An excellent, well-written book about covert radio operations during WWII. It is apparent the author went to great lengths to research available materials about the individuals and operations and training aspects of covert radio operatives. Vast amounts of details about covert radio operatives left me with a lot to reflect upon and added greatly to my knowledge about this aspect of the war. 

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book to read and review. The opinions expressed here are my own honest opinions written voluntarily.

Covert Radio Agents, 1939-1945 by David Hebditch is a well researched and clearly written account of some of the most important yet least remembered participants in World War II. While not an exhaustive or comprehensive account, it serves as a wonderful introductory account for those of us with an interest.

My comment about not being exhaustive is not a negative, in fact, I mean it as a positive. No doubt there could be many books written on the topic and, especially, about these people. Hebditch does a remarkable job of discussing the training, the technology, the people, and the importance to the war effort all while keeping the reader engaged and interested. 

I highly recommend this to any reader interested in the lesser known aspects of the Allied efforts in World War II. The notes and bibliography at the end offer many avenues for further reading in areas of interest to the reader.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

A solid, thorough read about exactly what you think it's about: covert radio operatives during WWII. The book is organised by chapter to deal with the various fronts of the war, ranging from Norway to Australasia before landing in the USSR and France. This structure makes for a wide-ranging read, kept manageable by the relatively narrow subject matter, and I appreciated the commitment to a comprehensive approach. That said, the narrow focus does mean that I suspect a reader would benefit most from this book by having some prior knowledge. This is not to say that anyone could not pick up this book and have a fun time! But I have done prior research into SOE operations and the Shetland Bus program, which I feel served me well in the Norway chapter; I know very little about Soviet intelligence operations and consequently felt a little lost in the Soviet chapter. This is not necessarily a failing of the book, just something for potential readers to take into account. The tone meanders between factual and narrative, with the author juggling the telling of facts with the telling of stories. I thought this was accomplished well; I was absorbed throughout. Occasionally the factual tone was abandoned to throw some shade (cough, William Colby), and I did enjoy this as well. 

The eighth and final chapter of the book is a series of technical briefings which explain how the radios and technologies of the time worked, including a lengthy explanation of several ciphers of which I understood very little. I do not understand the Playfair cipher and I suspect I never will! I understand the polyalphabetic cipher, but this is likely only because I have read Bitterblue several times. Apparently the antennae of 1940s radios could be extended 18m to catch signal, which I found very funny. I wish my phone had an 18m antenna, maybe Optus would do a better job of giving me my data that I pay for. Anyway, the author recommends at the start of the book to maybe go and read that part first, and having not followed his suggestion I now support it - I probably would have been better off.

The most important thing this book taught me was that Australian radios and all their attendant necessities weighed 168kg and required 12 men!!!! to move anywhere. This is incredibly cursed. Their SOE contemporaries were parachuting into Europe with their radios attached to them??? I understand that portability was not as large a priority as protection from fungus, but surely there is a happy medium between "suitcase-sized" and "requires 12 men to move". I have wailed to several friends about this fact already and will certainly bring it up in as many future conversations as I can. For this alone I think this book was worth reading. I hope other readers also find their own deeply cursed factoids to bring out of it. Thank you NetGalley and Pen & Sword Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Very well written book, lots of details, gives a good sense of the training and amount of pression these agents went on during war. I love to learn more about the war time and how people lived in that time.

Thank you to the publisher for an advance copy of this book via netgalley!

Fascinating book into the covert radio agents! The author researched well this book and educates us on how they trained, their jobs/ duties  and the risks they took! Highly recommended for history buffs!

Author David Hebditch published the book “Covert Radio Agents, 1939–1945: Signals From Behind Enemy Lines” in 2021 (April). Mr. Hebditch has published three books. 

I categorize this book as ‘G’. The book tells the stories of several covert radio agents acting behind enemy lines in WWII. Most served in the European Theater of Operations, but a few are from the Pacific. 

Included is a chapter that provides many details on the equipment used. Details of the procedures are also included. Allied agents followed strict rules to send and encrypt their messages. The German radio direction finding units had their own rules to follow. 

I enjoyed the 8.5 hours I spent reading this 320-page WWII history. I had read about some of the activities before, but this book certainly contained a lot of new material. I found the technical details towards the end of the book to be particularly interesting. You will find this book of special interest if you are researching SOE & OSS activities during the war. I do like the chosen cover art. I give this book a 4.5 (rounded up to a 5) out of 5.

You can access more of my book reviews on my Blog ( https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/).

My book reviews are also published on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/31181778-john-purvis).