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The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare: How Churchill's Secret Warriors Set Europe Ablaze and Gave Birth to Modern Black Ops Paperback – 6 Sept. 2016

by Damien Lewis (Author)

4.5 284 ratings

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From the award-winning historian, war reporter, and author Damien Lewis (Zero Six Bravo, Judy) comes the incredible true story of the top-secret "butcher-and-bolt" black ops units Prime Minister Winston Churchill tasked with stopping the unstoppable German war machine. Criminals, rogues, and survivalists, the brutal tactics and grit of these "deniables" would define a military unit the likes of which the world had never seen.
When France fell to the Nazis in 1940, Churchill declared that Britain would resist the advance of the German army--alone if necessary. Churchill commanded the Special Operations Executive to secretly develop of a very special kind of military unit that would operate on their own initiative deep behind enemy lines. The units would be licensed to kill, fully deniable by the British government, and a ruthless force to meet the advancing Germans.
The very first of these "butcher-and-bolt" units--the innocuously named Maid Honour Force--was led by Gus March-Phillipps, a wild British eccentric of high birth, and an aristocratic, handsome, and bloodthirsty young Danish warrior, Anders Lassen. Amped up on amphetamines, these assorted renegades and sociopaths undertook the very first of Churchill's special operations--a top-secret, high-stakes mission to seize Nazi shipping in the far-distant port of Fernando Po, in West Africa.
Though few of these early desperadoes survived WWII, they took part in a series of fascinating, daring missions that changed the course of the war. It was the first stirrings of the modern special-ops team, and all of the men involved would be declared war heroes when it was all over.
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare focuses on a dozen of these extraordinary men, weaving their stories of brotherhood, comradely, and elite soldiering into a gripping narrative yarn, from the earliest missions to Anders Larssen's tragic death, just weeks before the end of the war.

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Print length

402 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Quercus
Publication date

6 Sept. 2016
Dimensions

14.61 x 3.18 x 20.96 cm
ISBN-10

1681443929
ISBN-13

978-1681443928
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Product description

About the Author

Damien Lewis is a former war reporter. He is a prolific writer, penning over a dozen books, including Zero Six Bravo, War Dog, and Judy.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Quercus; Reprint edition (6 Sept. 2016)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 402 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1681443929
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1681443928
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 14.61 x 3.18 x 20.96 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 949,832 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer reviews:
4.5 284 ratings

About the author

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Damien Lewis

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Damien Lewis is a former war reporter and one of the nation's "twenty favourite authors" as declared by World Book Day. He is an acclaimed and award-winning writer, topping bestseller lists worldwide. Many of his books are being made into movies or TV series, and he scripts his own work for films. His widely-acclaimed WWII elite forces series includes The Nazi Hunters, SAS Ghost Patrol, SAS Italian Job/Churchill's Hellraisers and Churchill’s Secret Warriors, which is being developed as a movie series by Paramount Pictures. His military books include the number one bestseller Zero Six Bravo, and his man-and-dog at war stories, including the phenomenally successful War Dog/The Dog Who Could Fly and Judy – A Dog In A Million, both of which are being developed as films. His co-authored war-victim memoirs Slave and Tears of the Desert, have won a string of awards and were top international bestsellers. He also writes thrillers, and his first, Cobra Gold, is being made into a movie by LA-based Safadi Entertainment. He is also an acclaimed public speaker, being hailed by one corporate executive as being “a brilliant natural storyteller.”

He is the patron of various charities connected to his work and has raised tens of thousands of pounds for causes related to his writing.

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4.5 out of 5

284 global ratings

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Mr. D. L. Hann

Brilliant fantastic excellent fabulous war book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 25 March 2018

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Wonderful read and very enjoyable, and very good gift for my stepdad

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 23 July 2016

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Husband has read and liked it.

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SirChutney

SOE's weird and wonderful history

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 25 February 2018

In this slightly uneven book, the author describes how as WW2 became a reality, new innovative and dirty ways of waging war were developed. The unit responsible for this new method of waging war was The Special Operations Executive (SOE). Its purpose was to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in occupied Europe (and later, also in occupied Southeast Asia) against the Axis powers. Its secondary objective was to help local resistance movements.

The SOE was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. One of the organisations from which SOE was created was also involved in the formation of the Auxiliary Units. This was a top secret "stay-behind" resistance organisation which would have been activated in the event of a German invasion of Britain.

Few people were aware of SOE's existence. Those who were part of it or liaised with it sometimes referred to as "the Baker Street Irregulars", after the location of its London headquarters. It was also known as "Churchill's Secret Army" or the "Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare". Its various branches, and sometimes the organisation as a whole, were concealed for security purposes behind names such as the "Joint Technical Board" or the "Inter-Service Research Bureau". Or fictitious branches of the Air Ministry, Admiralty or War Office.

SOE operated in all countries or former countries occupied by or attacked by the Axis forces. The exception was where demarcation lines were agreed with Britain's principal Allies (the Soviet Union and the United States). It also made use of neutral territory on occasion, or made plans and preparations in case neutral countries were attacked by the Axis.

All of this and more is described in this book. It makes it very clear that contrary to the beliefs of the old-school leadership of the armed forces at that time, you cannot win a major conflict by fighting strictly under Marquis of Queensberry rules. The assorted characters of the people involved in the development of the sabotage work are brilliantly portrayed. Their hopes and frustrations are a particular strength of the book. Their often irregular habits were thorns in the side of those who valued conventional standards in military life. The SOE used new weapons such as: the castrator, a lavatory explosive and the magnetic limpet mine. England poisoned, gassed, knifed, used shrapnel bombs, used bio-weapons and killed, maimed and generally blew up civilians and civilian targets with abandon. Some of the ideas behind these were culled from guerrilla tactics including those used by T.E. Lawrence, and Al Capone.

What the book lacks is a strong narrative thread. While most of the content of the book is factual, its is strung together with the author's words, so there is an element of selection. Sure, we get thrilling examples of the exploits of the brave men involved. And we also get continuity of some of the characters involved. But for me it needed to progress in a liner way through the war and connect events to bigger, more recognizable milestones from WW2 itself. That way the exploits could be set into context. And the reader could understand how the successes of the unit contributed to the war efforts? The chapters, I am sure, must be laid out in some logic, but I was left wondering why we’d started where we started. And then suddenly found myself in a stream in flood, fascinated by my surroundings but convinced all the while that I was being shown just one thread and was missing what must surely have been a wider picture. The various departments and people herein simply can’t have operated in such an apparent vacuum, surrounded on all sides by two-dimensional caricatures if surrounded by anything at all.

That said, this is an interesting, and unusual history of these unconventional soldiers and the missions they undertook. At one of the darkest times in British history. These brave soldiers proved their worth time and time again, in the face of conventional senior military commanders who believed them to be little better than ruffians. They fought with different rules than the rest of the army.

I highly recommend this book for anyone captivated by military history. Especially if you enjoy reading about unconventional warfare and marveling at the oddballs who dreamt them up.

2 people found this helpful

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Doh

Ander Lassen Biography.

Reviewed in Canada on 3 January 2017

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Great book, if you like this kind of WWII stuff you won't be disappointed.

Just so you know: 1) The front cover is very appealing and pictures desert warriors, the story spends 95% of it's time on the Special Boat service and antecedents. 2) The book is really a biography of Anders Lassen, who is very impressive, but that is basically what you get; 3) Cover claims to cover the Warriors that gave birth to modern black ops, which one could argue against any number of ways, but as mentioned it is essentially a bio of one guy who is supper important to SBS and SAS, but that is not the same as telling some kind of blow by blow service wide history, so don't buy wanting that.

On a humorous note I would say that while the idea that what is described is "Ungentlemanly Warfare" is doubtless part of the historic critique, anyone familiar with that era, or say an earlier book like Stalky and Company, will find archetypal gentlemen amateur muddling through behavior on display. Think Sherlock Holmes or even Miss Marple. It is no surprise that one of the handlers back in London was Ian Fleming. Danish nationality, and tragic wartime landscape aside, the comic and ironic (don't take it seriously) a verse or two of the "Song of Patriotic Prejudice" might be added at this point:

The English are moral, the English are good And clever and modest and misunderstood.

And all the world over, each nation's the same They've simply no notion of playing the game They argue with umpires, they cheer when they've won And they practice beforehand which ruins the fun!

The English, the English, the English are best So up with the English and down with the rest.

One person found this helpful

Whyaduc

The Birth of Spec Ops

Reviewed in the United States on 15 December 2015

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This is an outstanding story about the early development of Spec Ops in WWII. The author had interviewed the few members of the SOE who were still alive and got some of his material directly from them. The book follows some of their missions and I haven't read more exciting adventures written in fiction in a long time. What these guys accomplished was amazing. I some cases they worked alongside local partisans and in other cases, stole in during the night and created terror amongst the German soldiers. Hitler was made aware of their activities and gave special orders for their torture and death if/when they were captured. This is one of the many fine smaller stories about what men did in WWII that are finally being told. I have read at least 50 books on WWII and this one is in the top 10%!

23 people found this helpful

|Hazel

Four Stars

Reviewed in Canada on 15 March 2018

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A war story I was not aware of

Marvin K. Collison

"The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare" offers a detailed look at World War II British Special Boat Service operations

Reviewed in the United States on 27 April 2016

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While "The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare" isn't as broad a look at British World War II special operations as the title suggests, it is a worthy account of the branch of the Special Operations Executive that became the Special Boat Services. Almost all of the operations detailed in the book pertain to commando-style raids launched from small vessels, starting with the first successful effort that entailed the hijacking of several Axis ships that were holed up in a neutral port on a Spanish-owned island in the Atlantic. Much of the narrative centers on one of the top special operators in the boat service throughout the war, a Dane named Anders Lassen who had a score to settle with the Germans occupying his home country. Lassen was a key player in crucial British raids in the war, ranging from Channel Islands, to a devastating raid against a German airfield on Crete and, finally, his final assault on swampy lake in northern Italy in 1945 that earned him a posthumous Victoria Cross. Author Damien Lewis gives a detailed look at all the operations and many of the tactics employed by the seaborne operators, including the fates of many of the most successful warriors.

11 people found this helpful

Rob F.

Amazing book!

Reviewed in Canada on 16 December 2022

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I would recommend this book 100%, great read!👍🏻

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The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare: How Churchill's Secret Warriors Set Europe Ablaze and Gave Birth to Modern Black Ops Paperback – 6 Sept. 2016

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