Editing Special Operations Executive (section)

==Operations==

===France===

{{See also|List of Special Operations Executive operations|SOE F Section timeline|Timeline of SOE's Prosper Network}}

[[File:Maquis Haute Savoie.jpg|thumb|''Maquisards'' (Resistance fighters) in the Hautes-Alpes département in August 1944. SOE agents are second from right, possibly [[Christine Granville]], third John Roper, fourth, Robert Purvis.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205060952 |title=Photographs {{!}} THE FRENCH RESISTANCE IN THE HAUTES-ALPES, FRANCE, AUGUST 1944 |website=[[Imperial War Museum Duxford]] |accessdate=16 April 2020 |archive-date=5 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201205183101/https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205060952 |url-status=live }}</ref>]]

In France, most agents were directed by two London-based country sections. F Section was under SOE control, while RF Section was linked to [[Charles de Gaulle]]'s [[Free French]] [[Government in exile]]. Most native French agents served in RF. Two smaller sections also existed: 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]].

On 5 May 1941 [[Georges Bégué]] (1911–1993), a radio operator, became the first SOE agent parachuted into German-occupied France. The American, [[Virginia Hall]], who arrived by boat in August 1941, was the first woman to serve for a lengthy period in France. [[Andrée Borrel]] (1919–1944) and [[Lise de Baissac]] (1905–2004) became the first women parachuted into France on 24 September 1942. A typical team of a network consisted of an organiser (leader), a radio operator, and a courier. Agents performed a variety of functions including arms and sabotage instructors, couriers, liaison officers and radio operators. Between Bégué's first drop in May 1941 and August 1944, more than 400 F Section agents were sent into occupied France. One hundred and four F section agents lost their lives, mostly by being captured and executed by the Germans. RF sent about the same number of agents; AMF sent 600 (although not all of these belonged to SOE). EU/P and DF sent a few dozen agents each.{{Sfn|Foot|2004|p=214}}

Some networks were compromised, with the loss of many agents. In particular agents continued to be sent to the [[Timeline of the Prosper Network|"Prosper"]] network headed by [[Francis Suttill]] for months after it was controlled by the Germans and most of its agents had been captured.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://warfarehistorynetwork.com/daily/wwii/the-british-prosper-spy-network-destroyed-to-protect-d-day/| title=The British Prosper Spy Network: Destroyed to Protect D-Day?| date=31 August 2016| access-date=26 January 2017| archive-date=22 September 2017| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170922123945/http://warfarehistorynetwork.com/daily/wwii/the-british-prosper-spy-network-destroyed-to-protect-d-day/| url-status=dead}}</ref> The head of F Section, [[Maurice Buckmaster]] was blamed by many as he failed to see signs that the network was compromised.{{Sfn|Foot|2004|p=44}}

To support the Allied invasion of France on [[D Day]] in June 1944, SOE and OSS supplemented their agents by air-dropping three-man parties of uniformed military personnel into France as part of [[Operation Jedburgh]]. They were to work with the French Resistance to co-ordinate widespread overt (as opposed to clandestine) acts of resistance. 100 men were eventually dropped, with 6,000 tons of military stores (4,000 tons had been dropped during the years before D-Day).{{Sfn|Foot|2004|pp=222–223}} At the same time, all the various sections operating in France (except EU/P) were nominally placed under a London-based HQ titled [[French Forces of the Interior|État-major des Forces Françaises de l'Intérieur (EMFFI)]].

It took many weeks for a full assessment of the contributions of SOE and the Jedburgh teams to the Allied landings in Normandy, but when it came it vindicated Gubbins' belief that carefully planned sabotage could hinder a modern army. General Eisenhower's staff at the Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Force said that the Jedburghs had "succeeded in imposing more or less serious delays on all the divisions moved to Normandy".{{Sfn|Milton|2016|p=293}} This had prevented Hitler from striking back in the crucial opening hours of Operation Overlord. The most "outstanding example was the delay to the [[2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich|2nd SS Panzer Division]]", Eisenhower's staff said, and added a very personal endorsement, agreeing that the work carried out under Gubbins' leadership played a "very considerable part in our complete and final victory".{{Sfn|Milton|2016|p=293}}

Many agents were captured, killed in action, executed, or died in German concentration camps.  More than one-third of 41 female agents of Section F did not survive the war; the death toll for more than 400 male agents was one-fourth and the toll of thousands of French people helping SOE agents and networks was about one-fifth.<ref>Purnell (2019), ''A Woman of No Importance,'' New York: Viking, p. 131. Purnell and Foot say 39 female agents, but three more should probably be considered agents.</ref><ref>Foot, M.R.D. (1966), ''SOE in France'', London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, pp. 465–469.</ref> Of 119 SOE agents captured by the Germans and deported to concentration camps in Germany, only 23 men and three women survived.<ref name="Pattinson">{{cite journal |last1=Pattinson |first1=Juliette |title=Passing Unnoticed in a French crowd |journal=National Identities |date=September 2010 |volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=291–308 |publisher=Identities, Vol 12, No. 3 |doi=10.1080/14608944.2010.500469 |s2cid=143669292 |url=https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/31922/1/National_Identities_final_version_in_word_1_.doc |archive-date=18 June 2024 |access-date=30 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240618031444/https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/31922/1/National_Identities_final_version_in_word_1_.doc |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Poland===
[[File:Polish Members of the Special Operations Executive, 1942-1944, view 1 - Audley End House - Essex, England - DSC09486.jpg|thumb|right|Memorial to Polish Members of the Special Operations Executive, 1942–1944, at [[Audley End House]]]]

SOE did not need to instigate Polish resistance, because unlike the [[Vichy French]] the Poles overwhelmingly refused to [[collaborate]] with the [[Nazi]]s. Early in the war the Poles established the [[Home Army]], led by a clandestine resistance government known as the [[Polish Secret State]]. Nevertheless, many members of SOE were Polish and the Polish resistance cooperated with them extensively.{{citation needed|date=June 2023}}

SOE assisted the [[Polish government in exile]] with training facilities and logistical support for its 605 special forces operatives known as the [[Cichociemni]], or ''"The Dark and Silent"''. Members of the unit, which was based in [[Audley End House]], Essex, were rigorously trained before being parachuted into [[occupied Poland]]. Because of the distance involved in air travel to Poland, customised aircraft with extra fuel capacity were used in Polish operations such as [[Operation Wildhorn III]]. [[Sue Ryder]], a war-time member of the [[First Aid Nursing Yeomanry]], who worked with the Poles in Britain, later chose the title [[Baroness Ryder of Warsaw]] in honour of these operations.<ref>{{cite web |title=Who We Work With - Poland |url=https://www.lrwmt.org.uk/who-we-work-with/poland/ |website=Lady Ryder of Warsaw Memorial Trust }}</ref>

[[Secret Intelligence Service]] member [[Krystyna Skarbek]] (''nom de guerre'' Christine Granville) ran several operations in Poland, and Hungary (with [[Andrzej Kowerski]]), from 1939-1941, in [[Egypt]] 1941-1944, and France with SOE F (for French) Section in 1944. Having served in the Polish resistance [[Home Army]] since 1939, [[Elżbieta Zawacka]] reached Britain in May 1943, and became the only female member of the Polish elite Special Forces, the [[Cichociemni]] or 'Silent Unseen', therefore also the only woman in SOE P (for Polish) Section. Zawacka, like [[Jan Nowak-Jezioranski]] reached Britain through [[Gibraltar]] on an established courier route out of [[occupied Europe]]. [[Maciej Kalenkiewicz]] was parachuted into [[occupied Poland]], only to be killed by the [[Soviet Union|Soviets]]. A Polish agent was integral to SOE's [[Operation Foxley]], the plan to assassinate [[Hitler]].

Thanks to co-operation between SOE and the [[Home Army]], the Poles were able to deliver the first Allied intelligence on the [[Holocaust]] to London in June 1942.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%206317.pdf |title=Grojanowski Report |publisher=Yad Vashem |access-date=2017-08-24 |archive-date=14 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171114152925/http://www.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/microsoft%20word%20-%206317.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Witold Pilecki]] of the Polish Home Army designed a joint operation with SOE to liberate [[Auschwitz]], but the British rejected it as infeasible. Joint Anglo-Polish operations provided London with vital intelligence on the [[V-2 rocket]], German troops movements on the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]], and the [[Soviet repressions of Polish citizens]].

[[RAF]] 'Special Duties Flights' were sent to Poland to assist the [[Warsaw uprising]] against the Nazis. The rebellion was defeated with a loss of 200,000 casualties (mostly German executions of Polish civilians) after the nearby [[Red Army]] refused military assistance to the [[Polish Home Army]]. RAF Special Duties Flights were refused landing rights at Soviet-held airfields near Warsaw, even when requiring emergency landings after battle damage. These flights were also attacked by Soviet fighters, despite the [[USSR]]'s officially [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] status.{{Sfn|Orpen|1984|p=}}{{page needed|date=August 2017}}

===Germany===
Due to the dangers and lack of friendly population few operations were conducted in Germany itself. The German and Austrian section of SOE was run by Lieutenant Colonel 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 Major General [[Gerald Templer]] heading the Directorate, with Thornley as his deputy.

Several major operations were planned, including [[Operation Foxley]], a 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 out but ''Periwig'' went ahead despite restrictions placed on it by SIS and [[SHAEF]]. Several German [[Prisoner of war|prisoners of war]] were trained as agents, briefed to make contact with the anti-Nazi resistance and to conduct sabotage. They were then parachuted into Germany in the hope that they would either hand themselves in to the ''[[Gestapo]]'' or be captured by them, and reveal their supposed mission. Fake coded wireless transmissions were broadcast to Germany and various pieces of agent paraphernalia such as code books and wireless receivers were allowed to fall into the hands of the German authorities.

In Austria a resistance group formed around Kaplan [[Heinrich Maier]]. The Maier group was informed very early about the mass murder of Jews through its contacts with the Semperit factory near Auschwitz. SOE was in contact with this resistance group through its colleague G. E. R. Gedye in 1943, but was not convinced of the reliability of the contact and did not cooperate due to security concerns.<ref>Peter Broucek "Die österreichische Identität im Widerstand 1938–1945" (2008), p 163.</ref><ref>''Hansjakob Stehle "Die Spione aus dem Pfarrhaus"'' (German: The spy from the rectory)" In: ''Die Zeit'', 5 January 1996.</ref><ref>Peter Pirker: "Whirlwind" in Istanbul. ''Geheimdienste und Exil-Widerstand am Beispiel Stefan Wirlandner''. In: DÖW 2009: ''Schwerpunkt Bewaffneter Widerstand – Widerstand im Militär''. Vienna 2009, {{ISBN|978-3-643-50010-6}}, p 117.</ref>

===The Netherlands===
[[File:Mauthausen-englandspiel2.jpg|thumb| [[Mauthausen concentration camp]], memorial plaques behind the Prison Block marking the spot where the ashes of the executed ''Englandspiel'' SOE agents are buried]]
[[File:Mauthausen-englandspiel1.jpg|thumb|''Englandspiel'' memorial plaques behind the Prison Block of the [[Mauthausen concentration camp]]]]
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 ignored the absence of security checks in radio transmissions, and other warnings that the Germans were running the supposed resistance networks. A total of 50 agents were caught by the Germans and brought to Camp Haaren in the South of the Netherlands. Five captured men managed to escape from the camp. Two of them, Pieter Dourlein and Ben Ubbink, escaped on 29 August 1943 and found their way to Switzerland. There, the Netherlands Embassy sent messages over their controlled sets to England that SOE Netherlands was compromised. SOE set up new elaborate networks, which continued to operate until the Netherlands were liberated at the end of the war. In September 1944, as allied military forces were advancing into the Netherlands, the remaining captured SOE agents were taken by the Germans from Camp Haaren to [[Mauthausen concentration camp]] and executed.

From September 1944 to April 1945, eight Jedburgh teams were also active in the Netherlands. The first team, code named "Dudley" was parachuted into the east of the Netherlands one week before [[Operation Market Garden]]. The next four teams were attached to the Airborne forces that carried out Market Garden. After the failure of Market Garden, one Jedburgh team trained (former) resistance men in the liberated South of the Netherlands. In April 1945 the last two Dutch Jedburgh teams became operational. One team code named "Gambling", was a combined Jedburgh/[[Special Air Service]] (SAS) group that was dropped into the centre of the Netherlands to assist the Allied advance. The last team was parachuted into the Northern Netherlands as part of SAS operation "Amherst".{{Sfn|Hooiveld|2016|p=199}} Despite the fact that operating in the flat and densely populated Netherlands was very difficult for the Jedburghs, the teams were quite successful.{{Sfn|Hooiveld|2016|p=228}}

===Belgium===
Section T established some effective networks in Belgium, in part orchestrated by fashion designer [[Edwin Hardy Amies|Hardy Amies]], who rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel. Amies adapted names of fashion accessories for use as code words, while managing some of the most murderous and ruthless agents in the field.<ref>[http://www.glbtq.com/arts/am_z_ies_h.html Edwin Amies biography] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141031120317/http://www.glbtq.com/arts/am_z_ies_h.html |date=31 October 2014 }}, GLBT&Q website</ref> The rapid [[Liberation of Belgium|liberation of the country]] by Allied forces in September 1944 provided the resistance with little time to stage an uprising. They did assist the Allies to bypass German rearguards, and enabled the Allies to capture the vital [[Port of Antwerp]] intact.

After Brussels was liberated, Amies outraged his superiors by setting up a ''[[Vogue (magazine)|Vogue]]'' photo-shoot in Belgium.<ref name="TelgSOE">{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1428645/How-secret-agent-Hardy-Amies-stayed-in-Vogue-during-the-war.html |title=How secret agent Hardy Amies stayed in Vogue during the war |newspaper=The Telegraph |first=Peter |last=Day |date=29 April 2003 |access-date=2017-08-23 |location=London (UK) |archive-date=11 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180911175116/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1428645/How-secret-agent-Hardy-Amies-stayed-in-Vogue-during-the-war.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1946, he was knighted in Belgium for his service with SOE, being [[Order of the Crown (Belgium)|named an officer of the Order of the Crown]].

===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,<ref>{{Cite journal |url=https://publicatt.unicatt.it/handle/10807/4294?mode=full.24#.WZ5VZGxlKUk |last=Berrettini |first=Mireno |title=Set Europe Ablaze! Lo Special Operations Executive e l'Italia 1940–1943 |journal=Italia Contemporanea |location=Italy |volume=253 |pages=409–434 |year=2008 |archive-date=24 August 2017 |access-date=24 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170824093514/https://publicatt.unicatt.it/handle/10807/4294?mode=full.24#.WZ5VZGxlKUk |url-status=dead }}</ref> when [[Benito Mussolini|Mussolini]]'s government collapsed and Allied forces already occupied [[Sicily]].{{Sfn|Berrettini|2010|p=}}{{page needed|date=August 2017}}

Two years earlier, in April 1941, in a mission codenamed "Yak", [[Peter Fleming (writer)|Peter Fleming]] had attempted to recruit agents from among the many thousands of Italian [[Prisoner of war|prisoners of war]] captured in the [[Western Desert Campaign]]. He recruited none.{{Sfn|Crowdy|2008|p=}}{{page needed|date=August 2017}} Attempts to search among Italian immigrants in the United States, Britain and Canada for agents to be sent to Italy had similarly poor results.<ref>{{Cite journal |url=https://publicatt.unicatt.it/handle/10807/4287?mode=full#.WZ6CWlIUncs |last=Berrettini |first=Mireno |title="To set Italy Ablaze!" Special Operations Executive e i reclutamenti di agenti tra Enemy Aliens e Prisoners of War italiani (Regno Unito, Stati Uniti e Canada) |journal=Altreitalie |location=Italy |volume=XL |pages=5–25 |year=2010 |ref=none |archive-date=24 August 2017 |access-date=24 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170824134308/https://publicatt.unicatt.it/handle/10807/4287?mode=full#.WZ6CWlIUncs |url-status=live }}</ref>

During the first three years of war, the most important "episode" of the collaboration between SOE and Italian anti-fascism was a project of an anti-fascist uprising in [[Sardinia]], which SOE supported at some stage but did not receive approval from the Foreign Office.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Berrettini |first=Mireno |title=Diplomazia clandestina: Emilio Lussu ed Inghilterra nei documenti dello Special Operations Executive, saggio introdutivo a E. LUSSU, Diplomazia clandestina |journal=Firenze |location=Italy |pages=7–18 |year=1955 }}</ref>

In the aftermath of the Italian collapse, SOE (in Italy renamed No. 1 Special Force) helped build a large resistance organisation in the cities of [[Northern Italy]], and in the [[Alps]].<ref>M. Berrettini, Special Operations Executive, Special Force, Antifascismo italiano e Resistenza partigiana</ref> Italian partisans harassed German forces in Italy throughout the autumn and winter of 1944, and in the [[Spring 1945 offensive in Italy]] they captured [[Genoa]] and other cities unaided by Allied forces. SOE helped the Italian Resistance send British missions to the partisan formations<ref>{{Cite journal |url=https://publicatt.unicatt.it/handle/10807/4295#.WZ6AI1IUncs |last=Berrettini |first=Mireno |title=Le missioni dello Special Operations Executive e la Resistenza italiana |journal=QF Quaderni di Farestoria |location=Italy |volume=3 |pages=27–47 |year=2007 |archive-date=24 August 2017 |access-date=24 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170824134311/https://publicatt.unicatt.it/handle/10807/4295#.WZ6AI1IUncs |url-status=live }}</ref> and supply war material to the bands of patriots, a supply made without political prejudices, and which also helped the Communist formations ([[Brigate Garibaldi]]).<ref>{{Cite journal |url=https://publicatt.unicatt.it/handle/10807/4290?mode=full.24#.WZ59oFIUncs |last=Berrettini |first=Mireno |title=La Special Force britannica e la "questione" comunista nella Resistenza italiana |journal=Studi e ricerche di storia |location=Italy |volume=71 |pages=37–62 |year=2009 |archive-date=24 August 2017 |access-date=24 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170824134735/https://publicatt.unicatt.it/handle/10807/4290?mode=full.24#.WZ59oFIUncs |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Late in 1943, 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"''. This later became ''"Force 266"'', reserving 133 for operations run from Cairo rather than the heel of Italy. Flights from Brindisi were run to the Balkans and Poland, particularly once control had been wrested from SOE's Cairo headquarters and was exercised directly by Gubbins. SOE established a new packing station for the parachute containers close to Brindisi Air base, along the lines of those created at [[Saffron Walden]]. This was ME 54, a factory employing hundreds, the American (OSS) side of which was known as "Paradise Camp".<ref name="Violette Szabo & SOE"/>{{Sfn|Warren|1947|p=}}{{page needed|date=August 2017}}

===Yugoslavia===
{{See also|Yugoslavia and the Allies}}

1941, SOE helped considerably in anti-Axis propaganda and in preparing the [[Yugoslav coup d'état]] which overthrew the pro-Axis regent, [[Prince Paul of Yugoslavia|Prince Paul]].<ref>{{cite journal| url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/23C920B170CF14692F3A25784B9245F7/S0037677900145619a.pdf/soe-and-british-involvement-in-the-belgrade-coup-detat-of-march-1941.pdf| title=SOE and British Involvement in the Belgrade Coup d'État of March 1941| last=Stafford| first=David A. T| journal=Slavic Review| publisher=Cambridge University Press| date=27 January 2017| volume=36| issue=3| pages=399–419| doi=10.2307/2494975| jstor=2494975| archive-date=11 August 2022| access-date=11 August 2022| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220811150441/https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/23C920B170CF14692F3A25784B9245F7/S0037677900145619a.pdf/soe-and-british-involvement-in-the-belgrade-coup-detat-of-march-1941.pdf| url-status=live}}</ref> After the pro-British coup succeeded, the Axis [[Invasion of Yugoslavia]] ensued. In the aftermath of the German invasion and the Yugoslav capitulation, the [[Kingdom of Yugoslavia]] fragmented. [[Croatia]] had a substantial pro-Axis movement, the [[Ustaše]]. In Croatia and the remainder of Yugoslavia, two resistance movements formed: the royalist [[Chetniks]] under [[Draža Mihailović]], and the Communist [[Partisans (Yugoslavia)|Partisans]] under [[Josip Broz Tito]].

Mihailović was the first to attempt to contact the Allies, and SOE despatched a party on 20 September 1941 under Major [[Bill Hudson (British Army officer)|"Marko" Hudson]]. Hudson also encountered Tito's forces. Notable members of this party included actor [[Christopher Lee]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUSHMUVu-Xk&ab_channel=EyesOnCinema| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211104/yUSHMUVu-Xk| archive-date=2021-11-04 | url-status=live|title=Christopher Lee talks Special Forces and receives an incredible gift|website=YouTube|access-date=18 February 2020}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Through the royalist government in exile, SOE at first supported the Chetniks. Eventually, however, due to reports that the Chetniks were less effective and even collaborating with German and Italian forces on occasion, British support was redirected to the Partisans, even before the [[Tehran Conference]] in 1943.

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]]. However, accounts vary dramatically between all historical works on the ''"Chetnik controversy"''.

===Hungary===
SOE was unable to establish links or contacts in Hungary before the regime of [[Miklós Horthy]] aligned itself with the [[Axis Powers]]. Distance and lack of such contacts prevented any effort being made by SOE until the Hungarians themselves dispatched a diplomat (László Veress) in a clandestine attempt to contact the [[Allies of World War II|Western Allies]]. SOE facilitated his return, with some radio sets. Before the Allied governments could agree terms, Hungary was placed under German military occupation and Veress was forced to flee the country.{{sfn|Foot|2004|p=204}}

Two missions subsequently dropped "blind" i.e. without prior arrangement for a reception party, failed. So too did an attempt by [[Basil Davidson]] to incite a partisan movement in Hungary, after he made his way there from northeastern Yugoslavia.{{sfn|Foot|2004|p=205}}

===Greece===
[[Kingdom of Greece (Glücksburg)|Greece]] was eventually overrun by the Axis after a decisive win over the Italians and a significant defence lasting several months which also caused a major diversion of German forces, subsequently delaying the invasion of Russia. This was the first serious setback suffered by the Axis forces and resulted in Churchill saying that "from now on we will say heroes fight like Greeks!". In the aftermath, SIS and another intelligence organisation, SIME, discouraged attempts at sabotage or resistance as this might imperil relations with Turkey,{{Sfn|Ball|2010|p=104}} although SOE maintained contacts with resistance groups in [[Crete]]. 

In late 1942, at the army's instigation, SOE mounted its first operation, codenamed [[Operation Harling]], into Greece in an attempt to disrupt the railway which was being used to move materials to the [[German Panzer Army Africa]]. A party under Colonel (later Brigadier) [[E. C. W. "Eddie" Myers|Eddie Myers]], assisted by [[Montague Woodhouse, 5th Baron Terrington|Christopher Woodhouse]], was parachuted into Greece and discovered two guerrilla groups operating in the mountains: the pro-Communist [[Greek People's Liberation Army|ELAS]] and the republican [[National Republican Greek League|EDES]]. On 25 November 1942, Myers's party blew up one of the spans of the railway viaduct at [[Gorgopotamos]], supported by 150 Greek partisans from these two organisations who engaged Italians guarding the viaduct. This cut the railway linking Thessaloniki with Athens and Piraeus.

Relations between the resistance groups and the British soured. When the British needed once again to disrupt the railway across Greece as part of the deception operations preceding [[Operation Husky]], the Allied invasion of Sicily, the resistance groups refused to take part, rightly fearing [[Bandenbekämpfung|German reprisals]] against civilians. Instead, a six-man commando party from the British and New Zealand armies, led by New Zealander Lieutenant Colonel Cecil Edward Barnes, a civil engineer,<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C36205#images| title = Auckland War Memorial Museum| access-date = 15 November 2015| archive-date = 2 September 2017| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170902011421/http://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C36205#images| url-status = live}}</ref> carried out the destruction of the [[Asopos]] viaduct on 21 June 1943.{{sfn|Field|Gordon-Creed|Creed|2012|p=}} Two attempts by [[Mike Cumberlege]] to make the [[Corinth Canal]] unnavigable ended in failure.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mike Cumberledge SOE - Book by Robin Knight |url=https://chiswickcalendar.co.uk/mike-cumberledge-soe-book-by-robin-knight/ |access-date=2024-08-03 |website=The Chiswick Calendar |language=en-GB}}</ref>

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]] (the [[Plaka]] agreement).

A lesser known, but important function of SOE in Greece was to inform the Cairo headquarters of the movement of the German military aircraft that were serviced and repaired at the two former Greek military aircraft facilities in and around Athens.{{Citation needed|date=November 2010}}

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.{{Sfn|Foot|2004|p=236}}

Several resistance groups and Allied stay-behind parties operated in [[Crete]] after the Germans occupied the island in the [[Battle of Crete]]. SOE's operations involved figures such as [[Patrick Leigh Fermor]], John Lewis, Harry Rudolph Fox Burr, [[Thomas James Dunbabin|Tom Dunbabin]], [[Sandy Rendel]], John Houseman, [[Xan Fielding]] and [[W. Stanley Moss|Bill Stanley Moss]]. Some of the most famous moments included the abduction of General [[Kidnap of General Kreipe|Heinrich Kreipe]] led by Leigh Fermor and Moss – subsequently portrayed in the film ''[[Ill Met by Moonlight (film)|Ill Met by Moonlight]]'',<ref>{{cite web|title= Secret War Exhibition, Imperial War Museum, London|url= http://www.iwm.org.uk/visits/iwm-london|access-date= 16 February 2014|archive-date= 24 September 2017|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170924060125/http://www.iwm.org.uk/visits/iwm-london|url-status= live}}</ref> and the [[Damasta sabotage|sabotage of Damasta]] led by Moss.

===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 northwestern Greece. SOE agents who entered Albania then or later included [[Julian Amery, Baron Amery of Lustleigh|Julian Amery]], [[Anthony Quayle]], [[David Smiley]] and [[Neil McLean (politician)|Neil "Billy" McLean]]. 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.

SOE's envoy to Albania, Brigadier Edmund "Trotsky" Davies, was captured by the Germans early in 1944. Some 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===
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1972-039-44, Heydrich-Attentat.jpg|thumb|The car in which [[Reinhard Heydrich]] was assassinated]]
SOE sent many missions into the [[Czech Republic|Czech areas]] of the so-called [[Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia]], and later into [[Slovak Republic (1939–1945)|Slovakia]]. The most famous mission was [[Operation Anthropoid]], the assassination of [[SS]]-[[Obergruppenführer]] [[Reinhard Heydrich]] in Prague. From 1942 to 1943 the [[Czechoslovakia|Czechoslovaks]] had their own Special Training School (STS) at [[Chicheley|Chicheley Hall]] in Buckinghamshire. In 1944, SOE sent men to support the [[Slovak National uprising]].

===Norway===
In March 1941 a group performing commando raids in Norway, [[Norwegian Independent Company 1]] (NOR.I.C.1) was organised under leadership of Captain [[Martin Linge]]. Their initial raid in 1941 was [[Operation Archery]], the best known raid was probably the [[Norwegian heavy water sabotage]]. Communication lines with London were gradually improved so that by 1945, 64 radio operators were spread throughout Norway.<ref>Ian Herrington,  ''Special Operations in Norway: SOE and Resistance in World War II'' (Bloomsbury Academic, 2019) [https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showpdf.php?id=54122 online review] </ref>

===Denmark===
The Danish resistance assisted SOE in its activities in neutral Sweden. For example, SOE was able to obtain several shiploads of vital [[ball-bearing]]s which had been interned in Swedish ports. The [[Danish people|Danes]] also pioneered several secure communications methods; for example, a [[burst transmission|burst transmitter/receiver]] which transcribed [[Morse code]] onto or from a paper tape faster than a human operator could handle.{{sfn|Boyce|Everett|2003|pp=220,221}}

===Romania===
Shortly after the establishment of the SOE, the "Romania section of SOE" was formed with the mission of sabotaging oil shipments from Romania to Germany and attempting to form a resistance movement mainly by keeping close contact with the pro-British political actors.{{sfn|Deletant|2016|page=76}} An SOE network in Romania was set up by engineer Valeriu "Rică" Georgescu (code-named "Jockey") in February 1941. The role of this network was to gather military and economic intelligence and to maintain contact between [[Iuliu Maniu]] and the British Government. Until its discovery and fall in August 1941, the network proved an invaluable asset by supplying the British with information gathered from the German High Command in [[Bucharest]], such as the [[Operation Barbarossa|German plans to invade the USSR]].<ref name="Georgescu">{{cite web|url=https://historia.ro/sectiune/general/reteaua-rica-georgescu-574366.html|title=Rețeaua Rică Georgescu|author=Alexandru Popescu|language=ro|work=Historia|access-date=30 March 2024|archive-date=31 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240331014303/https://historia.ro/sectiune/general/reteaua-rica-georgescu-574366.html|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Deletant|2016|page=84}}

Although arrested by the Romanian authorities, Georgescu maintained his contacts with the SOE.<ref name="Georgescu"/> To better establish connections with Maniu and the opposition, a first SOE mission, code-named "Ranji", was sent to Romania in June 1943. The mission, led by Captain Thomas Russell, was dropped into Yugoslavia and made its way to Romania where it continued to operate until Russell was killed in September of the same year. The mission did succeed in delivering a radio set and a radioman to Maniu's supporters.{{sfn|Deletant|2016|pages=102–105}}

In December 1943, another SOE delegation under the code name [[Operation Autonomous]] was parachuted into Romania. The delegation, including [[Alfred Gardyne de Chastelain|Colonel Gardyne de Chastelain]], Captain Silviu Mețianu and [[Ivor Porter]], was captured by the [[Jandarmeria Română|Romanian Gendarmerie]] and held until the night of [[King Michael's Coup]] on 23 August 1944.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://codenames.info/operation/autonomous/|title=Autonomous {{!}} Operations & Codenames of WWII|website=codenames.info|access-date=2017-06-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170925040251/http://codenames.info/operation/autonomous/|archive-date=25 September 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> The task of Autonomous was to attempt again to establish direct contact with Maniu and establish the details of an eventual coup against Antonescu, and in case of capture to inform Antonescu of the British government's attitude towards Romania and to advise him in sending emissaries to discuss the Allied armistice terms.{{sfn|Deletant|2016|pages=107–108}}

===Abyssinia===
[[Ethiopian Empire|Abyssinia]] was the scene of some of SOE's earliest and most successful efforts. SOE organised a force of Ethiopian irregulars under [[Orde Charles Wingate]] in support of the exiled Emperor [[Haile Selassie]]. 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.

===West Africa===
The neutral Spanish island of [[Bioko|Fernando Po]] was the scene of [[Operation Postmaster]], one of SOE's most successful exploits. The large Italian merchant vessel ''[[Duchessa d'Aosta]]'' and the German tug ''Likomba'' had taken refuge in the harbour of [[Malabo|Santa Isabel]]. On 14 January 1942, while the ships' officers were attending a party ashore thrown by an SOE agent, commandos and SOE personnel led by [[Gus March-Phillipps]] boarded the two vessels, cut the anchor cables and towed them out to sea, where they later rendezvoused with Royal Navy ships. Several neutral authorities and observers were impressed by the British display of ruthlessness.{{Sfn|Milton|2016|pp=128–145}}

===Southeast Asia===
{{Main|Force 136}}
[[File:War in the Far East gallery.JPG|thumb|War in the Far East exhibit in the [[Imperial War Museum]] London. Among the collection are a Japanese [[Good Luck Flag]], operational map (numbered 11), photographs of Force 136 personnel and guerillas in Burma (15), a [[katana]] that was surrendered to a SOE officer in Gwangar, [[British Malaya|Malaya]] in September 1945 (7), and rubber soles designed by SOE to be worn under agents' boots to disguise footprints when landing on beaches (bottom left).]]

As early as 1940, SOE was preparing plans for operations in Southeast Asia. As in Europe, after initial Allied military disasters, SOE built up indigenous resistance organisations and guerrilla armies in enemy ([[Imperial Japan|Japanese]]) occupied territory. SOE also launched ''"Operation Remorse"'' (1944–45), which was ultimately aimed at protecting the economic and political status of [[Hong Kong]].{{Citation needed|date=July 2009}} Force 136 engaged in covert trading of goods and currencies in China. Its agents proved remarkably successful, raising £77m through their activities, which were used to provide assistance for Allied prisoners of war and, more controversially, to buy influence locally to facilitate a smooth return to pre-war conditions.{{citation needed|date=April 2022}}