Editing Office of Strategic Services (section)

==Training facilities==
At [[Camp X]], near [[Whitby, Ontario]], an "assassination and elimination" training program was operated by the British [[Special Operations Executive]], assigning exceptional masters in the art of knife-wielding combat, such as [[William E. Fairbairn]] and [[Eric A. Sykes]], to instruct trainees.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Whiteclay |first=John Chambers II |title=Training for War and Espionage: Office of Strategic Services Training During World War II |publisher=Studies in Intelligence |year=2010 |edition=Vol. 54, No. 2 |department=Center for the Study of Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency, Washington, DC, 20505}}</ref> Many members of the Office of Strategic Services also were trained there. It was dubbed "the school of mayhem and murder" by [[George Hunter White]] who trained at the facility in the 1940's.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mcintosh |first=Alex |title=Camp X and the Birth of the CIA |publisher=[[BBC]] |year=2014 |location=United Kingdom}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=1970-01-01 |title=How Camp X Worked |url=https://science.howstuffworks.com/camp-x.htm |access-date=2024-06-26 |website=HowStuffWorks |language=en-us}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2010-05-04 |title=A Terrible Mistake: H.P. Albarelli's Investigation into CIA Scientist's Murder, at the Crossroads of Mind Control and Assassination |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/a-terrible-mistake-hp-alb_b_485774 |access-date=2024-06-26 |website=HuffPost |language=en}}</ref>

Beginning in January 1941, [[Millard Preston Goodfellow|Colonel Millard Preston Goodfellow]], creator and Director of the [[Special Operations Branch]] (at this time still known as SA/G within the COI), negotiated with the [[National Park Service]] to obtain three tracts of land to be dedicated as training camps for both SA/G and SA/B.<ref name=":52">{{Cite web |title=OSS: LTC Ellery Huntington's Staff |url=https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/02730858 |access-date=2024-06-27 |website=www.cia.gov}}</ref> In March, he assigned [[Garland H. Williams]] to be the Training Director of these facilities.<ref name=":52" />

Commander N.G.A Woolley was loaned to COI by the British Navy and helped Donovan and Goodfellow to organize underwater training and craft landing.<ref name=":52" />

From these incipient beginnings, the Office of Strategic Services opened camps in the United States, and finally abroad. [[Prince William Forest Park]] (then known as Chopawamsic Recreational Demonstration Area) was the site of an OSS training camp that operated from 1942 to 1945. Area "C", consisting of approximately {{convert|6,000|acre|km2}}, was used extensively for communications training, whereas Area "A" was used for training some of the OGs (Operational Groups).<ref>{{cite book|last=Chambers II|first=John Whiteclay|title=OSS Training in the National Parks and Service Abroad in World War II|page=40|chapter=2|chapter-url=https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/oss/chap2.pdf|publisher=U.S. National Park Service|date=2008|location=Washington, DC|isbn=978-1511654760}}</ref> [[Catoctin Mountain Park]], now the location of [[Camp David]], was the site of OSS training Area "B" where the first Special Operations, or SO, were trained.<ref>{{cite book|last=Chambers II|first=John Whiteclay|title=OSS Training in the National Parks and Service Abroad in World War II|pages=195–199|publisher=U.S. National Park Service|year=2008|chapter =Chapter 6: Instructing for Dangerous Missions|chapter-url=https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/oss/chap6.pdf|url=https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/oss/}}</ref> [[Special Operations Branch|Special Operations]] was modeled after Great Britain's [[Special Operations Executive]], which included parachute, sabotage, self-defense, weapons, and leadership training to support guerrilla or partisan resistance.<ref>{{cite book|last=Chambers II|first =John Whiteclay|title=OSS Training in the National Parks and Service Abroad in World War II|page=40|chapter=2|chapter-url=https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/oss/chap2.pdf|publisher=U.S. National Park Service|date=2008|location=Washington, DC|isbn=978-1511654760}}</ref> Considered most mysterious of all was the "cloak and dagger" Secret Intelligence, or SI branch.<ref>{{cite book|last=Chambers II|first=John Whiteclay|title=OSS Training in the National Parks and Service Abroad in World War II|page=35|chapter=2|chapter-url=https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/oss/chap2.pdf|publisher=U.S. National Park Service|date=2008|location=Washington, DC|isbn=978-1511654760}}</ref> Secret Intelligence employed "country estates as schools for introducing recruits into the murky world of espionage. Thus, it established Training Areas E and RTU-11 ("the Farm") in spacious manor houses with surrounding horse farms."<ref>{{cite book|last=Chambers II|first=John Whiteclay|title=OSS Training in the National Parks and Service Abroad in World War II|page=558|chapter=11|chapter-url=https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/oss/chap11.pdf|publisher =U.S. National Park Service|date=2008|location=Washington, DC|isbn=978-1511654760}}</ref> [[Morale Operations Branch|Morale Operations]] training included psychological warfare and propaganda.<ref>{{cite book|last=Chambers II|first=John Whiteclay
|title=OSS Training in the National Parks and Service Abroad in World War II|page=43|chapter=2|chapter-url=https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/oss/chap2.pdf|publisher=U.S. National Park Service|date=2008|location=Washington, DC|isbn=978-1511654760}}</ref> The [[Congressional Country Club]] (Area F) in [[Bethesda, Maryland]], was the primary OSS training facility. The Facilities of the [[Catalina Island Marine Institute]] at [[Toyon Bay]] on [[Santa Catalina Island (California)|Santa Catalina Island]], [[California|Calif.]], are composed (in part) of a former OSS survival training camp. The National Park Service commissioned a study of OSS National Park training facilities by Professor John Chambers of Rutgers University.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol.-54-no.-2/pdfs-vol.-54-no.-2/Chambers-OSS%20Training%20in%20WWII-with%20notes-web-19Jun.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100707003431/https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol.-54-no.-2/pdfs-vol.-54-no.-2/Chambers-OSS%20Training%20in%20WWII-with%20notes-web-19Jun.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 7, 2010 |title=(U) Chambers-OSS Training in WWII-with Notes.fm |access-date=2018-09-26}}</ref>

The main OSS training camps abroad were located initially in Great Britain, French Algeria, and Egypt; later as the Allies advanced, a school was established in southern Italy. In the Far East, OSS training facilities were established in India, Ceylon, and then China. The [[London]] branch of the OSS, its first overseas facility, was at 70 Grosvenor Street, W1. In addition to training local agents, the overseas OSS schools also provided advanced training and field exercises for graduates of the training camps in the United States and for Americans who enlisted in the OSS in the war zones. The most famous of the latter was [[Virginia Hall]] in France.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

The OSS's Mediterranean training center in Cairo, Egypt, known to many as the ''Spy School'', was a lavish palace belonging to [[Farouk of Egypt|King Farouk's]] brother-in-law, called ''Ras el Kanayas''.<ref>{{Citation
 | last =Hueck Allen
 | first =Susan
 | title =Classical Spies: American Archaeologists with the OSS in World War II Greece
 | place =Ann Arbor, Michigan
 | publisher =The University of Michigan
 | year =2013
 | chapter =7 
 | chapter-url =https://books.google.com/books?id=jJZFDwAAQBAJ&q=ras+el+kanayas&pg=PT420
 | page =134
 | language =en
 | isbn =978-0472117697
}}</ref><ref>{{Citation
 | last1 =Doundoulakis
 | first1 =Helias
 | author-link =Helias Doundoulakis
 | last2 =Gafni
 | first2 =Gabriella
 | title =Trained to be an OSS Spy
 | place =Bloomington, IN
 | publisher =Xlibris
 | year =2014
 | chapter =11
 | chapter-url =https://books.google.com/books?id=vkGtBAAAQBAJ&q=spy+school&pg=PA136
 | page =99
 | language =en
 | isbn =978-1499059830
}}</ref>{{self-published inline|date=June 2020}} It was modeled after the SOE's training facility [[List of SOE establishments#Training schools|STS 102]] in Haifa, Palestine.<ref>{{Citation
 | last =Doundoulakis
 | first =Helias
 | author-link =Helias Doundoulakis
 | title =I was Trained to be a Spy-Book II
 | place =Bloomington, IN
 | publisher =Xlibris
 | year =2012
 | chapter =1
 | chapter-url =https://books.google.com/books?id=9euhPIt-d2oC&q=spy+school&pg=PA1
 | page =2
 | language =en
 | isbn =978-1479716494
}}{{self-published source|date=February 2022}}</ref>{{self-published inline|date=June 2020}} Americans whose heritage stemmed from [[Kingdom of Italy|Italy]], [[Kingdom of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]], and [[Kingdom of Greece|Greece]] were trained at the "Spy School"<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20150906063725/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/intelligence-history/oss/art06.htm Secret Intelligence (SI)], [https://web.archive.org/web/20150906073419/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/intelligence-history/oss/art05.htm Special Operations (SO)], [https://www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/2010-featured-story-archive/oss-morale-operations.html Morale Operations (MO)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110525163418/https://www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/2010-featured-story-archive/oss-morale-operations.html |date=May 25, 2011 }}</ref> and also sent for parachute, weapons, and commando training, and Morse code and encryption lessons at STS 102.<ref>{{cite book| last1=Wilkinson| first1=Peter| last2=Foot| first2=M. R. D| title=Foreign Fields: The Story of an SOE Operative| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G_PbKWaqtIYC&q=ramat+david+and+soe+and+training&pg=PA133| publisher=I.B.Tauris| year= 2002| isbn=978-1860647796}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| title=A Most Ungentlemanly Way of War| last=Horn| first=Bernd| date=2016| publisher=Dundurn| isbn=9781459732797| location=Toronto| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S1ekCAAAQBAJ&q=sts+and+102+and+SOE&pg=PT67}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/oss/chap8.pdf |title=History |website=www.nps.gov }}</ref> After completion of their spy training, these agents were sent back on missions to the [[Balkan Campaign (World War II)|Balkans]] and [[Military history of Italy during World War II|Italy]] where their accents would not pose a problem for their assimilation.<ref>{{cite AV media
 | people =William J. Donovan, William Fairbairn, William Stephenson, Frank Gleason, Guy D'Artois, Helias Doundoulakis
 | title =World War II Spy School
 | medium =Film
 | publisher =YAP Films
 | location =USA, Canada
 | date =2014
 | url =https://www.smithsonianchannel.com/videos/how-to-lie-for-your-life/34349}}
</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kp7mDiMJ0W0C&dq=training+facility+cairo+egypt+oss&pg=PT99|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170315094401/https://books.google.com/books?id=kp7mDiMJ0W0C&pg=PT99&lpg=PT99&dq=training+facility+cairo+egypt+oss&source=bl&ots=a6VzCjNtpi&sig=BfB5fiwgysiETI_zYOWxq0HSdGY&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjXu6X03NbSAhVC9IMKHZAJAQUQ6AEIIjAB|url-status=dead|title=The Secret Rescue: An Untold Story of American Nurses and Medics Behind Nazi Lines|first=Cate|last=Lineberry|date=May 7, 2013|archivedate=March 15, 2017|publisher=Hachette+ORM|isbn = 9780316220231|via=Google Books}}</ref>