Since retiring in 1987 after a career in engineering with British Aerospace, Derek Richardson has - when family responsibilities permitted - pursued a variety of interests such as French philately, playing bridge, making music and reading about aspects of World War II military history. During his philatelic activity he came across a batch of correspondence sent by British soldiers and airmen in Vichy France in 1942. But surely this could not be right? Vichy France had dropped out of the war in 1940, so how can anyone be a prisoner of war in a country that is not at war? His curiosity aroused, he began a search which threw up several books dealing with escapes, written by or about men who had returned from enemy-occupied territory during those years. So there was, but very little was available in the way of official information. This all changed in the mid-1990s, though, when the Ministry of Defence permitted the release of the War Office reports of escapers interviewed upon their return to Great Britain - reports that had, under the "50-year rule", been kept out of sight on the shelves in the National Archives at Kew. At this point, a military history investigation that had begun with no thought to eventual publication started to look like a story that would be well worth telling. This was the story of "Detachment W"
From an operational standpoint, the value of this work lies in the comprehensive coverage of the variety of evasion and communication techniques. Those responsible to train soldiers, and especially airmen, in 'E&E' will find this a valuable resource (LtColonel Gene Fricks USAF(Ret) for the Journal of Military History); A well-researched paperback... very well written and presented, in fact a book of consuming interest (The Highland Fieldcraft Training Centre Newsletter)
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