Editing Special Operations Executive (section)

===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>