Wig's Secret War: The Biography of an SOE Air Operations Manager
During the Second World War, Sydney Wigginton (“Wig”) was a senior officer in Britain’s irregular warfare unit, the Special Operations Executive (SOE). This is his previously untold story.Wig was an orphan but, thanks to an unknown benefactor, he received a decent education. After a career in public transport logistics, in 1939 he joined up. After obtaining a commission, and active service with the 8 th Army in North Africa, in late 1942 he joined SOE’s Cairo office where he established the air operations unit. He was soon responsible for deploying missions to support the resistance across the Axis occupied Balkans. Later, he moved to southern Italy from where the scope of his role extended to the whole of south and Eastern Europe. In the final year of his life, as an acknowledged air operations expert, he was deployed to the Far East where he provided support to the resistance as they made a major contribution to the Allied liberation of Burma.In September 1945, Wig went on one last mission. On his way back, his plane crashed in the Burmese jungle. Two months later, his second son was born and was raised to think that he shouldn’t miss what he never had. 65 years pass and the same son, who has lived in blissful ignorance of his father, finds an old tin box belonging to his recently deceased mother containing papers from the 1940s. On investigation, he is drawn into a world of which he knew nothing.This book tells the story not only of the life and death of his father, but the intriguing world of irregular warfare during World War Two. For the author, it is also an account of personal discovery.
Mike
Don't miss this compelling read. Wiggington has cleverly combined two - or maybe even three - books in one: it is a riveting account of irregular warfare in North Africa, the Middle East, southern Europe and the Far East; and it is a personal account of one particular Secret Operations Executive, Sydney Wigginton ("Wig"), who deserves recognition after all these years for his heroic underground work before his tragic death at very end of the war. It is compelling reading of hitherto little known aspects of the world-wide struggle against oppression that has been thoroughly researched and verified. But the author has one more gift for the reader. He neatly relates this historical review into a modern perspective. He tells us of his own personal journey in uncovering such a fascinating tale. Morevover, he brings home the message of how the sacrifices of Wig and others like him cannot be wasted by generations who have forgotten how the rise of populism and demagogues telling half-truths can easily lead to oppression and tragedy. In Wiggintons own words: "The recent rise in anti-establishment populism demonstrates that democracy is potentially fragile and still open to exploitation by demagogues who play loose with the truth." He also reminds us that the recent rise of terrorism can only be defeated by covert, unknown methods such as those begun by the SOE in World War II. We should be grateful for unknown heroes like Wig who are still defending what we have without our knowledge.
Do read this book for its fascinating insights into one man's work in covert operations in the last century and for the important reminder of how we must learn from the lessons of the past.
