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    Top Secret Files: World War II: Spies, Secret Missions, and Hidden Facts from World War II
    Top Secret Files: World War II: Spies, Secret Missions, and Hidden Facts from World War II
    Top Secret Files: World War II: Spies, Secret Missions, and Hidden Facts from World War II
    Ebook164 pages1 hour

    Top Secret Files: World War II: Spies, Secret Missions, and Hidden Facts from World War II

    By Stephanie Bearce

    4.5/5

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    About this ebook

    Spy school, poison pens, exploding muffins, and Night Witches were all a part of World War II, but you won't learn that in your history books! Crack open secret files and read about the mysterious Ghost Army, rat bombs, and doodle bugs. Discover famous spies like the White Mouse, super-agent Garbo, and baseball player and spy, Moe Berg. Then build your own secret agent kit and create a spy code. It's all part of the true stories from the Top Secret Files of History. Take a look if you dare, but be careful! Some secrets are meant to stay hidden...
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSourcebooks
    Release dateSep 1, 2014
    ISBN9781618212467
    Top Secret Files: World War II: Spies, Secret Missions, and Hidden Facts from World War II

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    Reviews for Top Secret Files

    4.5/5

    17 ratings8 reviews

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    • 4/5
      A nifty little book with some things I'd heard about and others I'd not (Muffin & Rat Bombs). Easy to read, long enough to stir your interest, with activities you can work on with your kids or possibly a history class you're taking, and cause a reader to look for a more in-depth book on any of stories included. Very enjoyable little book.
    • 5/5
      I loved this book. True that Stephanie Bearce gears this book toward the Elementry and Middle School crowd but it has a lot that will interest older readers as well. My Dad, who was in WWII, described the sound of the Doodlebugs flying overhead. Stephanie provides a nice article telling what these are and how deadly they were. The articles describing various Allied spys are another highlight of the book. Baseball player Moe Berg, Double Agent Garbo, and Josephine Baker are just a few. Great pains went into deceiving the enemy with full size inflatable tanks, fake army camps, and camouflaged cities and factories. It is amazing to read how Hollywood set makers aided in pulling off these charades. There are also stories of experimental weapons such as Rat Bombs, Bat Bombs, Muffin Bombs and Sun Guns. This book is a gold mine of information you never knew about WWII. There are also projects for younger readers such as Making a Book Safe or a Ballpoint Pen Message Holder. Building a Glider is also included. There is also the Code Talkers Challenge. Stephanie has also included a nice Bibliography of printed material and also Web Sites for more information. This book is a great book for any reader. Teachers should also have this book in their tool chest as well.
    • 5/5
      This new book by Stephanie Bearce is a fun-filled adventure into the espionage and intrigue that went on behind the scenes during the second world war, and that led into the full on spy games that dominated the Cold War era. It looks at some of the techniques, missions, and personalities that helped to bring the war to its' successful conclusion. Anecdotes about unusual weapons that never made it beyond the testing phase (e.g. the "Vortex Gun") are also fascinating little footnotes of history that don't typically make their way into the conventional history books.All in all, it's a exciting read that whisks the reader back in time and makes WW II come alive, introducing it to a new generation of schoolchildren who will find it just as interesting and engrossing as we did.Two thumbs up!
    • 5/5
      Top Secret Files: World War II by Stephanie Bearce is a fact filled book about spies, secret missions and other interesting and little known information about World War II. The book is written in sections, such as Secret Spy School and Missions, and covers a variety of topics. There are activities at the end of some parts covering everything from building your own spy school obstacle course to hiding secret messages to learning to decode messages. There is a lot to do with this book!I like this book and learned several things about the war that I did not know. I think the target age group would enjoy doing the activities and reading about real life spies and facts about what happened behind the scenes during the war to protect life and country. I read several sections to my own family, including Hollywood's roles in the war, the Night Witches, and about some of the people who we did not know were spies. Of course, because it is so fact filled, many sections can't go into great detail, but I think it is enough for children to spark their interest and there is a bibliography of books and websites for further research. In all, a very enjoyable and educational read!
    • 5/5
      This little book on secret missions and spies that helped the Allies win WWII is delightful. It's perfect for an older elementary school student or a middle school student who enjoys history. Actually, even those without an expressed interest in history will find this entertaining and engaging. Not only are there stories and facts included in the book, but activities for kids to practice spy activities. These activities include things like making a fingerprint kit and collecting fingerprints, and setting up an obstacle course to practice evasive maneuvers (under adult supervision of course). I thoroughly enjoyed this book and look forward to reading the others in the series.
    • 4/5
      Fascinating, riveting, true stories that will leave you wanting more. It was written for a younger reader, but I still enjoyed reading it. I would most certainly recommend it to a young person who had any interest in history.
    • 4/5
      Even though this is a childs book, I enjoyed it immensely. The short stories gave me tidbits of info that I never knew. It was very informative of alot of unknown happenings and how secrets could be kept for many years.
    • 5/5
      Author Stephanie Bearce has hit another home run with this fascinating compilation of sidebar facts,(Barefoot Boots, Death by Noise, and Operation Sardine were my personal favorites) articles,(Ghost Army and The White Mouse kept me on the edge of my seat)and projects kids can make for themselves. Teachers: you need this book!

    Book preview

    Top Secret Files - Stephanie Bearce

    AUTHOR

    SPY SCHOOL

    Beaulieu, one of the homes of Churchill’s secret spy schools

    Great Britain was at war. Nazi Germany had invaded Poland and was marching across Europe with the hope of conquering every country in its path. Winston Churchill needed a new kind of agent to fight the Nazis. He needed people who could blow up bridges, steal weapons, break into buildings, and cause chaos for the German Army. So he created the SOE, the Special Operations Executive. The mission of the men and women of the SOE was sabotage, subversion, and guerrilla warfare done behind enemy lines. They would be taught how to parachute into enemy territory, send coded radio messages, and steal top secret plans from the Nazis. It would take intense training. It would take a school. A spy school.

    Mansions and hunting lodges across Scotland and England were borrowed by the SOE to house the secret spy schools. Nobody was to know what was going on at the schools or why carloads of people were dropped off in remote parts of woods and bogs. The neighbors wondered and often correctly guessed that there was something funny going on, but for the most part, the schools stayed a secret, even from the people who owned the lands and homes.

    Recruiting agents for the SOE was also top secret. Most of the new recruits didn’t even know they were being interviewed to be an agent. They were brought into normal looking offices and questioned like it was a job interview. If they didn’t pass the interview, they were just told they weren’t right for the job. But if they did pass, they were told they were headed for SOE training school.

    Training was broken into three different schools. The new recruits had to pass each school to get to the next. If they failed at any point, they were dismissed from the program. Being dismissed might mean being sent to a remote area of Great Britain to work on a farm for the rest of the war. Churchill didn’t want anyone talking about what went on at spy school.

    The very first test for a new agent was just getting to the school. The paramilitary training schools were located at 10 different hunting lodges scattered across Scotland. The new recruit was dropped off miles away from the lodge and told to walk the rest of the way. That little hike included slogging through muddy bogs, climbing craggy cliffs, and sometimes crawling through hedges or under wire fences. When the recruits arrived at the lodge muddy, scratched, and bleeding, they were told they had passed the first test. If they couldn’t find the lodge, they got a free trip home.

    Once they arrived at the paramilitary school, their training began in earnest. Physical training meant getting in shape just like regular soldiers. In addition to exercise, the recruits attended classes on bomb building and weapons handling. Men and women were taught how to shoot the Colt .45, Colt .38, and STEN guns. The STEN guns were British 9mm machine guns. Students were taught to fire from the hip rather than the way regular soldiers raised the gun and took aim. It may not have been as accurate, but it was faster, and speed was critical to staying alive. They were also told to fire twice so they had a better chance of hitting their target. It was called the double tap system and was unique to SOE agents.

    Training was also given in knife fighting and bare hand combat. The agents were warned that they should never be without a weapon, but just in case they were, they needed to know street fighting techniques.

    Explosive training was a requirement for every recruit, because sabotage was a high priority for SOE agents. The agents needed to know how to place explosives so they could take out a bridge or destroy a railroad. This would cause significant problems for the Nazi Army and slow them down in their march across Europe. The Scottish West Highland Rail Line agreed and allowed the students to practice placing fake explosive charges on their tracks and bridges. They even lent the school a train so the recruits could practice sabotage on a real locomotive and cars.

    Potential spy recruits in the classroom

    Churchill tries a STEN gun like the ones spies were trained to use at Spy School

    When the recruits had successfully completed their paramilitary training in Scotland, they were sent on to specialist training schools. Some of these schools were housed on the grounds of Lord Montague’s estate, Beaulieu, in England. In specialist schools, the new agents were trained in subjects such as burglary. The teachers were often real burglars who had been released from jail under the condition they would teach their craft to SOE agents. The agents learned how to pick locks, crack safes, and steal from heavily guarded buildings. They also learned how to make copies of keys. They carried a matchbox that had been filled with a clay-like substance called Plasticine. When they pressed the key into the Plasticine, it made an impression and the copy was made from that impression.

    Other SOE agents learned how to forge documents, make and decipher codes, operate portable radios, and blow up factories. Anything that would cause problems for the Nazi Army was taught and used by the SOE agents.

    After they completed specialist training, the new agents had to learn parachute jumping. Almost all of the SOE agents were dropped behind enemy lines by parachute. Agents wore a small spade strapped to their leg for the purpose of burying their parachute and jump suit after they landed. Often the planes had to fly low to not be seen by radar. The low jumps were dangerous and if not done correctly, the agent could end up with broken bones. Trying to hide from the Nazis with a broken leg would not be a good way to start a mission.

    Those who successfully completed jump school were ready for finishing school. This is where the agent was given his or her undercover identity. Agents had to memorize everything about this fake identity. It was critical both to their mission and to their life. They also needed to know everything about the country they were going into, otherwise they would stick out and be caught by the Nazis. Instructors taught the agents details about local customs, rationing, and railway timetables. Any small mistake could blow the agents’ cover and get them captured.

    Instructors warned students about one agent who forgot the lessons about rationing, went into a French café, and ordered a café noir (coffee black). It was a huge mistake. There was no cream available anywhere, so a local would

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