By Lynn Philip Hodgson, Canadian Editor, Eye Spy magazine

Often I have been asked the question, was it really worth the loss of life, and cost, to create the Special Operations Executive of World War II?

My reply to this question is an immediate and unflinching; yes, I believe that it was. Many historians have also questioned the need for organisations such as the SOE (Special Operations Executive), OSS (Office of Strategic Services), BSC (British Security Coordination) and even the PWE (Political Warfare Executive) of World War II.  Let’s examine just a few of what I believe were vital successes of these departments.

1./  The 'Hydra' communication radios of the BSC played a major role in relaying top-secret messages from Washington, Ottawa, and New York to Bletchley Park in England. So vital was this information, that just recently we have learned that Winston Churchill had a small bedroom in an anteroom just across the hall from ‘Station X’ at Bletchley Park. All the while during WWII that the BBC were reporting that Winston had gone off to the country for a relaxing holiday, he was actually at Bletchley Park reading messages the moment they were received.   What kind of information you ask?

a.) German U-boat cipher intercepts which were critical to winning the war against Dönitz' 'Wolf Pack'.  Knowing what the 'Wolf Pack’ was going to do next, and where they would be heading allowed the Allies to manoeuvre their convoys around the 'Pack'.

b.) The availability of top-secret messages between President Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, which allowed the two leaders to strategise the next moves in the war, instantaneously.

c.) Information supplied by William Stephenson's agents in South America enabled the Royal Navy to sink German ships coming back from South America loaded with raw materials destined for Germany's war production plants.

2./ Although many of the missions of the thousands of secret agents trained by SOE are lost forever due to various reasons, it is well documented as to how successful these agents were as a whole.

The SOE knew that for every 100 missions scheduled to take place, only 5% would be successful.  Should this be considered a failure?  Not at all; just the fact that the Allies
had so many agents working simultaneously behind enemy lines meant that the Germans had to devote entire departments of high ranking, intelligent, German officers dedicating their entire war effort to tracking down every single Allied Agent which of course was an impossibility.
These departments, the SD and Gestapo, were virtually tied up fighting the ‘Unconventional' battle.

Sir Colin Gubbins, Head of Special Operations Executive (SOE), wrote the following report to Winston Churchill shortly after the successful landings in France.

   “The stream of coded messages put out by the BBC on the evening of June 5th 1944 was directed at some 175,000 French Résistance fighters, according to plan.  The response has been overwhelming.  Of 1,050 rail demolition's asked for by the Allied Command, 950 have taken place.  The rail network is paralysed and German traffic, driven onto the roads, has run into countless road blocks.”

 This of course caused the Germans lengthy delays in getting back to Normandy from Calais and ensured the Allies a foothold on the beaches.  Even with this great accomplishment, the Allies incurred terrible losses.  One can only imagine the catastrophe that might have been if it were not for these brave men and women.  It could have been another Dieppe.

One success story, for which I haven't written about until now, was the time when three instructors from Camp-X were sent into France just prior to 'D' Day and successfully blew up the most important Radar installation that the Germans had.  This of course had the effect of saving hundreds if not thousands of Allied lives.

That's just one of the 500 stories; most of these stories have gone to the grave along with the brave men and women who owned the right to stand up and proudly say: I did make a difference.