The special operations executive had wide ranging powers and many different departments dealing with very different ideas. SOE had a hand in research and development with a base in rural Hertfordshire they had a team developing a wide range of items which included, Mobile Radios and Single Shot Silenced Guns, both these item being of great use to their agents behind enemy lines. However developing these ideas was one thing, but showing them to the “Top Brass” was another, this problem was solved quite simply, the politicians and generals could not all travel the 50 or so miles up to Hertfordshire and back again without there being a massive security operation every time they wanted to see something new, this travel problem was resolved by the SOE taking over several rooms within the Natural History Museum in Kensington, West London.
With all this money being spent on research, the SOE still had to prove themselves in military operations, all that was about to change, “Operation Postmaster” was a cunning plan that required the use of man power and cash, if this went wrong the SOE would struggle to survive, especially as the Secret Intelligence Service were breathing down their necks.
The operation started in Devon, England, where an old fishing boat named “Maid of Honour” set sail with a small SOE crew, they hugged the French, Spanish and Portuguese coastlines and headed off down into the coast of Africa, a hot spot for spies and dirty tricks.
The target was a harbour within the island of Ferdinando Po; a Spanish colony in Equatorial Africa, within the harbour lay an Italian vessel, which was believed to be a mother ship for a U boat fleet.
One day an Englishman visited the harbour bars and stated that he wished to show his fellow seaman the hospitality of the island by laying on a all night party, with drink and girls for all the seaman in harbour. The party started and gradually one by one the bars filled up and the festivities began. While the party was in full swing the Maid of honour crept into the harbour, attached cables to the anchored ships and towed them out of the harbour and on to the safety of a neutral harbour. The next morning as the crews began to head off for their ships they were stunned to find the harbour empty.
This operation not only gave the SOE credibility within the intelligence community, the sale of the ships raised over £1,000,000 which eased the pressure on the government funding and gave SOE the much needed cash to fund even more operations.
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