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The Special Operations Executive (SOE), sometimes referred to as "the Baker Street Irregulars" after Sherlock Holmes's fictional group of spies, was a World War II organization initiated by Winston Churchill and Hugh Dalton in July 1940 as a mechanism for conducting warfare by means other than direct military engagement. SOE directly employed or controlled just over 13,000 people. It is estimated that, worldwide, SOE supported or supplied about a million operatives. The Baker Street Irregulars are several different groups, all named after the original, from various Sherlock Holmes stories. ...
Sherlock Holmes as imagined by the seminal Holmesian artist, Sidney Paget, in The Strand magazine. ...
Combatants Major Allied powers: United Kingdom Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Major Axis powers: Nazi Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Harry Truman Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead...
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Edward Hugh John Neale Dalton, Baron Dalton, generally known as Hugh Dalton (1887-1962) was a British Labour Party politician, and Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1945 to 1947. ...
1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1940 calendar). ...
History The organisation was formed out of three existing secret departments: Section D, a sub-section of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS, aka MI6) commanded by Major Lawrence Grand; a department of the War Office known as MI R headed by Major J. C. Holland; and the propaganda organisation called Department EH (from Electra House, its headquarters), run by Sir Campbell Stuart. The propaganda section would later be broken off from SOE to form the Political Warfare Executive. The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), more commonly known as MI6 (originally Military Intelligence Section 6), or the Secret Service, is the United Kingdom external security agency. ...
Old War Office Building, Whitehall, London - the former location of the War Office The War Office was a former department of the British Government, responsible for the administration of the British Army between the 17th century and 1963, when its functions were transferred to the Ministry of Defence. ...
During World War II, the Political Warfare Executive (PWE) was a British clandestine body created to produce and disseminate both white and black propaganda, with the aim of damaging enemy morale. ...
The mission of the SOE was to encourage and facilitate espionage and sabotage behind enemy lines and to serve as the core of a resistance movement in Britain itself (the Auxiliary Units) in the possible event of an Axis invasion. SOE was also known as Churchill's Secret Army and charged by him to "set Europe ablaze". The Auxiliary Units (or Auxunits) were specially trained highly secret units created with the aim of resisting the expected invasion of the British Isles by Nazi Germany during World War II. Britain was the only country during the war to create such a resistance movement in advance of an invasion. ...
This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...
As an organisation, it was ultimately responsible to the Minister of Economic Warfare (initially Dalton, later Lord Selborne). The Minister of Economic Warfare was a British government position which existed during the Second World War. ...
Roundell Cecil Palmer, 3rd Earl of Selborne, CH, PC (15 April 1887–3 September 1971) was a British Liberal politcian, known as Viscount Wolmer from 1895–1941. ...
There was a certain amount of rivalry between SOE and SIS, which hindered cooperation. Where SIS preferred placid conditions in which it could gather intelligence and work through influential persons or authorities, SOE promised turbulent conditions and often backed anti-establishment organisations such as the Communists in several countries. This also brought it into conflict with the Foreign Office on several occasions, although the organisation adhered to the rule, "No explosions without Foreign Office approval." The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Whitehall, seen from St. ...
The first chief of the service to be appointed was Sir Frank Nelson, who had been formerly head of a trading firm in India, a Backbencher Conservative MP and Consul in Berne. He was to suffer ill health as a result of his hard work, and in April 1942, he was replaced by Sir Charles Hambro, head of the banking firm. A backbencher is a Member of Parliament or a legislator who does not hold governmental office and is not a Front Bench spokesperson in the Opposition. ...
The title Consul has been used for official representatives of a state, outside its (metropolitan) territory, looking after its interests (a task normally largely transferred to the formal diplomacy) and, especially, those of its subjects, individuals as well as enterprises. ...
Location within Switzerland The city of Berne (German , French Berne , Italian Berna , Romansh Berna , Bernese German Bärn ), is the Bundesstadt (administrative capital) of Switzerland and the fourth most populous Swiss city (after Zürich, Geneva and Basel). ...
Charles Eric Alexander Hambro, Baron Hambro born (1930- 7th November 2002), was a Banker and Politician. ...
Hambro had been a close friend of Churchill's before the war and had received the Military Cross for his efforts in the Great War. However, in August 1943, he had an argument with a fellow agent. Hambro believed that SOE should remain a separate body and not become part of the British army. He felt that this loss of control would cause a number of problems for SOE in the future. Hambro often said that "it was not good for democracies to know what their governments did in times of war." When the decision was taken by the Cabinet to coordinate SOE's activities with those of the British army against Hambro's advice, he resigned from his position. The Military Cross (MC) is the third level military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Army and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries. ...
Combatants Allied Powers: British Empire France Italy Russia United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary Bulgaria Germany Ottoman Empire Commanders Ferdinand Foch Georges Clemenceau Joseph Joffre Victor Emmanuel III Luigi Cadorna Armando Diaz Nicholas II Aleksei Brusilov Herbert Henry Asquith Douglas Haig John Jellicoe Woodrow Wilson John Pershing Wilhelm II Paul...
A cabinet is a body of high-ranking members of government, typically representing the executive branch. ...
As part of the closer ties between the General Staff and SOE, Hambro's replacement from September 1943 was the former Deputy Head of SOE, Major General Colin Gubbins. Gubbins had wide experience of commando and clandestine operations. He was generally known within SOE by the title, "CD". Insignia of a United States Air Force Major General German Generalmajor Insignia Major General is a military rank used in many countries. ...
Major General Sir Colin Gubbins (1896-1976) was the prime mover of the SOE (Special Operations Executive) in the Second World War. ...
SOE was dissolved officially in 1946, and much of its sphere of influence reverted to MI6. (It was reported that Selborne told the Prime Minister, Clement Attlee, that SOE still possessed a world-wide network of clandestine radio networks and sympathisers. Attlee retorted that he had no wish to own a British Comintern.) 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ...
Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, KG, OM, CH, FRS, PC (3 January 1883 – 8 October 1967) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from 1945 to 1951. ...
The Comintern (Russian: КоммуниÑтичеÑкий Интернационал, Kommunisticheskiy Internatsional – Communist International, also known as the Third International) was an international Communist organization founded in March 1919, in the midst of the war communism period (1918-1921), by Vladimir Lenin and the Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik), which intended to fight by all available means, including...
Locations The headquarters of SOE was at 64 Baker Street. Another important London base was Aston House, where weapons and tactics research were conducted. 64 Baker Street, London was the address of the headquarters of the Special Operations Executive. ...
Under the cover name ISRB (Inter Services Research Bureau) SOE set up an establishment where development of equipment for use in the secret war could be undertaken. Called Station IX, this was situated at the Frythe - a former hotel, outside Welwyn. Here ISRB developed radios, weapons, explosive devices, and booby traps for use by agents and clandestine raiding forces. This article is about an antipersonnel trap designed for use against humans. ...
The initial training centre of the SOE was at Wanborough Manor, Guildford. Agents destined to serve in the field underwent commando training at Arisaig in Scotland, followed by specialist training in skills such as demolition techniques or morse telegraphy at various country houses in England. Finally, they were given parachute training (if necessary) at Altrincham in north-west England and a course in security at Beaulieu in Hampshire. Statistics Population: 66819 (2001) Ordnance Survey OS grid reference: SU9949 Administration District: Guildford Shire county: Surrey Region: South East England Constituent country: England Sovereign state: United Kingdom Other Ceremonial county: Surrey Historic county: Surrey Services Police force: Surrey Police Ambulance service: South East Coast Post office and telephone Post town...
Arisaig is a small village in Lochaber, Highland, on the west coast of Scotland. ...
This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...
Beaulieu is a small village located on the south eastern edge of the New Forest national park in Hampshire, England. ...
SOE maintained a large number of training, research and development, or administrative centres. (See List of SOE establishments.) The following is an incomplete list of training centres, research and development sites, administrative sites and other establishments used by the Special Operations Executive during World War II. Numbered Stations Station VI - Bride Hall, the weapons acquisition section. ...
Operations
France SOE's operations in France were directed by two London-based country sections. F Section was under British control, while RF Section was linked to General De Gaulle's Free French government in exile. Most native French agents served in RF. There were also two smaller sections: EU/P Section, which dealt with the Polish community in France and the DF Section which was responsible for establishing escape routes. During the latter part of 1942 another section known as AMF was established in Algiers, to operate into Southern France. Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle ( ) (22 November 1890 – 9 November 1970), in France commonly referred to as Général de Gaulle, was a French military leader and statesman. ...
The Free French Forces (Forces Françaises Libres in French) were French fighters who decided to go on fighting against Germany after the Fall of France and German occupation and to fight against Vichy France in World War II. General Charles de Gaulle was a member of the French Cabinet...
Nickname: al-Bahjah Location of Algiers within Algeria Algiers 944 A.D. Area - City 273 km² Population - City (2003) around 2. ...
On May 5, 1941, Georges Bégué (1911-1993) became the first SOE agent dropped in France who then set up radio communications and met the next agents parachuted into France. Between Bégué's first drop and August 1944, more than four hundred F Section agents were sent into occupied France. They served in a variety of functions including arms and sabotage instructors, couriers, circuit organisers, liaison officers, and radio operators. RF sent about the same number; AMF sent 600 (although not all of these belonged to SOE). EU/P and DF sent a few dozen agents each. May 5 is the 125th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (126th in leap years). ...
This article is about the year. ...
Georges Bégué (1911 - 1993) was French engineer and agent in the Special Operations Executive. ...
SOE included a number of women (who were often recruited from the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry); F Section alone sent 39 female agents into the field, of whom 13 did not return. The Valençay SOE Memorial was unveiled at Valençay in the Indre département of France on May 6, 1991, marking the fiftieth anniversary of the despatch of F Section's first agent to France. The memorial's Roll of Honour lists the names of the 91 men and 13 women members of the SOE who gave their lives for France's freedom. Centenary Logo of FANY (PRVC) The First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (Princess Royals Volunteer Corps) (FANY(PRVC) - pronounced Fanny) is a British independent all-female unit and registered charity affiliated to, but not part of, the Territorial Army. ...
The Valençay SOE Memorial is a monument to the members of the Special Operations Executive F Section who lost their lives for the liberation of France. ...
Chateau Valençay Valençay is a small town amd commune in the Indre département in the Loire Valley of France situated on a hillside overlooking the Nahon river. ...
Indre is a département in the center of France named after the Indre River. ...
The départements (or departments) are administrative units of France, roughly analogous to British counties. ...
May 6 is the 126th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (127th in leap years). ...
1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
This page is a candidate for speedy deletion because: it is patent nonsense. ...
See SOE F Section timeline for a list of significant events in the history of F Section. See also SOE F Section networks for details of the individual networks operated by F Section. Timeline of events in the history of Section F of the Special Operations Executive. ...
These are the networks, also known as circuits, (or réseaux to their French participants) established in France by F Section of the British Special Operations Executive during the Second World War. ...
To support the Allied invasion of France in 1944, three-man parties were dropped into various parts of France under Operation Jedburgh, to coordinate widespread overt (as opposed to clandestine) acts of resistance. At the same time, all the various sections operating in France (except EU/P) were nominally placed under a London-based HQ titled EMFFI. Jedburgh was an operation in World War II in which men from the Office of Strategic Services and the British Special Operations Executive parachuted into Nazi occupied France to conduct sabotage and guerilla warfare, and to lead French Maquis forces against the Germans. ...
Germany Due to the dangers and lack of friendly population few operations were conducted in Germany itself. The German & Austrian section of SOE was run by Lt. Col. Ronald Thornley for most of the war and was mainly involved with black propaganda and administrative sabotage in collaboration with the German section of the Political Warfare Executive. After D-Day, the section was re-organised and enlarged with General Sir Gerald Templer heading the Directorate with Thornley as his deputy. Several major operations were planned, including Operation Foxley - the plan to assassinate Hitler - and Operation Periwig, an ingenious plan to simulate the existence of a large-scale anti-Nazi resistance movement within Germany. Foxley was never carried but Periwig went ahead despite restrictions placed on it by SIS and SHAEF. Several German POWs were trained as agents, briefed to make contact with the Anti-Nazi resistance and to conduct sabotage. They were then parachuted into Germany with the hope that they would either hand themselves in to or be captured by the Gestapo and reveal their supposed mission. Fake coded wireless transmissions were broadcast to Germany and various pieces of agent paraphernalia like code books and wireless receivers were allowed to fall into the hands of the German authorities. Black propaganda is propaganda that purports to be from a source on one side of a conflict, but is actually from the opposing side. ...
During World War II, the Political Warfare Executive (PWE) was a British clandestine body created to produce and disseminate both white and black propaganda, with the aim of damaging enemy morale. ...
Land on Normandy In military parlance, D-Day is a term often used to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. ...
Field Marshal Sir Gerald Templer, KG (1898 - 1979) was a British military commander. ...
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Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (April 20, 1889 – April 30, 1945, standard German pronunciation in the IPA) was the Führer (leader) of the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazi Party) and of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. ...
The initials SIS may stand for: Secret Intelligence Service, UK intelligence agency, also known as MI6. ...
Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (abbreviated as SHAEF), was the command headquarters of the commander of Allied forces in North West Europe in 1944 and 1945. ...
The Deaths Head emblem similar to skull and crossbones, often used as the insignia of the Gestapo The (contraction of Geheime Staatspolizei; Secret State Police) was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. ...
Netherlands Section N of SOE ran operations in the Netherlands. They committed some of SOE's worst blunders in security, which allowed the Germans to capture many agents and much sabotage material, in what the Germans called the Englandspiel. SOE apparently ignored the absence of security checks in radio transmissions, and other warnings from Leo Marks that the Germans were running the supposed resistance networks. The Englandspiel was the German name for an elaborate counter intelligence operation mounted by the German Abwehr in the Netherlands during the Second World War. ...
Leo Marks at the opening of the Violette Szabo Museum, Wormelow Leopold Samuel Marks (September 24, 1920 - January 15, 2001) was an English cryptographer and scriptwriter. ...
Eventually, two captured agents escaped to Switzerland (in August 1943). The Germans sent messages over their controlled sets that they had gone over to the Gestapo, but SOE was at last more wary. The Deaths Head emblem similar to skull and crossbones, often used as the insignia of the Gestapo The (contraction of Geheime Staatspolizei; Secret State Police) was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. ...
SOE partly recovered from this disaster to set up new networks, which continued to operate until the Netherlands were liberated at the end of the war.
Belgium Section T established some effective networks in Belgium, but in the aftermath of the Battle of Normandy, British armoured forces overran the country in less than a week, giving the resistance little time to stage an uprising. They did assist British forces to bypass German rearguards, and this allowed the Allies to capture the vital docks at Antwerp intact. Combatants United States United Kingdom Canada Free France Poland Germany Commanders Dwight Eisenhower (Supreme Allied Commander) Bernard Montgomery (land) Bertram Ramsay (sea) Trafford Leigh-Mallory (air) Gerd von Rundstedt (OB WEST) Erwin Rommel (Heeresgruppe B) Friedrich Dollmann () Strength 326,000 (by June 11) Unknown, probably some 1,000,000 in...
Combatants Canada United Kingdom Poland Belgium Norway Germany Commanders Guy Simonds (acting) (First Canadian Army) Gustav-Adolf von Zangen (German 15th Army) Strength ? ? Casualties 12,873 total; including 6,367 Canadian ? The Battle of the Scheldt was a series of military operations which took place in northern Belgium and south...
The Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal (Cathedral of our Lady) at the Handschoenmarkt, in the old quarter of Antwerp is the largest cathedral in the Low Countries and home to several triptychs by Baroque painter Rubens. ...
Italy As both an enemy country, and supposedly a monolithic fascist state with no organised opposition which SOE could use, SOE made little effort in Italy before mid-1943 when Mussolini's government collapsed and Allied forces already occupied Sicily. SOE appears to have made no effort to recruit agents from among the many thousands of Italian Prisoners of War. Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (July 29, 1883 – April 28, 1945) was the prime minister and dictator of Italy from 1922 until 1943, when he was overthrown from power. ...
Sicily (Sicilia in Italian, Sicilian and Spanish, Σικελία in Greek) is an autonomous region of Italy and the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, with an area of 25,700 km² and 5 million inhabitants. ...
Geneva Convention definition A prisoner of war (POW) is a soldier, sailor, airman, or marine who is imprisoned by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict. ...
In the aftermath of the Italian collapse, SOE helped build a large resistance organisation in the cities of Northern Italy, and in the Alps. These harassed German forces in Italy throughout the autumn and winter of 1944, and in the final Allied offensive in Italy, they captured Genoa and other cities unaided by Allied forces. The West face of the Petit Dru above the Chamonix valley near the Mer de Glace. ...
The Ancient Port of Genoa. ...
SOE established a base at Bari in Southern Italy, from which they operated their networks and agents in the Balkans. This organisation had the codename Force 133. Location within Italy Bari is the capital of the province of Bari and of the Apulia (or Puglia) region, on the Adriatic sea, in Italy. ...
Yugoslavia In the aftermath of the German invasion in 1941, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia fragmented. In Croatia, there was a substantial pro-Axis movement, the Ustaše. In the remainder of Yugoslavia, two resistance movements formed; the royalist Chetniks under Draža Mihailović, and the Communist Partisans under Josip Broz Tito. This article is about the year. ...
Motto: One nation, one king, one country Anthem: Bože Pravde, Lijepa naša domovino and Naprej zastava slave medley Capital Belgrade Language(s) Serbo-Croato-Slovenian (see: Serbo-Croat and Slovenian) [1] Government Value specified for government_type does not comply King - 1918-1921 Peter I - 1921-1934 Alexander I...
Ustaše volunteers for the Waffen SS (Domobran Regiment) marching during a parade in the Independent State of Croatia. ...
To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...
Dragoljub Drazha Mihailovich (Драгољуб Дража Михаиловић, also ÄŒiÄa, Draža Mihailović), (April 26, 1893 – July 17, 1946) was a Serbian general who led the Yugoslav Royal Army in the Fatherland, also referred to as Chetniks during World War II. Mihailović was tried and executed by the Yugoslav Government because he was a...
Yugoslav Partisan Flag The Yugoslav Partisans were the main resistance movement engaged in the fight against the Axis forces in the Balkans during World War II, the Yugoslav Peoples Liberation War. ...
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Through the royalist government in exile, SOE at first supported the Chetniks. It became evident that the Chetniks were less effective, and even collaborating with the Germans in some areas against the Partisans. After the Teheran Conference, SOE switched its support to the Partisans. Although relations were often touchy throughout the war, it can be argued that SOE's unstinting support was a factor in Yugoslavia's maintaining a neutral stance during the Cold War. From left to right, Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill The Tehran Conference was the meeting of Joseph Stalin, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill between November 28 and December 1, 1943 that took place in Tehran, Iran. ...
For other uses, please see Cold War (disambiguation). ...
Greece Greece was overrun by the Axis only after a desperate defence lasting several months. In late 1942, SOE mounted its first operation into Greece as an attempt to disrupt the railway which was being used to move materials to the German Panzer Army Africa. The party, under Brigadier Eddie Myers, discovered two guerilla groups operating in the mountains; the pro-Communist ELAS and the republican EDES. With aid from these two organisations, Myer's party destroyed the Gorgopotamos Railway Viaduct on November 14, 1942. As the number of German armed forces committed to the North Africa Campaign of World War II grew from the initial commitment of a small corps the Germans developed a more elaborate command structure and placed the now larger Afrika Korps, with Italian units under this new German command structure...
This article does not cite its references or sources. ...
Ethnikos Dimokratikos Ellinikos Syndesmos (Greek Εθνικός ΔημοκÏατικός Ελληνικός ΣÏνδεσμος, Greek National Democratic Union, abbreviated EDES) was a World War II Greek resistance movement. ...
November 14 is the 318th day of the year (319th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 47 days remaining until the end of the year. ...
1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1942 calendar). ...
Unfortunately, relations between the resistance groups and the British soured. EDES received most aid from SOE, but ELAS secured many weapons when Italy collapsed and Italian military forces in Greece dissolved. ELAS and EDES fought a vicious civil war in 1943 until SOE brokered an uneasy armistice. Some SOE liaison officers in the field were executed by undisciplined ELAS groups.
Eventually, the British army occupied Athens and Piraeus in the aftermath of the German withdrawal, and fought a street-by-street battle to drive ELAS from these cities and impose an interim government under Archbishop Damaskinos. SOE's last act was to evacuate several hundred disarmed EDES fighters to Corfu, preventing their massacre by ELAS. Evzones Athens (Greek: Αθήνα, AthÃna IPA: ) is the capital and largest city of Greece. ...
View of Piraeus A night ferry about to leave the port of Piraeus for the Dodecanese Piraeus, or Peiraeus (Modern Greek: ΠειÏαιάς Peiraiás or Pireás, Ancient Greek / Katharevousa: ΠειÏαιεÏÏ‚ Pireéfs) is a city in the periphery of Attica, Greece, located south of Athens. ...
Statue of Archbishop Damaskinos near the Athens Cathedral. ...
Pontikonisi island in the background with the Vlaheraina Monastery in the foreground. ...
Albania Albania had been under Italian influence since 1923, and was occupied by the Italian Army in 1939. In 1943, a small liaison party entered Albania from north-west Greece. (One of its members was Julian Amery). They discovered another internecine war between the Communist partisans under Enver Hoxha, and the republican Balli Kombëtar. As the latter had collaborated with the Italian occupiers, Hoxha gained Allied support. 1923 (MCMXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ...
Harold Julian Amery, Baron Amery of Lustleigh (March 27, 1919 - 1997) was a British conservative politican. ...
This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...
Balli Kombetar was a nationalist organization of Albanians fighting for an Ethnic Albania during the World War II. After the Mukje Agreement, Balli Kombëtar was forced into a Civil War with the communists and was defeated by them. ...
SOE's envoy to Albania, Brigadier "Trotsky" Davies, was captured by the Germans early in 1944. Other SOE officers warned that Hoxha's aim was primacy after the war, rather than fighting Germans. They were ignored, but Albania was never a major factor in the effort against the Germans.
Czechoslovakia SOE sent many missions into the Protectorate of Bohemia-Moravia, and later into Slovakia. The most famous mission was called Operation Anthropoid, the assassination of SS leader Reinhard Heydrich, in Prague. From 1942 to 1943 the Czechoslovaks had their own Special Training School (STS) at Chicheley Hall in Buckinghamshire. In 1944 SOE sent men to support the Slovak Uprising. Reinhard Heydrich, the target of Operation Anthropoid. ...
Reinhard Heydrich as SS-Gruppenführer. ...
Prague (Czech: Praha (IPA: ), see also other names) is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. ...
Norway In March of 1941 a group performing commando raids in Norway, Norwegian Independent Company 1 (NOR.I.C.1) was organized under leadership of Captain Martin Linge. Their initial raid in 1941 was Operation Archery, the best known raid were probably the Norwegian heavy water sabotage. Communication lines with London were gradually improved so that by 1945, 64 radio operators were spread throughout Norway. Norwegian Independent Company 1 (NOR.I.C.1, also Norisen) was a SOE group formed in March of 1941 for the purpose of perfoming commando raids in occupied Norway. ...
Martin Linge (11 December 1894 – 27 December 1941) was a former Norwegian actor who became the commander of the WWII SOE Norwegian Independent Company 1 (NOR.I.C.1), formed in March 1941. ...
During World War II, Operation Archery was a British Combined Operations raid on December 27, 1941 against German positions on Vaagso(Vågsøy), Norway. ...
The Norwegian heavy water sabotage was a series of actions taken by Norwegian saboteurs during World War II to prevent the Germans from acquiring heavy water which could be used to produce nuclear weapons. ...
Denmark The Danish Resistance was able to mount few covert actions before the end of the war. Most of the actions conducted were railroad sabotage to halt German troop movements from and to Norway. However, there were examples of sabotage on a much larger scale especially by BOPA. In all over 1000 operations were conducted from 1942 and onwards. The Danish resistance also saved nearly all of the Danish jews from certain death in German KZ camps. This was a massive overnight operation and is to this day recognized among jews as one of the most significant displays of public defiance against the Germans. They did assist SOE in its activities in neutral Sweden. For example, SOE was able to obtain several shiploads of vital ball-bearings which had been interned in Swedish ports. BOPA was a group of the Danish resistance movement operating at the time of the occupation of Denmark by Nazi Germany during the Second World War. ...
Poland The distance involved in air travel to Poland was the chief obstacle to SOE's efforts to aid the resistance there. SOE did assist the Polish government in exile to send agents and some equipment to the Armia Krajowa. SOE had little or no contact with the pro-Communist Armia Ludowa, and the London Poles as the government in exile was known, always maintained their own counsel. The Armia Krajowa (Home Army) or AK functioned as the dominant Polish resistance movement in World War II in German-occupied Poland, which was active in all areas of the country from September 1939 until its disbanding in January 1945. ...
Armia Ludowa (AL, pronounced ; English Polish Peoples Army) was a Polish World War II resistance organisation. ...
Large amounts of arms were finally sent to Poland during the doomed Warsaw Uprising, at heavy cost in aircraft. Combatants Poland Germany Commanders Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski, Antoni Chruściel, Tadeusz Pełczyński Erich von dem Bach, Rainer Stahel, Heinz Reinefarth, Bronislav Kaminski Strength 50,000 troops 25,000 troops Casualties 18,000 killed, 12,000 wounded, 15,000 taken prisoner 250,000 civilians killed 10,000 killed...
Romania In 1943 an SOE delegation was parachuted into Romania to instigate resistance against the Nazi occupation at "any cost." The delegation, including Colonel Gardyne de Chastelain and Ivor Porter, was captured and held until the night of the August 23 1944 coup d'état. Alfred George Gardyne de Chastelain was born in London, England in February 1906, of Anglo-Scots parents and of Hughenot background. ...
Other Operations in Europe Through cooperation with the Special Operations Executive and the British intelligence service, a group of Jewish volunteers from Palestine were sent on missions to several countries in Nazi-occupied Europe from 1943 to 1945. This article describes some ethnic, historic, and cultural aspects of the Jewish identity; for a consideration of the Jewish religion, refer to the article Judaism. ...
Map of the British Mandate of Palestine. ...
Abyssinia Abyssinia was the scene of some of SOE's earliest and most successful efforts. In support of the exiled Emperor Haile Selassie, SOE organised a force of Ethiopian irregulars under Orde Charles Wingate. This force (named Gideon Force by Wingate) caused heavy casualties to the Italian occupation forces, and contributed to the successful British campaign there. Wingate was to use his experience to create the Chindits in Burma. Haile Selassie Haile Selassie (Power of Trinity) (July 23, 1892 – August 27, 1975) was the last Emperor (1930–1936; 1941–1974) of Ethiopia, and is a religious symbol in the Rastafarian movement. ...
Orde Charles Wingate Major General Orde Charles Wingate, DSO (February 26, 1903 – March 24, 1944), was a British major general and creator of two special military units during World War II. // Beginnings Orde Wingate was born February 23, 1903 in Naini Tal, India to a military family. ...
The Gideon Force was a British-led African guerrilla force fighting the Italian occupation forces in Abyssiania (modern-day Ethiopia) during the World War II. Leader and creator of the force was British major Charles Orde Wingate. ...
The Chindits (Officially in 1942 77th Indian Infantry Brigade and in 1943 Indian 3rd Infantry Division) were a British Indian Army Special Force that served in Burma and India from 1942 until 1945 during the Burma Campaign in World War II. They were formed into long range penetration groups trained...
South-East Asia -
As early as 1941, SOE was preparing plans for operations in South East Asia. As in Europe, after initial Allied military disasters, SOE built up indigenous resistance organisations and guerilla armies in enemy (Japanese) occupied territory. Some of these organisations were to have major effects both during the war and in the post-war period. Force 136 was the general cover name for a branch of the British World War II organisation, the Special Operations Executive. ...
Location of Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is a subregion of Asia. ...
Agents A variety of people from all classes and pre-war occupations served SOE in the field. In most cases, the primary quality required was a deep knowledge of the country in which the agent was to operate, and especially its language, if the agent was to pass as a native of the country. Dual nationality was often a prized attribute. This was particularly so of France. Many of the agents in F Section were of working-class origin (some even reputedly from the criminal underworld).
In other cases, especially in the Balkans, a lesser degree of fluency was required as the resistance groups concerned were already in open rebellion and a clandestine existence was unnecessary. A flair for diplomacy combined with a taste for rough soldiering was more necessary. Some regular army officers proved adept as envoys, although others (such as the former diplomat Fitzroy Maclean or the classical scholar Christopher Woodhouse) were commissioned only during wartime. Sir Fitzroy Hew Royle MacLean of Duart and Strachur, 1st Baronet of Dunconnel, (March 11, 1911, Egypt - June 15, 1996, Scotland) was a Scottish diplomat, adventurer, writer and politician. ...
Christopher Woodhouse might refer to: Christopher Montague Woodhouse, 5th Baron Terrington (1917–2001), Conservative Member of Parliament for Oxford 1959–1966 and 1970–1974 Christopher Woodhouse, 6th Baron Terrington (born 1946), urologist Category: ...
Exiled or escaped members of the Armed Forces of some occupied countries were obvious sources of agents. This was particularly true of Norway and Holland. In other cases (such as Frenchmen owing loyalty to Charles De Gaulle and especially the Poles), the agents' first loyalty was to their leaders or governments in exile, and they treated SOE only as a means to an end. This could occasionally lead to mistrust and strained relations in Britain. Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle ( ) (22 November 1890 – 9 November 1970), in France commonly referred to as Général de Gaulle, was a French military leader and statesman. ...
SOE employed many Canadians; the Canadian government routed Canadian volunteers for clandestine service to either SOE or MI9. MI9, the British Military Intelligence Section 9 (now defunct), was a department of the British War Office during World War II. It was charged with aiding resistance fighters in Nazi-controlled Europe and recovering Allied troops who found themselves behind enemy lines (e. ...
SOE was prepared to ignore almost any contemporary social convention in its fight against the Axis. It employed known homosexuals, people with criminal records or bad conduct records in the armed forces, Communists, anti-British nationalists etc. Although some of these might have been considered a security risk, there is practically no known case of an SOE agent wholeheartedly going over to the enemy.
Communications SOE was highly dependent upon the security of radio transmissions. There were three factors involved in this; the physical qualities and capabilities of the radio sets, the security of the transmission procedures and the provision of proper ciphers. This article is about algorithms for encryption and decryption. ...
SOE's first radios were supplied by SIS. They were large, clumsy and required large amounts of power. SOE acquired a few, much more suitable sets from the Poles in exile, but eventually designed and manufactured their own. Some of these, together with their batteries, weighed only 9lb (4 kg), and could fit into a small attache case, although larger sets were required to work over ranges greater than 500 miles (800 km).
Operating procedures were insecure at first; operators were forced to transmit verbose messages at fixed times and intervals. After several operators were captured or killed (some of them taking one or more Gestapo with them), procedures were made more flexible and secure.
As with their first radio sets, SOE's first ciphers were inherited from SIS. Leo Marks, SOE's chief cryptographer, was responsible for the development of better codes to replace the insecure poem codes. Eventually, SOE settled on One-time pads, printed on silk. Leo Marks at the opening of the Violette Szabo Museum, Wormelow Leopold Samuel Marks (September 24, 1920 - January 15, 2001) was an English cryptographer and scriptwriter. ...
Pre-19th century Leone Battista Alberti, polymath/universal genius, inventor of polyalphabetic substitution (see frequency analysis for the significance of this -- missed by most for a long time and dumbed down in the Vigenère cipher), and what may have been the first mechanical encryption aid. ...
The poem code is a simple, and insecure, cryptographic method. ...
Excerpt from a one-time pad. ...
Equipment SOE was forced by circumstances to develop a wide range of equipment for clandestine use. Among products developed at Station IX were a miniature folding motorbike (the Welbike) - for use by parachutists, a silenced pistol (the Welrod) and several miniature submersible craft (the Welman and Sleeping Beauty). A sea trials unit was set up in west Wales at Goodwick, by Fishguard (station IXa) where these craft were tested. In late 1944 craft were despatched to Australia to the Allied Intelligence Bureau (SRD), for tropical testing.[1] The Welbike was a small British single-seat motor cycle devised during World War Two at Station IX - the Inter Services Research Bureau - based at Welwyn, UK, for use by SOE. Subsequently it was not much used by SOE, but many were issued to the Parachute Regiment and used at...
Welrod Silenced Pistol The Welrod was a British bolt action, magazine fed, suppressed (silenced) pistol devised during World War Two at - the Inter Services Research Bureau (later Station IX) - based near Welwyn Garden City, UK, for use by irregular forces and resistance groups. ...
Goodwick is a coastal town in Pembrokeshire, Wales, immediately west of its twin town of Fishguard. ...
Lower town, Fishguard Fishguard (Welsh: Abergwaun - Mouth of the River Gwaun) is a coastal town in Pembrokeshire, Wales, with a population of 3,300 (est. ...
The Allied Intelligence Bureau (AIB) was a joint United States, Australian, Dutch and British intelligence and special operations agency of World War II. The AIB was responsible for operating parties of spies and commandos behind Japanese lines in order to collect intelligence and conduct guerrilla warfare against Japanese forces in...
An agent working clandestinely in the field obviously required clothing, documents and so on which would not arouse suspicion. SOE maintained centres which specialised in producing foreign clothing and forging identity cards, ration cards etc (even to the extent of manufacturing cigarettes which would pass as the local product).
Although SOE used some assassination weapons such as the De Lisle carbine, it took the view that weapons issued to resisters should not require extensive training or care. The crude and cheap Sten was a favourite. For issue to large forces such as the Partisans in Yugoslavia, SOE used captured German or Italian weapons. These were available in large quantities after the surrender of Italy, and the partisans could acquire ammunition for these weapons (and the Sten) from enemy sources. Line drawing of Guppy 13 pocket cruiser The De Lisle carbine was a British rifle used during World War II. It was based on a Lee_Enfield rifle converted to . ...
The Sten (or Sten gun) was a family of British, 9 mm submachine guns used extensively by the British Empire and Commonwealth forces throughout World War II and the Korean War. ...
SOE developed a wide range of explosive devices for sabotage, such as limpet mines, shaped charges and time fuses. These were also used by commando units. Other, more subtle sabotage methods included lubricants laced with grinding materials, incendiaries disguised as innocuous objects and so on.
Some of the more imaginative devices included exploding pens with enough explosive power to blast a hole in the bearer's body, exploding rats and land mines disguised as cow or elephant dung. For specialised operations or use in extreme circumstances, SOE issued small fighting knives which could be concealed in the heel of a hard leather shoe or behind a coat lapel. Given the likely fate of agents captured by the Gestapo, SOE also disguised suicide pills as coat buttons.
Transport With the continent of Europe closed to normal travel, SOE had to rely on its own air or sea transport for movement of people, arms and equipment.
SOE controlled several "Special Duties" flights or squadrons of aircraft. Many stores, and some agents were dropped by parachute. Some aircraft such as the Lysander often landed in enemy-occupied territory to deliver or collect agents. There was often conflict with Bomber Command, which was invariably unwilling to make long-range aircraft available to SOE. The Westland Lysander was a British army co-operation and liaison aircraft of World War II. It achieved fame through its ability to operate from short stretches of unprepared airstrip and its clandestine missions to plant or retrieve agents behind enemy lines, particularly in Nazi-occupied France. ...
Bomber Command is an organizational military unit, generally subordinate to the air force of a country. ...
There were similar difficulties with the Royal Navy, which also was usually unwilling to allow SOE to use its submarines or Motor Torpedo Boats. However, SOE often used clandestine craft such as fishing boats or caiques, and eventually ran quite large fleets of these, from Algiers, the Shetland Islands (a service termed the Shetland Bus), Ceylon etc. The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British armed services (and is therefore the Senior Service). ...
Motor Torpedo Boats (MTB) was the name given to fast torpedo boats by the US and Royal Navies. ...
The kaiki or caique is the Greek (from Turkish) name for a wooden fishing boat usually found among the waters of the Ionian or Aegean Seas. ...
Nickname: al-Bahjah Location of Algiers within Algeria Algiers 944 A.D. Area - City 273 km² Population - City (2003) around 2. ...
The Shetland Islands, also called Shetland (archaically spelled Zetland) formerly called Hjaltland, comprise one of 32 council areas of Scotland. ...
The Shetland bus was the popular name of the escape route and supply route established between occupied Norway and the Shetland Islands (Scotland), operated initially by a large number of small fishing boats and later by three US made submarinechasers; HNoMS Vigra, HNoMS Hitra and HNoMS Hessa. ...
See also The following is an incomplete list of agents who served in the field for the Special Operations Executive during World War II. Lorraine Adie, who married American OSS agent Miles Copeland, Jr. ...
The following is an incomplete list of training centres, research and development sites, administrative sites and other establishments used by the Special Operations Executive during World War II. Numbered Stations Station VI - Bride Hall, the weapons acquisition section. ...
Resistance during World War II occurred in every occupied country by a variety of means, ranging from non-cooperation, disinformation and propaganda to hiding crashed pilots and even to outright warfare and the recapturing of towns. ...
Cichociemni in England in 1943 Cichociemni (Polish for Silentdark) were a secret unit of the Polish Army in exile created to maintain contact with occupied Poland during World War II. // Initially the name was informal and used only by the soldiers who volunteered to be dropped over Poland. ...
This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...
The Englandspiel was the German name for an elaborate counter intelligence operation mounted by the German Abwehr in the Netherlands during the Second World War. ...
Current MI5 headquarters in Thames House, London The Security Service, usually called MI5, is the British counter-intelligence and security agency. ...
The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), more commonly known as MI6 (originally Military Intelligence Section 6), or the Secret Service, is the United Kingdom external security agency. ...
During World War II, the Political Warfare Executive (PWE) was a British clandestine body created to produce and disseminate both white and black propaganda, with the aim of damaging enemy morale. ...
British military history is a long and varied topic, extending from the prehistoric and ancient historic period, through the Roman invasions of Julius Cæsar and Claudius and subsequent Roman occupation; warfare in the Mediaeval period, including the invasions of the Saxons and the Vikings in the Early Middle Ages...
The United Kingdom, along with France, declared war on Nazi Germany in 1939 as part of the United Kingdoms pledge to defend Poland to the invasion of Poland. ...
This is a list of topics related to the United Kingdom. ...
Bibliography
Official publications / academic histories - Professor M.R.D. Foot. The Special Operations Executive 1940-1946 (Pimlico 1999 ISBN 0-7126-6585-4)
- The best book to read for an overview of SOE and its methods. Foot won the Croix de Guerre as a SAS operative in Brittany, later becoming Professor of Modern History at Manchester University and an official historian of the SOE. All his SOE books are well worth reading.
- Professor M.R.D. Foot. SOE in France (orig. 1966, Government Official Histories, pub Frank Cass revised edition 2000, further edition 2004 ISBN 0-7146-5528-7)
- Written with access to F Section files, (according to Ian Dear, see below) later revised
- Professor William Mackenzie. The Secret History of SOE - Special Operations Executive 1940-1945, BPR Publications, 2000, ISBN 0-9536151-8-9
- Written at the end of WW2 for the British Government’s own use without any intention of publication - in effect a confidential “official history”
- David Stafford, Secret Agent - The True Story of the Special Operations Executive (BBC Worldwide Ltd, 2000), ISBN 0-563-53734-5
- Professor David Stafford has written several books on resistance and the secret war, and contributed the foreword for MFD Foot's book.
- Frederic Boyce & Douglas Everett. SOE – the Scientific Secrets (Sutton Publishing 2003, ISBN 0-7509-4005-0)
- SOE had its own laboratories and workshops inventing and developing new weapons, explosives and sabotage techniques.
- Denis Rigden SOE Syllabus: Lessons in Ungentlemanly Warfare World War II (Secret History Files, National Archives 2001 ISBN 1-903365-18-X) (Introduction).Authentic training manuals used to prepare agents covering the clandestine skills of disguise, surveillance, burglary, interrogation, close combat, and assassination. Also published as “How to be a Spy”.
- Para-Military Training in Scotland During World War 2 (Land, Sea & Islands Centre, Arisaig 2001) An account of SOE training around the Arisaig area.
- Ian Valentine, Station 43: Audley End House and SOE's Polish Section, ISBN 0-7509-4255-X, Sutton Publishing 2006
- Gerald Steinacher Passive grumbling, rather than resisting. The Special Operations Executive (SOE) in Austria 1940-1945. First results of a research on the newly released Austrian SOE files of the Public Record Office Kew, in: International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, vol. 15, number 2 summer 2002, p. 211-221. in: eforum-zeitgeschichte, [2]
First-hand accounts by those who served with SOE - Marks was the Head of Codes at SOE. He gives easily comprehensible introduction to codes, their practical use in the field, and his struggle to improve encryption methods. Engaging accounts of Noor Khan, Violette Szabo, and a great deal of information on his friend Yeo-Thomas.
- First hand story of agent dropped into Brittany to organise resistance activities before and after D-Day.
- F. Spencer Chapman. The Jungle is Neutral (Chatto and Windus 1949)
- Chapman set up first jungle warfare school and operated in Malaya behind Japanese lines. Key figure in SOE in Far East.
- A true story about an ordinary soldier seconded into MI5 and sent on a mission to Singapore just before it fell. With Freddy Spencer-Chapman
- Author witnessed SOE’s campaign with Yugoslav partisans as Churchill’s representative to Tito.
- Firsthand account of Moss and Patrick Leigh-Fermor’s kidnapping of Major General Heinrich Kreipe, the German army commander on Crete. Later turned into a film of the same title.
- Covers the stories of a number of operatives, many known personally by Howarth, who was one of SOE’s founding members responsible for sevearl years for organising agent training in UK. Invaluable seven page bibliography of histories and memoirs.
- Account of SOE's missions to Albania.
- David Howarth. The Shetland Bus. (Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd 1950)
- Account of the Norwegian vessels which kept Britain in touch with the Norwegian resistance
Leo Marks at the opening of the Violette Szabo Museum, Wormelow Leopold Samuel Marks (September 24, 1920 - January 15, 2001) was an English cryptographer and scriptwriter. ...
Sir Fitzroy Hew Royle MacLean of Duart and Strachur, 1st Baronet of Dunconnel, (March 11, 1911, Egypt - June 15, 1996, Scotland) was a Scottish diplomat, adventurer, writer and politician. ...
To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ...
For the famous World War II battle, see: Battle of Crete For other uses, see Crete (disambiguation). ...
Biographies / popular books by authors without personal SOE experience - General chapters on origins, recruitment and training, and then describes in detail thirteen operations in Europe and around the world, some involving the OSS.
- Bruce Marshall. The White Rabbit (Evans Bros 1952, Cassell Military Paperbacks 2000, ISBN 0-304-35697-2)
- Famous biography of Wing Commander Yeo-Thomas who made secret trips to France to meet senior Resistance figures. Epic story of capture, torture and escape, written as told by 'Tommy' to Marshall (who was himself on the HQ staff of RF section).
- Ray Mears, The Real Heroes of Telemark: The True Story of the Secret Mission to Stop Hitler's Atomic Bomb , ISBN 0-340-83015-8, Hodder & Stoughton 2003, Associated with a three part BBC TV series, Ray Mears followed the route taken in 1943 along with some present day members of Royal Marines and Norwegian Army.
- Inside Camp X by Lynn Philip Hodgson, with a foreword by Secret Agent 'Andy Durovecz (2003) - ISBN 0-9687062-0-7
Collins was a Scottish printing company founded by a Presbyterian schoolmaster, William Collins, in Glasgow in 1819, in partnership with Charles Chalmers, the younger brother of Thomas Chalmers, minister of Tron Church, Glasgow. ...
Carve Her Name with Pride is a 1958 British motion picture drama. ...
Violette Reine Elizabeth Bushell Szabo, G.C., M.B.E., CdG (June 26, 1921 – February 5?, 1945) was a World War II secret agent. ...
Odette Sansom while in service of the SOE Odette Marie Celine Sansom (April 28, 1912 - March 13, 1995) was an Allied heroine of World War II. Biography Odette Marie Celine Brailly was born in Amiens in the Somme département of France. ...
Miss Jean Overton Fuller, the crusading British author who brought the story of Noor-un-nisa Inayat Khan to public attention, with her best selling book: Madeleine published a few years after the end of World War II. Miss Fuller investigated the mysterious fate of her friend Princess Noor, an...
The Starr Affair was a book written by Jean Overton Fuller and published in 1954 by Victor Gollancz. ...
John Renshaw Starr (died 1996), was one of two sons of Alfred Demarest Starr (an American) and Ethel Renshaw (English). ...
Cover of the Outdoor Survival Handbook by Ray Mears Ray Mears (born 1964) is a British author and TV presenter on the subject of bushcraft and survival techniques. ...
Filmography (in order of release date) - The Fight Over the Heavy Water (1948)
- A French/Norwegian black and white docu-film titled "La Bataille de l'eau lourde"/"Kampen om tungtvannet" (trans. "The Fight Over the Heavy Water"), featured some of the ‘original cast’, so to speak. Joachim Rønneberg has stated; "The Fight over Heavy Water was an honest attempt to describe history. On the other hand 'Heroes of Telemark' had little to do with reality.”
- The Powell and Pressburger film, Ill Met by Moonlight, (released as Night Ambush in the States), based on the book, was made in 1957, starring Dirk Bogarde and Marius Goring. It dramatises the true story of the capture of a German general by Patrick Leigh-Fermor.
- Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) is a well-known classic British-made war-drama set in Thailand during WW2, during the construction of the Siam - Burma railway through virgin jungle and endless hills and gorges, using malnourished, mistreated allied prisoners of war. A counter-story in the film, which collides with the main story at the climax, relates to a mission to destroy the newly-constructed railway bridge by a fictitious cloak and dagger sabotage organisation called 'Force 316', whose training base is in Ceylon. In fact, this is a thinly-disguised reference to the real-life Force 136, part of SOE, who indeed had wartime jungle-training facilities in Ceylon at M.E. 25 - Horona.
- Carve Her Name with Pride (1958)
- A film of the same title was made in 1958 starring Paul Scofield and Virginia McKenna.
- The Heroes of Telemark (1965) is a film, made in 1965, based on an SOE operation to sabotage the heavy water plant at Rjukan, Norway in 1943.
- Operation Daybreak (1976) based upon a true, dangerous operation in May 1942 to drop a small group of Czech S.O.E. agents into their own occupied country with the singular deadly mission to assassinate Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler's protégé, Reinhard Heydrich, Reichsprotektor (representing the Nazi protectorate over the Czech puppet-state) of Bohemia and Moravia, hated as The Butcher of Prague. The mission succeeded, but with tragic results.
- Nancy Wake Codename: The White Mouse (1987) is a docudrama about Nancy Wake's work for SOE, partly narrated by herself.
- Wish Me Luck a television series that was broadcast between 1988 and 1990 featuring the exploits of the women and, less frequently, the men of SOE, which was renamed the 'Outfit'.
- Tim Powers' Declare and Charles Stross's The Atrocity Archives Fictional versions of SOE turn up as the organization in charge of occult activities in these films.
Odette is a movie made in 1950 starring Anna Neagle as Odette Sansom, an Allied heroine of World War II. Odette Movie details (at the Internet Movie Database) Categories: | | ...
Anna Neagle Anna Neagle (October 20, 1904 - June 3, 1986) was a popular British actress and singer. ...
Trevor Howard Trevor Howard CBE (September 29, 1913 - January 7, 1988) was a British actor. ...
Poster for Ill Met by Moonlight. ...
Powell and Pressburger were a British film-making partnership of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, also known as The Archers. ...
Dirk Bogarde Sir Derek Jules Gaspard Ulric Niven van den Bogaerde (28 March 1921 – 8 May 1999), better known by his stage name Dirk Bogarde, was an actor and author. ...
Marius Goring (May 23, 1912 - September 30, 1998) was a British stage and cinema actor. ...
Sir Patrick Michael Leigh Fermor, known as Paddy, (born 11 February 1915, London) is a British author, scholar and soldier, who played a prominent role behind the lines in the Battle of Crete during World War II. He is famous in the genre of travel literature. ...
The Bridge over the River Kwai taken in June 2004. ...
Force 136 was the general cover name for a branch of the British World War II organisation, the Special Operations Executive. ...
Carve Her Name with Pride is a 1958 British motion picture drama. ...
David Paul Scofield, CH, CBE (born 21 January 1922) is a British actor who was born in Hurstpierpoint, Sussex, England. ...
Virginia McKenna & Elsa (stand-in) Virginia McKenna O.B.E. (born June 7, 1931 in London, UK) is a British stage and screen actress. ...
Heroes of Telemark is a 1965 war film based on the story of the Norwegian heavy water sabotage during World War II. Norwegian resistance fighters sabotage the Nazi German effort to produce heavy water for German atomic research during World War II. Snowy Norwegian locations serve as a backdrop for...
Heavy water is dideuterium oxide, or D2O or 2H2O. It is chemically the same as normal water, H2O, but the hydrogen atoms are of the heavy isotope deuterium, in which the nucleus contains a neutron in addition to the proton found in the nucleus of any hydrogen atom. ...
Map showing the position of Rjukan between lakes Møsvatn (West, upstream) and Tinnsjø (East) Rjukan is the centre of Tinn municipality in Telemark, Norway. ...
Operation Daybreak is a 1975 2nd World War film starring Antony Andrews, Timothy Bottoms and Martin Shaw. ...
Heinrich Himmler as the Reichsführer-SS Reichsführer-SS was a special SS rank that existed between the years of 1925 and 1945. ...
Reinhard Heydrich as SS-Gruppenführer. ...
Protector is historical title with multiple meanings; this article also includes a few litteral equivalents thus rendered // Political & Administrative Heads of State in Europe in Iceland: one Sovereign was styled Beskytter af hele e Island (Protector of Land of Iceland) 25 Jun - 22 Aug 1809 (an intermezzo between Danish Governors...
It has been suggested that Drama Documentary be merged into this article or section. ...
Nancy Wake in Paris, 1932 Nancy Grace Augusta Wake, AC, GM, Légion dhonneur, Croix de Guerre(x3), (born August 30, 1912), was the Allies most decorated servicewoman of World War II who fought alongside the maquis groups of the French Resistance. ...
Wish Me Luck is a British television drama about the exploits of British women agents during the Second World War. ...
Tim Powers at the Israeli ICon 2005 SF&F Convention Timothy Thomas Powers (born February 29, 1952) is an American science fiction and fantasy author. ...
Declare is a World Fantasy Award-winning supernatural secret history cold war spy novel by Tim Powers in which an agent for a secret British spy organization learns the true nature of several beings living on Mount Ararat. ...
Charles Stross at Worldcon 2005 in Glasgow Charles David George Stross (born Leeds, October 18, 1964) is a writer based in Edinburgh, Scotland. ...
The Atrocity Archives (2004, ISBN 1-930846-25-8) is a collection of two stories by British author Charles Stross, consisting of the short novel The Atrocity Archive (originally serialized in Spectrum SF) and The Concrete Jungle, which won the 2005 Hugo Award for Best Novella. ...
Charlotte Gray is a 1999 book by Sebastian Faulks. ...
Miscellany/trivia Ian Fleming Ian Lancaster Fleming (May 28, 1908 – August 12, 1964) was an English author and journalist, best remembered for writing the James Bond series of novels as well as the childrens story, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. ...
Maurice Buckmaster (1902-1992) was the leader of the French section of Special Operations Executive. ...
Vera Atkins was born Vera Maria Rosenberg in Bucharest, Romania, on 16 June 1908. ...
M is the title and code letter for James Bonds boss and fictional head of the British Secret Intelligence Service or MI6. ...
Miss Moneypenny is a fictional character in the James Bond novels and films. ...
The James Bond 007 gun logo James Bond 007 is a fictional British agent [1] created by writer Ian Fleming in 1952. ...
Countess Krystyna Skarbek (May 1, 1915 - June 17, 1952) was the Polish-born spy known as Christine Granville and decorated United Kingdom after |
