Duel of Wits

Duel of Wits, first published in 1953 (and including the earlier published book Of Their Own Choice) is Peter Churchill's account of his experiences with the Special Operations Executive (S.O.E.) in France during World War II. The S.O.E., similar to the American O.S.S. (predecessor of the C.I.A.) was formed to conduct espionage and sabotage in occupied Europe, and to aid local resistance movements. The book describes Churchill's training in England and his four missions into occupied France, including two harrowing night-time parachute drops and two submarine landings. Notable too is the underlying love story with Odette Sansom, another Allied agent (code-named Lise), who along with Churchill were captured, imprisoned, and tortured for two years until the war's end. Churchill's narrative ends with their capture by the Germans; his prison experiences are related in The Spirit in the Cage, published in 1954.