X Troop

The Secret Jewish Commandos of World War II

By: Leah Garrett

Narrated by: John Lee

Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

“Brilliantly researched, utterly gripping history: the first full account of a remarkable group of Jewish refugees - a top-secret band of brothers - who waged war on Hitler.” (Alex Kershaw, New York Times best-selling author of The Longest Winter and TheLiberator)

The incredible World War II saga of the German-Jewish commandos who fought in Britain’s most secretive special-forces unit - but whose story has gone untold until now

June 1942. The shadow of the Third Reich has fallen across the European continent. In desperation, Winston Churchill and his chief of staff form an unusual plan: a new commando unit made up of Jewish refugees who have escaped to Britain. The resulting volunteers are a motley group of intellectuals, artists, and athletes, most from Germany and Austria. Many have been interned as enemy aliens, and have lost their families, their homes - their whole worlds. They will stop at nothing to defeat the Nazis. Trained in counterintelligence and advanced combat, this top secret unit becomes known as X Troop. Some simply call them a suicide squad.

Drawing on extensive original research, including interviews with the last surviving members, Leah Garrett follows this unique band of brothers from Germany to England and back again, with stops at British internment camps, the beaches of Normandy, the battlefields of Italy and Holland, and the hellscape of Terezin concentration camp - the scene of one of the most dramatic, untold rescues of the war. For the first time, X Troop tells the astonishing story of these secret shock troops and their devastating blows against the Nazis.

“Garrett’s detective work is stunning, and her storytelling is masterful. This is an original account of Jewish rescue, resistance, and revenge.” (Wendy Lower, author of The Ravine and National Book Award finalist Hitler’s Furies)

©2021 Leah Garrett (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers

Outstanding

I loved the overall story and how historical it was, I would suggest this to anyone looking for a WW2 book.

Outstanding!

This account of X Commandos was outstanding! A definite book to read on the Jewish commandos.

Very amazing and moving story!

As a military history buff, I had never heard of X Troop before. Very thorough retelling of the individual stories of these commandos. Very inspiring also.

Made me laugh, made me cry, made me rage

Almost no book hit me with the emotional resonance of X Troop. It is as much personal as it is historic, as much war thriller as it is a treatise on everything it means to reinvent yourself in the face of atrocity, all while holding on to your humanity and to whatever glimmer of hope and resilience you can find. These men were extraordinary and I felt every bit of their pain, their valor, their triumphs and their tragedies.

Not for Everyone

It was a good book and gave me insight into a previously unknown aspect of the war. I never don’t finish a book, I think once in 15 years. I came close many times. Too many characters and then many of them adopted new identities. When reading both identities were frequently used. Very confusing. They were AMAZING men and even post war got “the shaft”. So sad that even the civilized countries mistreated the Jews. I’m glad I finished it, but sincerely hope I don’t select another so difficult. J

I Really Learned A Lot

Very Well Laid Out. Very Interesting. I really like to learn new things and I really did with this book.

Fantastic listen

I loved this book on a part of WW2 I knew nothing about- the book was amazing and incredibly well written!

Narration

The story of X Troop was very interesting, as I am a WWII history fan. However, the narration was hard to endure . The reader was extremely staccato and extreme in his enunciation which I never thought could be a bad thing; but this was too much.