The top-secret British organization inspired James Bond and countless other spy movies—including Guy Ritchie’s latest comedic romp.
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was instrumental in the formation of the Special Operations Executive, a top-secret British organization that employed acts of sabotage and propaganda to fight Axis powers during World War II. He instructed its secret agents to"set Europe ablaze."When Italian and German merchants were invited to a party in the port city of Santa Isabel in Spanish Guinea in 1942, they never suspected an elaborate ruse.
But what was the SOE, and why do its deeds still resound today? Here’s more about the “ungentlemanly” agency that helped spawn James Bond and other spy movies—and helped the Allies win the Second World War.The Special Operations Executive was born out of the desperation of the early days of World War II. By 1940, Germany hadmost of Europe, and the British anticipated the need for undercover sabotage and guerrilla warfare throughout Europe.
To help its officers, the organization developed special weapons and equipment, like sneakers designed to leave false footprints, radios that looked like suitcases, guns with silencers, firearms that could be hidden in a sleeve, and a variety of innovative explosives. The SOE also provided operators with false papers, new identities, and other support.
The SOE’s efforts also often backfired. For example, in 1942, Czech resistance workers trained by SOE operatives managed to assassinate Reinhard Heydrich, one of the most powerful members of the Nazi Party and an architect of the “Final Solution” in progress across German-controlled territories.
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