Paratroopers in the enemy's rear

Between 1941 and 1945, almost a hundred paratroopers were sent from Great Britain to Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia. Here, in line with the objectives of our government-in-exile, they carried out a number of important intelligence, liaison, sabotage, and combat missions. The men who volunteered for these operations behind enemy lines were the elite of our foreign units, and their presence in the occupied country was a significant contribution to the domestic resistance. Every second man paid for his courage with his life.

The book ‘Paratroopers Behind Enemy Lines’ offers the reader an unconventional perspective on this subject. It is the text of a declassified summary report, evaluating the Czecho-British intelligence cooperation shortly after the war, written by three officers of the Special Operations Executive (SOE), the British secret service that played a significant part in the training of (not only) Czechoslovak paratroopers. For the very first time, it publishes, for example, an overview of Allied aid to the Czech resistance in the final months of the war.