X troop The secret Jewish commandos of World War Two

Garrett tracks the journey of Jewish refugees from Germany and Austria to England, where many were tagged as "enemy aliens" and interned. In 1942, Churchill realized, instead, that these asylum seekers comprised a secret weapon. Volunteers were trained to form a counterintelligence and combat unit that could interrogate Nazi prisoners on the spot. The X Troop commandos assumed new identities, often with Anglicized noms de guerre, to deflect anti-Semitism and protect their families if they were captured. Garrett's pioneering research includes extensive interviews with X Troopers' descendants and two of the surviving commandos. This dramatic, previously untold story of extraordinary covert valor and victory takes readers all across the European front, culminating in the shock of the Terezin concentration camp. This tale of profoundly motivated and capable men of action on a noble mission, each profiled in condensed biographies, is a rousing and redefining portrait of an, until now, overlooked group of dedicated warriors who played an outsized role in defeating the Third Reich. Garrett has added a crucial chapter to the always relevant and ever-deepening history of WWII and the Holocaust.

Garrett (Young Lions), a professor of Jewish studies at Hunter College, recounts in this dramatic and deeply researched history the WWII exploits of X Troop, a British commando unit made up of Jewish refugees from Austria, Germany, and Hungary. Garrett details the commandos' various backgrounds (Olympic athlete, diplomat's son); describes how they escaped Europe only to be detained as "enemy aliens" in the U.K.; and explains how the British military's need for German-language speakers to interrogate prisoners and undertake reconnaissance missions led to the creation of X Troop. Trained in "advanced fighting techniques and counterintelligence," the commandos were given British names and identity papers to protect them in case of capture and first saw action in the August 1942 raid on Dieppe in northern France. During the D-Day landings, X Troopers helped to take Pegasus Bridge and other strongpoints. One commando, "who was determined to capture and kill as many Nazis as possible," drove 400 miles to liberate his parents from the Theresienstadt concentration camp. Garrett folds vivid profiles of Lord Mountbatten, Lord Lovat, and other prominent military figures into the story, and skillfully draws from war diaries and interviews with surviving X Troopers. This scrupulous history shines a well-deserved spotlight on its heroic subjects. (May)

Director of the Jewish Studies Center at Hunter College, Garrett recounts the little-known story of the British Army's X Troop, formed on Winston Churchill's orders and consisting entirely of German Jewish refugees. They were trained in advanced combat as well as counterintelligence, and half would perish without a trace during the war, but Garrett interviews some of the survivors. With a 40,000-copy first printing.

The story of a commando unit "determined to wreak havoc on Hitler's regime." The history of World War II teems with elite special forces that stepped on each other's toes during imaginative missions, few of which went as planned, and their exploits continue to fascinate publishers and readers. Working with newly declassified documents, "breathless heat-of-the-battle official war diaries," and other sources, Hunter College professor Garrett revives a subunit within these specialized units that consisted mostly of European Jews. Ironically, they had fled the Nazis to Britain but were arrested as "enemy aliens" and interned under terrible conditions after war broke out in September 1939. Some were permitted to join the Pioneer Corps, which performed manual labor, but it was only in December 1941 that internees were able to sign on to combat units. Garrett's subjects formed part of a special commando force, formed in July 1942, comprised of displaced nationals carrying out different missions depending on their native language. The author focuses on a unit filled with German-speaking refugees called X Troop. "The men's fluency in German," she writes, "would enable them to get essential intelligence that would guide the next moment's choices rather than having to wait to interview prisoners until they were back at headquarters." Garrett describes the prewar lives of a dozen young men, their escape to Britain, the miseries of their internment, the brutal months of training, and their subsequent operations, which carried on well past the German surrender, when they tracked down and interrogated Nazi war criminals. Hollywood-style sabotage missions were rare; mostly, the troop accompanied conventional units "killing and capturing Germans, gathering crucial intelligence, and taking on leadership roles. They were trusted and respected, and they were highly sought after for especially hazardous undertakings." The author compassionately chronicles the casualties, and the traditional epilogue describes survivors who mostly led prosperous lives. A lively, expertly researched history of an obscure WWII unit whose heroism deserves recognition. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.