They were told that the only crime they must never commit was to be caught. Women of enormous cunning and strength of will, the Shadow Warriors’ stories have remained largely untold until now. In a dramatic tale of espionage and conspiracy in World War II, Shadow Warriors of World War II: The Daring Women of the OSS and SOE unveils the history of the courageous women who volunteered to work behind enemy lines.
            Sent into Nazi-occupied Europe by the United States’ Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and Britain’s Special Operations Executive (SOE), these women helped establish a web of resistance groups across the continent. Their extraordinary heroism, initiative, and resourcefulness contributed to the Allied breakout of the Normandy beachheads and to the eventual victory over Hitler. Young and daring, the female agents accepted that they could be captured, tortured, or killed, but others were always readied to take their place. So effective did the female agents become in their efforts, the Germans placed a price of a million francs on the heads of operatives who were successfully disrupting their troops.

Gordon Thomas is the author of Gideon’s Spies and Operation Exodus, and the recipient of two Mark Twain Society Awards, an Edgar Award, and the Citizens Commission for Human Rights Lifetime Achievement Award for Investigative Journalism.

Greg Lewis is a journalist, BAFTA award–winning producer, and author of several books, including A Bullet Saved My Life and The Death of Justice. 

"The riveting stories of the courageous British and American female special agents rattle out in quick-fire bursts from these pages. But what gives this book weight is the interweaving of the SOE and OSS narratives, all to much divorced in histories of the secret war." —Clare Mulley, author of The Spy Who Loved: The Secrets and Lives

of Christine Granville and The Woman Who Saved the Children

“A welcome addition to WWII literature.” —Kirkus Reviews

“This is an invaluable historical account, shedding light on the heroism and bravery of the women spies who helped usher the Allied forces toward a victory.” —ForeWord

“Exceptionally well written, organized and presented, Shadow Warriors of World War II is strongly and unreservedly recommended as a critically important contribution to community, college, and university library World War II Military History collections and supplemental studies reading lists.” —Midwest Book Review

“There is no shortage of suspense and agony, all written in a smooth and easy-to-read style." —The Internet Review of Books