Editing Special Operations Executive (section)

==Locations==

===Baker Street===
{{Main|List of SOE establishments}}

[[File:Beaulieu SOE Memorial.jpg|thumb|SOE memorial plaque in the cloister of [[Beaulieu Abbey]], Hampshire, unveiled by Major General Gubbins in April 1969]]

After working from temporary offices in Central London, the headquarters of SOE was moved on 31 October 1940 into [[64 Baker Street]] (hence the nickname ''"the [[Baker Street Irregulars]]"''). Ultimately, SOE occupied much of the western side of Baker Street. "Baker Street" became the euphemistic [[synecdoche]] of referring to SOE. The precise nature of the buildings remained concealed; it had no entry in the telephone directories, and correspondence to external bodies bore service addresses; MO1 (SP) (a War Office branch), NID(Q) (Admiralty), AI10 (Air Ministry), or other fictitious bodies or civilian companies.{{Sfn|Foot|2004|p=22}}

SOE maintained a large number of training, research and development or administrative centres. It was a joke that ''"SOE"'' stood for ''"Stately 'omes of England"'', after the large number of country houses and estates it requisitioned and used.

===Production and trials===
The establishments connected with experimentation and production of equipment were mainly concentrated in and around [[Hertfordshire]] and were designated by roman numbers.{{Sfn|Boyce|Everett|2003|p=13}} The main weapons and devices research establishments were [[The Firs, Whitchurch|The Firs]], the home of MD1, formerly MIR(C), near [[Aylesbury]] in Buckinghamshire (although this was not formally part of SOE), and [[Station IX]] at [[The Frythe]], a country house (and former private hotel) outside [[Welwyn Garden City]] where, under the cover name of ISRB (Inter Services Research Bureau), SOE developed radios, weapons, explosive devices and [[booby trap]]s.{{Sfn|Boyce|Everett|2003|p=15}}

Section D originally had a research station at [[Bletchley Park]], which also held the [[Government Communications Headquarters|Government Code and Cipher School]], until in November 1940 it was decided that it was unwise to conduct codebreaking and explosives experiments on the same site.{{sfn|Turner|2011|pp=40–42}}{{sfn|Boyce|Everett|2003|page=14}} The establishment moved to Aston House near [[Stevenage]] in Hertfordshire and was renamed [[Station XII]]. It originally conducted research and development but from 1941 it became a production, storage and distribution centre for devices already developed.{{Sfn|Turner|2011|p=22}}

Station XV, at the [[Thatched Barn]] near [[Borehamwood]], was devoted to [[camouflage]], which usually meant equipping agents with authentic local clothing and personal effects.{{Sfn|Boyce|Everett|2003|p=96}} Various sub-stations in London were also involved in this task.{{Sfn|Boyce|Everett|2003|p=97}} Station XV and other camouflage sections also devised methods of hiding weapons, explosives or radios in innocuous-seeming items.{{Sfn|Boyce|Everett|2003|p=299-300}}

Agents also needed identity papers, ration cards, currency and so on. Station XIV, at [[Briggens House]] near [[Roydon, Essex|Roydon]] in Essex, was originally the home of STS38, a training facility for Polish saboteurs,{{Sfn|Turner|2017}} who set up their own forgery section. As the work expanded, it became the central forgery department for SOE and the Poles eventually moved out on 1 April 1942. The technicians at Station XIV included a number of ex-convicts.{{Sfn|Boyce|Everett|2003|pp=97–98}}

===Training and operations===
The training establishments, and properties used by country sections, were designated by Arabic numbers and were widely distributed.{{Sfn|Boyce|Everett|2003|p=13}} The initial training centres of SOE were at country houses such as [[Wanborough Manor]], [[Guildford]]. Agents destined to serve in the field underwent [[commando]] training at [[Arisaig]] in Scotland, where they were taught armed and unarmed combat skills by [[William E. Fairbairn]] and [[Eric A. Sykes]], former Inspectors in the [[Shanghai Municipal Police]]. Those who passed this course received [[parachute]] training by STS 51 and 51a situated near [[Altrincham]], Cheshire with the assistance of No.1 Parachute Training School RAF,{{Sfn|MacKay|2005|p=}}{{page needed|date=August 2017}} at [[RAF Ringway]] (which later became [[Manchester Airport]]). They then attended courses in security and [[Tradecraft]] at Group B schools around [[Beaulieu, Hampshire|Beaulieu]] in Hampshire.{{sfn|Bailey|2008|p=43}} Finally, depending on their intended role, they received specialist training in skills such as [[demolition]] techniques or [[Morse code]] [[telegraphy]] at various country houses in England.

SOE's Cairo branch established a commando and parachute training school numbered STS 102 at [[Ramat David]] near [[Haifa]]. This school trained agents who joined SOE from among the armed forces stationed in the Middle East, and also members of the [[Special Air Service]] and Greek [[Sacred Band (World War II)|Sacred Squadron]].{{sfn|Bailey|2008|pp=61–64}}

A [[Camp X|commando training centre]] similar to Arisaig and run by Fairbairn{{Sfn|Foot|2004|p=65}} was later set up at [[Oshawa]], for Canadian members of SOE and members of the newly created American organisation, the [[Office of Strategic Services]].