THE WOMEN WHO LIVED FOR DANGER: The Women Agents of SOE in the Second World War.**

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.[Complete number line 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2.] FINE/FINE.No owner inscrptn,and no price-clip to dw/dj.Bright,crisp, clean,matt,photographic illustrated dw/dj; front panel with background portrait photograph of Noor Inayat Khan with superimposed descending parachutist photograph and the rear panel with monochrome photograph of Violet Szabo's fake identity card,dark blue and gilt lettering; with negligible shelf-wear and creasing to edges and corners - no major nicks or tears present.Both head+foot of spine/ backstrip minisculely bumped with reciprocal creasing,but no fading nor sunning.Top+fore-edges barely aged but bright and clean; contents bright,tight,clean,near pristine - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corners.Bright,crisp,clean,sharp-cornered,publisher's original,plain royal blue cloth boards with bright,crisp,blocked gilt letters to spine/backstrip,yellow+pale beige striped headband,and immaculate pale beige endpapers.UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn,ix-xvpp+ 1-380pp [paginated] includes illus list/table,acknowledgements,a note on SOE,12 chapters and an epilogue,16pp of b/w contemporary photographs+facsimile newspaper reproductions,in 2 blocks of 8pp apiece,between pp112/3 and pp256/7 respectively,notes on sources,a glossary,a bibliography and an index.Plus [unpaginated] half-title+title pages,contents list/table,and 4pp blanks at rear.
Special Operations Executive was formed by Winston Churchill in 1940 'to set Europe ablaze'.In SOE women were trained to handle guns and explosives,work undercover,endure interrogation by the Gestapo,and use complex codes.This is the story of ten remarkable women who were dropped in occupied territories to work as secret agents.
Once in enemy territory,theirs was the most dangerous war of all, leading an apparently normal civilian life but in constant danger of arrest.They organised dropping grounds for arms and explosives destined for the Resistance,helped operate escape lines for airmen who had been shot down over Europe,and provided Allied Command with vital intelligence.
SOE women agents came from all walks of life: from the dazzling Polish Countess Krystyna Skarbek (alias Christine Granville) and the American Virginia Hall, from a rich Baltimore family,to Marguerite Knight,a secretary in Walthamstow.
Petite Lise de Baissac lived next to Gestapo headquarters in Poitiers playing the part of a quiet widow,whilst twenty-year-old student Paola Del Din was sent to find a way through the German front line in Florence.Hot tempered Paddy (Maureen) O'Sullivan deflected a German officer from examining her suitcase by making a date with him and Alex d'Unienville feigned madness when captured.
The stories of these women agents - some famous,some virtually unknown -are told with the help of extensive new archive material.Their exploits form a new chapter of heroism in the history of warfare matched only by their determination,resourcefulness and ability to stay cool in the face of extreme danger.
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