Certainly the best overall assessment of SOE's role in Holland and Belgium. Foot's verdict that the debacle in Holland was due solely to repeated errors (mainly on the British side, but often also on the Dutch) seems unassailable. However, it does suffer from the common fate of official histories in that it is comprehensive to the point of being encyclopaediac. Every agent and every mission must be covered, which often means only the barest details are shared. Too often I wanted to know more, only to find that the next page contained another mission and introduced another two or three characters. By the end of the book I was too overwhelmed with information to care significantly about much of what I'd read, which was a shame. However, it is still a must-read, if nothing else for the definitive analysis of Englandspiel, which will hopefully put to bed much of the unnecessary rumour and intrigue. ( )

Certainly the best overall assessment of SOE's role in Holland and Belgium. Foot's verdict that the debacle in Holland was due solely to repeated errors (mainly on the British side, but often also on the Dutch) seems unassailable. However, it does suffer from the common fate of official histories in that it is comprehensive to the point of being encyclopaediac. Every agent and every mission must be covered, which often means only the barest details are shared. Too often I wanted to know more, only to find that the next page contained another mission and introduced another two or three characters. By the end of the book I was too overwhelmed with information to care significantly about much of what I'd read, which was a shame. However, it is still a must-read, if nothing else for the definitive analysis of Englandspiel, which will hopefully put to bed much of the unnecessary rumour and intrigue. ( )