• Donovan's Devils

  • OSS Commandos Behind Enemy Lines - Europe, World War II
  • By: Albert Lulushi
  • Narrated by: Noah Michael Levine
  • Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (361 ratings)

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Donovan's Devils

By: Albert Lulushi
Narrated by: Noah Michael Levine
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Publisher's summary

The stirring, little-known story of the forerunners to today's Special Forces.

The OSS - Office of Strategic Services - created under the command of William Donovan, has been celebrated for its cloak-and-dagger operations during World War II and as the precursor of the CIA. As the "Oh So Social", it has also been portrayed as a club for the well-connected before, during, and after the war. Donovan's Devils tells the story of a different OSS, that of ordinary soldiers, recruited from among first- and second-generation immigrants, who volunteered for dangerous duty behind enemy lines and risked their lives in Italy, France, the Balkans, and elsewhere in Europe.

Organized into Operational Groups, they infiltrated into enemy territory by air or sea and operated for days, weeks, or months hundreds of miles from the closest Allied troops. They performed sabotage, organized native resistance, and rescued downed airmen, nurses, and prisoners of war. Their enemy showed them no mercy, and sometimes their closest friends betrayed them. They were the precursors to today's Special Forces operators.

Based on declassified OSS records, personal collections, and oral histories of participants from both sides of the conflict, Donovan's Devils provides the most comprehensive account to date of the Operational Group activities, including a detailed narrative of the ill-fated Ginny mission, which resulted in the one of the OSS's gravest losses of the war.

Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in history - books about World War II, the Third Reich, Hitler and his henchmen, the JFK assassination, conspiracies, the American Civil War, the American Revolution, gladiators, Vikings, ancient Rome, medieval times, the old West, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times best seller or a national best seller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2016 Albert Lulushi (P)2016 Audible, Inc.
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Unique Look

Where does Donovan's Devils rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Good. The author or narrator might have chosen to avoid reading glossary/appendix type opens that readers typically skipped over.

What other book might you compare Donovan's Devils to and why?

Like many works on the OSS it offers a solid overview but this is one of the few works to focus on the Operational Groups.

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3 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

An interesting look at the OSS in the ETO

I hate to leave a critical comment, but in this case I must. This audiobook focuses primarily on Italy and a bit in other parts of the ETO, but fails to give a full sense of the OSS’s work. Instead it gets bogged down in minutiae.

On top of this, the narrator, who in other respects is good, mispronounced so many words that it grated on the nerves. I don’t just mean difficult ones, but rather very common ones that he should have looked up how to pronounce before starting such a project, like Wehrmacht! That error ultimately rests with the producer and editor.

“Wild Bill Donovan: The Last Hero” by Anthony Cave Brown is a far better choice.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

TMI,

I want to know about the exploits of the OSS. I don't need to know about political rallies and other information that really doesn't have anything to do with Donovan. I didn't even finish the first chapter.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

History of Intelligence

Great book it is the basis of the Intelligence. That follows until modern days.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic insight into the OSS in Northern Burma & North Eastern India during WW II

There are few books that catch my attention likes this one! Being disabled & unable to get out very often, I read a lot of books, and of course listen to books, in ever increasing numbers.

Starting with the narrative of what happened to innocent villagers, and one very kind hearted Japanese Lieutenant who told a young boy to flee into the jungle, to the very last battle, and subsequent careers of the men, American & Indigenous, the narrative is filled with the occasional kindness, & the brutality of war in those difficult times, the author shows his precision & depth of research he went to, to deliver this book to the public.

The narrative of Unit 101 is one of the most interesting and amazing volumes I’ve found on WW II., and was a joy to listen to. Normally called a real page turner, this was a narrative I had a hard time setting aside to eat, or even get to bed at a reasonable time.

As I came to the last hour or so of the narrative, I told my wife that it was one of those books that I was sad that I was nearly finished.

Of great assistance to this book were 2 National Geographic Atlas’. The “National Geographic Atlas of the World” 7th & 11th editions (11the edition, a recent purchase to an up to date vol., & their “Atlas of World War II.”

Hopefully you will find it as interesting and eye opening as I did.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

full of interesting info but drags

The ending section of this books drags on and the book as a whole lacks focus

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Say what?

Mispronunciation by reader assaulted the listener. Adjutant, Truscott, and others too numerous to mention. I don’t expect perfect Italian but could you learn USA military terms, names and how to pronounce them?

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Somewhat Bumpy Read Through Various Adventures

Reading Donovan’s Devils reminded me of watching a fireworks show: there are lots of rockets and some explode into brilliant bursts, some go up and sort of fizzle and some are just duds. This book tells the story of multiple OSS operations and goes into great detail on some of them, and scant detail on others, and seriously, some of the operations just aren’t that interesting. Large passages provide details of general military operations not related to the OSS, as a framework for the various clandestine operations, and the overall read is a bit bumpy as the reader zigs in and out of the OSS world. The narration is smooth, consistently unattenuated throughout the book, which makes the listen sort of boring. Think of a movie without any underlying dramatic underscore, instead with a steady tone at the same frequency throughout the movie. If you want an overview of some of the activities of the OSS this book does the job, but without much excitement.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
  • Jo
  • 08-06-22

Common words continuously mispronounced

The reading tempo is so fast it’s hard to keep track. Not enjoyable. Continuous mispronounces
Army corps- Army corpse
Wehrmacht-War mat
Sergei- Serge
And every Italian last name. Got half way through before the reader became overly obnoxious. It’s as if they got a used car salesman from New Jersey to do the reading.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Need to make movies about Donavon

Amazing stories of the OSS. Fascinating! It almost reads like a novel. Movies need to be made on this.

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