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88-600: The BAF operated mainly over Yugoslavia , supporting the Partisans against Germany and its allies, but occasionally supporting the Greek and Albanian resistance movements also. The formation was based at Bari in Italy, and formed on 7 June 1944 from AHQ 'G' Force, to simplify command arrangements for the air support of Special Operations Executive -operations in the Balkans , i.e. across

176-781: A camp run by SOE in Oshawa in Canada. In early 1942, Donovan's organisation became the Office of Strategic Services . SOE and OSS worked out respective areas of operation: OSS's exclusive sphere included China (including Manchuria ), Korea and Australia, the Atlantic islands and Finland. SOE retained India, the Middle East and East Africa, and the Balkans. While the two services both worked in Western Europe, it

264-506: A blind eye to some of SOE's questionable activities. With other military headquarters and commands, SOE cooperated fairly well with Combined Operations Headquarters during the middle years of the war, usually on technical matters as SOE's equipment was readily adopted by commandos and other raiders. This support was lost when Vice Admiral Louis Mountbatten left Combined Operations, though by this time SOE had its own transport and had no need to rely on Combined Operations for resources. On

352-460: A branch office, formally titled " British Security Coordination ," and headed by Canadian businessman Sir William Stephenson . Their office, located at Room 3603, 630 Fifth Avenue , Rockefeller Center , coordinated the work of SOE, SIS, and MI5 with the American FBI and the Office of Strategic Services . As with its leadership and organisation, the aims and objectives of SOE changed throughout

440-470: 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 similar to Arisaig and run by Fairbairn was later set up at Oshawa , for Canadian members of SOE and members of

528-470: A large number of training, research and development or administrative centres. It was a joke that "SOE" stood for "Stately 'omes of England" , after the large number of country houses and estates it requisitioned and used. The establishments connected with experimentation and production of equipment were mainly concentrated in and around Hertfordshire and were designated by roman numbers. The main weapons and devices research establishments were The Firs ,

616-570: A major part in MI(R)'s and SOE's early operations. He also put into practice many of the lessons he learned from the IRA during the Irish War of Independence . The organisation of SOE continually evolved and changed during the war. Initially, it consisted of three broad departments: SO1 (formerly Department EH, which dealt with propaganda); SO2 (formerly Section D, operations); and SO3 (formerly MI R, research). SO3

704-542: A number of other Serbian towns including some quite small, were bombed: Kraljevo (6 times), Zemun (4 times), Alibunar (4 times), Novi Sad (3 times), Smederevo (2 times), Ćuprija (2 times), Popovac (2 times), Leskovac , Kragujevac , Kruševac , Smederevska Palanka , Gornji Milanovac , Sremska Mitrovica , Ruma , Veliki Bečkerek , Peć , Kovin , Pančevo , Velika Plana , Prijepolje , Kuršumlija , Prokuplje , Vučje , Lebane , Grdelica , Podujevo , Raška , Stalać , Kosovska Mitrovica , Priština . Belgrade

792-508: A propaganda organisation known as Department EH (after Electra House , its headquarters), run by Canadian newspaper magnate Sir Campbell Stuart . Later that month, the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS, also known as MI6) formed a section known as Section D (the "D" apparently standing for "Destruction") under Major Lawrence Grand, to investigate the use of sabotage, propaganda, and other irregular means to weaken an enemy. In

880-702: A regular appointment in the Royal Engineers . (Both Grand and Holland eventually attained the rank of major-general .) However, Holland's former deputy at MI(R), Brigadier Colin Gubbins , returned from command of the Auxiliary Units to be Director of Operations of SOE. One department of MI(R), MI R(C), which was involved in the development of weapons for irregular warfare, was not formally integrated into SOE but became an independent body codenamed MD1 . Directed by Major (later Lieutenant Colonel) Millis Jefferis , it

968-860: A result of his hard work, and appointed Sir Charles Hambro , head of Hambros Bank , to replace him. He also transferred Jebb back to the Foreign Office. Hambro had been a close friend of Churchill before the war and had won the Military Cross in the First World War . He retained several other interests, for example remaining chairman of Hambros and a director of the Great Western Railway . Some of his subordinates and associates expressed reservations that these interests distracted him from his duties as director. Selborne and Hambro nevertheless cooperated closely until August 1943, when they fell out over

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1056-589: A single sabotage organisation. On 16 July, Hugh Dalton , the Minister of Economic Warfare , was appointed to take political responsibility for the new organisation, which was formally created on 22 July 1940. Dalton recorded in his diary that on that day the War Cabinet agreed to his new duties and that Churchill had told him, "And now go and set Europe ablaze." Dalton used the Irish Republican Army (IRA) during

1144-515: A traitor, but he was exonerated by a war crimes court, and some have claimed he was acting under secret orders from SOE or MI6. SOE was also far ahead of contemporary attitudes in its use of women in armed combat. Although women were first considered only as couriers in the field, or as wireless operators or administrative staff in Britain, those sent into the field were trained in the use of weapons and in unarmed combat. Most were commissioned into either

1232-582: The Adriatic and in the Aegean and Ionian seas. The Desert Air Force had been responsible for those operations, but its prime job was the support of the troops of the Commonwealth Eighth Army which was fighting its way up through Italy , thus making operations over the Balkans a distraction. The Balkan Air Force was a subordinate to Mediterranean Allied Air Forces , the overall allied air formation in

1320-675: The Allied invasion of Italy , personnel from Massingham established forward stations in Brindisi and near Naples . A subsidiary headquarters, initially known as "Force 133," was later set up in Bari in Southern Italy , under the Cairo headquarters, to control operations in the Balkans, including Greece , and Northern Italy . An SOE station, first called the "India Mission," and subsequently known as "GS I(k),"

1408-718: The Balkan Air Force (BAF), between 1941 and 1945, during which period the entire country was occupied by the Axis powers . Dozens of Yugoslav cities and towns were bombed, many repeatedly. These attacks included intensive air support for Yugoslav Partisan operations in May–June 1944, and a bombing campaign against transport infrastructure in September 1944 as the German Wehrmacht withdrew from Greece and Yugoslavia. This latter operation

1496-1026: The First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY) or the Women's Auxiliary Air Force . Women often assumed leadership roles in the field. Pearl Witherington became the organiser (leader) of a highly successful resistance network in France. Early in the war, American Virginia Hall functioned as the unofficial nerve center of several SOE networks in Vichy France . Many women agents such as Odette Hallowes or Violette Szabo were decorated for bravery, posthumously in Szabo's case. Of SOE's 41 (or 39 in some estimates) female agents serving in Section F (France) sixteen did not survive with twelve killed or executed in Nazi concentration camps. Most of

1584-604: The Government Code and Cipher School , until in November 1940 it was decided that it was unwise to conduct codebreaking and explosives experiments on the same site. The establishment moved to Aston House near Stevenage in Hertfordshire and was renamed Station XII . It originally conducted research and development but from 1941 it became a production, storage and distribution centre for devices already developed. Station XV, at

1672-539: The Independent State of Croatia at the time. Some 100 prisoners were killed in the bombing. Some citizens hid in bomb shelters whilst others fled the city, seeking refuge in surrounding villages and forests. Some 1,500 tons of bombs were used in the bombing. Other targets included Kalenić market , Central hygienic institute, Hospital for infectious diseases, Home for the blind, Labor market, Orthopedic institute, both state orphanages, for boys and girls, two homes for

1760-442: The Irish War of Independence as a model for the organisation. Sir Frank Nelson was nominated by SIS to be director of the new organisation, and a senior civil servant , Gladwyn Jebb , transferred from the Foreign Office to it, with the title of Chief Executive Officer. Campbell Stuart left the organisation, and the flamboyant Major Grand was returned to the regular army. At his own request, Major Holland also left to take up

1848-751: The Iron Gate on the River Danube . MI(R) meanwhile produced pamphlets and technical handbooks for guerrilla leaders. MI(R) was also involved in the formation of the Independent Companies , autonomous units intended to carry out sabotage and guerrilla operations behind enemy lines in the Norwegian Campaign , and the Auxiliary Units , stay-behind commando units based on the Home Guard which would act in

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1936-646: The Partisans and Chetniks . However, in 1944 SOE and OSS successfully pooled their personnel and resources to mount Operation Jedburgh , providing large scale support to the French Resistance following the Normandy landings . SOE had some nominal contact with the Soviet NKVD , but this was limited to a single liaison officer at each other's headquarters. After working from temporary offices in Central London,

2024-635: The Thatched Barn near Borehamwood , was devoted to camouflage , which usually meant equipping agents with authentic local clothing and personal effects. Various sub-stations in London were also involved in this task. Station XV and other camouflage sections also devised methods of hiding weapons, explosives or radios in innocuous-seeming items. Agents also needed identity papers, ration cards, currency and so on. Station XIV, at Briggens House near Roydon in Essex,

2112-762: The Adriatic area by Land Forces, Adriatic and the naval forces under the command of the Flag Officer, Taranto. Allied bombing of Yugoslavia in World War II Axis [REDACTED]   Germany The Allied bombing of Yugoslavia in World War II involved air attacks on cities and towns in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia by the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) and Royal Air Force (RAF), including

2200-528: The Axis and occupied nations, such as Operation Anthropoid , the assassination in Prague of Reinhard Heydrich . In general also, SOE's objectives were to foment mutual hatred between the population of Axis-occupied countries and the occupiers, and to force the Axis to expend manpower and resources on maintaining their control of subjugated populations. Dalton's initial statement about outline of methods to be used by SOE's

2288-414: The Axis. It employed known homosexuals, people with criminal records (some of whom taught skills such as picking locks), those with bad conduct records in the armed forces, Communists, and anti-British nationalists. Some of them might have been considered a security risk, but no known case exists of an SOE agent wholeheartedly going over to the enemy. The Frenchman, Henri Déricourt , is widely regarded as

2376-787: The Axis. The organisation directly employed or controlled more than 13,000 people, of whom 3,200 were women. Both men and women served as agents in Axis-occupied countries. The organisation was dissolved in 1946. A memorial to those who served in SOE was unveiled in 1996 on the wall of the west cloister of Westminster Abbey by the Queen Mother , and in 2009 on the Albert Embankment in London, depicting Violette Szabo . The Valençay SOE Memorial honours 91 male and 13 female SOE agents who lost their lives while working in France. The Tempsford Memorial

2464-516: The General Staff of Slovenia for Ljubljana to be bombed: I don't understand what prompts you to this and who would have benefits from it. There is no doubt that there will be thousands of our dead people in Ljubljana, but the enemy wouldn't suffer almost any casualties. We have such experience from all over Yugoslavia . Special Operations Executive Special Operations Executive ( SOE )

2552-625: The German withdrawal route from Sarajevo to Zagreb and supporting the Fourth Yugoslav Army advancing from Bihać to Rijeka . The Balkan Air Force was disbanded on 15 July 1945. During its short existence, it was commanded by (British) Royal Air Force Air Vice Marshals William Elliot and George Mills . William Deakin , who had met up with the Partisans in May as a representative of Middle East GHQ,

2640-511: The Mediterranean. The BAF mainly supported the operations of the Partisans , led by Josip Broz Tito , against German forces in Yugoslavia , but also provided support to Greek and Albanian resistance organisations. It transported supplies to the Partisans, evacuated wounded, dropped agents to help them, and provided air support in their operations against German troops. The Balkan Air Force

2728-585: The Middle East and Balkans were controlled from a headquarters in Cairo , which became notorious for poor security, infighting and conflicts with other agencies. It was eventually named, in April 1944, "Special Operations (Mediterranean)," or SO(M). Shortly after the Allied landings in North Africa , a station code named "Massingham" was established near Algiers in late 1942, which operated into Southern France . Following

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2816-661: The Navy and the Partisans. USAAF Flying Fortresses (50) were called in to bomb Leskovac and impede the German withdrawal, though with many civilian casualties. The Balkan Air Terminal Service (BATS) was formed by the BAF to improve the supply of materiel to the Partisans. Teams of the BATS parachuted into Yugoslavia to meet up with the Partisans. Together they then set up a number of landing strips which transport aircraft could land at. Through these concealed airstrips, more supplies could be delivered to

2904-536: The Partisan General Staff, but that the "General Staff will decide if the suggested target will be bombed". As a proof that the highest Communist leadership was aware of the minimal military benefit of the bombings, but also of the enormous civilian casualties, a letter from Tito's aide, Slovene Edvard Kardelj is often cited. He writes to the Central Committee of Slovenia, concerning the request from

2992-474: The Partisans and wounded Partisans could be flown out for treatment, as well as the delivery and removal of British Special Operations Executive (SOE) and American Office of Strategic Services (OSS) teams. From June 1944, a Soviet unit of 12 Dakotas and 12 Yakovlev fighters to support the USSR military mission to the Partisans and drop supplies came under the BAF. At the same time, the BAF coordinated operations in

3080-504: The Partisans, it "gave me a single authority with whom I could deal direct and was of incalculable advantage in obtaining quick results". This was decisive in enabling the Partisans to withstand the Raid on Drvar (Seventh Offensive). Much of the planning for Operation Ratweek to impede the German withdrawal from the Balkans was done at BAF Headquarters and Maclean’s own Rear Headquarters at Bari. Ratweek, started on 1 September 1944, also involved

3168-494: The Soviet 3rd Ukrainian Front entered Yugoslavia from Bulgaria to conduct Belgrade Offensive alongside Yugoslav and Bulgarian formations its 17th Air Army conducted numerous ground attacks on many German-held targets in the occupied Yugoslavia in support of the operation. At one point, in a case of friendly fire, a unit of marauding US P-38 fighter-bombers attacked an advancing Soviet column mistaking it for retreating Germans, with

3256-557: The Soviets requesting fighter cover form their own air force - resulting in Air battle over Niš . Official Yugoslav historiography did not explore the Allied bombings after 1945, but the official stand was that it had to happen, in order to destroy the remaining occupational forces. Modern historians tend to disagree, giving a number of reasons: in that particular period of the World War II, Yugoslav front

3344-478: The autumn of the same year, the War Office expanded an existing research department known as GS (R) and appointed Major J. C. Holland as its head to conduct research into guerrilla warfare . GS (R) was renamed MI(R) in early 1939. These three departments worked with few resources until the outbreak of war. There was much overlap between their activities. Section D and EH duplicated much of each other's work. On

3432-423: The children of the refugees from other parts of Yugoslavia, Children's hospital, Children's dispensary, all bridges were damaged again, railway stations in Topčider and Rakovica , Post Office No. 2, Fabrics factory of Vlada Ilić in Karaburma , Faculty of technical engineering, Vajfert's brewery , University campus. The city was crippled, yet German military objects were almost unharmed and they made only 1.5% of

3520-406: The civilian fatalities numbered in thousands. On 5 February 1944, Tito sent a dispatch to his representatives in Serbia, which was discovered and made public over 50 years later. In it, Tito notifies them that he is sending British major John Henniker-Major on a special mission, and then instructs them that all wishes concerning the "help of the Allied airforce" will be sent to the Allied mission at

3608-539: The complaints over impropriety at SOE's Cairo headquarters during 1941 and partly because both the supreme command in the Mediterranean and SOE's establishments were split in 1942 and 1943, leading to divisions of responsibility and authority. There was tension between SOE and SIS, which the Foreign Office controlled. Stewart Menzies , the chief of SIS, was aggrieved to lose control of Section D. Where SIS preferred placid conditions in which it could gather intelligence and work through influential persons or authorities, SOE

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3696-421: The control of the Allied theatre commands. Relationships with Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force in north-west Europe (whose commander was General Dwight D. Eisenhower ) and South East Asia Command (whose commander was Admiral Louis Mountbatten, already well known to SOE) were generally excellent. However, there were difficulties with the Commanders in Chief in the Mediterranean, partly because of

3784-407: The creation of secret armies which would rise up to assist the liberation of their countries when Allied troops arrived or were about to do so. It was recognised that acts of sabotage would bring about reprisals and increased Axis security measures which would hamper the creation of underground armies. As the tide of war turned in the Allies' favour, these underground armies became more important. At

3872-402: The criminal underworld. Some of them were recruited by word of mouth among the acquaintances of SOE's officers, others responded to routine trawls of the armed forces for people with unusual languages or other specialised skills. In most cases, the primary quality required of an agent was a deep knowledge of the country in which he or she was to operate, and especially its language, if the agent

3960-472: The end of its existence, it operated a small number of units from Yugoslav soil to harass the retreating Germans. However, disagreements with Tito (particularly the arrest of members of the Special Boat Squadron on 13 April 1945, although they were quickly released) meant that all British ground forces were withdrawn, although BAF aircraft operating from Zadar continued to support the Partisan offensive. Between 19 March and 3 May they flew 2,727 sorties, attacking

4048-407: The event of an Axis invasion of Britain, as seemed possible in the early years of the war. On 13 June 1940, at the instigation of newly appointed Prime Minister Winston Churchill , Lord Hankey (who held the Cabinet post of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster ) persuaded Section D and MI(R) that their operations should be coordinated. On 1 July, a Cabinet level meeting arranged the formation of

4136-426: The fatalities. One epitaph on the tombstone on Belgrade New Cemetery says: "They hoped to get freedom from the English, not knowing that hope leads them directly into death". Part of the Easter raid were also numerous towns in Montenegro and Herzegovina : Cetinje , Žabljak , Šavnik , Kolašin , Andrijevica , Gacko and Bileća . From April to September 1944, Belgrade was bombed 11 times. In this period,

4224-783: 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

4312-462: The former diplomat Fitzroy Maclean or the classicist Christopher Woodhouse ) were commissioned only during wartime. Several of SOE's agents were from the Jewish Parachutists of Mandate Palestine , some of whom were émigrés from countries in Europe. Thirty-two of them served as agents in the field, seven of whom were captured and executed. Exiled or escaped members of the armed forces of some occupied countries were obvious sources of agents. This

4400-463: The government level, SOE's relationships with the Foreign Office were often difficult. On several occasions, various governments in exile protested at operations taking place without their knowledge or approval, provoking Axis reprisals against civilian populations, or complained about SOE's support for movements opposed to the exiled governments. SOE's activities also threatened relationships with neutral countries. SOE nevertheless generally adhered to

4488-566: The headquarters of SOE was moved on 31 October 1940 into 64 Baker Street (hence the nickname "the Baker Street Irregulars " ). Ultimately, SOE occupied much of the western side of Baker Street. "Baker Street" became the euphemistic way of referring to SOE. The precise nature of the buildings remained concealed; it had no entry in the telephone directories, and correspondence to external bodies bore service addresses; MO1 (SP) (a War Office branch), NID(Q) (Admiralty), AI10 (Air Ministry), or other fictitious bodies or civilian companies. SOE maintained

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4576-443: The home of MD1, formerly MIR(C), near Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire (although this was not formally part of SOE), and Station IX at The Frythe , a country house (and former private hotel) outside Welwyn Garden City where, under the cover name of ISRB (Inter Services Research Bureau), SOE developed radios, weapons, explosive devices and booby traps . Section D originally had a research station at Bletchley Park , which also held

4664-456: The newly created American organisation, the Office of Strategic Services . A variety of people from all classes and pre-war occupations served SOE in the field. The backgrounds of agents in F Section, for example, ranged from aristocrats such as Polish-born Countess Krystyna Skarbek , and Noor Inayat Khan , the daughter of an Indian Sufi leader, to working-class people such as Violette Szabo and Michael Trotobas , with some even reputedly from

4752-470: The other hand, the Admiralty objected to SOE developing its own underwater vessels, and the duplication of effort this involved. The Royal Air Force, and in particular RAF Bomber Command under "Bomber" Harris were usually reluctant to allocate aircraft to SOE. Towards the end of the war, as Allied forces began to liberate territories occupied by the Axis and in which SOE had established resistance forces, SOE also liaised with and to some extent came under

4840-579: The other hand, the heads of Section D and MI(R) knew each other and shared information. They agreed to a rough division of their activities; MI(R) researched irregular operations that could be undertaken by regular uniformed troops, while Section D dealt with truly undercover work. During the early months of the war, Section D was based first at St Ermin's Hotel in Westminster and then the Metropole Hotel near Trafalgar Square . The Section attempted unsuccessfully to sabotage deliveries of vital strategic materials to Germany from neutral countries by mining

4928-498: The outbreak of war), the rest were various civil servants , lawyers, or business or industrial experts. Most of the members of the council, and the senior officers and functionaries of SOE generally, were recruited by word of mouth among public school alumni and Oxbridge graduates, although this did not notably affect SOE's political complexion. Several subsidiary SOE stations were set up to manage operations that were too distant for London to control directly. SOE's operations in

5016-451: The question of whether SOE should remain a separate body or coordinate its operations with those of the British Army in several theatres of war. Hambro felt that any loss of autonomy would cause a number of problems for SOE in the future. At the same time, Hambro was found to have failed to pass on vital information to Selborne. He was dismissed as director, and became head of a raw materials purchasing commission in Washington, D.C. , which

5104-452: The resistance networks which SOE formed or liaised with were controlled by radio directly from Britain or one of SOE's subsidiary headquarters. All resistance circuits contained at least one wireless operator, and all drops or landings were arranged by radio, except for some early exploratory missions sent "blind" into enemy-occupied territory. SOE wireless operators were also known as "The Pianists". At first, SOE's radio traffic went through

5192-409: The rule, "No bangs without Foreign Office approval." Early attempts at bureaucratic control of Jefferis's MIR(c) by the Ministry of Supply were eventually foiled by Churchill's intervention. Thereafter, the Ministry co-operated, though at arm's length, with Dudley Newitt's various supply and development departments. The Treasury were accommodating from the start and were often prepared to turn

5280-416: The selection and training of agents. Sections, usually referred to by code letters or groups of letters, were assigned to a single country. Some enemy-occupied countries had two or more sections assigned to deal with politically disparate resistance movements. (France had no less than six). For security purposes, each section had its own headquarters and training establishments. This strict compartmentalisation

5368-464: The sites in downtown Belgrade which were struck on 16 April were Palace Albanija , the National Theater in Belgrade , the Terazije square, the Bajloni market, the area around the Belgrade Main railway station , Krunski Venac (including the maternity hospital where several mothers who had just given birth were killed with their babies), a large number of hospitals, schools and kindergartens. Bombed areas of central Belgrade also included Dorćol , which

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5456-457: The targets were in very small settlements. Request for bombing of Nikšić, for example, originally came from Peko Dapčević , on 30 March 1944. On 19 April, Dapčević and Mitar Bakić also asked Tito for the bombing of towns of Sjenica , Bijelo Polje and Podgorica . The chain of command behind the requests for bombings is unclear. The campaign was constantly prolonged, even though the results showed that German troops were almost unharmed, while

5544-399: The war, although they revolved around sabotaging and subverting the Axis war machines through indirect methods. SOE occasionally carried out operations with direct military objectives, such as Operation Harling , originally designed to cut one of the Axis supply lines to their troops fighting in North Africa. They also carried out some high-profile operations aimed mainly at the morale both of

5632-484: The zones of interest while Serbia was for the most part Partisan free, with sizeable presence of the Četniks . It is believed that the combined effect of all these reasons was behind the bombing. Tito and his General Staff were sending targets to the Allied command. Lawyer Smilja Avramov discovered documents in Berlin which showed that the targets, for which Tito asked to be bombed, included purely civilian objects, like hospitals, schools, faculties and graveyards. Some of

5720-405: Was "industrial and military sabotage, labor agitation and strikes, continuous propaganda, terrorist attacks against traitors and German leaders, boycotts and riots." Dalton's early enthusiasm for fomenting widespread strikes, civil disobedience and sabotage in Axis-occupied areas had to be curbed. Thereafter, there were two main aims, often mutually incompatible; sabotage of the Axis war effort, and

5808-523: Was a British organisation formed in 1940 to conduct espionage , sabotage and reconnaissance in German-occupied Europe and to aid local resistance movements during World War II . SOE personnel operated in all territories occupied or attacked by the Axis powers , except where demarcation lines were agreed upon with Britain's principal Allies , the United States and the Soviet Union . SOE made use of neutral territory on occasion, or made plans and preparations in case neutral countries were attacked by

5896-403: Was a multinational unit, with 15 types of aircraft and men from eight nations: Greece, co-belligerent Italy , Poland, South Africa, Yugoslavia, the UK, USA and USSR (a transport squadron). Between its inception and May 1945 the BAF flew 38,340 sorties, dropped 6,650 tons of bombs, delivered 16,440 tons of supplies and flew 2,500 individuals into Yugoslavia and 19,000 (mostly wounded) out. Towards

5984-461: Was appointed director, he formalised some of the administrative practices which had grown in an ad hoc fashion and appointed an establishment officer to oversee the manpower and other requirements of the various departments. The main controlling body of SOE was its council, consisting of around fifteen heads of departments or sections. About half of the council were from the armed forces (although some were specialists who were only commissioned after

6072-448: Was attached as advisor to the newly formed Balkan Air Force, under (then) Air Vice Marshal Elliott, with headquarters at Bari , Italy. This body assumed responsibility for all operations by land, sea, and air into Central and South-Eastern Europe. Fitzroy Maclean the head of the British military mission to the Partisans said that, as the Balkan Air Force was also responsible for the "planning and co-ordination of all supply dropping" to

6160-403: Was bombed again on 6 and 8 September 1944 with about 120 Flying Fortresses , also from the US 15th Air Force, which were accompanied by fighter planes. Niš was bombed again on 30 March 1944. It took six days to find all the wounded and killed and remove them from the rubble. Town was bombed again on 5 April. This time, the Allies used 248 bombs, killed 88 and wounded 184 people. Cathedral church

6248-514: Was bombed. 500 people were killed in the first attack. Radio London reported: "During the attack on Nikšić, block bombs of 2 tons were used. Half of the town was demolished or damaged. Nikšić was bombed on the request of Marshall Tito ." On 5 May Podgorica was bombed again (in total, 4 times). One sixth of the population was killed while 4,500 were wounded. Other towns in Montenegro and surrounding areas of Serbia and Herzegovina which were bombed included Sjenica and Bijelo Polje . In late 1944, as

6336-505: Was expected that SOE would be the leading partner. In the middle of the war, the relations between SOE and OSS were not often smooth. They established a joint headquarters in Algiers but the officers of the two organisations working there refused to share information with each other. In the Balkans, and Yugoslavia especially, SOE and OSS several times worked at cross-purposes, reflecting their governments' differing (and changing) attitudes to

6424-514: Was heavily destroyed, parts of Vračar and Pašino Brdo and Dušanovac , suburbs at the time, which contained no factories or military targets. When the bombing was continued the next day, the remains of the King Alexander Bridge , partially destroyed in April 1941, were bombed. Hits were mostly concentrated on the bank areas of the city, including the Sajmište concentration camp , part of

6512-710: Was hit and the bombs destroyed the city cemetery, blowing up the collective tombs of the previous victims of the bombing. Leskovac was bombed on 6 September. Described as "day of hell", the post-attack situation was described as "if the entire Leskovac lifted up in the whirlwind of dust, smoke and rubble". Allied aircraft bombed Maribor , present day Slovenia on some 50 occasions. American 15th Air Force twice bombed German facilities in Maribor, where aircraft engines were manufactured. Those attacks were conducted on 7 January and 6 November 1944. In 1944, town of Nikšić in Montenegro

6600-613: Was in the most destitute parts of the town, along the railroad. Belgrade was bombed by British and American air forces on 16–17 April 1944, which was Orthodox Easter Day . The largest unit that took part was the American 15th Air Force , based in Foggia in the south of Italy. This carpet bombing raid was executed by 600 aircraft flying at high altitude. Civilian casualties were as many as 1,160, while German military losses were 18, or some 1,200 killed in total. 5,000 people were wounded. Among

6688-678: Was intended to create unrest and turbulence, and often backed anti-establishment organisations, such as the Communists , in several countries. At one stage, SIS actively hindered SOE's attempts to infiltrate agents into enemy-occupied France . Even before the United States joined the war, the head of the newly formed Office of the Coordinator of Information (COI), William J. Donovan , had received technical information from SOE and had arranged for some members of his organisation to undergo training at

6776-517: Was involved in the exchange of nuclear information. As part of the subsequent closer ties between the Imperial General Staff and SOE (although SOE had no representation on the Chiefs of Staff Committee ), Hambro's replacement as director from September 1943 was Gubbins, who had been promoted to Major-general . Gubbins had wide experience of commando and clandestine operations and had played

6864-423: Was known as Operation Ratweek . Some of the attacks caused significant civilian casualties. The bombings of Serbia and Montenegro lasted from 20 October 1943 to 18 September 1944. Especially hit was the industrial town of Niš in south Serbia. The bombing began on 20 October 1943, instantly killing 250 people. German forces in town were barely affected. Niš was bombed 15 times in total. The greatest devastation

6952-714: Was located at The Firs in Whitchurch, Buckinghamshire and nicknamed "Churchill's Toyshop" from the Prime Minister's close interest in it and his enthusiastic support. The director of SOE was usually referred to by the initials "CD". Nelson, the first director to be appointed, was a former head of a trading firm in India, a back bench Conservative Member of Parliament and Consul in Basel , Switzerland, where he had also been engaged in undercover intelligence work. In February 1942 Dalton

7040-426: Was not a location of important military operations, number of German forces was not high and they mostly consisted of Third Call regiments, Italy had already switched to Allies' side and Yugoslav Partisans were still concentrated outside of all major urban centers where majority of firefights in the country took place. Josip Broz Tito was declared a marshal in November 1943, Churchill and Stalin agreed on division of

7128-615: Was originally the home of STS38, a training facility for Polish saboteurs, who set up their own forgery section. As the work expanded, it became the central forgery department for SOE and the Poles eventually moved out on 1 April 1942. The technicians at Station XIV included a number of ex-convicts. The training establishments, and properties used by country sections, were designated by Arabic numbers and were widely distributed. The initial training centres of SOE were at country houses such as Wanborough Manor , Guildford . Agents destined to serve in

7216-553: Was particularly true of Norway and the Netherlands. In other cases (such as Frenchmen owing loyalty to Charles de Gaulle and especially the Poles), the agents' first loyalty was to their leaders or governments in exile, and they treated SOE only as a means to an end. This could occasionally lead to mistrust and strained relations in Britain. The organisation was prepared to ignore almost any contemporary social convention in its fight against

7304-669: Was quickly overloaded with paperwork and was merged into SO2. In August 1941, following quarrels between the Ministry of Economic Warfare and the Ministry of Information over their relative responsibilities, SO1 was removed from SOE and became an independent organisation, the Political Warfare Executive . Thereafter, a single, broad "Operations" department controlled the Sections operating into enemy and sometimes neutral territory, and

7392-475: Was removed as the political head of SOE (possibly because he was using SOE's phone tapping facility to listen to conversations of fellow Labour ministers, or possibly because he was viewed as too "communistically inclined" and a threat to SIS). He became President of the Board of Trade and was replaced as Minister of Economic Warfare by Lord Selborne . Selborne in turn retired Nelson, who had suffered ill health as

7480-761: Was set up in India late in 1940. It subsequently moved to Ceylon so as to be closer to the headquarters of the Allied South East Asia Command and became known as " Force 136 ." A "Singapore Mission" was set up at the same time as the India Mission but was unable to overcome official opposition to its attempts to form resistance movements in Malaya before the Japanese overran Singapore . Force 136 took over its surviving staff and operations. New York City also had

7568-591: Was so effective that in mid-1942 five governments in exile jointly suggested that a single sabotage organisation be created, and were startled to learn that SOE had been in existence for two years. Four departments and some smaller groups were controlled by the director of scientific research, Professor Dudley Maurice Newitt , and were concerned with the development or acquisition and production of special equipment. A few other sections were involved with finance, security, economic research and administration, although SOE had no central registry or filing system. When Gubbins

7656-474: Was to pass as a native of the country. Dual nationality was often a prized attribute. This was particularly so of France. In other cases, especially in the Balkans, a lesser degree of fluency was required as the resistance groups concerned were already in open rebellion and a clandestine existence was unnecessary. A flair for diplomacy combined with a taste for rough soldiering was more necessary. Some regular army officers proved adept as envoys, and others (such as

7744-715: Was unveiled in 2013 by the Prince of Wales in Church End, Tempsford, Bedfordshire , close to the site of the former RAF Tempsford . The organisation was formed from the merger of three existing secret departments, which had been formed shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War. Immediately after Germany annexed Austria (the Anschluss ) in March 1938, the Foreign Office created

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