With the success of Operation Postmaster, where agents from SOE effectively stole an Italian ship from the Spanish colony of Ferdinando Po, the proceeds of which netted the SOE a massive fund of £1,000,000 equivalent to around £25,000,000 in today’s values. The SOE were able to set up the organisation how they wanted to without the interference of the Secret Intelligence Service, who thought that SOE were over lapping into their operational territory.
With these funds SOE set a top secret training base in Canada away from the prying eyes of SIS and others, in fact the base code named “Camp X” was so secret in fact the Canadian government had no idea of its purpose or even its existence. Here not only did the SOE train its agents and plan its activities, here they also trained specially selected United States Army personnel in the practice of “Un-gentlemanly Warfare” and thus sowing the early seeds of what we now know as the Central Intelligence Agency “CIA”.
In 1944 the plans for D-day are well in hand, and the SOE are involved in their own brand of warfare, by sending agents into France, their job was simple, to organise the resistance, who are seen by the majority of French population as bandits, the task is hard and dangerous. The units are based in small towns and villages where everyone knows each other and their business, so a stranger or traitor could be discovered quickly and dealt with in the appropriate manner, normally a gunshot to the head.
The resistance awaits messages from the BBC world service, this particular message is “The giraffe has a long neck!” this message means that D-Day will take place two days later. The resistance set their plans into action, and from now on the Office of Strategic Services “OSS” and the SOE joined forces.
The main job was to make life for the German army difficult, something that they had wanted to do ever since they invaded, but this time it was different, the resistance knew that help was on its way, but there job was dangerous none the less. The invasion could only succeed as long as the German forces remained spread though out the French countryside, but as soon as the news spread that the Allies had landed in Normandy all forces would converge on that region, so sabotage of the rail network and bridges was the main priority, but the 15,000 strong SS panzer division “Das Reich” was stationed in Toulouse, 400 miles from Normandy and where aching to see the Allies off in battle.
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