If you are a certain age, you can recall a television show called ‘Tales from the OSS’. It was a series that was based on the exploits of the Office of Strategic Services during WWII, and was mostly about espionage and blowing up bridges or killing high ranking enemy agents or stealing codes; things like that.

This service did exist and was somewhat similar to Britain’s SIS and SOE organizations. However, it was run quite differently and without the infighting that plagued the British organizations. William Donovan was chosen to head the OSS and had the blessings of FDR. In addition the Joint Chiefs of staff gave it equal status and authorized it to perform counter-intelligence and espionage operations. However, it was also up to the theater commanders to provide assistance and those operating in the Pacific refused to do so.

The OSS was active in the CBI, Mediterranean, Scandinavian, and European theaters as well as in neutral countries. Much of the work of OSS members was in gathering information and this was mostly somewhat less exiting and routine work, like getting German and Japanese newspapers to see what was being told the people of these nations and gleaning any useful information from them. It also meant providing spoofs and planting false information.  

Of course, there were liaisons with the various resistance groups, putting in saboteurs, destroying infrastructure and all that we expect from this sort of group, but that was only a small part of the over all pictures. It even included radio broadcasts into enemy territory such as was done with Voice of America, however, these were often successfully jammed.

Author Eugen Liptak does a great job of telling the story of this large and quite varied organization, going through and explaining the various sections such as Secret Intelligence, Special Operations, X-2 Counterespionage, Communications, Research and Analysis and many others. It also covers some of the more successful operations in North Africa, Norway, Italy, China, and Thailand, to name a few.

Of course, the OSS also had to use weapons and some were specially developed for their use, though mostly they used what was locally available. But there were sections that provided proper clothing, documentation and accessories pertinent to that area for agents dropped into a particular country. When you add in the photos taken not only during training but in the field along with the illustrations of Richard Hook, it makes for a most fascinating look at an organization that was the basis for today’s CIA, and one I know you will find most interesting.

November 2009

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