Churchill’s Gentleman Gangsters

SOE's weird and wonderful history
In this slightly uneven book, the author describes how as WW2 became a reality, new innovative and dirty ways of waging war were developed. The unit responsible for this new method of waging war was The Special Operations Executive (SOE). Its purpose was to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in occupied Europe (and later, also in occupied Southeast Asia) against the Axis powers. Its secondary objective was to help local resistance movements.

The SOE was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. One of the organisations from which SOE was created was also involved in the formation of the Auxiliary Units. This was a top secret “stay-behind” resistance organisation which would have been activated in the event of a German invasion of Britain.

Few people were aware of SOE's existence. Those who were part of it or liaised with it sometimes referred to as “the Baker Street Irregulars”, after the location of its London headquarters. It was also known as “Churchill's Secret Army” or the “Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare”. Its various branches, and sometimes the organisation as a whole, were concealed for security purposes behind names such as the “Joint Technical Board” or the “Inter-Service Research Bureau”. Or fictitious branches of the Air Ministry, Admiralty or War Office.

SOE operated in all countries or former countries occupied by or attacked by the Axis forces. The exception was where demarcation lines were agreed with Britain's principal Allies (the Soviet Union and the United States). It also made use of neutral territory on occasion, or made plans and preparations in case neutral countries were attacked by the Axis.

All of this and more is described in this book. It makes it very clear that contrary to the beliefs of the old-school leadership of the armed forces at that time, you cannot win a major conflict by fighting strictly under Marquis of Queensberry rules. The assorted characters of the people involved in the development of the sabotage work are brilliantly portrayed. Their hopes and frustrations are a particular strength of the book. Their often irregular habits were thorns in the side of those who valued conventional standards in military life. The SOE used new weapons such as: the castrator, a lavatory explosive and the magnetic limpet mine. England poisoned, gassed, knifed, used shrapnel bombs, used bio-weapons and killed, maimed and generally blew up civilians and civilian targets with abandon. Some of the ideas behind these were culled from guerrilla tactics including those used by T.E. Lawrence, and Al Capone.

What the book lacks is a strong narrative thread. While most of the content of the book is factual, its is strung together with the author's words, so there is an element of selection. Sure, we get thrilling examples of the exploits of the brave men involved. And we also get continuity of some of the characters involved. But for me it needed to progress in a liner way through the war and connect events to bigger, more recognizable milestones from WW2 itself. That way the exploits could be set into context. And the reader could understand how the successes of the unit contributed to the war efforts? The chapters, I am sure, must be laid out in some logic, but I was left wondering why we'd started where we started. And then suddenly found myself in a stream in flood, fascinated by my surroundings but convinced all the while that I was being shown just one thread and was missing what must surely have been a wider picture. The various departments and people herein simply can't have operated in such an apparent vacuum, surrounded on all sides by two-dimensional caricatures if surrounded by anything at all.

That said, this is an interesting, and unusual history of these unconventional soldiers and the missions they undertook. At one of the darkest times in British history. These brave soldiers proved their worth time and time again, in the face of conventional senior military commanders who believed them to be little better than ruffians. They fought with different rules than the rest of the army.

I highly recommend this book for anyone captivated by military history. Especially if you enjoy reading about unconventional warfare and marveling at the oddballs who dreamt them up.