Deeply exposed
Sir: In his review (Books, 14 June) of my book, Forgotten Voices of the Secret War: An Inside History of Special Operations During the Second World War, Andro Linklater bemoans the lack of space devoted to Operation Remorse and to the demise, in France, of the Prosper circuit. I agree with Mr Linklater that it would have been preferable to deal in more detail with Prosper and Remorse. However, it is important to understand why a book of this sort cannot describe in equal depth every aspect of SOE’s work.
The ‘Forgotten Voices’ series is reliant entirely on the recollections of survivors interviewed by the Imperial War Museum. But SOE losses were high, while many protagonists who survived the war did not live long enough to speak of what they did. Nor were all survivors inclined to share their memories, being constrained for a long time by the Official Secrets Act.
Mr Linklater also regrets that several illustrations are blurred. Unfortunately, agents working in enemy-occupied territory were rarely able to take quality photographs.
Roderick Bailey
Imperial War Museum, London SE1
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