SOE in the Third Reich: Special Operations Executives German Section in WW2

X' Section of S.O.2, a part of the Ministry of Economic Warfare, was formed in November 1940.Just two months later it came under the command of Major R.H.Thornley and, eventually, part of Special Operations Executive.Its role was to establish channels of communication into Germany and Austria for subversive activities and to build up inside those countries a network of agents. From the very beginning, X' Section faced an enormous task penetrating Germany and Austria.Such were the difficulties faced, that it was the opinion of the Secret Intelligence Service that there was no point' in starting a German Section as it could never succeed. The internal control exercised by the likes of the SS and Gestapo was so rigid that organised resistance in the accepted sense of the term was all but impossible inside Germany.Acknowledging, therefore, the handicaps with which he was faced, Thornley decided not to attempt the kind of large-scale operations conducted by SOE in Occupied territories.Inste