Visitors to the national Car Museum at Beaulieu, in the New Forest, may have spotted a building close to Palace House which is a museum about the training that took place in WW2 for the S.O.E. Inside is an exhibition about the Secret Army.
The Special Operations Executive was the subject of the latest talk at the Probus Club of Basingstoke by speaker Nick Saunders who is a part time archivist at the Royal Hampshire Regiment Museum in Winchester.
The S.O.E. was set up in 1940 on instructions of Prime Minister Winston Churchill, to “Set Europe ablaze” by conducting espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in German occupied Europe and to aid local resistance movements.
It was not an easy formation as sections of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) refused to share facilities in signals training and other sections of the Military top brass also denied the use of their training places. While the S.O.E. had its headquarters in Baker Street, London, opposite the fictional address of Sherlock Holmes, all training took place around the country.
The organisation generated different unofficial names, The Baker Street Irregulars, Churchill’s Secret Army, Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare with the most apt, Stately ‘omes of England, as many country houses and private estates were requisitioned. Several such large properties existed around the Beaulieu estate and served as training bases specialising in the dark arts of guerrilla activities.
For security reasons nationalities were kept apart during their time in the S.O.E. to ensure that if captured they would not be able to disclose any knowledge of comparative secret operations in other countries. So effective was this compartmentalising of nationalities that in 1942 five governments in exile, who suggested setting up some form of training for agents to be dropped into occupied countries, were surprised to learn that the S.O.E. had been in operation for two years.
Silent killing, parachute skills, radios, Morse code and weapons training were the main courses. Burglary skills were taught as agents would need to access occupied buildings with tests being given of breaking into Palace House and stealing a bank cheque but without leaving any signs of entry.
Suitcase Radio and Secret Weapons for use by agents
It was imperative that their agents had a good knowledge of a particular country and that their language skills were sufficient to pass as a native. Although 13,000 agents underwent training, which included 3,000 at the Beaulieu Finishing School, there were many women who undertook the same training and had volunteered to assume roles in German occupied countries.
The Germans knew about what was happening at Beaulieu and named it The Gangster School. Among the 175 staff at Beaulieu were Guy Burgess and Kim Philby, who later, unearthed as Soviet spies, absconded to Russia. They taught mind games on how to undermine German morale.
The agents dropped into occupied countries should not be compared to the fictional BBC TV series ‘Allo ‘Allo! which was a wartime sitcom about the French Resistance with the farcical events set around a café, as many agents were captured, tortured and executed.
Probus Club of Basingstoke 
Ever heard of the rogues in Pemberton’s People in MI6? If you enjoy reading about the SOE or fact based espionage thrillers, of which there are only a handful of decent ones, do try reading Bill Fairclough’s Beyond Enkription. It is an enthralling unadulterated fact based autobiographical spy thriller and a super read as long as you don’t expect John le Carré’s delicate diction, sophisticated syntax and placid plots.
What is interesting is that this book is so different to any other espionage thrillers fact or fiction that I have ever read. It is extraordinarily memorable and unsurprisingly apparently mandatory reading in some countries’ intelligence agencies’ induction programs. Why?
Maybe because the book has been heralded by those who should know as “being up there with My Silent War by Kim Philby and No Other Choice by George Blake”; maybe because Bill Fairclough (the author) deviously dissects unusual topics, for example, by using real situations relating to how much agents are kept in the dark by their spy-masters and (surprisingly) vice versa; and/or maybe because he has survived literally dozens of death defying experiences including 20 plus attempted murders.
The action in Beyond Enkription is set in 1974 about a real maverick British accountant who worked in Coopers & Lybrand (now PwC) in London, Nassau, Miami and Port au Prince. Initially in 1974 he unwittingly worked for MI5 and MI6 based in London infiltrating an organised crime gang. Later he worked knowingly for the CIA in the Americas. In subsequent books yet to be published (when employed by Citicorp, Barclays, Reuters and others) he continued to work for several intelligence agencies. Fairclough has been justifiably likened to a posh version of Harry Palmer aka Michael Caine in the films based on Len Deighton’s spy novels.
Beyond Enkription is a must read for espionage cognoscenti. Whatever you do, you must read some of the latest news articles (since August 2021) in TheBurlingtonFiles website before taking the plunge and getting stuck into Beyond Enkription. You’ll soon be immersed in a whole new world which you won’t want to exit. Intriguingly, the articles were released seven or more years after the book was published. TheBurlingtonFiles website itself is well worth a visit and don’t miss the articles about FaireSansDire. The website is a bit like a virtual espionage museum and refreshingly advert free.
Returning to the intense and electrifying thriller Beyond Enkription, it has had mainly five star reviews so don’t be put off by Chapter 1 if you are squeamish. You can always skip through the squeamish bits and just get the gist of what is going on in the first chapter. Mind you, infiltrating international state sponsored people and body part smuggling mobs isn’t a job for the squeamish! Thereafter don’t skip any of the text or you’ll lose the plots. The book is ever increasingly cerebral albeit pacy and action packed. Indeed, the twists and turns in the interwoven plots kept me guessing beyond the epilogue even on my second reading.
The characters were wholesome, well-developed and beguiling to the extent that you’ll probably end up loving those you hated ab initio, particularly Sara Burlington. The attention to detail added extra layers of authenticity to the narrative and above all else you can’t escape the realism. Unlike reading most spy thrillers, you will soon realise it actually happened but don’t trust a soul.
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