A Spy’s Diary of World War II

Here is the wartime diary of Wayne Nelson, an OSS officer who served in North Africa and Europe during World War II. A prewar colleague of Allen Dulles, Nelson joined an infant OSS after failing to join the Navy because of a vision disability, and he went on to serve in North Africa, Sicily, Sardinia, Italy, Corsica, and mainland France. Erudite and a skilled writer, Nelson captured intriguing observations about some of the most important spy operations of the war, and his diary entries offer a thrilling, readable and informative glimpse into the life of a spy during World War II.

The late Wayne Nelson, a former actor and playwright, earned a Bronze Star and France’s Croix de Guerre for his service with the OSS during World War II. He also served the CIA in Washington, Turkey, Greece, South Korea and West Germany.

Wayne Nelson

Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 210
Bibliographic Info: 7 photos, index
Copyright Date: 2009
pISBN: 978-0-7864-4548-6
eISBN: 978-0-7864-5477-8
Imprint: McFarland

Prologue: The Fever of War      1
Preface (by Kay Shaw Nelson)      5
Introduction: The Briefcase (by Kay Shaw Nelson)      11

1. The SS Evangeline      15
2. Algiers      21
3. La Maddalena      32
4. Corsica      67
5. Operations from Bastia      86
6. Interlude      108
7. Dark Moon Ops      121
8. Operation Dragoon      134
9. France: The Vosges Region      154
10. Courageous Women and Men Spies      173
11. Bordeaux Pockets      186

Epilogue (by Kay Shaw Nelson)      196
Index      203

• “compelling…vivid…highly recommended”—The Midwest Book Review
• “a fitting tribute”—Intelligencer: Journal of U.S. Intelligence Studies