The True Story of the Starr Brothers, British Secret Agents in Nazi-Occupied France
July 1, 2018
An exacting reconstruction of the exploits of two Anglo-American brothers who fueled French resistance to Nazi occupation.Former ABC News chief Middle East correspondent Glass (Syria Burning: A Short History of a Catastrophe, 2016, etc.) creates a fresh, detailed take on the patriotic legend of anti-Nazi insurgency by focusing on the diverse array of heroes and villains the brothers encountered once dispatched in 1942 to develop resistance cells for Britain's Special Operations Executive. "While British agents like George and John Starr learned how to kill," writes the author, "training schools could not teach them whom to trust." The brothers' divergent experiences provide an inherently compelling narrative. Over two years of covert organizational actions in the Gascony region, including receiving weaponry and agents and maintaining communications with SOE, George gained renown as an effective, principled officer, culminating in sabotage and combat operations following D-Day. However, John was arrested in Paris by Nazi counterintelligence. He cooperated with his interrogators, secretly documenting the Funkspiel, or "playback," of captured radios, a successful counterdeception of SOE. Nazi officers who'd taken a liking to him spared his life after a thwarted escape attempt, although he was later sent to concentration camps. Both brothers survived the war only to see their reputations tarnished; George was accused of allowing the torture of Gestapo agents, while John was tried for collaboration in France. Both were eventually acquitted; as Glass concludes, "each Starr had experienced a different war....Each always rose to the defense of the other." The author ably captures the stubborn courage displayed by SOE agents and the French resisters who gathered around them, and he clearly portrays the clever functionality of Allied espionage and insurgency tactics despite the brutality of the Nazis and their collaborators. His determination to fully document the sprawling web of individual players, political factions, betrayals, and flashpoints that compose the French resistance narrative results in a history that casual readers may find dense but that World War II buffs will relish.A well-rendered historical account emphasizing the moral complexities of unorthodox warfare.
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July 23, 2018
Glass (The Deserters: A Hidden History of World War II), former chief Mideast correspondent for ABC News, tells the story of George and John Starr, British brothers of American descent who worked with partisans in France during WWII. George spearheaded a Resistance network in southwest France that overcame numerous obstacles to seriously hamper the German war effort, with achievements that included blowing up a gunpowder factory in Toulouse and rendering 900 sections of railroad inoperable for German trains. John was active for a far shorter period of time in eastern France before he was betrayed in 1943 and imprisoned in Paris for 11 months; he cooperated somewhat with his captors, hoping to gain information from them, but ultimately was sent to concentration camps. After the war, both brothers fell under suspicion; George was charged with the particularly brutal torture of Gestapo agents and John with cooperating with the Germans. While both were exonerated, their careers in British intelligence were finished. Glass’s vividly written work adds an important chapter to the story of the Resistance. Agent: Ed Victor, Ed Victor Ltd.
October 1, 2018
Journalist Glass (The Deserters and Americans in Paris) has written a lively account of two British brothers active in the French Underground during the Nazi occupation. The Starrs served in Britain's Special Operations Executive, an outfit unknown to the general public. Their task was to work with the French Resistance to create networks that relayed intelligence back to London. Further, the mission was to build up Resistance forces so that when D-Day came, they would effectively stall German forces. The first third of the narrative is a slow burn, but as D-Day approaches, it picks up the pace. The title is a misnomer because the work sheds lights on how British intelligence perilously worked with the French. Finally, Glass provides insight into the French social and political dynamics during the Vichy period through the Allied victory. VERDICT Recommended for those interested in clandestine operations and World War II.--Jacob Sherman, John Peace Lib., Univ. of Texas at San Antonio
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