Operation Autonomous - With S.O.E.in Wartime Roumania (Hardcover)

Shortly before the outbreak of World War II, Ivor Porter took a job in Romania teaching English and became so involved in the political events of the capital, Bucharest, that he was to feature later in Olivia Manning's "The Balkan Trilogy".;Porter left the country in 1940 when Romania became a satellite of the Axis powers, but returned three years later as part of an SOE plot to overthrow the pro-German government of Marshal Antonescu. Operation Autonomous and the subsequent coup not only hastened the end of the European war by six months, but were to have a profound effect on the post-war settlement of Eastern Europe.;Combining the author's own adventures and experiences with detailed military and diplomatic history, this book examines an often neglected but crucial military operation of the war.