Title: The Fighting Agents
Author: W. E. B. Griffin
LCCN: 99051764
Subjects
- United States. Office of Strategic Services–Fiction.
- World War, 1939-1945–Secret service–Fiction.
- World War, 1939-1945–Campaigns–Philippines–Fiction.
- Philippines–Fiction.
Date Updated: June 19, 2015
The Fighting Agents takes place in The Philippines, 1943. As the ragged remnants of the American forces stand against the might of the Imperial Japanese Army, a determined cadre of OSS agents becomes their only contact with the outside world-and their only hope for survival.
General Douglas McArthur declared after the fall of the Philippines in 1943 that there were no guerrillas in the Philippines. However, Wendell Fertig, a U.S. Army officer who refused to leave, knew better. Fertig promoted himself to general and led a guerrilla force against the Japanese. This time, however, Griffin focuses his attention on the OSS, which, among other things, was tasked with resupplying Fertig and bestselling reinforcing his efforts to undermine the Japanese war machine. This fourth volume of the Men at War series features the American intelligence service during World War II. James Whittaker, a rakish, romantic army air corps captain, who happens to be a close family friend of OSS chief Wild Bill Donovan, is assigned to sneak into the Philippines by submarine and bring gold, arms, and war materiel to the renegade general.
Simultaneously, another OSS team tries to carry out a critical mission: getting a German atomic scientist out of Budapest and into allied hands before Hitler’s armies can perfect and unleash the weapon that could win the war for the Axis powers. And in Cairo, a quiet, unassuming pilot named Darmstadter is drafted by the OSS for another highly unlikely mission. Griffin spices up his realistically drawn scenes of military operations, weapons, and training with a somewhat improbable love story focusing on Whittaker and a female OSS operative, but one suspects it’s merely a ruse to draw in women readers. Still, the action ranges from Washington to California, Egypt to London, and all points in between, and Griffin’s knowledge of military hearts, minds, and missions has won him a devoted following. I have lost track of how many Griffin books I have read.
