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Special Operations Executive

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Originally designated 'Section D' of MI6, [Military Intelligence 6 - aka - the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS)], the Special Operations Executive, (SOE), was an organisation initiated by Winston Churchill in July of 1940, as a mechanism for conducting warfare by means other than direct military engagement, e.g. to encourage and facilitate espionage and sabotage behind enemy lines, and also as a focal point for the formation of a vestigial resistance movement in Britain itself (the Auxilary Units) in the possible event of an Axis invasion. Known also as Churchill's Secret Army and charged by him to "set Europe ablaze", cognizance of their existence was not made available to the public at large until many years after the cessation of hostilities.

Head of the SOE was Colonel Colin Gubbins. The head of the French section (south) of the SOE was Maurice Buckmaster. Vera Atkins (1908-2000), assistant to Buckmaster, was the soul of the SOE, so much so that many thought she actually ran the organisation. Author Ian Fleming, who knew them both well, is reputed to have used at least parts of them to create "M", and "Miss Moneypenny" in his James Bond books. In his first Bond novel, Fleming is said to have based the "Vesper Lynd" character on the beautiful SOE agent, Christine Granville.

The headquarters of SOE were at 64, Baker Street, London. Another important London base was Aston House, where weapons and tactics research was conducted. SOE's operations in France were directed by two London-based country sections. The "F" Section, under British control, was kept non-political, while the "RF" Section was linked to General de Gaulle's Free French operations. As well, there were two smaller sections: "EU/P" Section, which dealt with the Polish community in France and the "DF" Section which was responsible for escape routes and coordination. During the latter part of 1942 another section known as 'AMF' was established in Algiers.

The principal training centre of the SOE was at Wanborough Manor, Guildford. The SOE included a number of women, its F Section (France) alone placed 39 female agents in to the field, of these 13 did not return. A memorial to the F Section was unveiled at Valençay in the Indre departement of France on May 6, 1991, marking the fiftieth anniversary of the despatch of F Section's first agent to France that lists the names of the 91 men and 13 women members of the SOE who gave their lives for France's freedom.

The SOE were highly dependent upon the security of coded transmissions, and Leo Marks, an SOE cryptographer, was responsible for the development of better codes to replace the insecure poem codes.

SOE were particularly active in the following countries: France, Italy, the Netherlands, Yugoslavia, Algeria, Greece, Poland, Czechoslovakia. On May 5, 1941, Georges Bégué (1911-1993) became the first SOE agent dropped in France who then setup radio communications and met the next drop of agents. Between Bégué's first drop and August 1944, more than four hundred F Section agents were sent into occupied France to serve in a variety of functions such as arms and sabotage instructors, couriers, circuit organisers, liaison officers, and radio operators.

SOE was dissolved officially in 1946, and much of its sphere of influence reverted to the Secret Intelligence Service, SIS, better known as MI6.

Amongst SOE's agents can be numbered:


A history of the Special Operations Executive has been published:

The Secret History of SOE - Special Operations Executive 1940-1945, (BPR Publications, 2000), Professor William Mackenzie. ISBN 0953615189

See also


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