Review of
Cloak and Dagger: The Secret Story of the
OSS,
by Lt. Col. Corey Ford and Maj. Alastair McBain
Four out of five stars
A bit laudatory, but still some key history
The Office of
Strategic Services (OSS) was the main US organization that engaged in
clandestine warfare and spying against the Axis powers. It was headed by
William (Wild Bill) Donovan and it sent agents all across the globe on missions
ranging from the simple gathering of intelligence and radioing in to the sabotaging
of key facilities such as factories, bridges and roads to rescuing captured Allied
personnel. While they generally avoided direct combat with enemy forces, some
of them were quite spectacular in taking the fight to the enemy.
Written in 1945
and 1946, shortly after the end of World War II, several of the more spectacular
missions are described. This would have been after the OSS was disbanded and
before the Central Intelligence Agency was formed. Therefore, it serves as a
point of patriotic pride in the people that made the OSS an effective tool in
the Allied arsenal. In later years when the OSS records were declassified, some
of the people that worked for the agency were surprising. For example, famed
chef Julia Child worked directly under Donovan.
While only the
successful missions were chronicled in this book, there is enough history to
convince the reader that the OSS made major contributions to the Allied
victory.
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