20th+: SOE/OSS

The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a British WW2 organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its purpose was to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in occupied Europe (and later, also in occupied Southeast Asia) against the Axis powers, and to aid local resistance movements.

Few people were aware of SOE's existence. Those who were part of it or liaised with it were sometimes referred to as the "Baker Street Irregulars", after the location of its London headquarters. It was also known as "Churchill's Secret Army" or the "Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare". Its various branches, and sometimes the organisation as a whole, were concealed for security purposes behind names such as the "Joint Technical Board" or the "Inter-Service Research Bureau", or fictitious branches of the Air Ministry, Admiralty or War Office.

SOE operated in all territories occupied or attacked by the Axis forces, except where demarcation lines were agreed with Britain's principal Allies (the United States and the Soviet Union). It also made use of neutral territory on occasion, or made plans and preparations in case neutral countries were attacked by the Axis. The organisation directly employed or controlled more than 13,000 people, about 3,200 of whom were women.
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The training establishments, and properties used by country sections, were designated by Arabic numbers and were widely distributed. The initial training centres of the SOE were at country houses such as Wanborough Manor, Guildford.

Agents destined to serve in the field underwent commando training at Arisaig in Scotland, where they were taught armed and unarmed combat skills by William E. Fairbairn and Eric A. Sykes, former Inspectors in the Shanghai Municipal Police. Those who passed this course received parachute training by STS 51 and 51a situated near Altrincham, Cheshire with the assistance of No.1 Parachute Training School RAF, at RAF Ringway (which later became Manchester Airport). They then attended courses in security and tradecraft at Group B schools around Beaulieu in Hampshire. Finally, depending on their intended role, they received specialist training in skills such as demolition techniques or Morse code telegraphy at various country houses in England.

SOE's Cairo branch established a commando and parachute training school numbered STS 102 at Ramat David near Haifa. This school trained agents who joined SOE from among the armed forces stationed in the Middle East, and also members of the Special Air Service and Greek Sacred Squadron.

A commando training centre (Camp X - STS 103) similar to Arisaig and run by Fairbairn was later set up at Oshawa, for Canadian members of SOE and members of the newly created American organisation, the Office of Strategic Services
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After the war, the organisation was officially dissolved on 15 January 1946.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Operations_Executive#Training_and_operations .
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_SOE_establishments .
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Operations_Executive .
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Operations_Executive#See_also

Hardy Amies w

SOE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bkl4Qz07WrI

SOE planned > .

Female Agents of SOE - tb >> .

For King and Country Ep 8- Special Operations- Behind Enemy Lines
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2miTkq1qBPc

Special Operation Executive WWII Documentary
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hY01EF8lTPI .

Ray Mears - The Real Heroes of Telemark
https://youtu.be/aUfiMoY30ac?t=5m38s
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9pMBAGDqeF1NvdiD4FsTaayfPs7UvJ6I

Gladiators of World War II Series
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8hNHC9nbLlybM_1qhzGD-Q085dNnBs07
? https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=secrets+of+war ?

SOE training @ Aviemore; for Telemark

https://youtu.be/Cy8cY2L-a-o?t=3m31s

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.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_SOE_establishments

During World War II, the Special Operations Executive (SOE) utilised the area of Aviemore as a Special Training School.
http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/index.php/Secrets/AviemoreSOESchool

https://mikemcclaughry.wordpress.com/the-reading-library/world-government/british-security-coordination-compendium-the-book-and-the-lords/aviemore-soe-school/ .

Non-combatant military training - Canadian Newsreel - 1942 > .

Women in the Military - watm >> .

Cambridge Five ..
Camouflage, Deception, Espionage, Intelligence ..

Camp X - STS 103 ..

Espionage ..
German Intelligence ..
40-11-11 German Intelligence Coup ..

Haw Haw - traitor ..

Hitler's Spies ..
MI6 - Secret Intelligence Service ..
O.S.S. ..
Secret Service ..

SOE training ..

Traitors ..

Turncoats for Nazis ..

●● Intelligence, Espionage ..

Thursday, June 14, 2018

Operation Greenup

22-3-18 Operation Greenup- Secret Jewish Soldiers Behind Enemy Lines - Dark > .

Frederick "Fred" Mayer (28 October 1921, in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden, Germany – 15 April 2016, in Charles Town, Jefferson County, West Virginia) was a German-born Jew who became an American spy as an OSS agent for the United States during WW2. He negotiated the surrender of the German Army in Innsbruck, Austria, in 1945 after he was captured in "Operation Greenup".

Former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency William J. Casey called Operation Greenup "by far the most successful of OSS operations mounted from Bari". The operation included three men: Mayer, Wijnberg, and Franz Weber, a former Austrian Wehrmacht officer. Their task was to scout "the heavily fortified area of Austria's 'Alpine Redoubt'".

It was decided the men should be parachuted near Innsbruck, but all flat areas were occupied by the military. Mayer recalled a small lake between two peaks that was frozen in February. It wasn't an easy place to fly to, especially in the winter conditions, but finally a pilot named Billings volunteered. "If they are crazy enough to jump there, I will be crazy enough to take them there." On February 26, 1945, the men jumped in the darkness. They found themselves at the ridge of a glacier at a 10,000 feet elevation. They found all but one container that was dropped with them. Unfortunately their skis were in that missing container. They had to walk down the slope in waist-deep snow.

Eventually they reached Weber's family. With their help, Mayer posed as a German Army officer. He actually stayed in the officers' barracks in Innsbruck for several months. The information he collected was promptly radioed back by Wijnberg. After three months Mayer decided to pose as a French electrician, who supposedly was fleeing from the advancing Soviet forces.

Mayer was arrested when a black market racketeer he dealt with was caught by the Gestapo and named him as a spy. As soon as his interrogation became physical, the black marketer revealed that he knew a high ranking American agent. Mayer spoke only in French, and tried to convince the Gestapo that he was what he pretended to be. He was tortured to force him to talk.