List of SOE establishments
The following is an incomplete list of training centres, research and development sites, administrative sites and other establishments used by the Special Operations Executive during World War II.
Numbered Stations
Establishments concerned with experimental work, storage and production were given Roman numerals (mostly in Hertfordshire). Training schools had Arabic numbers. (These included paramilitary schools around Arisaig, "finishing" schools around Beaulieu and operational schools in various counties including Gloucestershire, Leicestershire, Oxfordshire.)
Experimental Stations
- Station VI - Bride Hall near Ayot St Lawrence, Hertfordshire - the weapons acquisition section.
- Station VIIa - Bontex Knitting Mills, Beresford Avenue, Wembley - Wireless Section Production
- Station VIIb - Yeast-Vite factory, Whippendell Road, Watford - Wireless Section, packing and dispatch
- Station VIIc - Allensor's joinery factory, King George's Avenue, Watford - Wireless Section Research
- Section VIId - Kay's garage, Bristol Street, Birmingham - Wireless Section Production
- Station IX - The Frythe estate near Welwyn Garden City, which began as a wireless research unit (Special Signals), then became a weapons development & production centre, then a research and development station. Now a factory belonging to GlaxoSmithKline.[1]
- Station IXa - P O Box 1, Ashford, Middlesex - Submersibles work at Staines reservoir.
- Station IXc - Fishguard Bay Hotel, Goodwick, Pembrokeshire - Submersibles work in Fishguard Bay.
- Station XI - Gorhambury House near St Albans, Hertfordshire - Accommodation.
- Station XII - Aston House near Stevenage, Hertfordshire - Production, packaging and dispatch.[1][2]
- Station XIV - Briggens, near Roydon, Essex, contained the Forgery Section.
- Station XV - The Thatched Barn - road house on the Barnet bypass at Borehamwood, Hertfordshire - Camouflage Section. Much of the work of this station involved the final equipping of agents who came through the Thatched Barn prior to going to France. Typical of the work was reproducing French clothing which was copied from newspaper photographs, catalogues etc. and had to be perfect down to the last stitch and button. Maps were hand sewn into silk underwear, agents were made up with false humped backs etc. to enhance their disguise. Strict anonymity was observed. The station was also concerned with the development of booby traps including very original devices such as bicycle pumps which were swapped and exploded when used. Other work included packing hand grenades into tins labelled as fruit. The labels were reproduced by skilled artists to look like the real thing. Plaster of Paris was moulded and painted to resemble a log and inside was a Sten Gun.
- Station XVa - 56 Queen's Gate, Kensington, London SW7 - Camouflage Section - prototypes.
- Station XVb - The Demonstration Room, Natural History Museum in London. Camouflage Section - A training centre for agents and for briefing officials [2]
- Station XVc - 2-3 Trevor Square, Knightsbridge, South Kensington - Camouflage Section, photographic and make-up section.
- Station XVII - Brickendonbury, Brickendon, Hertford - Explosive trials
- Station unknown - Spartan factory, North Circular Road, Wembley - Unknown
Training Schools
- STS 1 - Brock Hall, Flore, Northamptonshire
- STS 2 - Bellasis, Box Hill Road, Dorking, Surrey - training of ex German PoWs - also training and holding centre used by Czech section.
- STS 3 - Stodham Park, Liss, Hampshire (later STS 47) - specialised in mines and the use of enemy weapons.[3]
- STS 4 - Winterfold, Cranleigh, Surrey
- STS 5 - Wanborough Manor, Puttenham, Guildford, Surrey - holding school for Bonzos (ex German PoWs)
- STS 6 - West Court, Finchampstead, Wokingham, Berkshire
- STS 7 (formerly STS 4) - Winterfold, Cranleigh, Surrey - Students Assessment Board
- Station 14 Briggins, Roydon, Essex
- STS 17 - Brickendonbury Manor - sabotage [3]
- Station 17 (originally XVII) Brickendonbury Manor, Brickendon, Hertford, Hertfordshire [4]
- STS 19 - Gardener's End, Ardeley, Stevenage, Hertfordshire - Bonzos for Operation PERIWIG
- Station 19 - Gardener's End, Ardeley, Stevenage, Hertfordshire
- STS 20a & 20b - Pollards Park House, Chalfont St Giles - Polish section
- Station 20 Pollards Park House, Chalfont St Giles - Polish section
- STS 21 - Arisaig House, Arisaig, Inverness-shire - commando-style training [4][5][6]
- STS 22 - Rhubana Lodge, Morar, Inverness-shire
- STS 22a - Glasnacardoch Lodge, Mallaig, Inverness-shire - weapons store where weapons were serviced and checked for accuracy.
- STS 23 - Meoble Lodge, beside Loch Morar, Inverness-shire
- STS 23b - Swordland, Tarbet Bay, beside Loch Morar, Inverness-shire
- STS 24a - Inverie House, Knoydart, near Mallaig, Inverness-shire
- STS 24b - Glaschoille, Knoydart, Mallaig, Inverness-shire
- STS 25a - Garramor, South Morar, Inverness-shire
- STS 25b - Camusdarach, South Morar, Inverness-shire
- STS 25c - Traigh House, South Morar, Inverness-shire
- STS 26 - Drumintoul Lodge, Aviemore, Inverness-shire and Glenmore Lodge, Inverness-shire - Norwegian Holding School / Main Headquarters of Linge Company [3]
- STS31 to STS27b - Beaulieu, Hampshire - Finishing Schools
- STS 31 - The Rings, Beaulieu, Hampshire - security training for agents
- STS 31 - The House in the Woods, Beaulieu, Hampshire
- STS 36 - Boarmans, Beaulieu, Hampshire
- STS 37a - ??? - advanced photography
- STS 39 - (Hackett School), ??? - subversive propaganda
- STS 40 - Howbury Hall, near Waterend, Bedford - training in use of EUREKA, REBECCA and S-Phone. Reception Committee School.[3]
- STS 41 - Gumley Hall, Market Harborough
- STS 42 - Roughwood Park, Chalfont St Giles, Bucks
- STS 43 - Audley End House, Essex - Polish section
- STS 44 - Water Eaton Manor near Oford
- STS 45 - Hatherop Castle, Fairford, Gloucestershire - Danish Holding School / Headquarters [3]
- STS 46 - Chichely Hall, Buckinghamshire - Czechoslovak Section
- STS 47 - ??? - advanced training on mines
- STS 49 -Forthampton House, Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire
- STS 50 - Gorse Hill, Witley near Godalming in Surrey
- STS 51 - Dunham House, Altrincham, Cheshire - parachute training (near RAF Ringway)
- STS 51b - Fulshaw Hall, Wilmslow, Cheshire - parachute training (near RAF Ringway) [5]
- STS 52 - Thame Park, Oxfordshire - security training for wireless operators
- Station 53a - Grendon Hall in Grendon Underwood, near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire - signals centre. Now Spring Hill Prison.
- Station 53b - Poundon House, Buckinghamshire, near Bicester - radio listening and transmission station. [6]
- Station 53c - Poundon, Buckinghamshire, near Bicester. - Training American forces in SOE communications techniques. 53b and 53c were physically separate establishments but close to each other. Some of the 53b staff was transferred when 53c opened.
- STS 54a - Fawley Court, Henley on Thames - Signals Section (Wireless Operators)
- STS 54b - Belhaven School, Dunbar - Signals Section (Wireless Operators)
- STS 61 - Audley End, Saffron Walden - packing parachute containers
- STS 61 - Gaynes' Hall, St Neots (after April 1942) [7]
- Station 62 - Anderson Manor, Winterborne Kingston, Dorset [8]
- STS 63 Erlestoke Park (near Devizes) Another stately home used for Operation Bardsea [9], but also used earlier for the 'Senior Officers' School'
- STS 101 - Tanjong Baili, Singapore.[7]
- STS 102 (also ME 102) - Mount Carmel (with parachute training at RAF Ramat David, Haifa)
- STS 103 - Camp X - Whitby, Oshawa, Ontario, Canada - used to train American agents [10]
Other sites
Other stations, whose code numbers are unknown, included:
- Gaynes Hall near St Neots in Cambridgeshire - Norwegian section.
- [11]
- Henley-on-Thames - quartermaster
- Norseby House, 83 Baker Street, London - headquarters of European country sections
- No 6 Special Workshop School - Inverlair, Inverness-shire. According to the RCAHMS and Major Fyffe but Fyffe writes that within three weeks this was changed to simply "Inverlair". Also known colloquially as "The Cooler" and possibly ISRB Workshops.
- Pictures of many of the sites in the South East of England
- Messrs Carpet Trades Ltd of Kidderminster packed about 18,500 containers after November 1943.[3]
- Erlestoke Park (near Devizes) Another stately home used for the 'Senior Officers School' whatever that might have been and later for Operation Bardsea as STS 63 an operation for dropping Polish emigres into occupied France. (see above)
Further reading
- Inside Camp X by Lynn Philip Hodgson, with a foreword by Secret Agent 'Andy Durovecz (2003) - ISBN 0-9687062-0-7
- SOE: the scientific secrets by Frederic Boyce and Douglas Everett, with a foreword by M.R.D. Foot (Sutton Publishing, 2003) - ISBN 0-7509-3165-5
- Secret War: the story of SOE, Britain's wartime sabotage organisation by Nigel West (Hodder & Stoughton, 1992)
- 'Mission Scapula SOE in the far east. by Arthur Christie Panda Press ISBN 0-9547010-0-3
- Rees, Neil (2005). The Secret History of the Czech Connection: The Czechoslovak Government in Exile in London and Buckinghamshire During the Second World War. Buckinghamshire: Neil Rees. ISBN 0-9550883-0-5. OCLC 62196328.
References
- ^ Aston Local History
- ^ Station 12 Aston House: SOE's Secret Centre, By Des Turner with foreword by M.R.D. Foot, Sutton Publishing 2006, ISBN 0-7509-4277-0
- ^ a b c d e Secret History of SOE: Special Operations Executive 1940–1945, William Mackenzie, St Ermin's Press 2000, ISBN 1-903608-11-2
- ^ Commando Country, Stuart Allan, National Museums Scotland 2007, ISBN 978-1-905267-14-9
- ^ Special Operations Executive: Para-Military Training in Scotland during World War 2, David M Harrison, Land Sea and Islands Centre, Arisaig
- ^ Land, Sea and Islands Centre, Arisaig
- ^ SOE in the Far East
Other Links
Google map locations of sites
