My dad was in SOE during the War, and spent most of his time with the French Resistance...He loved his time there...though it must have been terrifying at times, when he thought what would have happened to him, had the Nazis caught him.
I still have an original German Helmet, that my dad 'Liberated' from a German HQ in 1945. (actually, he swapped it with a German Prisoner, for some Chocolate and a packet of Cigarettes)...he also had a pair of Shoulder Pips from a German Officer, and a leather Luger holster...but sadly, he lost them on the way back to his Guernsey Home
This was his opinion of two types of Soldiers he came across during the War
Germans: He respected the German's Immensly, for their Dicipline and devotion to Duty..and the fact that their Helmets made extremely good Piss pots!
Americans: quite some people!..."Good Soldiers...provided they were well stocked with Chewing Gum...never appeared to like their Ammunition very much....because they always insisted on using up as much of it as possible, without hitting anything!"
He was particularly respectful of the D-Day American Paratroopers (the Screaming Eagles) whom he said, were, in his opinion, the Finest, Bravest and skilled Soldiers, he ever met!...when he died, His own Paratroopers wings, and those of a Screaming Eagles Paratrooper he became good friends with, were buried with him
I will, for the purposes of Politeness..NOT divulge what he thought about the Japanese and the Italians