omgsoincompetent
So, in reading the Vera Atkins biography (A Life In Secrets by Sarah Helm), I have to keep stopping--at first it was because there's only so much about Nazi war atrocities one can read before needing some fluffy kittens.
BUT, but now I'm having to stop, like, every page because of HOW INCOMPETENT the SOE people in London were. Seriously. When you send wireless telegraph operators over with specific instructions for security checks, and they don't use them after months of faithfully doing so? THE ANSWER IS NOT TO TELEGRAPH BACK, "Dude, you forgot your real check, heh, we'll let it slide this time. But don't forget next time! Love and kisses, London."
On the subject of another of the captured w/t operators, the woman he'd been dating kept telling them he'd been captured, AND THEY HAD HER FIRED BECAUSE OF HER FEELINGS. (and he was in fact already captured as she'd suggested and ended up executed)
(I don't actually know that I like Vera Atkins very much, but I do appreciate her dedication in discovering the fates of the people sent over to spy for them)
eta: I'm still not entirely sure that I like Vera Atkins much. Oh well. It was at last a fascinating read.
*updates booklist*
Lord Sayer's Ghost by Cindy Holbrook (re-read)
Best Laid Schemes by Emma Jensen (re-read)
The Lady and the Rake by Carola Dunn (re-read)
A Life In Secrets: Vera Atkins and the Missing Agents of WWII by Sarah Helm
BUT, but now I'm having to stop, like, every page because of HOW INCOMPETENT the SOE people in London were. Seriously. When you send wireless telegraph operators over with specific instructions for security checks, and they don't use them after months of faithfully doing so? THE ANSWER IS NOT TO TELEGRAPH BACK, "Dude, you forgot your real check, heh, we'll let it slide this time. But don't forget next time! Love and kisses, London."
On the subject of another of the captured w/t operators, the woman he'd been dating kept telling them he'd been captured, AND THEY HAD HER FIRED BECAUSE OF HER FEELINGS. (and he was in fact already captured as she'd suggested and ended up executed)
(I don't actually know that I like Vera Atkins very much, but I do appreciate her dedication in discovering the fates of the people sent over to spy for them)
eta: I'm still not entirely sure that I like Vera Atkins much. Oh well. It was at last a fascinating read.
*updates booklist*
Lord Sayer's Ghost by Cindy Holbrook (re-read)
Best Laid Schemes by Emma Jensen (re-read)
The Lady and the Rake by Carola Dunn (re-read)
A Life In Secrets: Vera Atkins and the Missing Agents of WWII by Sarah Helm