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 assist local resistance movements.
Few people were conscious of SOE's existence. those that were a part of it or liaised with it were sometimes mentioned because the "Baker Street Irregulars", after the situation of its London headquarters. it had been also referred to as "Churchill's Secret Army" or the "Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare". Its various branches, and sometimes the organisation as an entire , were concealed for security purposes behind names like the "Joint Technical Board" or the "Inter-Service Research Bureau", or fictitious branches of the Air Ministry, Admiralty or War Office.SOE operated altogether territories occupied or attacked by the Axis forces, except where demarcation lines were agreed with Britain's principal Allies (the us and therefore the Soviet Union). It also made use of neutral territory once in a while or made plans and preparations just in case neutral countries were attacked by the Axis. The organisation directly employed or controlled quite 13,000 people, about 3,200 of whom were women.[2]
After the war, the organisation was officially dissolved on 15 January 1946. The official memorial to all or any those that served within the SOE during the Second war was unveiled on 13 February 1996 on the wall of the west cloister of Westminster Abbey by Queen Elizabeth The queen dowager . an extra memorial to SOE's agents was unveiled in October 2009 on the Albert Embankment by Lambeth Palace in London.[3] The Valençay SOE Memorial honours 104 SOE agents who lost their lives while working in France.
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