Prof. M.R. D. Foot, SOE in France, 02/11/11
Wednesday 2nd November 2011 saw a packed lecture theatre at the UEA London centre enthralled by Professor M.R. D. Foot’s account of his involvement with Special Operations Executive and French resistance, both as a soldier parachuted into Normandy after D –Day and as the historian invited in 1962, by the then conservative government of Harold McMillan, to write a history of SOE actions in France.
Published to both controversy and acclaim in 1966, SOE in France is the classic work on Britain’s part in French resistance to Nazi tyranny.
Martin Halsall, the Centre Director, introduced Prof. Foot to an audience of 100 students, staff and visitors, who then spoke without notes for three quarters of an hour. Afterwards there was a lively question and answer session that ranged over topics as diverse as asymmetric warfare, escape and evasion and the SOE plan to assassinate Hitler in late 1944, Operation Foxley.
Published to both controversy and acclaim in 1966, SOE in France is the classic work on Britain’s part in French resistance to Nazi tyranny.
Martin Halsall, the Centre Director, introduced Prof. Foot to an audience of 100 students, staff and visitors, who then spoke without notes for three quarters of an hour. Afterwards there was a lively question and answer session that ranged over topics as diverse as asymmetric warfare, escape and evasion and the SOE plan to assassinate Hitler in late 1944, Operation Foxley.