Office Of Strategic Services 1942 45

The Office of Strategic Services, the forerunner of the CIA, was founded in 1942 by William 'Wild Bill' Donovan under the direction of President Roosevelt. Agents were enlisted from both the armed services and civilians to produce operational groups specialising in different foreign areas including Italy, Norway, Yugoslavia and China. In 1944 the number of men and women working in the service totalled nearly 13,500. This intriguing story of the origins and development of the American espionage forces covers all of the different departments involved, with a particular emphasis on the courageous teams operating in the field. The volume is illustrated with many photographs, including images from the film director John Ford who led the OSS Photographic Unit and parachuted into Burma in 1943.

The Office of Strategic Services, the forerunner of the CIA, was founded in 1942 by William 'Wild Bill' Donovan under the direction of President Roosevelt. Agents were enlisted from both the armed services and civilians to produce operational groups specialising in different foreign areas including Italy, Norway, Yugoslavia and China. In 1944 the number of men and women working in the service totalled nearly 13,500. This intriguing story of the origins and development of the American espionage forces covers all of the different departments involved, with a particular emphasis on the courageous teams operating in the field. The volume is illustrated with many photographs, including images from the film director John Ford who led the OSS Photographic Unit and parachuted into Burma in 1943.

The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) left a legacy of daring & innovation that has influenced American military & intelligence thinking since World War II. OSS owed its successes to many factors, but most of all to the foresight & drive of William J. Donovan, who built & held together the office's divergent missions & personalities. Today's CIA derives a significant institutional & spiritual legacy from OSS. This concise history describes some of the important components of OSS & highlights some of its significant missions & personalities. Chapters: COI Came First; Who Was OSS?; Research & Analysis; Special Operations; Secret Intelligence; X-2; Weapons & Spy Gear; OSS in Asia; An End & a Beginning; & Suggested Readings. Illus.

This book explores the contributions of Italian Americans employed by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during World War II. Italian Americans fluent in Italian language and customs became integral parts of intelligence operations working behind enemy lines. These units obtained priceless military information that significantly helped defeat the Axis. They parachuted into frozen mountains tops to link up with Italian guerilla units in northern Italy or hovered in small patrol torpedo boats and row boats across the Mediterranean Sea in pitch black darkness to destroy railroad junctions.

When people think about the Second World War, they seldom think in terms of silence and small acts. This was a war in which the industry of entire nations was rearranged to feed fighting, and it was fought on a scale in which battles could include hundreds of thousands of combatants. Whole cities and populations were destroyed, with millions of casualties occurring at places like Leningrad. But World War II was also a conflict in which modern covert operations first hit their stride. From the jungles of Burma to the streets of Paris, spies, saboteurs, and commandos carried out missions built on secrecy and cunning. Precise, self-contained operations could be as important to the outcome of the war as acts of massive destruction, whether it involved targeted assassinations, sabotaging key logistics, or counterintelligence to break up the enemy's own rings. At the time, most of these operations were hidden from the public since that was the only way they could be successfully carried out, but in the years since, stories about various missions have emerged. They paint a picture of incredible courage and ingenuity, whether in war zones, enemy territory, or far from the front lines. Though it might be hard to believe, the Americans did not have a covert operations organization when they joined the war, and like the British, it took them some time to realize it could be a powerful tool. As a result, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was not established until June 13, 1942, six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Voices within the Pentagon, State Department, and White House all opposed the establishment of this new and untested organization that would carry out activities normally considered unacceptable, so officials within the OSS had to fight for the very existence of the organization, battling through layers of bureaucracy to get the resources it needed and ensure its independence of action. They also worked hard to justify the use of covert tactics in warfare, to the extent that its leader, William "Wild Bill" Donovan, cited precedents that stretched back to the Bible. In time, all the hard work led to the growth of the OSS into an organization with over 13,000 staff and 40 offices scattered across the world. Its purposes were initially similar to that of Britain's Special Operations Executive, including espionage, sabotage, and intelligence assessments, but with time and experience, it expanded to include economic, psychological, and guerrilla warfare, as well as counter-intelligence work. And of course, it would all chart a path for the early days of America's most famous intelligence agency, the CIA.

This book contains advice and ideas for sabotage that could be carried out using simple equipment and methods. It considers methods of destruction and also obstructive techniques.

"As conceived, this history was aimed at satisfying the need of employees of the Central Intelligence Agency, especially new or young professional ones, for a comprehensive and detailed account of the agency's origin. It was completed in 1975, classified SECRET, and reproduced in sets of 2 volumes each. The security classification has recently been reviewed, and the manuscript, shorn of no more than six typewritten pages of material, is now declassified. Thus released for leisurely reading outside the office, and printed in one volume, this history should better serve its original purpose."--Preface.