Books by Bernard O'Connor

The Clee Hills in Shropshire are designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty but few residents and even fewer visitors are aware that it is claimed that more people have been killed in air crashes on these hills than on any other highland area in Britain.Bernard O'Connor's research reveals that there were 19 air crashes on the Clee Hills between 1937 and 1975 with the loss of 43 lives. Whilst 23 were killed on the Brown Clee during the Second World War, Titterstone Clee claimed 11. It needs to be remembered that 17 survived their crashes.Those who lost their lives were 28 British personnel, six Germans, four Americans, four Canadians and one New Zealander. Four Avro Ansons came down, three Bristol Blenheims, two Vickers Wellingtons, a Flying Fortress, a Tiger Moth, an American Mustang, a Miles Magister, a Hawker Typhoon, an Airspeed Oxford, a Jet Provost, a Harrier Jet, a Junkers 88 and a Heinkel.It also needs to be stressed that many local people came out to help after the crashes, agricultural labourers, farmers, the Home Guard, Anti-Aircraft crews, Searchlight crews, troops from the King's Shropshire Light Infantry, the local police as well as staff from the RAF Maintenance (Rescue) unit and RAF Accident investigators. Local hospital staff, clergy, gravediggers and crematorium staff played an important role. Local photographers made a record of many of the crashes and reported from the local, and sometimes national, press ensured readers were provided the details.Using contemporary sources and the research undertaken by aviation historians, Philippa Hodgkiss, Glyn Warren, Adrian Durnell and Tom Thorne, this documentary history provides the human story of these many disasters and near disasters.

During the Second World War, Mrs Rochford of The Old Manor House, Little Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, took in a number of male lodgers. Exactly how much she, her family, and other villagers knew about these lodgers is unknown but local gossip was that that they were spies.Who was in contact with her about their arrival and departure is unknown, as is how much she was paid for providing them with full board and lodging. Four lodgers, all men, arrived and departed by car with curtains over the rear windows, sometimes driven by an attractive FANY, a young woman from the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry. Locals might also have noticed men arriving at the house on bicycles or in cars, staying for much of the day and then leaving. Several were attracted to the housekeeper's niece who met them in the Five Horseshoes public house.The lodgers would have been seen on walks around the village and in the pub. Maybe they went to the Sunday service in St Andrew's Church. Some would have been seen shopping in Hertford and Ware. Three of the men were Belgian and spoke little English. The other was British and acted as their interpreter.Who were these men? Who were their visitors? Why were they staying at the Old Manor House in Little Berkhamsted? What did they do there? Where did they go to, sometimes for several days, sometimes for several weeks before returning? What had they been doing before they arrived and what did they do after they left?Bernard O'Connor, author of many books on the Special Operations Executive, a top-secret clandestine warfare organisation during the Second World War, has researched the men's stories and provides a detailed documentary history of three Belgian's involvement in secret operations.

In August 1942, a young man arrived at the British Consulate in San Sebastian, northern Spain, claiming to be Kurt Konig, a German deserter. After preliminary questioning, his onward travel to Britain was arranged. Further questioning in London followed to determine whether he was a German spy. He convinced most, but not all of his interrogators and was sent for training by the Special Operations Executive (SOE), a top-secret clandestine organisation. The SOE's plan was to provide him with sabotage material and parachute him back into Germany to establish a resistance network in Bremen. Not wanting the other 'students' of different nationalities who were being trained as organisers, wireless operators, couriers, weapons instructors, saboteurs and assassins to know that Britain was training a German,, he was provided with a new identity as a Czech refugee.Konig received paramilitary, parachute and clandestine warfare training and, provided with forged papers, a Luftwaffe uniform, a revolver, ammunition, 'sweets and toys' (SOE's term for sabotage equipment), various pills and plenty of money, he was sent back to Germany in February 1943.Within a few months, he managed to return to Britain and provide a detailed account of his activities. Whilst some in the intelligence services queried his bona fides, he was trained for a second mission.Infiltrated back into Germany in July 1943 to sabotage railways along the Rhine vallley, he completed his mission, returned to Britain and volunteered for a third in January 1944.Using Konig's personnel files and mission papers found in the National Archives in Kew, Bernard O'Connor, author of many books on the SOE, has researched Konig's story and provides a detailed documentary history of his involvement in secret operations and insight into the day-to-day workings of the intelligence service and conditions in wartime Germany.

At the beginning of the English Civil War, the Royalist Army in Shropshire needed cannons and cannonballs. King Charles I's master of ordnance would have liaised with Sir Charles Smyth, the owner of land in Bouldon, a small hamlet about 10 km north-northeast of Ludlow Castle, for a charcoal iron furnace to be constructed on the bank above Pye brook.Ironstone was already being worked on the upper slopes of the Brown Clee and supplied to furnaces on the River Stour near Bridgnorth. Woodland on the lower slopes of the Clee Hills was being coppiced for the charcoal used to heat the iron. Local limestone quarries supplied the flux which helped separate the iron from the waste rock. Water was available from the brooks that drained the Clee Hills.A charcoal iron furnace was constructed in Bouldon which manufactured cannons and cannonballs for Ludlow and Bridgnorth castles. Later it produced pig iron which was reputed to be the best in Britain. Although the furnace changed hands several times, it provided wealth for its owners for over 150 years and stimulated the local economy by employing local men not just in the furnace but also in the casting shed, in the bell pit mines on the Clee Hills, the owners of packhorses and donkeys used to carry the ironstone and cordwood to the furnace site, the 'charkers' who made the charcoal, cartwrights, wheelwrights, carpenters, carters, horse owners, blacksmiths, forgers, accountants and others.Bernard O'Connor provides a detailed and illustrated account of an important part of Corvedale's industrial history.

As a result of a secret agreement between Joseph Stalin, General Secretary of the Russian Communist Party and Premier of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR), and Winston Churchill, the British Prime Minister, signed in Moscow in September 1941, the intelligence agencies of both countries agreed to work together. To be more specific, officers of Norodny Kommissariat Vnutrennich Dyel (NKVD), the Soviet People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs, liaised with officers in the Special Operations Executive (SOE), a newly formed clandestine warfare organisation which was separate from the established Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), usually known as MI5 and MI6 The Soviet Union sent a mission to London and Britain sent a mission to Moscow.For four years until September 1945, NKVD and SOE officers liaised over military, political and economic matters, not just in Western Europe but also in the Middle East and Far East. This book, a documentary history written with an admittedly British filter, focusses on SOE and NKVD activity in Afghanistan, a landlocked mountainous country between the Soviet Union and India, the crown jewel of the British Empire. It also includes the story of Bhagat Ram, a Hindu communist who worked as a Soviet agent, taking false intelligence reports to officials in the Italian, German and Japanese embassies in Kabul in exchange for large sums of money, wireless sets and explosives. The NKVD shared Ram's services with the SOE so that he became the only quintuple agent of the Second World War.Primary sources include correspondence in SOE files found in the National Archives in Kew, London, from not just SOE and NKVD officers but also officials in the War Office, the Foreign Office, MI6, British Embassies in Iran, Cairo and New Delhi, the Indian Political Intelligence, the British Raj, the Delhi Intelligence Bureau and Allied Military Headquarters in the Middle East. It also uses extracts from autobiographies and biographies, history books, articles from academic journals and contemporary newspapers and snippets from websites. Bernard O'Connor provides a day-to-day account of the changing Anglo-Soviet relations during the war, international diplomacy, political rivalries, misunderstanding, incompetence, intrigue, lies and deception.

Towards the end of 1943, the British Intelligence services were receiving reports that captured Soviet soldiers were fighting in the Wehrmacht in Western Europe and that captured Soviet citizens were being used as slave labour in German factories, mines and farms. The Special Operations Executive (SOE), a British clandestine warfare organisation, like the British Foreign Office and MI6, had Country Sections engaged in collecting such intelligence and making plans to counteract enemy activity. Len Manderstam, a Russian-speaking officer of SOE's Russian Section who had served in the Red Army as a young man, devised Operation MAMBA, a plan to drop propaganda materials to encourage Soviet troops in the Wehrmacht to surrender to the Allies and to encourage Soviet labourers to engage in passive sabotage. In liaison with the Ministry of Economic Warfare and SOE's Forgery Section, propaganda materials were produced and dropped into France, Belgium and Holland to convince the Germans that there was an active underground Soviet resistance organisation.After D-Day, Manderstam went to France, interviewed captured Soviet soldiers and those who had surrendered and learned how the Germans had used the threat of torture and starvation to force their prisoners to fight for them. He developed a scheme to interrogate those brought to Britain as prisoners of war and recruit those who convinced him they were anti-Nazi. His plan was to train them in sabotage, parachute jumping and clandestine warfare and infiltrate groups into France to encourage Soviet defection, and others to be dropped into Germany to encourage Soviet workers to 'go slow' and others to attack Germany's secret weapons sites.As the Soviet Union was Britain's ally and there was a secret agreement between the NKVD, the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs, they were invited to participate in Operation MAMBA. However, as Stalin had ordered Soviet soldiers to fight to the death and any who were captured were considered traitors, the NKVD refused to collaborate and raised their objections with the British Foreign Office.Bernard O'Connor's documentary history uses primary sources including letters, memoranda, telegrams and reports found in SOE files in the National Archives and secondary sources including autobiographies and biographies, newspaper articles and web pages to shed light through a British filter on this little-known operation.

The amazing stories of 38 female spies who operated in occupied France and Vichy France, many told for the very first time.

During the Second World War, the British Royal Air Force''s Special Duties Squadrons parachuted thousands of pigeons into Belgium. Bletchley Park, the nerve centre of the British Intelligence Service, had its own pigeon loft from where birds were sent on intelligence gathering missions. A secret organisation, MI14(d), was created to organise a pigeon service to occupied Europe. Those who found the pigeons were expected to supply military, economic and political intelligence for the Allies. This book includes the messages sent back from Belgium. In particular, it investigates the roles played by Josef Raskin and Jean Ceysens, the British Intelligence Services, the RAF and the brave individuals who, despite the possibility of imprisonment, sent messages to Britain in the hope it would help liberate their country.

Over 16,000 pigeons were dropped into occupied Europe during WW2. Some were used by secret agents to send messages back to headquarters. Others were dropped by parachute into France, Belgium, Holland and Denmark in the hope that people would complete the attached questionnaire and provided military, political, economic or other intelligence of value for the Allies. Photographic negatives could be sent. Bletchley Park had its own loft for its pigeon spies. This book investigates the work of MI14, known as the Colomba Service, and for the first time sheds light on conditions in Occupied Europe described by extremely brave men and women who risked execution if found in possession of a pigeon. MI14 staff, decoded or translated messages and forwarded copies to SOE, SIS, MI19, War Office, RAF, Royal Navy, Ministry of Economic Warfare, BBC, Churchill and de Gaulle.

Over 16,000 pigeons were dropped into occupied Europe during the Second World War. Some were used by secret agents to send messages back to headquarters. Others were dropped into selected areas of France, Belgium, Holland and Denmark in the hope that people would complete the attached questionnaire and provided military, political, economic or other intelligence of value for the Allies. There were also requests for information on the reception and content of the BBC Overseas Service news. Many messages sent back requests that the BBC acknowledge receipt of the message. This book investigates the work of MI14, known as the Colomba Service, and for the first time sheds light on conditions in Occupied Europe described by extremely brave men and women who risked execution if found in possession of a pigeon. MI14 staff, decoded or translated messages and forwarded copies to the SOE, SIS, MI19, the War Office, RAF, Royal Navy, Ministry of Economic Warfare, Churchill, de Gaulle and the BBC.

Some captured German and Austrian personnel were brought to Britain as prisoners of war. Those who were identified as anti-Nazi were 'turned' and, codenamed 'Bonzos', were trained in paramilitary and clandestine warfare to be sent back into occupied Europe on top secret missions. The British Special Operations Executive arranged the infiltration of four Austrians, Albrecht Gaiswinkler, Joseph Grafl, Karl Standhartinger and Karl Lzicar, into the Salzkammergut area of northwestern Austria. This book tells the story of Operation EBENSBURG, their mission to kidnap or assassinate Joseph Goebbels, the Reich's Minister of Propaganda, to organise resistance groups before the arrival of American forces and to protect the looted works of art hidden in the Altaussee salt mine.

Norwegians trained in industrial sabotage at Brickendonbury Manor, near Hertford, U.K. were infiltrated by the 'Shetland Bus', fishing boats, motorboats, submarines or parachuted in by planes to attack targets across Norway. They included Karl Aarsaether, Jan Allen, Johannes S. Andersen, Gunnar Berg, Torfinn Bjørnås, Svein Blindheim, Peter Deinboll, Andreas Fasting, Kasper Fjell, Gunnar Fougner, Arne Gjestland, Per Getz, Gregers Gram, Sverre Granlund, Torleif Grong, Arne Haegstad, Knut Haukelid, Claus Helberg, Thor Helliessen, Willy Houlder, Kasper Idland, Fredrik Kayser, Arne Kjelstrup, Frithjof Pedersen Kviljo, Ruben Langmo, Alf Lindeberg, Martin Linge, Max Manus, Odd Nilsen, Nils Nordland, Martin Olsen, Erik Gjems-Onstad, Arthur Pevik, Johnny Pevik, Jens Anton Poulsson, Joachim Rønneberg, Einar Skinnarland, Paal Skjærpe, Gunnar Sønsteby Odd Starheim, Hans Storhaug, Birger Strømsheim, Harald Svindseth, Edvard Tallasken, Gunvald Tomstad, Ragnar Ulstein, Karl Vilnes, Leif Well and Aasmund Wisløff. .

The fascinating story of the mysterious Tempsford airfield used to ferry secret agents into occupied Europe.

The top-secret agreement between Britain and the Soviet Union whereby the British Special Operations Executive, the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force arranged the transport of 34 Soviet agents from Archangel and Murmansk to be infiltrated into France, Holland, Italy, Austria and Germany.

Offices were set up in London and establishments for the training and deployment of US secret agents into occupied Europe as well as assisting the SOE in supplying the resistance. Until an airfield was built for their clandestine operations, OSS agents were flown out from RAF Tempsford, Churchill's Most Secret Airfield.