So much has been written about the British Special Forces in the Second World War which Winston Churchill urged to 'set Europe ablaze' that few now remember that the Germans were actually very much the first in the field in this form of unconventional warfare. Indeed, two days before the official declaration of war German commando units disguised as Poles were holding key positions along the frontier and for the next three years men of Admiral Canaris's Brandenburgers, formed long before the British Commandos or American Rangers were dreamed of, played a key role in Hitler's military operations. The captured the vital bridges across the River Meuse in 1940; they trekked across the African desert in an attempt to raise the Egyptian Army against the British; they sabotaged diamond mines in South Africa; they even supported the IRA and the Welsh Nationalists. Kessler, who was personally acquainted with many of the survivors, pays a fitting tribute to a very gallant band of men who, as he clearly shows, went on fighting for Fuhrer and Fatherland long after they must have known that their cause was lost. Misguided they may seem in hindsight, but their courage cannot be denied.