Killing the Enemy: Assassination Operations During World War II (International Library of Twentieth Century History)

"During World War II, the British formed a secret division, the 'SOE' or Special Operations Executive, in order to support resistance organisations in occupied Europe. It also engaged in 'targeted killing' - the assassination of enemy political and military leaders. The unit is famous for equipping its agents with tools for use behind enemy lines, such as folding motorbikes, miniature submarines and suicide pills disguised as coat buttons. But its activities are now also gaining attention as a forerunner to today's 'extra-legal' killings of wartime enemies in foreign territory, for example through the use of unmanned drones. Adam Leong's work evaluates the effectiveness of political assassination in wartime using four examples: Heydrich's assassination in Prague (Operation Anthropoid); the daring kidnap of Major General Kreipe in Crete by Patrick Leigh Fermor; the failed attempt to assassinate Rommel, known as Operation Flipper; and the American assassination of General Yamamoto."--Bloomsbury Publishing INTRODUCTION -- Introduction -- Definitions -- What are Special Operations? -- What is Leadership Decapitation? -- Strategic Effectiveness -- Tactical Effectiveness -- Why World War II? -- Review of Relevant Literature -- Research Methodology, Questions and Hypotheses, and Sources -- Research Questions and Hypotheses -- Sources -- Conclusion -- STRATEGIES OF LEADERSHIP DECAPITATION, STRATEGIC LOGIC, AND NEXUS WITH MORALE -- Introduction -- Strategies of Decapitation and Leader Decapitation -- Sun Tzu: Attacking the enemy's 'strategy' -- The Assassins -- Hunting down the leaders -- Strategic paralysis -- Soviet Spetsnaz Doctrine -- The Logic of Leadership Decapitation -- The Importance of Morale -- Conclusion -- HITLER'S 'HANGMAN' BUTCHERED - CASE STUDY OF OPERATION ANTHROPOID -- Introduction -- An outline of the history of Czechoslovakia -- The Fourth Arm -- Who was Reinhard Heydrich? -- Why Heydrich needed to be killed? -- Operation Anthropoid -- The outcome -- The findings -- Conclusion -- CASE STUDY OF THE KIDNAP OF MAJOR GENERAL KREIPE IN CRETE -- Introduction -- Crete during World War II: A brief outline -- Cretan resistance activities -- SOE in Crete -- Early Commando raids in Crete -- To capture the 'Butcher of Crete' (Why?) -- The operation itself -- The outcome -- The findings -- Conclusion -- CASE STUDY OF THE "YAMAMOTO MISSION" -- Introduction -- Yamamoto's background -- Yamamoto's death warrant -- The "Yamamoto Mission" -- The outcome -- The findings -- Conclusion -- CASE STUDY OF OPERATION FLIPPER -- Introduction -- Background of the Western Desert Campaign (September 1940- December 1941) -- Enter the Commandos -- The Plan to "Get Rommel" -- How the operation actually proceeded -- The outcome -- The findings -- Get Rommel, again! (Operation Gaff) -- Conclusion -- CONCLUSION: ANALYSIS, RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH, AND CONCLUSION -- Introduction -- Analysis -- Strategically Effective -- Tactically Effective -- MAPS -- BIBLIOGRAPHY "During World War II, the British formed a secret division, the 'SOE' or Special Operations Executive, in order to support resistance organisations in occupied Europe. It also engaged in 'targeted killing' - the assassination of enemy political and military leaders. The unit is famous for equipping its agents with tools for use behind enemy lines, such as folding motorbikes, miniature submarines and suicide pills disguised as coat buttons. But its activities are now also gaining attention as a forerunner to today's 'extra-legal' killings of wartime enemies in foreign territory, for example through the use of unmanned drones. Adam Leong's work evaluates the effectiveness of political assassination in wartime using four examples: Heydrich's assassination in Prague (Operation Anthropoid); the daring kidnap of Major General Kreipe in Crete by Patrick Leigh Fermor; the failed attempt to assassinate Rommel, known as Operation Flipper; and the American assassination of General Yamamoto"--Back cover A new history focusing on the British Special Forces and their attempts to assassinate enemy leaders during WWII