The Brandenburger Commandos: Germany's Elite Warrior Spies in World War II (Stackpole Military History Series) (Stackpole Military History Series)

Book Description

* Rare look into the secret military operations of Hitler's Germany

* Page-turning narrative detailing the unit's exploits

Before the German blitzkrieg stormed across Europe in 1939-40, a group of elite soldiers prepared the way by seizing bridges and other strategic targets ahead of the attack. In the following years, these warrior-spies, known as the Brandenburgers, operated behind enemy lines around the globe, from Russia and Yugoslavia to Egypt, Iraq, and India--often bending the rules of war while completing their daring covert missions. Trained to be mobile and independent, steeped in foreign languages and customs, and expert in numerous military specialties, the Brandenburgers influenced the world's special forces long after World War II.

Customer Reviews:

The Brandenburger Commandos: Germany's Elite Warrior Spies in World War II (Stackpole Military History Series) (Stackpole Milita.......2007-01-11

A very good book to add to your WW II collection. Tells the story about a unit's of the German Elite Warrior Spies in WW II, and how they fought for Germany in many parts of the world.

Operatives, Spies, And Saboteurs: The Unknown Story of World War II's Oss

Average customer rating:

valuable but very dry
Captivating History
Where are they now?
Well organized and written
First hand Interviews With Spies from WWII

Operatives, Spies, And Saboteurs: The Unknown Story of World War II's Oss
Patrick O'Donnell
Manufacturer: Citadel
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books

Intelligence & Espionage | Military | History | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0806527986

Book Description

The battles of World War II were won not only by the soldiers on the front lines, and not only by the generals and admirals, but also by the shadow warriors whose work is captured for the first time in Operatives, Spies, and Saboteurs. Thanks to the interviews and narrative skills of Patrick O'Donnell and to recent declassifications, an entire chapter of history can now be revealed. A hidden war -- a war of espionage, intrigue, and sabotage -- played out across the occupied territories of Europe, deep inside enemy lines. Supply lines were disrupted; crucial intelligence was obtained and relayed back to the Allies; resistance movements were organized. Sometimes, impromptu combat erupted; more often, the killing was silent and targeted. The full story of the Office of Strategic Services -- OSS, precursor to the CIA -- is a dramatic final chapter on one of history's most important conflicts.

In a world made unrecognizable by the restrictions placed on the CIA today, OSS played fast and loose. Legendary chief "Wild Bill" Donovan created a formidable organization in short order, recruiting not only the best and brightest, but also the most fearless. His agents, both men and women, relied on guile, sex appeal, brains, and sheer guts to operate behind the lines, often in disguise, always in secret.

Patrick O'Donnell, called "the next Studs Terkel" by bestselling author Hampton Sides, has made it his life's mission to capture untold stories of World War II before the last of its veterans passes away. He has succeeded in extracting stories from the toughest of men, the most elite of soldiers, and, now, the most secretive of all: the men and women of OSS. From former CIA director William Colby, who parachuted into Norway to sever rail lines, to Virginia Hall, who disguised herself as a milkmaid, joined the French Resistance, and became one of Germany's most wanted figures, the stories of OSS are worthy of great fiction. Yet the stories in this book are all true, carefully verified by O'Donnell's painstaking research.

The agents of OSS did not earn public acclaim. There were no highly publicized medal ceremonies. But the full story of OSS reveals crucial work in espionage and sabotage, work that paved the way for the Allied invasions and disrupted the Axis defenses. Operatives, Spies, and Saboteurs proves that the hidden war was among the most dramatic and important elements of World War II.

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Customer Reviews:

valuable but very dry.......2007-05-03

It is a very valuable piece of historic mosaic.

E.g. one of many fascinating parts is how blatant were Soviet spies in the State Department when they torpedoed any effort by OSS to obtain intelligence on the Soviet Union.

However, the presentation is too dry and too fragmented in my view.

Captivating History.......2007-01-06

This book was not only entertaining it was also informative. The book discusses an area of WWII that has not been fully covered. The descriptive stories and tales almost make you feel you were there.

Where are they now?.......2006-07-25

Where are they now?

Where are people like 'Wild Bill' Donovan, Corporal Drake, Elizabeth Pack, Moe Berg today? We need them in the 'War on Terror.' Instead we have the 'Keystone Cops.' Today we spy on Americans, perhaps because don't have enough intelligence agents who speak Arabic.

In early August, 2001 - a month before Sept. 11, the Keystone Cops of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. were offered intelligence that Osama bin Laden and Al Queda were planning `something.' They turned a blind eye and deaf ear. After Sept 11 they said "Figure out how Saddam did this."

This book is criticized by other reviewers for offering the facts but little context and less analysis. However, you could also say that it provides the facts, as remembered by the men and women of the OSS, and invites us to draw our own conclusions.

There are between the lines criticisms.

"OSS's first African American operator, a Corporal Drake.... Drake's membership in the OSS was purely happenstance since OSS, like the rest of America's armed forces, had not been integrated."

"Only 143 Americans died in the line of duty.... However, hundreds of foreigners were killed while working for the OSS."

And a singularly subtle reminder of who we fought.

"German intelligence dismissed the group as `a perfect picture of the mixture of races and characters in that savage conglomeration called the United States.'"

O'Donnell's book is a good read for a plane, beach, or weekend. The anecdotal style makes it easy to put down. The pace and content make you pick it up again and again to read thru and review.

Well organized and written.......2006-03-11

This book has a wealth of information. With so much, the author managed to organize everything in a sensible manner. The information builds on previous chapters. It can be hard to remember, but the author does manage to add some reminders.

First hand Interviews With Spies from WWII.......2005-12-19

This book is not "War and Peace", nor is it a comprehensive book on spies, but rather it is a collection of stories using first hand testimony of the participants in the OSS in WWII. In that context the book is different from most of what must now be a 1000 books on WWII. The strength of this book is the excellent writing and the series of interesting characters and their stories, all involving ordinary men that do heroic things. Thankfully their stories have been recorded by the author since many of these men are now many in the 80's and their first hand recollections will soon be lost. In any case the book is better that one might expect.

I first heard about this book on WABC where John Bachelor has interviewed a series of the living subjects or "spies" on air on his late daily show at 10:00 PM. The guys are ordinary but the stories are often riveting. They put themselves in tremendous danger with their patriotic actions. In many ways this book is like the recent Tim Russert book - a sleeper. The book seems okay from what you have heard from others and from interviews on the radio, but the book is actually a much better read. In many ways the both books (Russert and this book) are on subjects that when properly presented become compelling page turning reads. This is a great value and a good book.

I Was a Communist for the F.B.I: The Unhappy Life and Times of Matt Cvetic

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Seeing Red

I Was a Communist for the F.B.I: The Unhappy Life and Times of Matt Cvetic
Daniel J. Leab
Manufacturer: Pennsylvania State University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

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All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0271020539

Book Description

"Based on exhaustive and creative research, this book is balanced, smart, and well written. The book-length Matt Cvetic that Leab paints is no less despicable than the miniatures to which we have become accustomed, but he is much more human and, therefore, more comprehensible than in any previous treatment." — Steve Rosswurm, Lake Forest College

"A fascinating example of the way in which heroes were made during America's scoundrel time. In this well-constructed book, Daniel Leab offers an excellent character study of Matt Cvetic and a useful case study of the Red Scare-Cold War era." — Philip Jenkins, Penn State University, author of The Cold War at Home

Who is Matt Cvetic? Hero? Scoundrel? Mole? The man who loosely provided the inspiration for the B-Grade cult movie I Was a Communist for the FBI had a life that was marred by alcoholism, damaged expectations, and greed.

Cvetic, at the request of the FBI, joined a Pittsburgh branch of the CPUSA in 1943. He became one of many plants in the Party during that decade and gained the nickname "Pennsylvania's most significant mole." However, because of his erratic behavior, the FBI fired him in 1950, at which time he surfaced and suddenly became a celebrity through his testimony before the HUAC hearing. Journalist Richard Rovere described Cvetic as a "kept witness," a term that fits those who "made a business of being witnesses," thereby "befouling due process."

Cvetic was the subject of a multipart series in the Saturday Evening Post. The articles bordered on fiction, but they gave Cvetic the national exposure he needed to secure a screen deal. Warner Brothers bought the story, made the movie, and enhanced Cvetic's celebrity as pop icon. In the mid-1950s, Cvetic was discredited as a witness by the courts. His career ended and he found a new niche on the Radical Right, yet he died in 1962 after years of fighting to uphold his image with the media. Today Cvetic's image is dimly remembered as he continues to fight "the Red Menace" on late-night television.

Leab juxtaposes Cvetic's real life with his reel life. He chronicles his fall from grace, yet admits that Cvetic's life offers fascinating and useful insights into the creation, merchandising, and distribution of a reckless professional witness. Leab also writes about Cvetic's life prior to his involvement with the FBI, his glory days, and shows that there is much to be learned from the story of an "anti-Communist icon."

"A compelling account of the grubby life behind the gleaming mask of the Communist-hunter Matt Cvetic. The maze of hysteria, opportunism, and deceit that made up Cold War America is freshly illuminated by Leab's study of Cvetic's career. This book stands as an eloquent testimony of the depths to which America sank in the 1950s and is a timely reminder of the dangers of the media culture of celebrity." —Nick Cull, University of Leicester

"Meticulously researched, scrupulously fair-minded, and consistently enlightening, Dan Leab's study of the strange and fascinating career of Matt Cvetic-communist for the FBI and professional anti-communist thereafter-is an invaluable contribution to American history. Drawing on newly available research materials and his own unmatched expertise in the culture of Cold War America, Leab paints a vivid portrait of a troubled man within the context of his no less troubling times." —Thomas Doherty, Brandeis University

Customer Reviews:

Seeing Red.......2001-06-22

"I Was a Communist for the FBI" is the story of Matt Cvetic, a man the FBI planted in the CPUSA from 1943-50 and about whom a B movie and bad radio serial were later made, both with the same name as the book. Apparently, Cvetic didn't really have many real stories to tell about the American communists he had met, so he started making them up. He got away with this for three or four years but, always a drinker, his habit got heavier and finally ruined him. It seems that Hoover didn't care much if his stories were fictional, but he couldn't bare having an obvious drunk running around bragging about working for the FBI.

Book Description

AS A U.S. NAVY SEAL, RICHARD MARCINKO KNEW NO LIMITS -- AS THE ROGUE WARRIOR, HE OBEYS NO RULES

Through seven blockbuster New York Times bestsellers in the Rogue Warrior series, Richard Marcinko and John Weisman have given their readers untold thrills -- and their villains no mercy. Now the Rogue Warrior writes a whole new set of rules for the shadowy world of Black Ops as he embarks on his most explosive adventure yet -- a volatile tale of double-dealing and international intrigue that blows the lid off today's geopolitical scene.

ROUGE WARRIOR®: ECHO PLATOON

Dangerous times require dangerous men. And there isn't a man alive more deadly than the Rogue Warrior. Called once more to his country's service, Captain Richard "NMN" Marcinko must undertake a critical mission: uncover the hidden motives and players behind the recent attempts at the destabilization of Azerbaijan, the tiny former Soviet republic that holds the key to the oil-rich Caspian Sea.

An overland pipeline to the West has been planned, and both Russia and Iran want to control the flow. But others have their own interests in the region, including bilious billionaire Steve Sarkesian, one of the world's richest and most influential men. The Rogue knows the man is involved, but just how he ties in with the Russkies and Arabs isn't clear. And just who else stands to benefit from toppling the Azerbaijani government?

The answer is out there somewhere, and Marcinko is going to find it. Pulling together a platoon of his best SEALs, the Rogue Warrior races to the heart of the Middle East, revealing festering layers of treachery and greed that threaten to choke off the black gold that is America's lifeblood. Confronted by well-trained terrorists and false-faced bureaucrats, the Rogue does what he does best -- breaking rules and cracking heads -- until the only thing left standing is justice.

Customer Reviews:

Formulaic, But You Know You Love the Formula!.......2003-09-05

Those of us who are fans of the Weisman/Marcinko collaboration know what to expect, and we usually get it. Purple prose, riveting technical realism, and a refreshingly honest look at great men who overcome great odds in spite of malfunctioning equipment, fumbled flash-bang grenades, mashed noses and other Murphy factors. What can I say, I love this stuff. Reading Tom Clancy is like watching a video football game, while Weisman's work is like standing at the 50-yard line with the coach. Weisman understands that great men rise to greatness in spite of their occasional acts of bone-headedness! That's what separates the Rogue Warrior from the rest.

More Doom on Dickie!.......2002-04-24

I confess! Richard Marcinko's semi-autobiographical Rogue Warrior
series is one of my peculiar pleasures. "Red Cell" is still, far and
away, my favoite. But "Echo Platoon" is a treat with a new twist.
...It seems the old Rogue Warrior is starting to feel his age these
days. Even though he spends every free moment at Rogue Manor pumping
massive amounts of iron and honing his fighting and sharpshooting
skills, by his own admission he's having difficulty keeping up with
his young hunters. Sometimes enough to FUBAR the missions he leads.
And he's mellowing in other ways too, such as permitting a female
Marine to accompany the team this time out. But he can still kick that tango butt!
You might have caught the author on TV recently, describing SEAL
tactics in Afghanistan. Anyone else notice his splendid physical
condition? You have little trouble believing him quite capable of his
fictionalized exploits. You know he's intimately familiar with all
the weapons and gear he namedrops throughout his narrative. Despite
his ongoing love-hate relationship with the Navy, you can't help
admiring the Rogue for his swaggering patriotism, his fatherly
affection toward his young shooters, and his bantering, even bullying,
camaraderie with his readers. And then there's his trademark "Ten
Commandments of SPECWAR", which can be equally effective in whatever
non-lethal endeavor you might undertake, be it business to
bodybuilding. Credit also goes to John Weisman, Marcinko's co-author,
for the fast-reading, non-stop excitement and often laugh-out-loud
humor of this series. Sure, Dickie's getting greyer, but don't count
him out of the action yet! You know the old Rogue's got a few more
adventures to come!

One of the Best.......2002-03-15

Hello to all of you Rogue Warrior fans! This is a [great] if you haven't read this book already. I'm not saying that all of them aren't good either, but just to say that this is one of my all time favorites! This story is about the one and only Richard Marckinko and his merry band of hunters, only this time he is in more [situations] than he can stuff in his big old roguish mouth of his. Dick is here in Azerbaijan on some "secret" mission to observe the opposition and to train the Azerbaijanians how to shoot& loot. But that all goes out the window when some professional tangos come in and hijack an oil rig run by some hostile crew. After all the shooting & looting Dick finally realizes he is in deep [trouble]. On top of that, the ambassador is on his case about how he should not be in the country and how it was against the "book" that he could not train the Azerbainians...so all in all this was a good book no matter what others say, despite the language and violence this is absolutely the best series ever!

Always the Rogue.......2001-12-10

Echo Platoon is just like those before it. Lots of blood, guts, cussing and thrill. Nothing here is new except the people who get killed. People should read this book if 1) they want to know more about the capabilities of the military, 2) they want to learn a little more about what happens around the world, 3) the just enjoy plain old action adventures. Stay away from the book if fair writing and extreme use of foul language bothers you. I would prefer Marcinko to quit making asides to his editor during the story. It only seems to help fill up pages. I would also prefer he stay within the action once it starts and identifies people and past events within another part of the book. Once the the hunter is after the prey and the killing begins, stay there. I find myself jumping through some passages just to stay on track with what is happening.
Marcinko will give you a slight sense of the fast-paced action of war and will give you an appreciation for those who still wish to make men of war within our military instead of trying to make the military a social club. I think future books will be even better based on the current status of our country and President Bush's attack attitude favored by Marcinko.

No frills Action........2001-08-09

Simply put: If you are sick of hollywood's predictable, ridiculous, superhero action and you want the The Real Deal - Then Buy This Book.

Amazon.com

The Secret War Against Hanoi documents American covert actions in Vietnam, beginning in 1961 when John F. Kennedy decided that if Hanoi could wage a guerilla war against the South, the U.S. could do the same in the North. Dissatisfied with the CIA's initial results, Kennedy passed responsibility for covert operations to the Pentagon--which never fully supported them. For example, in an interview for this book, General Westmoreland, Commander of American forces in Vietnam, vastly underestimated the imaginative ways in which underground activities could destabilize an enemy. American covert action focused on disrupting two vital "centers of gravity": the North's own internal stability and the Ho Chi Minh Trail that ran through Laos and Cambodia. Such activities ran counter to the Geneva Accords, however, and nervous diplomats placed them under severe constraints. Permission always had to be obtained from the top, which after 1964 meant an excessively cautious President Johnson, concerned that China would be goaded into intervening openly in Vietnam as it had in Korea. The creative thinking that went into America's secret exploits reads like a racy novel, from the adroit brainwashing and release of captured fishermen to the fabrication of a phantom secret society based on a 15th-century anti-Chinese hero, plus innumerable nasty booby traps. Author Richard H. Shultz has had unusual access to prominent protagonists and to thousands of classified documents made available only to him while he researched this book. The Secret War Against Hanoi clearly lays out what was achieved and what might have been achieved by covert action in Vietnam, ending with a thoughtful analysis of lessons learned for future politicians and operatives in a post-cold war world. --John Stevenson

Book Description

From 1964 to 1972, the United States executed an extremely secret campaign of covert operations against North Vietnam. Controlled by the Pentagon's Special Operations Group, under the cover name "Studies and Observation Group" (SOG), it was the United States' largest and most complex covert operation since World War II. Because it was so highly classified and politically sensitive, once the war was over the story of SOG was buried deep in the vaults of the Pentagon--until Dr. Richard H. Shultz, Jr., one of the world's leading experts on SOG's activities in Southeast Asia, began his impressive investigative research and wide-ranging special interviews.

The Secret War Against Hanoi is based on thousands of pages of recently declassified top-secret SOG documents, as well as interviews with sixty officers who ran SOG's covert programs and the senior officials who directed this secret war, including Robert McNamara, Walt Rostow, Richard Helms, William Colby, William Westmoreland, and Victor Krulak. It is the first-ever definitive and comprehensive account of the covert paramilitary and espionage campaign, with many eye-opening disclosures.

Dr. Shultz reveals how in 1963, President Kennedy, dissatisfied with the CIA's ineffective guerrilla operations against North Vietnam, turned over operational control of the covert war to the Pentagon and demanded results. Despite Kennedy's strong directive, those results were slow in coming. United States policymakers and the senior military leadership had little interest in or understanding of special operations and resisted any expansion of the secret war. When SOG finally did get started in January 1964, under newly inaugurated President Johnson, it was constantly hobbled by the micro-management of the National Security Council, State Department, and Pentagon leadership.

Despite these restraints, SOG conducted its intense secret war for eight years, through the Johnson and Nixon administrations, and managed to execute a range of operations, including the dispatch of numerous spies to North Vietnam and creation of a sophisticated triple-cross deception program: psychological warfare through a fabricated guerrilla movement, manipulation of North Vietnamese POWs and kidnapped citizens, and dirty tricks; commando raids against Hanoi's coast and navy; and operations on the Ho Chi Minh Trail to kill enemy soldiers and destroy supplies. Ultimately, the Pentagon's spies, saboteurs, and secret warriors would produce both spectacular and disastrous results.

There are lessons to be learned from Washington's conduct of the secret war against Hanoi that will be valuable and valid for years to come for presidents who engage in covert special operations to meet twenty-first-century threats to vital U.S. interests.

Customer Reviews:

Snatching Defeat From Victory.......2006-07-28

Richard H. Shultz provides a well researched book to support the claim that politicians caused us to lose the Vietnam War. He describes how some SOG operations were extremely effective despite interference from Washington. This effectiveness is based on relatively recent information from the Vietnamese, not just declassified US records. The book itself is a pretty good read. Although some parts drag along, the majority of the book moves quickly.

Even though this book was published in 1999, it contains many valuable lessons that are acutely applicable to today's War on Terrorism. The Vietnam era Pentagon contained many officers who believed conventional warfare to be far superior to special operations. The book makes the argument that special operations can provide invaluable support to a conventional war, but cannot win the war by itself. Similar discussions were held prior to the recent war in Afghanistan. The military would have preferred to fight a conventional war but was forced by time constraints to send in special forces. In hind sight, the reader can compare Vietnam to Afghanistan where Special Operations not only fought a war, but won it single handedly. This bit of historical hind sight makes the book all the more disturbing. Had SOG been given a real chance, the outcome of the Vietnam War might have been different.

Specifically, the author describes how the national command authorities were afraid of success. The Pentagon and the White House were afraid that if SOG's activities were too successful, they might widen the war and draw in China. The book also illustrates the incredible lack of common sense displayed by administration officials. Numerous covert action plans were denied because they differed from overt US policy. This explanation lacks any logic. If covert action activities were in sync with overt US policy, then there is no reason to do it covertly. Covert action should be for activities that support national objectives but which cannot be disclosed openly because they may run counter to our public policy.

The book does not pull punches. The efforts of Ambassador Sullivan and Averell Harriman seem almost treasonous. They waged a bureaucratic war against the Pentagon that effectively kept SOG from doing its job. The North Vietnamese could not have had better friends.

Bottom line, this book tells a compelling tale of how senior military and political figures failed to aggressively prosecute the Vietnam War. It is a good insight into how Washington, in an effort to avoid a repeat of the Korean War, was simply afraid of being too successful. The criminal aspect of this policy is that if the Government sends the military to war, it has an obligation to at least try and win it.

The Story of the Mythical SOG.......2004-09-29

I had heard of the Studies and Observations Group as far back as the early 80s. As it the organization was so shrouded in mystery, it was hard to tell what was fact. Richard Schultz pulls the shroud away in this scholarly work and we discover the truth is stranger than fiction.

In the early 1960s, JFK directed his underlings to unleash a covert war against North Vietnam. Sort of a do to them what theyre doing to us deal. The CIA and then Defense Department create the Studies and Observations Group (SOG)and give it four primary missions. These were to insert Vietnamese spies into North Vietnam, conduct attacks on the North Vietnamese Coast, undermine North Vietnam with Psychological Warfare (Psywar), and finally to collect intelligence on and impede use of the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

The author comes to the reasoned conclusion that SOG was a moderate failure. He shows the main factors in this failure to be timidity of policy makers to use SOG to its full potential out of a fear too much success would expand the war, indifference on the part of conventionally minded military leadership, a failure to incorporate SOG's unconventional war with the conventional war and effective North Vietnamese countermeasures.

Despite these fatal flaws, Schultz shows SOG did manage to provide some assitance to the war effort. In particular, the psywar program apparently drove the already paranoid North Vietnamese of the deep end and SOG recon teams on the Ho Chi Minh trail collected valuable intelligence and eliminate significant amounts of men and materiel.

The best part in my opinion was the portions relating to psywar. SOG went so far as to develop a fake resistance movement and left physical hints of its existence in interesting ways. Other psywar efforts included fake letters meant to implicate the Communist faithful in coup plots and exploding ammunition inserted into supply caches. Pretty cool stuff!

The only down side to the book is its kind of dry reading. By all accounts, SOG was the most highly decorated unit in US history. To his credit, Schultz touches on this but should have gone farther. There is no mention of Fred Zabitosky, Roy Benavides or Bob Howard (a man nominated three times for the Medal of Honor before finally receiving the award). Also, he does not quantify the success of the Ho Chi Minh Trail activities. The author tells us that recon team activities hurt and annoyed the North Vietnamese but there is no mention of exact tonnage of Communist equipment destroyed or the thousands of Communist soldiers tasked with patrolling the Trail because of SOG activities.

All and all a good, solid work. But sadly incomplete. To get the full picture, read this book in conjunction with John Plaster's "SOG".

Can't anyone here play this game?.......2004-08-03

It's not often that a particular work of history speaks directly to our immediate times. Richard Shultz has written a compelling account of the largest secret operation of the Cold War--the U.S. military's covert campaign against Hanoi during the Vietnam conflict. He lays out why the US military establishment and US policymakers alike were to blame for the complete failure of this secret effort. Shultz could well have subtitled the book, "How Not to Conduct Secret Warfare." Today's US warfighters confronting the Iraqi insurgency would do well to read this book.

Triple cross theology.......2002-10-03

This reads like a guidebook, sort of a secret Bible of things to do so everyone involved in global politics will think that you can do exactly what they are doing. There is an index, but it does not have a listing for triple cross thinking (covered mainly at the end of the "Going North" Chapter). The index is more helpful on the Counterinsurgency, Counterintelligence, Covert action, Covert operations, and Covert paramilitary campaign (listed topics) thinking which finally produced the triple cross operation. Without trying to explain how numerous officials in the United States were supposed to approve everything that was being done to create the kind of revolution which superpower thinking truly wanted, in their effort to make the people with power in North Vietnam think that an internal Sacred Sword of the Patriots League considered itself to be potentially more popular than the government of North Vietnam, a more recent approach to understanding this guide might consider how well this guide would work as a plan for triple cross activities, possibly including elections, elected officials, and the courts, to convince people in the United States that a Sacred Sword of the Patriots League had successfully taken over government operations in the United States of America. Specific comments in this book about the triple cross:

Could SOG create a triple-cross system to convince Hanoi that, in fact, it had uncovered only part of a much larger and more intricate subversion operation inside its borders? (p. 93).

The triple cross was not just against Hanoi but also "against our compatriots," noted the chief of OP 34, who was convinced that the STD was infiltrated by enemy intelligence. (p. 114).

"Of course, we were setting these guys up because there was no team to contact." (p. 115).

"We might also provide information about corrupt government officials who we claimed we learned about from messages sent back from agent teams inserted by us." (p. 115).

To make Project Oodles believable, different false radio messages were sent from OP 34 to each phantom team. (p. 119).

Finally, radios that sent messages out from these fake teams were air-dropped into North Vietnam. This completed the communications loop. Messages were coming in and answers were being sent out. (p. 120).

In effect, it was real evidence of spy commandos, as Hanoi referred to them. (pp. 122-3).

Finally, in November 1968, when the United States was going to have an election, MACVSOG was called by Washington, D. C., and told, "we are going to publicly say that we have no activities north of the parallel." (p. 124). Teams in North Vietnam had to get out immediately. Some people (and candidate Richard Nixon did not actually say this) were still thinking, "Just deny that you're engaged in MACVSOG operations and then crank them up. This was the way the operators saw things." (p. 126). I think about triple cross operations when I see a lot of political advertising on TV, but some of the Americans who created such operations might be engaged in other occupations today, and it would be extremely difficult to convince me that they aren't.

Turned out less well than the Peace Corps.......2001-01-04

As each book based on declassified data comes out, the story of Vietnam and the Great American Stumble there becomes more clear.

"The Secret War Against Hanoi" is particularly good in its own way. It elucidates the liberal train of thought as they were starting the war in 1961. On January 28 Kennedy had been president for 8 days. Vietnam was divided, the French were gone, and the Viet Cong were prosecuting a campaign of terrorism in the South in order to destabilize it and absorb it into the North. On that day Kennedy met with his National Security Council and listened to what was (in his view) the bad news on Vietnam: if the current conditions persisted, the South would fall to the Communists.

Why a little underdeveloped country in Asia should have been of such concern to Kennedy is anyone's guess, but what is no longer in doubt is that major American involvement in Vietnam began at that NSC meeting of Jan 28, when Kennedy stated that he wanted "guerillas to operate in the North". All that followed for 13 years was built upon that one simple sentiment expressed by the new president.

He wanted guerillas to operate in the North because, as he expressed it in April of that year, "We are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies primarily on covert means for expanding its sphere of influence--on infiltration instead of invasion, on subversion instead of elections, on intimidation instead of free choice, on guerillas by night instead of armies by day." Kennedy was intent on fighting back in kind: infiltrating, subverting, and deploying guerillas by night.

Presumably, the CIA would train Vietnamese spies and guerillas and inflict them on the North. But the Bay of Pigs fiasco happened that April, and the Kennedy brothers were convinced the fault for that lay with the CIA. Therefore they gave the job of training and inserting spies and guerillas into North Vietnam to the Pentagon, which had little experience in such operations.

There followed a string of failures, where hundreds of Vietnamese spies and saboteurs were sent up north, and never heard from again. Or North Vietnamese fishermen would be hauled off to an island and treated to an elaborate charade intended to show them that a revolt against the communist government was imminent. Shultz discusses these attempts in a dispassionate tone, but one gets a growing sense of waste and futility from the narrative. Any of the career espionage people at the CIA could have told Kennedy that it was virtually impossible to plant people in a closed totalitarian society like North Vietnam, even if, as in the case of the CIA, that's your business. But to have the Pentagon take a crack at it? Well, you might as well try to get HUD to send a rocket to the moon.

But Kennedy's obsession with and faith in covert action remained unabated till the day of his death. His cabinet, McNamara in particular, shared his enthusiasm. Eventually the Pentagon adopted the attitude that if you want anything done in Vietnam, you have to do it yourself. So covert actions began to include Americans, at the same time the overt effort began ramping up under Johnson.

The efforts were redirected toward more practical targets, such as the Ho Chi Minh Trail (the construction of which began in 1959), but the approach was no more practical. This wasn't a "real war", according to the brightest minds in Washington; it was more of a diplomatic game. Therefore, restrictions had to be placed on the units operating against the trail builders. Special forces could not go beyond 10 kilometers into "neutral" Laos. The North Vietnamese, displaying the practicality and opportunism that became their hallmark, would then route their trail 11 kilometers from the Laos-Vietnam border. Their spies, unlike those of the Pentagon, were quite effective.

It wasn't any secret that cutting off the Ho Chi Minh trail would cut off the stream of men and materiel into the South. Shultz quotes Bui Tin, the NVA officer who accepted the surrender of the South in 1975: "If Johnson had granted General Westmoreland's request to enter Laos and block the Ho Chi Minh Trail, Hanoi could not have won the war."

As simple as that. Straight from the lips of an opposing officer. In retrospect, it seems like the logical thing to do: cut off the enemy's supply line. But from its very beginning on January 28, 1961, the Vietnam War was not conducted logically.

Perhaps the Kennedy-Johnson crowd's truly wacky ambivalence can best be glimpsed on pages 34-35. Shultz relates how President Kennedy was "stunned" by the images of Buddhist monks immolating themselves in protest of the Diem government's repression. Diem's sister-in-law, who seems to have been a cross between Immelda Marcos and Leona Helmsley, referred to the immolations as "barbecues". At the same time, South Vietnamese generals were planning a coup. It was dawning on the government of the US that the government of its ally was corrupt and effete and repressive. So where did the Kennedy Administration choose to direct its energies? Toward Hanoi: "escalation of the covert war against Hanoi became a major agenda item. The decision was made to turn up the pressure on the North."

Customer Reviews:

Almost a masterpiece.......2002-05-07

...A MURDER IN WARTIME is one of the best books to have emerged from the Vietnam debacle. Jeff Stein deserves full credit for the extensive research he did, and for tying together such a complicated story in such a readable way. All sides are fairly represented, and that indeed is something rare in a book about the Vietnam War.

The only problem I have with the book is that it sometimes has a bigger-than-life quality that makes one wonder if the author was willing to stretch the truth here and there for the sake of a good read. For example, Stein paints the book's central figure, Col. Robert B. Rheault, as a warrior-philosopher, both a thinking man and a highly-decorated combat leader revered by his men. To make the point, Stein writes that Rheault had earned the Distinguished Service Cross and Silver Star, valor awards rated only one and two steps behind the Medal of Honor. However, according to Rheault's entry in the United States Military Academy Register of Graduates, he actually had very limited combat service and had never been decorated for valor. Additionally, Rheault's name does not show up on an exhaustive list of Vietnam DSC winners compiled by the late Lt. Col. Albert F. Gleim, USA-Ret.

This is no small matter and makes me wonder about other passages in a book which was great enough to stand on its own without any exaggerations. I'd be curious as to where Stein got his information about Rheault being a highly-decorated war hero....

Well-balanced encapsulation of the Vietnam War.......2000-09-08

Jeff Stein's "A Murder in Wartime" bravely tackles all of the moral issues of wartime in general and the moral ambiguities attached to the Vietnam War, in particular. In 1969 eight Green Berets were accused of murdering a Vietnamese who may or may not have been a spy for North Vietnam. The case called into question the morality of waging a guerilla war, the role of the regular U.S. Army in such a context, the control of the CIA, and the politics of waging an unpopular war. Stein manages to weave all of these issues and dozens of key participants in the alleged murder and its aftermath without losing focus. Stein's narrative style flows easily through the perspective of all the key personnel and pulls the reader into the moral and ethical wilderness these people faced. Stein is careful not to pass judgement on the Green Berets charged with the crime, or on the regular Army establishment who may have seized on this incident just to put the Green Berets in their place. Instead he allows the reader to face the same dilemma all of these people did and make their own choices. An outstanding piece of historical writing.

A great but disturbing tale.......2000-01-22

This is one of the best books I have read on the Vietnam war. Well written. If I could get the rights, I would turn it into a film. Well worth the read. Find it if you can.

A true summary of a meaningless war!.......1998-09-24

Jeff Stein gets great kudos for excellent writing of a compelling story of a real face in a faceless war. Without taking sides or prejudging, the author provides a well researched account of a minor event with major ramifications.

A true summary of a meaningless war!.......1998-09-24

Spies and Commandos: How America Lost the Secret War in North Vietnam (Modern War Studies)

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Bunglers and Bozos
A dark chapter in the history of U.S. Spec Ops
Excellant piece of work

Spies and Commandos: How America Lost the Secret War in North Vietnam (Modern War Studies)
Kenneth J. Conboy , and Dale Andrade
Manufacturer: University Press of Kansas
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0700611479

Book Description

During the Vietnam war, the U.S. sought to undermine Hanoi's subversion of the Saigon regime by sending Vietnamese operatives behind enemy lines. A secret to most Americans, this covert operation was far from secret in Hanoi: all of the commandos were killed or captured, and many were turned by the Communists to report false information.

Spies and Commandos traces the rise and demise of this secret operation--started by the CIA in 1960 and expanded by the Pentagon beginning in1964--in the first book to examine the program from both sides of the war. Kenneth Conboy and Dale Andrad interviewed CIA and military personnel and traveled in Vietnam to locate former commandos who had been captured by Hanoi, enabling them to tell the complete story of these covert activities from high-level decision making to the actual experiences of the agents.

The book vividly describes scores of dangerous missions-including raids against North Vietnamese coastal installations and the air--dropping of dozens of agents into enemy territory--as well as psychological warfare designed to make Hanoi believe the "resistance movement" was larger than it actually was. It offers a more complete operational account of the program than has ever been made available--particularly its early years--and ties known events in the war to covert operations, such as details of the "34-A Operations" that led to the Tonkin Gulf incidents in 1964. It also explains in no uncertain terms why the whole plan was doomed to failure from the start.

One of the remarkable features of the operation, claim the authors, is that its failures were so glaring. They argue that the CIA, and later the Pentagon, were unaware for years that Hanoi had compromised the commandos, even though some agents missed radio deadlines or filed suspicious reports. Operational errors were not attributable to conspiracy or counterintelligence, they contend, but simply to poor planning and lack of imagination.

Although it flourished for ten years under cover of the wider war, covert activity in Vietnam is now recognized as a disaster. Conboy and Andrad's account of that episode is a sobering tale that lends a new perspective on the war as it reclaims the lost lives of these unsung spies and commandos.

Customer Reviews:

Bunglers and Bozos.......2007-07-30

Most of the stories of the activity into North Vietnam reads like a Keystone Cops comic book. For the most part, a depressing account of the "recruits" the CIA had to work with. Lost patrols, predictable ambushes, North Vietnamese deception techniques, among political foul-ups leads you to wonder why they ever attempted that Secret War.

If you want to know why the U.S. failed in this Secret War; you came to the right place. This book will have your head shaking in disbelief through most of your reading. Good Luck.

A dark chapter in the history of U.S. Spec Ops.......2004-10-10

This book tells the story of one of the darker chapters in the history of U.S. special operations intelligence during the Vietnam War. Dark, because the `The Vietnam War...only a brushfire at the time...grew into a conflagration that did not burn out for more than a decade...[became] the orphan of defeat...waiting in the ashes.' {p. 276}

However, this book needed to be written. This is also a book that should be read by all strategic intelligence students as well as anyone who wants to understand the relationship and possible benefits between special covert and military operations including, but not limited to, peacekeeping, low intensity conflict, and war.

Spies & Commandos portrays in detail that the administration by our `Best and Brightest' showed `little appreciation for the lessons learned...[and] pinprick attacks had virtually no effect on the North Vietnamese economy or, more important, Hanoi's desire to pursue its war effort in South Vietnam.' {p. 246} How we treated the brave men and women who executed our missions is another dark story in itself.

Excellant piece of work.......2000-07-15

Spies and Commandos is a great book for anyone interested in SOG's exploits in SEA. This book is well researched and goes into great detail about the missions executed throughout N.Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Conboy is a great author and any of his works are well recommended for those who seek an unbiased account of covert operations in SEA. A book of simular content was written by Dr. Schutlz but simply does not compare to this. My personal favorite subject discussed in this book is the developemnt, exploitation, and operations of the "EARTH ANGEL" teams(1969-1971) which were turncoat NVA soldiers who were advised/trained by experienced CIA and US Special Forces personel to gather intell in Cambodia. Truly an educational and exciting piece of work. Another interesting subject is how the ARVN Special Operations units fought in the 1972 and final 1975 NVA offensives. BUY IT. You will not be dissapointed.

The Riddle of the Sands: A Record of Secret Service Recently Achieved (Classics of Naval Literature)

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Curiosity left over from another time

The Riddle of the Sands: A Record of Secret Service Recently Achieved (Classics of Naval Literature)
Erskine Childers
Manufacturer: US Naval Institute Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0870216015

Customer Reviews:

Curiosity left over from another time.......2006-04-04

Written in an attempt to highlight the author's controversial political agenda, the riddle of the sands is a left over from a forgotten time. The characterizations are a little dated now - gentlemen yachtsmen, muddle through with sheer determination and British verve. The underlying thesis that Childers was trying to promote, although through the lens of history can be seen to be utterly impractical - at the time had such a measure of authenticity (due in part to the general German paranoia at the time, but largely due to the authentic feel of the narrative) about it, questions were ask in parliament (which was Childers agenda) Childers is at his best when describing the sailing and the sea - Less convincing in the "spy" plot. It has an added poignancy when we remember that Childers the "British" patriot who tried through this novel to awaken the empire to the weaknesses of its naval policy and the danger of German imperialism - dies in front of a British Firing squad because of involvement in running guns during the Irish rebellion. Read it primarily for the description of the sailing and the sea, enjoy the "spy" story as a boys own distraction.

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Six Faces of Courage
Michael Foot (Professor)
Manufacturer: Pen and Sword
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Book Description

Professor Michael Foot is indisputably the greatest authority on the activities of SOE in Europe during WW2. In Six Faces of Courage he selects six of the bravest of the brave agents and describes their backgrounds, activities and characters.

Truly inspiring reading complemented by an updated introduction that sets the scene superbly. This excellent and successful book gives the reader a real insight to what it meant to be a SOE agent in Nazi-occupied Europe.

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Back To The Cold War, Eh, Comrade?

Special Forces
Ted Allbeury
Manufacturer: Severn House Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Hostage

ASIN: 0727858572

Customer Reviews:

Back To The Cold War, Eh, Comrade?.......2002-12-30

This short, compact novel was first published in 1976 in the U.K. and is now ((2002) reissued in the U.S. When it was first published the cold war was still going on, the Soviet Union seemed indestructible, and Yuri Andropov (remember him?)was head of the KGB. As the story opens the Soviets have grandiose ideas of pushing Britain into a virtual coup d'etat. All they need is a little more influence, a little more leverage on the British government, and they think they may have found it in Sir James Hoult, the British ambassador. The Soviet plan is essentially to seduce the (apparently) naive Hoult with a highly trained female operative, get him to compromise himself, and then use him to extract information and to plant pro-Soviet advice in the ear of the Prime Minister.

Of course nothing goes according to plan, the law of unintended consequences takes over, suspense grows as things spin out of control, taking you to a horrifying surprise ending.

Allbeury creates a believable story out of this essentially unbelievable situation, creates characters you can connect with, makes you care about them, draws you in until you can't put the book down. For the book is not really about geopolitics after all, but about flawed individuals caught up in a mad system.

If you really think about the story, it is absurd; on the other hand, it is gripping and most entertaining. And although the book is only twenty-six years old it already has a quaint aura of fading history. I think you will love it, comrade. Reviewed by Louis N. Gruber

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