Editing Special Operations Executive (section)

===Organisation===
====Headquarters====
The organisation of SOE continually evolved and changed during the war. Initially, it consisted of three broad departments: SO1 (formerly Department EH, which dealt with propaganda); SO2 (formerly Section D, operations); and SO3 (formerly MI R, research).{{sfn|Smith|2019|p=24}} SO3 was quickly overloaded with paperwork{{Sfn|Foot|2004|p=22}} and was merged into SO2. In August 1941, following quarrels between the Ministry of Economic Warfare and the [[Ministry of Information (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Information]] over their relative responsibilities, SO1 was removed from SOE and became an independent organisation, the [[Political Warfare Executive]].{{Sfn|Foot|2004|pp=24–25}}

Thereafter, a single, broad "Operations" department controlled the Sections operating into enemy and sometimes neutral territory, and the selection and training of agents. Sections, usually referred to by code letters or groups of letters, were assigned to a single country. Some enemy-occupied countries had two or more sections assigned to deal with politically disparate resistance movements. (France had no less than six). For security purposes, each section had its own headquarters and training establishments.{{Sfn|Milton|2016|p=91}} This strict compartmentalisation was so effective that in mid-1942 five governments in exile jointly suggested that a single sabotage organisation be created, and were startled to learn that SOE had been in existence for two years.{{Sfn|Foot|2004|p=152}}

Four departments and some smaller groups were controlled by the director of scientific research, Professor [[Dudley Maurice Newitt]], and were concerned with the development or acquisition and production of special equipment.{{Sfn|Boyce|Everett|2003|pp=23–45}} A few other sections were involved with finance, security, economic research and administration, although SOE had no central registry or filing system. When Gubbins was appointed director, he formalised some of the administrative practices which had grown in an ''ad hoc'' fashion and appointed an establishment officer to oversee the manpower and other requirements of the various departments.{{Sfn|Wilkinson|Astley|2010|p=141}}

The main controlling body of SOE was its council, consisting of around fifteen heads of departments or sections. About half of the council were from the armed forces (although some were specialists who were only commissioned after the outbreak of war), the rest were various [[Civil Service (United Kingdom)|civil servants]], lawyers, or business or industrial experts. Most of the members of the council, and the senior officers and functionaries of SOE generally, were recruited by word of mouth among public school alumni and [[Oxbridge]] graduates,{{Sfn|Foot|2004|pp=30–35}}{{Sfn|Boyce|Everett|2003|p=9}} although this did not notably affect SOE's political complexion.{{Sfn|Foot|2004|pp=47, 148–156}}

====Subsidiary branches====
Several subsidiary SOE stations were set up to manage operations that were too distant for London to control directly. 

SOE's operations in the Middle East and [[Balkans]] were controlled from a headquarters in [[Cairo]], which became notorious for poor security, infighting and conflicts with other agencies.{{Sfn|Foot|2004|pp=40–41}} It was eventually named, in April 1944, "Special Operations (Mediterranean)," or SO(M). Shortly after the [[Allied landings in North Africa]], a station code named "Massingham" was established near [[Algiers]] in late 1942, which operated into [[Southern France]]. Following the [[Allied invasion of Italy]], personnel from Massingham established forward stations in [[Brindisi]] and near [[Naples]].{{Sfn|Stafford|2011|pp=45–51}} A subsidiary headquarters, initially known as "Force 133," was later set up in [[Bari]] in [[Southern Italy]], under the Cairo headquarters, to control operations in the Balkans, including [[Axis occupation of Greece|Greece]],{{Sfn|Foot|2004|pp=40–41}} and [[Northern Italy]].

An SOE station, first called the "India Mission," and subsequently known as "GS I(k)," was set up in [[British India|India]] late in 1940. It subsequently moved to [[Sri Lanka|Ceylon]] so as to be closer to the headquarters of the Allied [[South East Asia Command]] and became known as "[[Force 136]]." 

A "Singapore Mission" was set up at the same time as the India Mission but was unable to overcome official opposition to its attempts to form resistance movements in [[British Malaya|Malaya]] before the [[Imperial Japanese Army|Japanese]] overran [[Battle of Singapore|Singapore]]. Force 136 took over its surviving staff and operations.

[[New York City]] also had a branch office, formally titled "[[British Security Coordination]]," and headed by Canadian businessman Sir [[William Stephenson]]. Their office, located at Room 3603, 630 [[Fifth Avenue]], [[Rockefeller Center]], coordinated the work of SOE, SIS, and MI5 with the American [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] and the [[Office of Strategic Services]].