The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was one of the most innovative
British creations of the Second World War. Its mission was to export
resistance, subversion, and sabotage to occupied Europe and beyond,
disrupting the German war effort and building a Secret Army which would
work in the shadows to help defeat the Nazis. Potential agents were put
through intensive paramilitary and parachute training, then taught how
to live clandestinely behind enemy lines, to operate radios and write in
secret codes. They lived in constant fear of arrest, and of betrayal by
treacherous collaborators. This book uses rare images from the
collections of The National Archives and the Imperial War Museum to
illustrate the lives of the men and women who made up the SOE, their
rigorous training, the clever gadgets they used, and their lives behind
enemy lines.