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The Resource Operation Columba : the Secret Pigeon Service : the untold story of World War II resistance in Europe, Gordon Corera

Operation Columba : the Secret Pigeon Service : the untold story of World War II resistance in Europe, Gordon Corera

Creator
Author
Summary
The fascinating, untold story of how British intelligence secretly used homing pigeons as part of a clandestine espionage operation to gather information, communicate, and coordinate with members of the Resistance to defeat the Nazis in occupied Europe during World War II. Between 1941 and 1944, British intelligence dropped sixteen thousand homing pigeons in an arc across Nazi-occupied Europe, from Bordeaux, France to Copenhagen, Denmark, as part of a spy operation code-named Columba. Returning to MI14, the secret government branch in charge of the "Special Pigeon Service," the birds carried messages that offered a glimpse of life under the Germans in rural France, Holland, and Belgium. Written on tiny pieces of rice paper tucked into canisters and tied to the birds legs, these messages were sometimes comic, often tragic, and occasionally invaluable, reporting details of German troop movements and fortifications, new Nazi weapons, radar systems, and even the deployment of the feared V-1 and V-2 rockets used to terrorize London. The people who sent these messages were not trained spies. They were ordinary men and women willing to risk their lives in the name of freedom, including the "Leopold Vindictive" network, a small group of Belgian villagers led by an extraordinary priest named Joseph Raskin. The intelligence Raskin sent back by pigeon proved so valuable that it reached Churchill and MI6 parachuted agents behind enemy lines to assist him. Gordon Corera uses declassified documents and extensive original research to tell the story of the Operation Columba and the Secret Pigeon Service for the first time. A powerful tale of wartime espionage, bitter rivalries, extraordinary courage, astonishing betrayal, harrowing tragedy, and a quirky, quarrelsome band of spy masters and their special mission, Operation Columba opens a fascinating new chapter in the annals of World War II. It is ultimately, the story of how, in one of the darkest and most dangerous times in history, under threat of death, people bravely chose to resist
Language
eng
Work
Publication
Edition
First U.S. edition.
Extent
viii, 334 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates
Note
"Originally published as Secret Pigeon Service in Great Britain in 2018 by William Collins"--Title page verso
Contents
  • Birth
  • The Special Pigeon Service
  • Leopold Vindictive
  • Arrival
  • Listening
  • Battle of the skies
  • Reaching out
  • Resistance
  • Secret agents
  • Undercover
  • Battle of the skies II
  • Capture
  • Interrogation and infiltration
  • The viscount
  • Trials and tribulations
  • Deception
  • The Americans are coming
  • Fates
Isbn
9780062667076
Instance
Label
Operation Columba : the Secret Pigeon Service : the untold story of World War II resistance in Europe
Title
Operation Columba
Title remainder
the Secret Pigeon Service : the untold story of World War II resistance in Europe
Statement of responsibility
Gordon Corera
Creator
Author
Subject
Genre
Language
eng
Summary
The fascinating, untold story of how British intelligence secretly used homing pigeons as part of a clandestine espionage operation to gather information, communicate, and coordinate with members of the Resistance to defeat the Nazis in occupied Europe during World War II. Between 1941 and 1944, British intelligence dropped sixteen thousand homing pigeons in an arc across Nazi-occupied Europe, from Bordeaux, France to Copenhagen, Denmark, as part of a spy operation code-named Columba. Returning to MI14, the secret government branch in charge of the "Special Pigeon Service," the birds carried messages that offered a glimpse of life under the Germans in rural France, Holland, and Belgium. Written on tiny pieces of rice paper tucked into canisters and tied to the birds legs, these messages were sometimes comic, often tragic, and occasionally invaluable, reporting details of German troop movements and fortifications, new Nazi weapons, radar systems, and even the deployment of the feared V-1 and V-2 rockets used to terrorize London. The people who sent these messages were not trained spies. They were ordinary men and women willing to risk their lives in the name of freedom, including the "Leopold Vindictive" network, a small group of Belgian villagers led by an extraordinary priest named Joseph Raskin. The intelligence Raskin sent back by pigeon proved so valuable that it reached Churchill and MI6 parachuted agents behind enemy lines to assist him. Gordon Corera uses declassified documents and extensive original research to tell the story of the Operation Columba and the Secret Pigeon Service for the first time. A powerful tale of wartime espionage, bitter rivalries, extraordinary courage, astonishing betrayal, harrowing tragedy, and a quirky, quarrelsome band of spy masters and their special mission, Operation Columba opens a fascinating new chapter in the annals of World War II. It is ultimately, the story of how, in one of the darkest and most dangerous times in history, under threat of death, people bravely chose to resist
Member of
Cataloging source
PUL
http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
Corera, Gordon
Dewey number
940.54/8641
Illustrations
  • illustrations
  • maps
  • plates
Index
index present
LC call number
D810.S7
LC item number
C635 2018b
Literary form
non fiction
Nature of contents
bibliography
http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
  • Great Britain
  • Great Britain
  • World War (1939-1945)
  • Homing pigeons
  • World War, 1939-1945
  • World War, 1939-1945
  • World War, 1939-1945
  • Communications, Military
  • Homing pigeons
  • Military intelligence
  • Underground movements, War
  • Belgium
  • Great Britain
  • HISTORY / Military / World War II
  • HISTORY / Military / Strategy
  • HISTORY / Europe / Great Britain / 20th Century
  • HISTORY / Military / World War II
  • HISTORY / Military / Strategy
  • HISTORY / Europe / Great Britain / 20th Century
Label
Operation Columba : the Secret Pigeon Service : the untold story of World War II resistance in Europe, Gordon Corera
Instantiates
Publication
Copyright
Note
"Originally published as Secret Pigeon Service in Great Britain in 2018 by William Collins"--Title page verso
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
Birth -- The Special Pigeon Service -- Leopold Vindictive -- Arrival -- Listening -- Battle of the skies -- Reaching out -- Resistance -- Secret agents -- Undercover -- Battle of the skies II -- Capture -- Interrogation and infiltration -- The viscount -- Trials and tribulations -- Deception -- The Americans are coming -- Fates
Control code
on1049576432
Dimensions
24 cm
Edition
First U.S. edition.
Extent
viii, 334 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates
Isbn
9780062667076
Lccn
2018017421
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n
Other physical details
illustrations, map
System control number
(OCoLC)1049576432
Label
Operation Columba : the Secret Pigeon Service : the untold story of World War II resistance in Europe, Gordon Corera
Publication
Copyright
Note
"Originally published as Secret Pigeon Service in Great Britain in 2018 by William Collins"--Title page verso
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
Birth -- The Special Pigeon Service -- Leopold Vindictive -- Arrival -- Listening -- Battle of the skies -- Reaching out -- Resistance -- Secret agents -- Undercover -- Battle of the skies II -- Capture -- Interrogation and infiltration -- The viscount -- Trials and tribulations -- Deception -- The Americans are coming -- Fates
Control code
on1049576432
Dimensions
24 cm
Edition
First U.S. edition.
Extent
viii, 334 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates
Isbn
9780062667076
Lccn
2018017421
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n
Other physical details
illustrations, map
System control number
(OCoLC)1049576432

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