SOE in France

I

The Origins of SOE

 

The great war of 1939–45 was fought to decide whether national socialist Germany was to dominate the world or not. The nature of the nazi dictatorship gave Germany's neighbours some warning of their impending doom, though most of them took little notice. The nazis, resembling in this the communists, made no secret of their belief in force as the ultimate political solvent; they set a fashion for subversive activities in countries they proposed to conquer which defied the Queensberry rules of international conduct that staider powers had recently observed. This again debased the standards of how countries ought to behave to each other; however reluctant, these powers had to join in the new fashion or succumb.

In March 1938, ...