A new movie about the doings of special agents and local French Resistance folk in the days leading up to, and beyond, D-Day is out. I might go and see it – the reviews look quite good and the cast looks impressive. Lots of delicious French actresses – hardly difficult to turn down, really.
At the Imperial War Museum – always worth a visit if you have not been there – there is a section about the special forces that have operated before, during, and after WW2, such as the Long Range Desert Group, M16, the SAS, The Chindits (Burma), other forces in Malaysia, Northern Ireland, Aden, France, former Yugoslavia, Greece, etc. The displays are well done and there is loads of fascinating information about the ordeals of those involved, their lives, methods, equipment and roles in various campaigns. For all that I quite enjoyed the Ian Fleming exhibition in the same place, the real-life displays of derring-do by people who are often totally unknown to the broader public was in some ways far more impressive and actually rather moving. It was also, just to make a “point”, clear that many of these operatives did not need the full benefits of a surveillance state to do their jobs. What was clear that the prime qualities of getting good intelligence are commonsense and a lot of guts.
I am pleasantly surprised to see that a 1950s British movie in a similar vein, Carve Her Name With Pride, is available on DVD.
Can I put in a recommendation for Tangmere Aviation Museum too. It was a major Battle of Britain airfield and later, amongst other things, was the departure point for agents going into France. There’s an excellent collection of SOE paraphernalia there including a lot on Violette Szabo.
Also, my next-door neighbour did his national service there at the time Neville Duke was breaking world speed records from the airfield.
The French Resistance – an organisation with a few thousand members during the War, but after the War seemed to have had more members than the actual population of France at the time.
Rather like the “second man on the balcony” at 16 Princes Gate, that chap gets around.
Speaking of movies, FYI Pixar’s Wall-e is vile Luddite anti-space exploration sputum.