The White Rabbit: The Secret Agent the Gestapo Could Not Crack

Light on detail and accuracy

This is a great read with amazing details included about the early days of the Resistance and the S.O.E. Yeo-Thomas, a.k.a. Seahorse was instrumental in establishing the connection between London and the varied resistance groups, and helped create a single umbrella organization that eventually became the Maquis. This is the story of an exceptional man during extraordinary times.

Highly fascinating book about WWII and the most famous agent sent in to occupied France to organize resistance. This is his story. I felt the book was well written and enjoyable to read. The book was hard to put down.

Good book.

It's good to know real people will do what's necessary in times of crisis. Never quite as smooth as fictional characters, but seeing the warts brings home that humans do some remarkable things.

Tommy Yeo-Thomas fell out with Bruce Marshall. This book was based on Yeo-Thomas' own manuscript but loaded with Marshall's religious imagery. Later, long after Tommy's death another book was written "Bravest of the Brave" by Mark Seaman ISBN-13: 978-1854794109Tommy entered the RAF - Polish Air Force "Krakowski" 306 Squadron and then joined SOE "RF" Section under De Gaulle and the Free French. When Jean Moulin was captured by Klaus Barbie, Yeo-Thomas - Le Lapin Blanc - Yeo-Thomas took over. It was he who saw Churchill personally to get him to supply arms to the Maquis.Captured in France he was tortured in Avenue Foch by the SD and sent to Buchenwald Concentration Camp where 16 of his fellow officers were executed on meat hooks and cremated, including Captain Desmond Hubble RA captured on Operation Citronelle near Revin, in France. Tommy had recruited Hubble to SOE, and now he escaped from Buchenwald as a typhoid-ridden corpse bringing Hubble's chess-set as a memento for his dead friend's children.Tommy was in his 40s when all this took place and escaped Buchenwald Concentration Camp as a physical wreck living with the consequences until his early death in 1964. After a man has survived all this, how does he fit into a peacetime society with its strong desire to forget ?

This is a thrilling account of one British officer's determination to survive and, even more, do everything possible to help win the war. The things this man experienced are almost incomprehensible, yet he endured it all with spirit and never let his fellow men down. It's one of the better-written post-war memoirs I've read, and one of the most enthralling.

The name of Wing Commander Yeo-Thomas had been repeatedly mentioned in several biographies of SOE field operatives during WW2 and others connected with SOE but working at its HQ. Consequently, parts of his story through his connections with SOE agents have been often told. Some of these connections have been mentioned in other reviews,Originally published in 1952 and with the original long out of print, this and several others of similar age and similar in subject have recently been reprinted. Unfortunately, this time the printing is quite heavy and the characters are actually too dense to read comfortably. Some portions of the book are printed either at a smaller size than the bulk of the book or italicised and they are the least legible. It does not affect the story but the pleasure in reading it.The book is not a first-hand telling but, as with many others of this nature, told to and written by a another person. Where, in other books, a specific event is related by two different authors they do not always totally concur and the same is true here. It may be that memories were affected by the passage of time as some were not written until quite recently rather than soon after the event(s) or by the experiences of torture and then interment in a concentration camp; Yeo-Thomas had experienced both as had others.A worthwhile telling and near to first-hand, but the printing spoils it.

This was the third book I read about F F Yeo-Thomas. He's mentioned a lot in Leo Mark's 'Between Silk & Cyanide', which is another outstanding book. The other book I read was 'The Bravest of the Brave', which added a lot of family background for him, but was written by an academic, I suspect. Much less flowing in its style.It says in the introduction for The White Rabbit that Bruce Marshall was Yeo-Thomas's choice for writing his story. That made me wonder whether it might be told in a rather sycophantic way.I needn't have bothered. The story is so incredible anyway (and well-documented in enough other sources for me to know it hasn't been embellished in this book) that there's no need for sycophancy.It strikes me that it's an ideal book for mid-teenagers, so that they understand the real sacrifices that were made for us during WW II. Don't get me wrong - I wasn't even close to being born then, but I think I do have the beginnings of an appreciation, having read this book and others.But the reason it'd be good for kids of that age is that they'll be swept along by the story like a cork in a fast stream, and never even think they're being 'taught' anything! The tale of the White Rabbit is absolutely incredible! From one hair-raisingly scary situation to the next, he's never less than dignified and honourable, and always incredibly resourceful - even in the face of terrible adversity.I recently visited the VC room in the Imperial War Museum, and stood for a good 10-15 minutes at the small cabinet containing F F Y-T's memorabilia. You can't help but almost worship at this 'shrine'. I certainly believe we all owe him (and numerous others like him, of course) a great deal of respect and thanks.Better than any Famous Five tales, and more exciting than just about any other book you'll find, this is a member of that rare club - a genuinely gripping, exciting AND educational book.

Amazing true story of a very brave man of the type we no longer benefit from as a country.The limp wristed waster woke brigade who ruin our lives wouldn't last 5 mins under the circumstances this man had to endure in defence of this country.

There are some great episodes in this book and worth bearing with it but I have to say, as some others have, that the writing style of the author is often very stilted and old fashioned even by the standards of the time he was writing. But this is mainly a feature of the first third of the book. When things move more toward 'the action' the writing flows a little better. As a side note I found the author's presumption of a limited working knowledge of French a little off putting - English translations of longer sentences were given however.

A brilliant true account of courage / faith / and fortitude. Any one who feels life has dealt them more than they can handle should read this amazing book. This account is not for the faint hearted it is actually brutal but shows the power of the human spirit and the will to survive and to over come Evil .History unfortunately repeats its self but knowledge is power to be used to prevent the appalling atrocities recorded by this brave remarkable man. I would highly recommend this testimony to any one.