It is indeed remarkable, since the archives of the Second World War must have
been pillaged, ransacked, burrowed into, and turned over almost as thoroughly as
Monte Cassino itself, that no book has been written about one of the strangest
units created during that or any other conflict. The unit was called Ten
Commando - and the shroud of secrecy that enveloped it at the time has scarcely
been un-wrapped by the passge of the years.
Ten Commando
was composed entirely of men who came from Germany and from Nazi-occupied
countries such as The Netherlands, Poland, and France. Secrecy was vital, for if
an Axis agent infiltrated into Ten Commando he could do untold harm. If a member
of Ten Commando were capture and his unit identified, the rules of the Geneva
Convention were unlikely to worry the captors. This overwhelming need for
absolute secrecy was so well instilled in the men of Ten Commando that, until
now, little was known about their daring exploits behind enemy lines, including
coordination of resistance fighters and sabotage.
The
result of Ian Dear’s painstaking research is a remarkable book indeed and a
worthy tribute to an incredibly brave group of cladestine soldiers who belong
near the top of the WWII Roll of Honor.