Churchill’s Band of Brothers: WWII’s Most Daring D-Day Mission and the Hunt to Take Down Hitler’s Fugitive War Criminals

Churchill’s Band of Brothers by Damien Lewis is a true account of an SAS operation during World War II. It is a story of real people, in real situations, who were killed or faced death. The SAS were behind-the-lines operatives. Their mission was to sabotage, disrupt, stall, and confuse the German war effort. The SABU-70 team, who the book is about, created mayhem and confusion and twice returned successfully after the D-Day invasion. Their third parachute jump was into the waiting guns and personnel of the Gestapo. Against all the rules of war, some who were dressed in civilian clothes were killed. After the war, their murderers faded back into the general populace.

The book is well written and moves along rapidly. The backgrounds and personalities of the SAS members, and the German officers, are detailed as they become pertinent to the story. The author does a good job of making them appear real people to the reader. He details the conundrum of an order from Hitler to shoot all commandos. The order contravened the rules of war. This fact sets up the last half of the book: the identification, capture, and execution of the German officers who carried out the order. It is an exciting and very thought-provoking book. I heartily recommend it to those curious about the situation in Europe after D-Day.