Britain’s wartime Special Operations Executive (SOE) was formed in 1940. For the next five years SOE inserted paramilitary trained secret agents into enemy-occupied territories to coordinate resistance.

From diverse backgrounds a volunteer motley crew of spies, saboteurs, couriers and wireless operators bravely plied their trades behind enemy lines where the stakes were high. Both male and female, the exploits of each and every one of the SOE agents were acts of sheer, cold blooded bravery.

The SOE was also at the forefront of clandestine weapons development and had a number of dedicated stations for research, development and manufacture. These were mainly within fifty miles of London and were an assortment of requisitioned hotels, small industrial workshops and country estates. Collectively they became known as ‘Churchill’s Toyshop’ where some of the strangest weapons and gadgets were subsequently issued to the agents. One can vividly associate the Q character from James Bond with these inventions.

The Combined Military Services Museum in Maldon, Essex, houses one of the largest collections of SOE artefacts on public display and has been recognised as such by the British Government.

This publication by Gary Weight serves as a guide to the collection providing depth to the SOE story and the museum artefacts. Stories of espionage and sabotage are interweaved with how messages were coded, how communications worked in practice and how the SOE operated in general.

It serves as both an accurate introduction to the subject and also a valuable addition to the military historian’s bookshelf.

The Combined Military Services Museum is a registered charity and this book is part of the CMSM Guide Book Series that helps raise important funds to enable the museum to exist.

SOE: Special Operations Executive is available to buy at the museum or via Amazon.