David Hebditch, Covert Radio Agents 1939-1945 (Pen & Sword, 2021)
Imagine being stuck in a dank cave or halfway up a jungle mountain for months on end with one mission to carry out, watch for enemy ships and report them back to your country, all the while risking torture and execution if you make a single mistake. That was the duty of an incredibly brave cadre of radio operators during World War II. David Hebditch surveys their work, and their fates, in this riveting book.
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Hebditch sets out by explaining recruitment and training for this most dangerous of wartime jobs. It is hardly surprising that he uncovers the most extraordinary cast of characters, both men and women, that made it through the process, be they British, Australian, Soviets, or any of the nationalities fighting the Nazis. Hebditch tells their stories; of British and Norwegian agents, some skulking in Norwegian caves, covered in lice, and only emerging at night; of Australians lugging massive radio sets around small, Japanese occupied islands; of radio operators dropped into occupied France not knowing who to trust when they arrived. They did know that an implacable enemy tracked and hunted them even as they reported the movements of enemy ships or assisted the resistance. Hebditch includes Soviet agents operating throughout Europe in his survey, though I was not sure if this fell too far into the broader espionage category rather than the mission specific activities of the coastwatchers or the Jedburgh teams. Throughout his book, Hebditch weaves many technical aspects of the agents’ tradecraft and the counter-measures taken to track them down, and he describes the inter-agency rivalries that sometimes led to disaster.
This is not an exhaustive study by any measure, but for the casual reader, Hebditch brings to light many operations and characters they may never have heard about. The author also provides enough information for us to understand how operations were conducted. There are a few snarky asides that Hebditch could have excised, but that is a quibble on style rather than a complaint about the content. He adds a good number of photographs to illustrate his text, which is a bonus, particularly on the technical material. Hebditch’s book works as a surface treatment of this fascinating subject, and is well worth reading.
