cover image Secret Forces of WWII

Secret Forces of WWII

Philip Warner, Cogito. Scarborough House Publishers, $22.95 (245pp) ISBN 978-0-8128-3060-6

This cursory review discusses the unorthodox military formations that evolved during WW II. Warner, a former lecturer at Sandhurst college? military acad.? should we say? aa/Sandhurst is as well known as West Point; leave as is.gs , pays particular attention to British ``irregulars'' quotes only if it's his word. aa/correct as is.gs such as the Chindits, the Commandos and the Special Air Service, but there are also brief summaries of the campaigns of U.S. units such as Merrill's Marauders, Darby's Rangers and Wendell Fertig's ``private army'' in the Philippines. Not only tactical units are considered hereto tighten. ok? aa . There is a section on the British ``Y Service,'' for instance, which monitoredtightening. aa German military communications, and another on the codebreaking efforts of Allied cryptographers. Warner summarizes the work of Jaspar Maskelyne, a professional magician who organized military subterfugemore exact.ok? on a grand scale by building mock harbors, dummy ammunition dumps and the like. Addressed neither to the technician nor to the layperson,ok? clearer than `pop. study'. aa the book is disappointingly short on details, personalities and drama. Photos. (Apr.)