UKTV - Secret War (2011) Part 8 The SAS Italian Job

“The secret agents who set Europe ablaze”

Just when you thought you knew everything about WWII, Secret War uncovers more incredible stories that exist under the radar. As bombs were dropped from planes, missiles were launched and tanks were deployed all over the world, another kind of war was being waged by the Allies a secret war – a war of espionage. This secret war involved countless acts of espionage, courage, ruthlessness, double dealing and betrayal. It featured secret agents risking everything, working undercover on the continent to turn the tide against the Nazis, never knowing who, at any time, they could trust. Some became double agents playing both sides for the thrill of the danger, others did it just to stay alive. Always these extraordinary characters lived their lives on the edge. Secret War tells their amazing stories. Less than a year after World War II began, Hitler’s armies occupied much of mainland Europe—and the island nation of Great Britain stood alone. Rather than wait for the expected German invasion, Prime Minister Winston Churchill decided to hit back at the Nazis any way he could. In the summer of 1940, he set up a secret new organization called the Special Operations Executive, or SOE, and gave it a simple mission “set Europe ablaze.” SECRET WAR goes inside Churchill's secret army, to a dangerous world of agents, double agents, and even triple agents. In 13 episodes, it tells the story of SOE agents and other clandestine warriors who went behind enemy lines to conduct intelligence-gathering, sabotage, and assassination. Sometimes the operations were spectacularly successful, at other times inexplicably inept. But together, the efforts of these intrepid men and women helped save thousands of lives, liberate Europe, and turn the tide of World War II.

Part 8 The SAS Italian Job

Top SAS man Roy Farran and SOE agent Michael Lees led a bold attack on a German HQ in Italy with a group of misfit partisans. With the Allied advance in northern Italy stalled in late 1944, the SOE prepared an attack on German military headquarters in the region. When London called the plans off at the last minute, the mission leaders had to decide whether to comply with the order or defy it. S.O.E. agent Michael Lees is parachuted into German-held north Italy. His mission – to meet up with local partisans and cause mayhem behind German lines. Within weeks, he locates an important German HQ. Take it out and Lees would sew chaos all along the front. But he needs help. Roy Farran, an officer with Britain's elite special forces the SAS decides to disobey orders to stay behind his desk and joins Lees out in the field. And so begins one of the most extraordinary sagas of the war.

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