The Saboteur

The Aristocrat Who Became France's Most Daring Anti-Nazi Commando

By: Paul Kix

Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner

In the tradition of Agent Zigzag comes this breathtaking biography, as fast-paced and emotionally intuitive as the very best spy thrillers, which illuminates an unsung hero of the French Resistance during World War II—Robert de La Rochefoucald, an aristocrat turned anti-Nazi saboteur—and his daring exploits as a résistant trained by Britain’s Special Operations Executive.

A scion of one of the most storied families in France, Robert de La Rochefoucald was raised in magnificent chateaux and educated in Europe's finest schools. When the Nazis invaded and imprisoned his father, La Rochefoucald escaped to England and learned the dark arts of anarchy and combat—cracking safes and planting bombs and killing with his bare hands—from the officers of Special Operations Executive, the collection of British spies, beloved by Winston Churchill, who altered the war in Europe with tactics that earned it notoriety as the “Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.” With his newfound skills, La Rochefoucauld returned to France and organized Resistance cells, blew up fortified compounds and munitions factories, interfered with Germans’ war-time missions, and executed Nazi officers. Caught by the Germans, La Rochefoucald withstood months of torture without cracking, and escaped his own death, not once but twice.

The Saboteur recounts La Rochefoucauld’s enthralling adventures, from jumping from a moving truck on his way to his execution to stealing Nazi limos to dressing up in a nun’s habit—one of his many disguises and impersonations. Whatever the mission, whatever the dire circumstance, La Rochefoucauld acquitted himself nobly, with the straight-back aplomb of a man of aristocratic breeding: James Bond before Ian Fleming conjured him.

More than just a fast-paced, true thriller, The Saboteur is also a deep dive into an endlessly fascinating historical moment, telling the untold story of a network of commandos that battled evil, bravely worked to change the course of history, and inspired the creation of America’s own Central Intelligence Agency.

If you are interested in WW2 stories I highly recommend this.

I always admire the incredible acts of courage and cunning that resistant fighters demonstrated against the Nazis. This work tells one of those stories and if you enjoy learning the personal histories of those who fought you will enjoy this work. The narrator was excellent.

Unforgettable

Every page left me yearning to learn what happened next! Incredible memoir. I would recommend to anyone interested in WWII

Fabulous and Inspieing

A gem, and so well told that you can’t put it down. This is a story that would scarcely seem credible—how many times can one man escape from Nazi prisons, once while literally sitting on his own coffiin?—but for the underlying modesty and character of La Rochefoucauld. Truly inspiring!

The bravery that he lived his life by.

Story was very well told and fascinating life sounded more like a movie and what somebody actually lived

Fascinating.

Well done, historic, shares background information. You feel like you are there. Audiobook keeps your interest.