Project Eagle: The Top-Secret OSS Operation That Sent Polish Spies behind Enemy Lines in World War II

After the Battle of the Bulge—which had begun with a German attack that American intelligence failed to anticipate—the Office of Strategic Service (OSS), forerunner of the CIA, revamped its intelligence operations in Europe. Confronted with staff shortages and needing native language speakers, the OSS decided to enlist the cooperation of volunteers from occupied countries for intelligence-gathering operations. As part of Project Eagle, Polish soldiers were recruited and trained to go behind the lines of the Third Reich. Polish Eagles tells this fascinating World War II story of intelligence and espionage that until now has been hidden away in the archives of the OSS. The OSS had worked with Polish exiles throughout the war, but Project Eagle would mark a new and dramatic chapter in their cooperation. In early 1945, American intelligence recruited thirty-two Poles—a unique group of men who had been forcibly conscripted into the German Wehrmacht, were captured in France and Italy, and were pulled from Allied prisoner of war camps. They were then trained in intelligence gathering as well as espionage to assist the Allies in their invasion of Germany. Not long after—in March 1945—they parachuted behind enemy lines, equipped only with falsified documents and radios. For six weeks, up until Germany’s surrender, the Polish spy teams roved Germany, assisting ground commanders and providing counterintelligence assistance.

About the Author :
John S. Micgiel has served as director of the Institute on East Central Europe, associate director of the Harriman Institute, and adjunct professor of international and public affairs—all at Columbia University. He is past president of the Kosciuszko Foundation, which promotes cultural exchange between the United States and Poland. In 2011 he received the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland, an award honoring service to the Polish-American community. Now retired from Columbia, Micgiel teaches at the University of Warsaw. He lives in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Review :
"If you are interested in intelligence, SOE & escape & evasion stories then this is definitely one for you. I for one have thoroughly enjoyed it."-- "History Book Chat" "Polish spies live through and document the final days of the Third Reich in this harrowing debut account. Drawing on declassified OSS reports and decades of archival research, historian Micgiel pieces together the story of Project Eagle, a little-known Polish contribution to the Allied victory... The spies' post-mission briefings, published here in full, read like dispatches from hell. It's an invaluable glimpse of the Third Reich's demise."-- "Publishers Weekly" "These reports on a relatively small part of the war offer a glimpse of the problems and successes of inserting agents into enemy territory. Recommended for large World War II collections."-- "Library Journal" John Micgiel's fascinating work reconstructs the quite-unknown adventure of the Poles who had been forced to serve in German ranks during World War II but, eventually, were able to join the Western Allies for intelligence work behind German lines, "Operation Eagle." Obviously, this is an adventure that recounts Polish patriotism and the Allies' frequent negligence. Complex, detailed, and only made comprehensible by extraordinary efforts, Micgiel has accomplished this unprecedented analysis by consulting a great array of primary materials: archives in four countries, a vast collection of multi-lingual materials, and exhaustive mining of the internet. We knew virtually nothing of this complex act of Polish Romanticism; now we have it in detail.--Mieczyslaw B. Biskupski Ph.D., Central Connecticut State University, Endowed Chair in Polish History Project Eagle tells the previously unknown history of a group of forty brave and dedicated Polish agents who were parachuted into Nazi Germany during the last weeks of World War II to gather information to aid the Allied advance. The book advances our understanding of wartime intelligence goals and methods and of the history of the American OSS in particular. It demonstrates again the crucial role that Polish military formations played in the ultimate victory in Europe. And it tells the stories of the individual Polish participants made possible only by Micgiel's skillful and thoroughgoing archival research.--Norman M. Naimark, Robert & Florence McDonnell Professor of Eastern European Studies, Stanford University "Laudably lifted from obscurity, Project Eagle: The Top-Secret OSS Operation That Sent Polish Spies behind Enemy Lines in World War II is detailed history of a behind-the-lines intelligence operation that made significant contributions to the eventual Allied victory in the European Theatre of World War II. Enhanced for the benefit of the reader with the inclusion of four Appendices, twenty-six pages of Notes, a ten-page Bibliography, and a six-page Index, this edition of Project Eagle from Stackpole Books is a superbly crafted and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, community, and college/university library World War II history collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists."-- "Midwest Book Review"