No Banners - by Jack Thomas. [First Edition]

No Banners: The Story of Alfred and Henry Newton SOE agents. by Jack Thomas.

Publisher: W.H. Allen, 1955. FIRST EDITION, FIRST PRINTING. VERY SCARCE. Very good hardback with jacket. Red cloth boards are bumped at edges and corners, a little fading to edges of spine, minor marks. Remnants of small price sticker to ffep. No inscriptions. Minor creasing to some corners, one page is chipped at bottom edge. Price clipped jacket is foxed with some chipping and small tears to edges.

At the outbreak of war the brothers became despatch riders for a French organisation, and fled south when the Germans invaded France. Through the American consul their families obtained visas to leave France for Lisbon, while the brothers managed to escape and cross the Pyrenees into Spain. Immediately arrested as illegal immigrants, they were held in prisons at Figueras, Barcelona and Zaragoza, then sent to the concentration camp at Miranda, but were finally passed to the British in December. After landing in England Henry and Alfred were interviewed by MI5, which quickly passed them on to SOE for consideration. Accepted for training by F Section, the Twins threw themselves into their training, impatient to return to France at the earliest opportunity. At the end of June they were granted their wish and flew out on the same flight as wireless operator Brian Stonehouse, parachuting near Tours. Their contact, a brusque aristocrat named Philippe de Vomécourt, was happy to see Stonehouse wireless operators were essential for calling in supplies from London but he showed no interest in the Newtons. Instead he sent them down to Lyon, from where they began to establish their own GREENHEART circuit in the Puy de Dôme area. 346 pages with b&w photos.