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A Dangerous Enterprise

Discussion in 'WWII Books & Publications' started by GRW, Sep 16, 2021.

  1. GRW

    GRW Pillboxologist WW2|ORG Editor

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    Love these true cloak-and-dagger tales.
    "At the start of the 1964 James Bond film Goldfinger, Sean Connery’s 007 climbs out of the sea, blows up a drug factory and — job done — strips off his wetsuit to reveal a white dinner jacket with a red carnation buttonhole.
    Typical over-the-top Bond fantasy? Not a bit of it: the episode was based on fact — and well known to the writer and director of the film from their own wartime experiences.
    At 4.50am on November 23, 1941, a figure in a dinner jacket smelling strongly of drink staggered past German guards in the Dutch town of Scheveningen — they thought he was just another sad local unable to cope with defeat.
    In fact, the man in the DJ was Peter Tazelaar, an agent with the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), who had just been dropped off in a dry suit near the shore by a British motor gunboat. The ruse worked and Tazelaar went on to contact the Dutch Resistance in Cccupied Holland and set up a complex network of radio and mail connections with London.
    James Bond had his origins in World War II and especially naval intelligence. The books were written by Commander Ian Fleming, a naval intelligence officer.
    Guy Hamilton DSC, who directed Goldfinger and three other Bond films, knew Fleming and was himself a First Lieutenant on a motor gunboat. The story of Tazelaar was part of a shared naval memory and, the old comrades decided, was well worth a place in the film.
    Tazelaar’s gunboat was from the 15th MGB [Motor Gunboat] Flotilla, soon to be based at Dartmouth and the subject of this extraordinary book of heroism, courage and adventure. Gunboats were small, high-speed, highly armed and manoeuvrable British military vessels which played a hugely significant role in the outcome of the war. Not surprisingly they were known as the ‘Spitfire of the Seas’.
    The 15th won more awards for bravery than any comparable naval force, each medal with the discreet and laconic citation, ‘For gallantry and distinguished service on hazardous operations’.
    Tim Spicer, a former senior Army officer whose colourful later career in security and counter-terrorism was not without its controversial moments, admits to a love of ‘clandestine warfare . . . and lonely fighters’. And there is a treasure trove of both here in his book."
    www.dailymail.co.uk/home/books/article-9999213/Hundreds-WWII-operatives-owed-lives-small-plucky-unit-gunboats.html
     
    bronk7, Kai-Petri and CAC like this.
  2. bronk7

    bronk7 Well-Known Member

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    ..a very good story here....very interesting.....I'm wondering if any of Tazelaar's operations were captured in Operation Nordpol?
    ...I liked the Goldfinger intro scene, but not so much the rest of the movie, compared to the others....
     
  3. Kai-Petri

    Kai-Petri Kenraali

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    I think you could make a film of Nordpol. For years the nazis got ammo, agents and plans for operations. Given By the British as they thought they sent the details to correct Contacts. Or maybe not. Kph
     

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