After Dunkirk and the fall of France in 1940, it was obvious it would be years before the British army could mount conventional military operations on land in Europe. Prime Minister Winston Churchill wanted Britain to be seen fighting back, to have agents on the ground in occupied Europe, promoting resistance and coordinating fledgling anti-Nazi groups. A new organization was formed under the leadership of Hugh Dalton, the Minister for Economic Warfare. Known as the Special Operations Executive, SOE was officially launched on 22 July 1940. Churchill was an enthusiastic supporter of the new organization, instructing Dalton to 'set Europe ablaze'. The training provided to SOE agents was rigorous, started by a selection process where potential agents were screened and assessed psychologically. After weeks of gruelling commando training, male and female agents alike had to earn their parachute wings. They then learned the art of clandestine living, codes, false identities and sabotage.

Only then were they told the full extent of their mission behind enemy lines. For the remainder of the war SOE recruited and trained hundreds of agents who were sent into occupied Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Far East. Although best known for its work with the French Resistance in the run-up to D-Day in 1944, SOE was responsible for some of the most audacious secret missions of the war, including assassinations and disrupting the Nazi atomic bomb program.".