Operations and Research also developed a foldable bike called the Welbike, but it was unreliable on rough terrain. Their inventions, including an exploding pen and weapons hidden in everyday objects like umbrellas and pipes, would even inspire Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels. The SOE Operations and Research section developed unique devices for agents to use in sabotage and close-range combat. Irregular missions required irregular materiel. They knew it was unlikely they would see their homes in the British Commonwealth again, but accepted the risk. Some agents hid suicide pills in their coat buttons in case they could not escape. Fear of the Gestapo was real and well-founded. The 1950 film ‘Odette’ is based on her war exploits.Įxtensive training in resisting interrogation and how to evade capture underscored the gravity of their missions. Odette Sansom Hallowes, interrogated and tortured by the Gestapo and imprisoned in Ravensbruck concentration camp. If their presence aroused undue suspicion, their missions could well be over before they even began. SOE agents were also required to be fluent in the language of the nation in which they would be inserted so they could fit into the society seamlessly. The “Baker Street Irregulars,” as they came to be known, were trained in sabotage, small arms, radio and telegraph communication and unarmed combat. Headquartered at 64 Baker Street in London, the SOE’s official purpose was to put British special agents on the ground to “coordinate, inspire, control and assist the nationals of the oppressed countries.” Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton borrowed irregular warfare tactics used by the Irish Republican Army two decades before. Charged with “set(ting) Europe ablaze,” the Special Operations Executive, or SOE, was born. Dedicated to keeping the French people fighting, Prime Minister Winston Churchill pledged the United Kingdom’s support to the resistance movement. After France signed an armistice with Germany in June 1940, Great Britain feared the shadow of Nazism would continue to fall over Europe.
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