People, Places, and Events Behind the Headlines in History
Britain’s Special Operations Executive
Formed at the outset of World War II, the Special Operations Executive (SOE) in the UK fostered and supported behind-the-scenes Resistance abroad in many ways. SOE mounted undercover and surprise offensives to thwart enemy action, engaged in sabotage, promoted labor unrest, prepared and distributed propaganda, trained and supplied operatives for quick in-and-out missions, stole weapons, bombed vehicles, disrupted power supplies and linkages and communications networks. The backbone for Resistance groups in Nazi-Occupied countries, SOE can take credit for some of the most critical actions that delayed the progression of the war and at least once put a stop to dangerous escalation.
SOE was only tangentially involved in planning or executing assassination attempts on the life of Adolf Hitler until the latter days of the war. And even then, its full-fledged, intricate assassination plan—code named FOXLEY—was never carried out.
https://alchetron.com/Special-Operations-Executive
SOE
Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), created in 1909, was split into its two well-known divisions in 1921—MI 6, which focuses on obtaining, tracking, analyzing intelligence from other countries, and MI 5, which preserves intelligence at home. (M.R.D. Foot: S.O.E. The Special Operations Executive 1940-46). SOE itself was created in March, 1939, just after armed forces from the Third Reich occupied Czechoslovakia, specifically for undercover work and propaganda. From that time until it was dissolved at war’s end in 1946, SOE worked with Resistance fighters from Albania to Turkey and in the Far East, helping coolies, farmers, peasants, railway men and rubber workers, policemen, printers, and smugglers become informers, saboteurs, and secret agents. (The Special Operations Executive).
Among its successes, SOE was instrumental in:
· Supplying intelligence that led to a pin-point attack on Gestapo headquarters in Aarhus, Denmark, October, 1944, and another in Copenhagen in March, 1945, that allowed imprisoned members of the Danish Freedom Council to escape and carry with them a card index that identified Danes who were cooperating with the Nazis. (The Special Operations Executive, p 296)
· Securing and protecting a 25-mile stretch of docks and gates from destruction in Antwerp in September, 1944, which accelerated the end of the war by several months. (The Special Operations Executive, p 300)
· Running telephone lines across Ponte Vecchio in Florence, thereby allowing operatives to learn about enemy actions and smuggle in patrols to thwart them in August, 1944. (The Special Operations Executive, p 330)
· Blowing up bridges and a viaduct in November, 1942, and June, 1943, that closed rail lines in Greece for months, interfering with Rommel’s retreat from Allied forces in Egypt (The Special Operations Executive, p 337-8)
One SOE operation, in particular, changed the entire course of the war. An SOE raiding party in March, 1942, slipped into and destroyed the Norsk Hydro Plant in Norway, the only place in the world ablable to generate heavy water on an industrial scale, and totally disrupted German scientists’ work on heavy water that was destined for an eventual atomic bomb. (https://www.businessinsider.com/how-daring-norwegian-wwii-raid-kept-nazis-from-nuclear-bomb-2021-2, The Special Operations Executive, p 298-99)
PLASTIC EXPLOSIVES AND WOLSSCHANZE
The widely known July, 1944, assassination attempt by Oberst Claus von Stauffenberg (dramatized in the film Valkyrie starring Tom Cruise) relied on SOE explosives that had been dropped into France in 1943. As part of the highly detailed plan for a coup by high-ranking German military men that would eliminate Hitler as well as other Nazi leaders, Stauffenberg placed a kilogram of plastic explosive in a briefcase that he stowed under the briefing table at the Wolfsschanze (Wolf’s Lair) Nazi headquarters in East Prussia. (Valkyrie will be the subject of a full Historka blog post in coming months.) The plastic explosive and the time pencil detonator used by Stauffenberg had been sent by SOE to a Resistance network in France and confiscated by the German military the year before.
Plastic explosives were developed by the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich before the start of World War II. The explosives mixed cyclonite with plastic material that could be molded into any number of shapes. It could be handled safely—the explosive would not detonate on its own or even if struck—requiring an embedded detonator, such as a time pencil, to set it off. The so-called Switch No. 10 Delay was made of brass with a section of copper at one end that housed a glass vial of copper chloride and a spring-loaded striker. A delay switch, which timed the device to explode ten minutes to 24 hours later, was triggered by crushing the copper section of the device to break the vial and release the chemical which would eat away at the striker and hit the percussion cap. (https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/Pencil_detonator)
FOXLEY
An SOE plan to assassinate Hitler and other high-ranking members of the Nazi Party emerged in November, 1944, as Hitler’s support across Germany declined. Authored by Major H. B. Court, Operation FOXLEY detailed ways to eliminate Hitler including drawings, maps, and photographs of the most likely target area—Hitler’s retreat at Obersaltzberg, the Berghof.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/hitlers/3226959811/
Hitler’s retreat since 1926, the Berghof was in the Austrian mountains 70 miles from Munich and 16 miles from Salzburg. The estate grew steadily to encompass barracks and an SS guardroom, residences for Nazi leaders such as Martin Bormann, Hermann Göring, and Albert Speer, a small farm, hotel, and theater plus an underground system of bunkers. It was surrounded by chain-link fences and barbed wire as well as gates manned by Reichssichrheitsdienst (RSD) and SS escorts, but overall security was questionable. The large numbers of guards and workers increased the chances for an enemy agent or assassin to gain access disguised as one of them. (Peter Hoffman, Hitler’s Personal Security).
A 19-man team of RSD guards was installed in 1942-3, with the men making regular patrols in front of the main building and surrounding area. Another 16-man RSD unit served as guards at outer checkpoints and allowed access only to those with official visitors’ passes. (Hitler’s Personal Security, p 189). The property had anti-aircraft batteries, and regular five-minute readiness checks were conducted beginning in 1944 (Hitler’s Personal Security, p 196).
The Berghof nevertheless was the chosen site for FOXLEY. For one thing, Hitler maintained a fairly regular schedule at the retreat. He routinely took a walk between 10 and 11 from his residence through the woods to a teahouse on the grounds, and he walked alone or with a friend or colleague rather than a guard. While SS monitored him, their patrols followed only at a distance. Sentries also tracked his movements, but from 500 yards or more away from his path. (John Grehan, The Hitler Assassination Attempts).
As its first line of attack, FOXLEY proposed a sniper attack from a vantage point 100 to 200 yards away from Hitler as he took his daily walk. However, the perimeter of the grounds was not only enclosed by chain link and barbed wire, it was patrolled by guards and guard dogs minutes before the start of Hitler’s walk. If the sniper was not able to get into position in time or otherwise not able to carry out the mission, FOXLEY envisioned a two-man team firing on the Führer when he returned from the teahouse to the Berghof by car.
An aerial attack on the property itself was another option. FOXLEY envisioned an RAF sortie that bombed the residence and other buildings, especially those housing SS, followed by landing a parachute battalion of 800 men to overcome the approximately 300 SS and other German troops on site.
Attention shifted to Hitler’s travels between the Berghof and Berlin where trains were under less surveillance than they were in the occupied countries. According to FOXLEY planners, “signal boxes are not guarded as a rule… Guards at bridges and tunnels are said to consist of only two men and to be very slack in performing their duties.” (The Hitler Assassination Attempts, p 214). FOXLEY therefore surmised that a “sabotage party” could be disguised as train guards so as not to arouse suspicion. The sabotage party could then plant explosives in one of the tunnels near Salzburg or Stuttgart. Hitler’s train might also be derailed by diverting his train onto a siding where it would crash off the rails, or an operative might be able to toss a suitcase full of explosives under the train as it rolled by. The inability to get reliable advance information on Hitler’s movements ahead of time sidelined these FOXLEY options.
Other FOXLEY thoughts explored the possibility of a sniper attack as Hitler stepped out of his auto and poisoning the water supply to his train. (The Hitler Assassination Attempts, p 218-220).
In the end, FOXLEY was abandoned. In 1944 and -45, Hitler’s misguided decisions involving the war effort and willingness to overrule sound advice from his own military leaders were “help[ing] the Allied cause enormously.” The focus therefore shifted to full defeat of the German military machine, Hitler’s eventual loss of power, and the perception of him as an object of ridicule. (The Hitler Assassination Attempts, p 221).
Sources
M. R. D. Foot: S.O.E. The Special Operations Executive 1940-46, Arrow Books, 1984.
Peter Hoffman: Hitler’s Personal Security, Da Capo Press, 2000.
John Grehan, The Hitler Assassination Attempts, Frontline Books, 2022.
https://www.businessinsider.com/how-daring-norwegian-wwii-raid-kept-nazis-from-nuclear-bomb-2021-2
https://www.history.com/news/july-plot-hitler-assassination-attempt-operation-valkyrie
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Valkyrie
https://www.warhistoryonline.com/world-war-ii/operation-valkyrie.html
https:/encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-july-20-1944-plot-to-assassinate-adolf-hitler