Content area
Full Text
The Jedburghs: The Secret History of the Allied Special Forces, France 1944. By Lt. Col Will Irwin, U.S. Army (Ret.). New York: Public Affairs, 2005. ISBN 13-978-1-58648-307-4. Photographs. Appendix. Notes. Index. Pp. xxiv, 323. $26.95.
Jedburgh was the code name for the 93 three-man teams parachuted into France from June to September 1944, for liaison with the Resistance. This international project brought together British, American, and French agents. One of the three team members had to be French, but the other two included various combinations: both British (39), both American (28), additional Frenchmen (18), one American and one British (8). The Jedburgh program was truly innovative, uniting guerrillas, Allied Command, and regular armies.
The author is a retired Army officer who served in the Special Forces and studied at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth. In his book he devotes several chapters to explanations of who...