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Minnesota Spy Club<p>Aug 12/13, 1944: On this date Jedburgh team Aubrey parachuted into the Seine-et-Marne region east of Paris to assist the SPIRITUALIST network. The team consisted of 2 Brits, Captain Godfrey Marchant &amp; Sgt Ivor Hooker, &amp; 1 Frenchman, Captain J Chaigneau.</p><p><a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/WW2" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>WW2</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/SOE" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>SOE</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/OSS" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>OSS</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/FSection" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>FSection</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/France" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>France</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/Jedburgh" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Jedburgh</span></a></p>
The Graffiti Express<p>soe<br><a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/kamloops" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>kamloops</span></a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/train" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>train</span></a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/graffiti" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>graffiti</span></a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/art" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>art</span></a> <br><a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/soe" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>soe</span></a></p>
Minnesota Spy Club<p>On June 15, 1936, the Westland Lysander made its debut flight. Originally designed as a recon &amp; co-operation aircraft, it soon became obsolete in that role. But its short takeoff &amp; landing abilities made it ideal for insertion of covert agents in occupied Europe. </p><p><a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/WW2" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>WW2</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/Lysander" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Lysander</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/SOE" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>SOE</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/STOL" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>STOL</span></a></p><p><a href="https://vintageaviationnews.com/warbird-articles/today-in-aviation-history-first-flight-of-the-westland-lysander.html" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">vintageaviationnews.com/warbir</span><span class="invisible">d-articles/today-in-aviation-history-first-flight-of-the-westland-lysander.html</span></a></p>
McMinn and Cheese<p><strong>Introducing… Codename Hirondelle</strong></p><a href="https://robmcminn.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/image-1.png" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a><p class="">My forthcoming novel, <em>Codename Hirondelle,</em> is set between 1938 and 1949, and follows the adventures of Jack Rambler, an SOE agent operating behind enemy lines in World War 2, and Ruth Tyler, a police sergeant in the Lake District. The novel is my tribute to the children’s adventure stories I read when I was growing up.</p><p>In the 60s and 70s, I read a lot of the children’s classics, beginning with Enid Blyton’s <em>The Secret Seven</em> (starting 1949), and the <em>Adventure</em> series (starting 1944). Then I devoured Hugh Walters’ science fiction classics including <em>Blast Off at Woomera </em>(1957), and <em>Mission to Mercury</em> (1965), before graduating to Arthur C Clarke’s <em>Islands in the Sky </em>(1952), <em>Childhood’s End</em> (1953), <em>A Fall of Moondust </em>(1961) and of course <em>Rendezvous with Rama</em> (1973), which was unusual in being <em>fairly recent</em> when I read it. I remember lending <em>Childhood’s End</em> to Michael Kent, who lived down the road, which would have been the summer of 1976, probably, when I was 13 and about to start secondary school. Michael went to a different school, so I never got the book back.</p><a href="https://robmcminn.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/image-4.png" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a><a href="https://robmcminn.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/image-5.png" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a><a href="https://robmcminn.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/image-6.png" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a><a href="https://robmcminn.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/image-7.png" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a><p>But my absolute favourite children’s books, then and always, were the <em>Swallows and Amazons </em>series, which I characteristically started by reading the second book, <em>Swallowdale </em>(1931)<em>,</em> followed by my all-time favourite <em>Winter Holiday </em>(1933)<em>.</em> I was taken to see the 1974 film, which I also loved, and I developed a crush on Kit Seymour, who played Nancy Blackett. Nancy was always my favourite character. (One of the great disappointments of my life was how sick I felt the first time I was on a boat. I’ve got no sea legs at all. Thus went my dreams of learning to sail.)</p><p>Suffice it to say, I devoured a lot of children’s adventure books, and whether the children were going into space, or foiling smugglers on secret islands, or messing about on boats, I just couldn’t get enough of those stories.</p><p>*</p><p>Then came <em>Declare </em>(2001)<em>,</em> which my favourite book I have read as an adult. Through <em>Declare,</em> I was introduced to the Special Operations Executive (SOE), which in Tim Powers’ hands becomes a fugitive organisation, still existing when it was supposed to be abolished, and undertaking ever-more esoteric operations.</p><a href="https://robmcminn.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/image-8.png" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a><a href="https://robmcminn.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/image-9.png" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a><a href="https://robmcminn.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/image-3.png" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a><p>There is something doomed and romantic about the SOE and its agents. So much of what they did in WW2 ended in failure or obscurity, hidden away in secret files. And yet, when it came to disrupting the enemy after D-Day and – with the Resistance – hampering their efforts to mount a defence, their contribution was probably immense. Blowing bridges and railway yards, sabotaging vehicles, delaying troop transports and waging guerrilla warfare. The very secrecy surrounding the organisation meant that people just didn’t know what it did — or even that it existed, or that many of the agents were women. It’s said that Hitler spent half an hour every day being briefed on the latest (suspected) SOE activities. It’s also the case that the Resistance was vital in restoring French national pride and spirit, and the Resistance was bolstered and bankrolled by SOE.</p><p>Which brings me back to <em>Codename Hirondelle,</em> my tribute to those children’s adventures I read as a kid—and the SOE. My protagonist, Jack Rambler, is about 20 years old in 1938, but his childhood spent playing spy games and pirates have prepared him for life as an SOE agent. The book covers three stories in three different times and places.</p><p><strong>Westmorland, 1949.</strong> Someone is mutilating livestock on the fells. Who would do such a horrible thing? Ruth Tyler, a police sergeant based in Ambleside, needs to speak to the fly camper in a hidden valley…</p><p><strong>London, 1938.</strong> For Jack Rambler, a boyhood of coded messages, daring expeditions, and the art of disappearing was child’s play. Now these very skills unexpectedly propel him into the clandestine world of espionage and his first mission: to infiltrate an occult society with links to Nazi Germany…</p><p><strong>France, 1943.</strong> On a secret airfield near Belfort, an SOE radio operator waits to meet her new handler, an agent flying in from RAF Tempsford with instructions to trust nobody…</p><p>His codename is <strong>Hirondelle…</strong></p><p class="">Publication date: 27 June 2025. Kindle is available for pre-order. Paperback will be available on release day.<br><a href="https://amzn.eu/d/2rwzH5C" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Amazon UK</a><br><a href="https://a.co/d/0hGCH3N" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Amazon US</a><br><a href="https://a.co/d/hBOl5Ki" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Amazon CA</a><br><a href="https://amzn.asia/d/1XPC3PH" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Amazon AU</a></p><p></p><p><a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://robmcminn.uk/tag/books/" target="_blank">#Books</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://robmcminn.uk/tag/espionage/" target="_blank">#espionage</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://robmcminn.uk/tag/fiction/" target="_blank">#fiction</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://robmcminn.uk/tag/historical-fiction/" target="_blank">#HistoricalFiction</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://robmcminn.uk/tag/reading/" target="_blank">#Reading</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://robmcminn.uk/tag/soe/" target="_blank">#SOE</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://robmcminn.uk/tag/thriller/" target="_blank">#thriller</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://robmcminn.uk/tag/ww2/" target="_blank">#WW2</a></p>
Minnesota Spy Club<p>April 30, 1899: Cecily Lefort was born on April 30, 1899 in Westbourne, London. She was a courier for the JOCKEY circuit in Nazi occupied France during WW2 operating under the codename of Alice. She was arrested September, 1943, imprisoned at Ravensbrück concentration camp, and executed on May 1, 1945. (1/2)</p><p><a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/WW2" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>WW2</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/SOE" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>SOE</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/FSection" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>FSection</span></a></p><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecily_Lefort" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecily_L</span><span class="invisible">efort</span></a></p>
Minnesota Spy Club<p>After the war, Patrick Leigh Fermor became a highly regarded travel writer. He lived in Greece but in his last months (following diagnosis of cancer) he expressed a desire to visit England. He died on June 10, 2011, the day after his return at the age of 96. (5/6)</p><p><a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/WW2" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>WW2</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/SOE" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>SOE</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/Crete" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Crete</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/Greece" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Greece</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/Travel" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Travel</span></a></p><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Leigh_Fermor" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_</span><span class="invisible">Leigh_Fermor</span></a></p>
Minnesota Spy Club<p>On the evening of this date in 1944, Kreipe's car was ambushed. The general was tied up &amp; forced into the back seat while Leigh Fermor and Moss impersonated him and his driver respectively. They were able to drive through multiple roadblocks because of Kreipe's notorious impatience with delays. (3/6) </p><p><a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/WW2" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>WW2</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/SOE" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>SOE</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/Crete" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Crete</span></a> </p><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidnapping_of_Heinrich_Kreipe" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidnappi</span><span class="invisible">ng_of_Heinrich_Kreipe</span></a></p>
Minnesota Spy Club<p>The team was lead by SOE operatives Major Patrick Leigh Fermor &amp; Captain William Stanley Moss and members of the Cretan resistance, among them, George Tirakis, Manoli Paterakis, &amp; Antonios Papaleonidas. (2/6) </p><p><a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/WW2" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>WW2</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/SOE" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>SOE</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/Crete" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Crete</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/Greece" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Greece</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/kidnapping" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>kidnapping</span></a></p>
Minnesota Spy Club<p>April 26, 1944: On this date, Special Operations Executive commandos kidnapped the Nazi General &amp; Governor of Crete, Heinrich Kreipe. (1/6) </p><p><a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/WW2" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>WW2</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/SOE" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>SOE</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/Crete" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Crete</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/Greece" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Greece</span></a> </p><p><a href="https://www.military.com/off-duty/2021/02/23/these-british-commandos-kidnapped-german-general-without-firing-shot.html" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">military.com/off-duty/2021/02/</span><span class="invisible">23/these-british-commandos-kidnapped-german-general-without-firing-shot.html</span></a></p>
Minnesota Spy Club<p>April 6, 1906: Virginia Hall was born on this date. Hall was considered the most dangerous of all Allied spies by the Gestapo. She worked for both the British Special Operations Executive &amp; later with the American Office of Strategic Services. She had only one foot &amp; used a prosthesis, giving her a limp, leading to her nickname as "the Limping Lady." Despite this, she organized the French Underground in occupied France. (1/2)</p><p><a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/WW2" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>WW2</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/SOE" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>SOE</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/OSS" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>OSS</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/FSection" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>FSection</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/France" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>France</span></a> </p><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Hall" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia</span><span class="invisible">_Hall</span></a></p>
Minnesota Spy Club<p>This documentary (in Norwegian with English subtitles) tells the story of Operation Martin and Jan Baalsrud’s escape. It includes interviews with Baalsrud and others. (5/5) </p><p><a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/SOE" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>SOE</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/WW2" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>WW2</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/Norway" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Norway</span></a></p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoiUG0x9yjc&amp;t=451s" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">youtube.com/watch?v=eoiUG0x9yj</span><span class="invisible">c&amp;t=451s</span></a></p>
Minnesota Spy Club<p>He had a harrowing 2 month journey fleeing to neutral Sweden. Along the way, he was buried in an avalanche, amputated his own frostbitten toes, battled starvation, &amp; went snowblind. He eventually made it to safety. (4/5) </p><p><a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/SOE" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>SOE</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/WW2" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>WW2</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/Norway" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Norway</span></a> </p><p><a href="https://explorersweb.com/2021/03/20/great-survival-stories-jan-baalsrud-evades-nazi-dragnet/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">explorersweb.com/2021/03/20/gr</span><span class="invisible">eat-survival-stories-jan-baalsrud-evades-nazi-dragnet/</span></a></p>
Minnesota Spy Club<p>He swam several hundred meters through ice water, bullets whizzing about him. One bullet sheared off a big toe. He lost a boot yet ran barefoot through the snow into a gully where he killed a German Gestapo officer with his pistol. (3/5)</p><p><a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/SOE" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>SOE</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/WW2" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>WW2</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/Norway" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Norway</span></a> </p><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Baalsrud" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Baal</span><span class="invisible">srud</span></a></p>
Minnesota Spy Club<p>Their boat was attacked by a German patrol ship. Baalsrud &amp; his team blew up their boat with 8 tons of explosives &amp; tried to escape in a dingy, but the German’s sank it. (2/5) </p><p><a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/SOE" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>SOE</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/WW2" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>WW2</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/Norway" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Norway</span></a> </p><p><a href="https://www.warhistoryonline.com/instant-articles/norwegian-jan-baalsrud.html" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">warhistoryonline.com/instant-a</span><span class="invisible">rticles/norwegian-jan-baalsrud.html</span></a></p>
Minnesota Spy Club<p>Mar 24, 1943: On this date in 1943, Norwegian Special Operations Executive operative Jan Baalsrud &amp; 11 others entered Norway on a fishing boat to destroy a German air control tower &amp; to recruit Norwegians to the resistance. (Operation Martin) They were betrayed to the Germans on 3/29. (1/5) </p><p><a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/WW2" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>WW2</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/Norway" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Norway</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/SOE" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>SOE</span></a></p><p><a href="https://explorersweb.com/2021/03/20/great-survival-stories-jan-baalsrud-evades-nazi-dragnet/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">explorersweb.com/2021/03/20/gr</span><span class="invisible">eat-survival-stories-jan-baalsrud-evades-nazi-dragnet/</span></a></p>