveals in this thought-provoking book, the Home Guard’s image was manipulated from its earliest days....
Covert operations and ingenious weapons for irregular warfare were developed rapidly, and with great success, by the British during the Second World War, and the story of the most famous organizations involved like SOE, the SAS and Section D of SIS is now well known, but Military Intelligence (Research), the smallest but one of the most influential of these units is relatively unknown. Malcolm Atkin’s intriguing and meticulously researched account describes their role at the heart of the War Office in trying to develop a ‘respectable’ arm of irregular warfare and their innovations ranging from the early Commandos, sticky bombs, limpet mines, booby traps, and even helicopters to the creation of the MI9 escape organization. They were an ‘ideas factory’ rather than an operational body but the book describes their worldwide operations including Finland, Norway, Romania, the Middle East and Central Africa. This is also a story of conflicting personalities between Jo Holland, the visionary but self-effacing head of MI(R) and his ambitious deputy, Colin Gubbins (later head of SOE), and the latter’s private war with SIS.
The Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651 was the final decisive engagement of the English Civil Wars. In this fascinating guide, Malcolm Atkin sets out in a graphic and easily understood way the movements of the opposing armies of Cromwell and Charles II as they approached Worcester and gives a detailed and gripping account of the deadly combat that followed. He also describes of the fate of 10,000 Scottish prisoners and retraces the route of Charles II as he made his dramatic escape.
A ground-breaking new history of the English Civil War in Worcestershire which looks at the experience of local men who were recruited into the Royalist and Parliamentarian armies. The author gives a fascinating account of how the armies were raised, maintained and equipped, and he records how major events in the Civil War across England affected the county. In addition, he includes extensive and revealing extracts from contemporary documents. The result is an authentic inside view of the impact of the conflict on an English county, and this evidence reflects the Civil War experience of the country at large.
When Neville Chamberlain made his famous Peace in Our Time statement in 1938, after the Munich Agreement with Hitler, he may, or may not, have been aware that the new Section D of the Secret Intelligence Service was already making plans to mount an all-out political and sabotage war against Nazi Germany. This was a new form of warfare, encompassing bribery, black propaganda and sabotage by agents described as having no morals or scruples. To the horror of many, it disregarded the conventions of neutrality and was prepared to hit the Nazi state wherever it could do most damage. Malcolm Atkin reveals how Section D's struggle to build a European wide anti-Nazi resistance movement was met with widespread suspicion from government, to the extent of a systematic destruction of its reputation. It was, however, a key pioneer of irregular warfare that led to the formation of the famous Special Operations Executive (SOE). His study is the first in-depth account of it to be published since the release of previously secret documents to the National Archives.
This, the tenth volume in the Wharram series, presents the results of excavations carried out on the site of a medieval dam and pond, at the southern end of the deserted village of Wharram Percy, from 1972-83. The earliest finds were associated with a water-powered corn mill, probably dating to the 9th or early 10th century, but this went out of use at some point during the 13th century. The finds include horse bones, fish bones and ceramics.
Updated edition of the ground-breaking 2017 publication that offered the first comprehensive account of the work of Section D of the Secret Intelligence Service. When Neville Chamberlain made his famous 'Peace in Our Time' statement in 1938, he may not have been aware that a new section of the Secret Intelligence Service, Section D, was already making plans to mount a political and sabotage war against Nazi Germany. This new form of warfare encompassed bribery, black propaganda and sabotage by agents described as having no morals or scruples. It disregarded the conventions of neutrality and was prepared to hit the Nazi state wherever it could do most damage. A scientific section was establis...
THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE account of Britain's complex plans to fight a secret war in the event of a Nazi invasion. When Winston Churchill made his 'we shall never surrender' speech in 1940 he was speaking in the knowledge that Britain's Secret Intelligence Service had already created a civilian guerrilla organization to oppose any invasion and a separate resistance network to mobilize if the country had been occupied. There then followed a fierce battle between the Secret Intelligence Service and the War Office for the control of guerrilla warfare, and conflicting ideas over the legitimacy of armed civilians. A multi-layered system of secret organizations was the result. The Auxiliary Units ar...