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Secret Agent(2001)
January 1, 20011 Season · 4 Episodes
Ended
Documentary
War & Politics
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Overview
Documentary series recounting the exploits of the Special Operations Executive in World War Two.
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Documentary series recounting the exploits of the Special Operations Executive in World War Two.
Ian Holm
Narrator
2001
'In the darkness of Nazi occupation the Special Operations Executive fanned the flames of hope and kept alive the flag of freedom. For this alone it deserves remembering.' In 1940, with Adolf Hitler already in command of Europe and planning the invasion of Britain, Winston Churchill appointed a new top-secret organisation to get behind enemy lines, spark revolt and undermine Hitler's Europe from within. This organisation is what history now knows as the Special Operations Executive, or SOE. With a brief from Winston Churchill to 'set Europe ablaze', the agency was given the dangerous task of co-ordinating subversion and sabotage against the enemy by all means necessary - using disguise, deception, bribery, explosives, guerrilla warfare and even assassination - something that had never been attempted before on such a scale.
Secret Agent gives a fascinating insight into the lives of the agents who risked their lives to fight this secret war. Through the first-hand accounts of these courageous men and women, series reveals the covert world of the SOE: - how the SOE was formed and the operatives were recruited - the daring missions they carried out - the radio and coding systems that kept them in touch with London - the James Bond-style gadgets designed to help them carry out their missions A real-life wartime thriller, Secret Agent narrates the true story of this remarkable group of people and the war they waged in Nazi-occupied territory.
Sabotage meant blowing up trains, bridges and factories whilst subversion meant fostering revolt or guerrilla warfare in all enemy and enemy-occupied countries. By D-Day on 6 June, 1944 SOE had become a feared organisation that could strike the enemy anytime, anywhere. Agent networks now stretched across Occupied Europe, linked to an army of resistance fighters. When the Allies landed, SOE struck with venom. In May 1945 General Eisenhower wrote that 'the disruption of enemy rail communications, the harassing of German road moves and the continual and increasing strain placed on German security services throughout occupied Europe by the organised forces of Resistance, played a very considerable part in our complete and final victory.' With no war to fight, SOE survived until January 1946 before being disbanded forever.
In the Second World War, British soldiers were not able to penetrate everywhere, but instead underground operators blew up the railways, sabotaged factories and executed killing operations. Special Operations Executive agent unit's task was to harass the enemy by sabotage and resistance activities. Everything was permitted when the action was addressed to win the war. Agent unit inspired the James Bond, as Ian Fleming's created characters Miss MONEYPENNY and Q are based on real SOE agents. Finally the people who survived the war get their voices heard at Secret Agent.
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2015
