The SOE in France: Setting Europe Ablaze

When Churchill ordered Hugh Dalton to 'set Europe ablaze' in July 1940, the Special Operations Executive was born. Its F (French) Section became one of the largest and most active branches, sending over 400 agents into occupied France between 1941 and 1944.

SOE agents—men and women alike—parachuted or landed by fishing boat into France, where they organized resistance networks, trained Maquis fighters, sabotaged railways and factories, and transmitted vital intelligence back to London. The work was extraordinarily dangerous. Of the 400-plus agents sent to France, 104 did not return. Many were betrayed, captured, tortured, and executed in concentration camps.

Their contribution to D-Day was immense. On the night of 5-6 June 1944, SOE-coordinated sabotage disrupted German communications and delayed reinforcements heading for the Normandy beaches. The Maquis networks SOE had built tied down thousands of German troops that might otherwise have been used against the Allied beachheads.