They Fought Alone

The True Story of the Starr Brothers, British Secret Agents in Nazi-Occupied France

By: Charles Glass

Narrated by: Allan Corduner

Length: 10 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

“Highly detailed and fast-paced, Charles Glass’s They Fought Alone is a must-read for those whose passion is the Resistance literature of World War II.” (Alan Furst, author of A Hero of France)

From the best-selling author of Americans in Paris and The Deserters, the astounding story of Britain's Special Operations Executive, one of World War II's most important secret fighting forces

As far as the public knew, Britain's Special Operations Executive (SOE) did not exist. After the defeat of the French Army and Britain's retreat from the Continent in June 1940, Prime Minister Winston Churchill created the top-secret espionage operation to "set Europe ablaze". The agents infiltrated Nazi-occupied territory, parachuting behind enemy lines and hiding in plain sight, quietly but forcefully recruiting, training, and arming local French résistants to attack the German war machine. SOE would change not only the course of the war but the nature of combat itself. Of the many brave men and women conscripted, two Anglo-American recruits, the Starr brothers, stood out to become legendary figures to the guerillas, assassins, and saboteurs they led.

While both brothers were sent across the channel to organize against the Germans, their fates in war could hardly have been more different. Captain George Starr commanded networks of résistants in southwest France, cutting German communications, destroying weapons factories, and delaying the arrival of Nazi troops to Normandy by 17 days after D-day. Younger brother Lieutenant John Starr laid groundwork for resistance in the Burgundy countryside until he was betrayed, captured, tortured, and imprisoned by the Nazis in France and sent to a series of concentration camps in Germany and Austria. Feats of boldness and bravado were many, but appalling scandals, including George's supposed torture and execution of Nazis prisoners, and John's alleged collaboration with his German captors, overshadowed them all. At the war's end, Britain, France, and the United States awarded both brothers medals for heroism, and George would become one of only three among thousands of SOE operatives to achieve the rank of colonel. Yet their battle honors did little to allay postwar allegations against them, and when they returned to England, their government accused both brothers of heinous war crimes.

Here, for the first time, is the story of one of the great clandestine organizations of World War II and of two heroic brothers whose ordeals during and after the war challenged the accepted myths of Britain's wartime resistance in occupied France. Written with complete and unrivaled access to only recently declassified documents from Britain's SOE files, French archives, family letters, diaries, and court records, along with interviews from surviving wartime Resistance fighters, They Fought Alone is a real-life thriller. Renowned journalist and war correspondent Charles Glass exposes a dramatic tale of spies, sabotage, and the daring men and women who risked everything to change the course of World War II.

©2018 Charles Glass (P)2018 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“A lively account…. the work sheds lights on how British intelligence perilously worked with the French.” (Library Journal)

“Glass’s vividly written work adds an important chapter to the story of the Resistance.” (Publishers Weekly)

“A fresh, detailed take on the patriotic legend of anti-Nazi insurgency….A well-rendered historical account emphasizing the moral complexities of unorthodox warfare.” (Kirkus)

Names Names Names

After beginning to read this book, I began to think “there was no way I was going to finish this novel”. The story had much to slow a start. But this has never been a feature of a book to deter me in the past. What did deter me, was the constant description of every individuals first, middle, last, and nickname, along with the description of their place of origin, current residents, three distant cousins (along with their full biography), and favorite brand of toothpaste. After about the 15th time of investing so much attention into trying to remember each of these individuals, The realization finally materialize that most of these individuals , are never be mentioned again, nor to seem to have much relevance with the story. Luckily, the story picked up a short while after, thus Making the previously mentioned, a inconvenience, but a bearable one going forward.
The story of the The two vastly different experiences was very intriguing. George’s story of commander, and John story of survivor, were both exceptionally portrayed in the story. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in World War II history, with the caution of the over descriptive name recognition.

hard to listen to

I loved the topic after watching SOE documentaries on the BBC, but this gets into so much daily details it looses the plot