The following is an incomplete list of training centres, research and development sites, administrative sites and other establishments used by the Special Operations Executive during the Second World War.
The following is an incomplete list of training centres, research and development sites, administrative sites and other establishments used by the Special Operations Executive during the Second World War.
Establishments concerned with experimental work, storage and production were given Roman numerals (mostly in Hertfordshire). Active stations and training schools had Arabic numbers. These included paramilitary schools around Arisaig in Scotland, "finishing" schools around Beaulieu in Hampshire and operational schools in various counties including Gloucestershire, Leicestershire, Oxfordshire.
These were SOE's radio stations, established when SOE's signals establishments were separated from that of SIS / GCCS at Bletchley Park (originally "Station X"). This formally took place on 1 June 1942.
Experimental stations were mainly based in and around Hertfordshire, and included: [3]
Other stations, whose code numbers are unknown, included:
Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a British organisation formed in 1940 to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in German-occupied Europe and to aid local resistance movements during World War II.
Violette Reine Elizabeth Szabo, GC was a British-French Special Operations Executive (SOE) agent during the Second World War and a posthumous recipient of the George Cross. On her second mission into occupied France, Szabo was captured by the German army, interrogated, tortured, and deported to Ravensbrück concentration camp in Germany, where she was executed.
Beaulieu is a village located on the southeastern edge of the New Forest in Hampshire, England. It is home to both Palace House and the National Motor Museum. In 2020, it was named the fifth most beautiful village in the UK and Ireland by Condé Nast Traveler.
In the 19th century members of the English Rothschild family bought and built many country houses in the home counties, furnishing them with the art the family collected. The area of the Vale of Aylesbury, where many of the houses were situated, became known as "Rothchildshire". In the 20th century many of these properties were sold off with their art collections dispersed. Today only Eythrope House still belongs to the family; however, they still retain influence in how Ascott House and Waddesdon Manor are managed. In the loss of country houses in the 20th century only Aston Clinton was lost.
Yolande Elsa Maria Beekman was a British spy in World War II who served in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) and the Special Operations Executive. She was a member of SOE's Musician circuit in occupied France during World War II where she operated as a wireless operator until arrested by the Gestapo. She was subsequently executed at the Dachau concentration camp.
Madeleine Zoe Damerment was a French agent of the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) organization during World War II. The purpose of SOE was to conduct espionage, sabotage, and reconnaissance in countries occupied by the Axis powers, especially Nazi Germany. SOE agents allied themselves with resistance groups and supplied them with weapons and equipment parachuted in from England. Damerment was first involved in escape lines helping downed allied airmen escape occupied France. She fled France in March 1942 to avoid arrest. After arriving in Britain, she was recruited by the SOE. Damerment was to be a courier for SOE's Bricklayer circuit but was captured by the Gestapo on 29 February 1944 upon arrival in France. The Gestapo knew she was coming because they had captured SOE radios and were reading SOE radio messages. She was subsequently executed at the Dachau concentration camp on 13 September 1944 along with three other female SOE agents.
Diana Hope Rowden served in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force and was an agent for the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) during World War II. Rowden was a member of SOE's Acrobat circuit in occupied France where she operated as a courier until she was arrested by the Gestapo. She was subsequently executed at the Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp.
Georges Pierre André Bégué, code named Bombproof, was a French engineer and agent of the United Kingdom's clandestine organization, the Special Operations Executive (SOE). The purpose of SOE in France, occupied by Nazi Germany in World War II, was to conduct espionage, sabotage, and reconnaissance. SOE agents allied themselves with French Resistance groups and supplied them with weapons and equipment parachuted in from England.
Arisaig is a village in Lochaber, Inverness-shire. It lies 7 miles south of Mallaig on the west coast of the Scottish Highlands, within the Rough Bounds. Arisaig is also the traditional name for part of the surrounding peninsula south of Loch Morar, extending east to Moidart. Etymologically, Arisaig means "safe bay". It lies in the Scottish council area of Highland and has a population of about 300.
Morar is a small village on the west coast of The Rough Bounds of Scotland, three miles south of Mallaig. The name Morar is also applied to the northern part of the peninsula containing the village, though North Morar is more usual. The coastline of the area forms part of the Morar, Moidart and Ardnamurchan National Scenic Area, one of 40 such areas in Scotland, which are defined so as to identify areas of exceptional scenery and to ensure its protection by restricting certain forms of development.
Éliane Sophie Plewman was a British agent of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) and a member of the French Resistance working as a courier for the "MONK circuit" in occupied France during World War II. SOE's objective was to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance against the Axis Powers, especially Nazi Germany in occupied Europe and to aid local resistance movements. Plewman was captured by the Gestapo, and later executed by the SS in Dachau.
Englandspiel, or Operation North Pole, was a successful counterintelligence operation of the Abwehr from 1942 to 1944 during World War II. German counter-intelligence operatives, headed by Hermann Giskes of the Abwehr and Joseph Schreider of the Sicherheitsdienst (SD), captured Allied resistance agents operating in the Netherlands and used the agents' radios and codes to dupe the United Kingdom's clandestine organization, the Special Operations Executive (SOE), into continuing to infiltrate agents, weapons, and supplies into the Netherlands. The Germans captured nearly all the agents and weapons sent by the United Kingdom (Britain).
Brickendon is a village in the civil parish of Brickendon Liberty in the district of East Hertfordshire about 3 miles (4.8 km) south of the county town Hertford, and is served by Bayford railway station.
Muriel Byck was an agent of the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) organization in France during World War II. She died of meningitis.
Lise Marie Jeanette de Baissac MBE CdeG, code names Odile and Marguerite, was a Mauritian agent in the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) organization in France during World War II. The purpose of SOE was to conduct espionage, sabotage, and reconnaissance in countries occupied by the Axis powers, especially Nazi Germany. SOE agents allied themselves with resistance groups and supplied them with weapons and equipment parachuted in from England.
Yvonne Claire Rudellat, MBE,, code name Jacqueline, was an agent of the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) organization in World War II. The purpose of SOE in occupied France was to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance. SOE agents allied themselves with French Resistance groups and supplied them with weapons and equipment parachuted in from England.
Henri Leonard Thomas Peulevé DSO MC was a Special Operations Executive agent who undertook two missions in occupied France and escaped from Buchenwald concentration camp.
The Rough Bounds, in the Scottish Highlands, is the area of West Inverness-shire bounded by Loch Hourn, Loch Shiel, and Loch Moidart, consisting of the districts of Knoydart, North Morar, Arisaig and Moidart. The area is famous for its wildness and inaccessibility and remains very sparsely populated.
Wanborough Manor is an Elizabethan manor house on the Hog's Back in Wanborough in the Borough of Guildford, Surrey. During World War II the manor house was requisitioned by the Special Operations Executive (SOE) to train secret agents and was known as Special Training School 5 and later returned to private ownership.
Richard Melville "Bill" Brooker was a British soldier, spy, instructor, and commando during World War II, and integral to the Allied effort in defeating the Axis. He was a member of Churchill's Special Operations Executive (SOE), and Commandant of Camp X, where he trained the men and women who would become the leaders of the Office of the Coordinator of Information (COI), which became the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), a precursor to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). He is considered one of the fathers of modern American central intelligence, and gained the admiration of William J. Donovan and Allen Dulles, and even is mentioned as being a great instructor of spies in the memoirs of Kim Philby.
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