| Page Created |
| May 5th, 2025 |
| Last Updated |
| May 14th, 2025 |
| Great Britain |
 |
| Badge |
| – |
| Additional Information |
| Unit Order of Battle Commanders Operations Equipment Multimedia Sources Biographies |
| Commanders |
| 1940–1942 |
| Sir Frank Nelson |
| 1942-1943 |
| Charles Jocelyn Hambro |
| 1943-1946 |
| Colin McVean Gubbins |
| Order of Battle |
| Special Operations Executive |
- Central Administration (London Headquarters, Baker Street)
- Executive Head of Special Operations Executive
- Deputy Executive Head / Chief of Staff
- Supervised all internal departments and coordination between sections.
- Administration Branch
- Personnel
- Finance and Payroll
- Legal Affairs
- Facilities and Transport
- Security (Section D/Security Section)
- Internal counter-intelligence
- Background checks on recruits and agents
- Monitoring of loyalty and leaks
- Country Sections (“Desks”)
- Each section was responsible for:
- Recruitment of agents
- Liaison with local resistance groups
- Planning sabotage and subversion operations
- Logistics and deployment
- Section F – France (Independent operations, SOE Control)
- Section RF – France (In cooperation with Free French intelligence – BCRA)
- Section DF – French Colonies
- Section A – Belgium
- Section B – The Netherlands
- Section C – Czechoslovakia
- Section D – Denmark
- Section E – Spain and Portugal
- Section G – Germany
- Section H – Greece
- Section I – Italy
- Section M – Yugoslavia
- Section P – Poland
- Section R – Russia (liaison, not operational due to Soviet control)
- Section X – Middle East and Far East operations, often working with Force 136
- Each section was responsible for:
- Field Support & Deployment
- Operations and Planning
- Coordinated missions from planning to insertion
- Liaised with RAF (especially 138 and 161 Squadrons)
- Managed deployment of agents and supplies
- Air Liaison / Air Transport
- Air Operations Officers embedded with RAF units
- Coordinated clandestine flights, parachute drops, and landings
- Handled Lysanders, Halifaxes, and Stirlings
- Operations and Planning
- Training Branch
- Operated secret training schools across Great Britain. Schools were often located in remote country houses and estates (e.g., Beaulieu for security and tradecraft).
- Stages of SOE Training:
- Preliminary Assessment – Psychological and physical aptitude
- Paramilitary Training – (e.g., Arisaig House) Sabotage, silent killing, demolitions
- Advanced Tradecraft – Surveillance, wireless, codes, dead drops
- Final Preparation – Parachute training (e.g., Ringway), briefing, cover stories
- Research, Development & Equipment
- Inter Services Research Bureau (ISRB) / Station IX (Welwyn)
- Developed weapons, explosives, disguises, sabotage tools
- Created gadgets like suitcase radios, exploding rats, pens with poison darts
- Station XII (Aston House)
- Field testing of devices and equipment
- Provided agents with gear tailored to their mission and local conditions
- Inter Services Research Bureau (ISRB) / Station IX (Welwyn)
- Communications Branch
- Signals Section / Station X (Bletchley Park adjacent)
- Managed secure radio communication with field agents
- Trained agents in wireless telegraphy (WT) and encryption
- Monitored traffic for authenticity and infiltration signs
- Couriers and Dead Drops
- Developed covert methods for message transfer within occupied countries
- Signals Section / Station X (Bletchley Park adjacent)
- Liaison and Allied Coopreation
- Liaison with MI6 (SIS)
- Defined operational boundaries (SOE handled action, SIS handled pure intelligence)
- Occasional friction due to overlapping objectives
- Allied Coordination
- OSS (Office of Strategic Services – U.S.)
- BCRA (Free French intelligence)
- Polish, Dutch, Belgian governments-in-exile
- Joint operations: e.g., Jedburgh teams post-D-Day
- Liaison with MI6 (SIS)
- Field Units
- Jedburgh Teams
- 3-man units (1 British, 1 American, 1 French)
- Parachuted into France post-D-Day to organise guerrilla warfare
- Uniformed to meet Geneva Convention standards
- Force 136
- SOE’s Far Eastern arm, active in Burma, Malaya, Indochina
- Worked with anti-Japanese resistance
- Collaborated with Force 136, OSS Detachment 101, and local militias
- Special Groups / Escape Lines
- Helped downed airmen and agents evade capture
- e.g., the Comet Line, Pat O’Leary Line
- Jedburgh Teams