SOE in 100 Objects

The story through objects of the SOE, an undercover outfit of fifth columnists tasked to mobilise resistance, hamstring the enemy and pave the way for D-Day

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By the summer of 1940, Nazi blitzkrieg had blazed across much of Europe, culminating in the Fall of France. The invasion of Britain, once unthinkable, now seemed inevitable but Churchill’s cabinet resolved to try every means to turn the tide. One of their boldest moves was the formation of a ‘fifth column’, the Special Operations Executive (SOE), tasked to hamstring the enemy from the shadows. Prospective agents, often bilingual, were drawn from diverse callings and countries. After intensive tuition in subversion and espionage, SOE’s secret band of saboteurs dropped behind the lines to mobilise resistance and pave the way for D-Day. SOE in 100 Objects picks up the clues they left behind – a button compass in Greece, a silk map in Burma – and follows their trail across land and sea, from moonlight flights to high-risk missions and hard-won liberation.