Page 67 - All About History - Issue 09-14

10 dirty tricks of World War II

t is often said that wars are won and appoint guerrilla warfare expert Brigadier
lost on the battlefield but things are Colin Gubbins as director of operations and
not always quite so simple. History has training. The organisation operated in every
taught us that a battle of minds and country either occupied by or under fire
I morale can be just as crucial for success. from the Axis forces and it specialised in
Secret agents, propagandists and espionage and sabotage.
underground armies have operated below Agents were well trained and tested.
the radar in countless conflicts over Pretty girls would test their discretion,
the centuries. In World War II, all of the burglars would teach them how to enter
involved nations had their own devious premises and pick locks and fight experts
plots but standing out more than most were would guide them through the methods
Britain, the United States, Germany and the of a silent kill. These were desperate times,
Soviet Union. In the UK, for instance, agents calling for special and unorthodox thinking
working within the Special Operations by all involved to try to bring the world’s
Executive (SOE) conjured up ingenious most damaging conflict to an end and
devices not dissimilar to the gadgets found break the stalemate. Very little was ruled
in a typical James Bond film – given that out, whether it was using animals as bombs
author and 007 creator Ian Fleming’s or trying to depress and upset ordinary
brother, Peter, worked for the SOE perhaps soldiers into submission. Even the strangest
this should be no surprise. ideas were given consideration and some of
The SOE was formed by Hugh Dalton, them actually worked, although sometimes
the minister of economic welfare, on 22 indirectly. Over the course of the next few
July 1940, with prime minster Winston pages, we take a closer look at some of the
Churchill directing him to: “Set Europe most jaw-dropping and eyebrow-raising
ablaze.” One of Dalton’s first moves was to tricks of WWII.

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