Difference between revisions of "SOE"

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|headquarters=64 Baker Street, London
 
|wikipedia=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Operations_Executive
 
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|leader=CD of The Special Operations Executive
 
|leader=CD of The Special Operations Executive

Revision as of 03:28, 12 February 2015

Group.png SOE  Rdf-entity.pngRdf-icon.png
Formation22 July 1940
Extinction15 January 1946
Headquarters64 Baker Street, London
Subgroups•  Special Operations Executive/SO.1
•  Special Operations Executive/SO.2
•  Special Operations Executive/SO.3
Interest ofHugh Seton-Watson
SubpageSOE/CD
SOE/CEO
SOE/SO.1
SOE/Vice Chief

The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a British agency operating during the Second World War, with responsibility for 'special operations' including psychological warfare, assassinations and paramilitary activities.[1]

Origins

SOE was established in in July 1940 by consolidating Section D of MI6 with MI R, a War Office guerrilla warfare research group and a covert propaganda unit, Department EH.[2]

Structure

The leader of the SOE was referred to as "CD". Initially, SOE had three sections:

  1. SO.1 for propaganda, (separated a year later to become the Political Warfare Executive under Rex Leeper and Robert Bruce Lockhart)[3]
  2. SO.2 for dirty tricks, and
  3. SO.3 for planning.

Closure

The SOE was closed down in 1946 after a continued rivalry with MI6. The WW2 head of that organisation , Sir Stuart Menzies was a friend of Winston Churchill and "a master at using his political and social connections to win time and eventual survival for SIS, indeed so successful was he that in 1946 he persuaded the Labour Government to close down SOE and transfer its best staff and most promising operations to SIS."[4] MI6's 1946 false flag bombing Operation Embarrass used a team of ex-SOE agents.[5]

Resources

 

Employees on Wikispooks

EmployeeJobAppointedEndDescription
A.J. AyerSpook19431945
John BeevorLeader for Portugal19411942
Norman DarbyshireIntelligence Operative19431946
Hugh FraserSoldier19421945
Francis Brooks RichardsDirector of OperationsWorld War II
Monty WoodhouseSoldier19411945
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References

  1. Stephen Dorril, MI6, Touchstone 2002, p.103.
  2. Thomas E. Mahl, Desperate Deception: British Covert Operations in the United States 1939-44, Brassey's, 1999, p.13.
  3. Thomas E. Mahl, Desperate Deception: British Covert Operations in the United States 1939-44, Brassey's, 1999, p.13
  4. The Mechanisms of an Oppressive State
  5. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2010/09/19/mi6-attacked-jewish-refugee-ships-after-wwii.html