The Activities of the Special Operations Executive

While it was technically created in July 1940, the SOE (Special Operations Executive) had come together in 1938 with the combination of three current, top secret sections shortly after Germany annexed Austria. Churchill's Secret Army was instructed to "Set Europe Ablaze".

SOE operatives were sent to different Nazi occupied countries to cause chaos behind German lines and furthermore attempt to discover local resistance groups they could very well work with the minute the moment for invasion was here. Theatres of Operation covered France, Belgium, Poland, Germany, Yugoslavia, Greece, Hungary, Albania, Czechoslovakia, Norway, Denmark, Romania, Abyssinia and the Far East.

As operatives operated deep in occupied countries and they were chosen from several social class and background. The most important requirement was that the prospective agent had comprehensive expertise of the nation they would work in and could pass as a local of that country. That is why, operatives in possession of dual nationality were highly desirable.

The renowned airplane utilised by the Special Operations Executives in France was the Westland Lysander. It was a small plane which meant it was considerably more tough to see and was sturdy enough to touch down on makeshift landing strips. It was used to ferry agents to and from the UK together with lifting men and women who had to be interviewed in London. Airmen who had been shot down were also typically flown back to the UK by Lysander.

Among the Special Operations Executive numbers were also female agents and more or less a third of the female agents delivered into France from Section F, did not come back. The sort of operations in each country differed. For example, in Poland, there was very little need to encourage the local population as there was already prevalent hatred of the Nazis. This was in contrast to regions such as Vichy France which worked with with the Nazis and the danger of SOE operatives being betrayed was greatly increased.

Throughout World War II, the SOE had used approximately 13,000 people who directly backed or provided somewhere in the region of 1 million operatives.