Churchill's Secret Agents: The New Recruits (2018): Season 1, Episode 5 - Episode #1.5 - full transcript

This programme contains scenes which
some viewers may find upsetting

In July 1940, Europe was at war.

EXPLOSIONS

Nazi forces stood
ready at Calais,

just 20 miles from
British shores.

With invasion
seeming inevitable,

Winston Churchill created
a new secret army.

They were called the Special
Operations Executive, or SOE.

Now, a group of 21st-century people
are taking on a training programme

which has spent 60 years
under lock and key.

Would you be able to kill?



I'm going to sound like a
terrible person, but I think yes.

GUNFIRE

By undergoing the same
assessments as the 1940s trainees,

they'll find out how
ordinary men and women

became deadly weapons of war...

GUNSHOTS

..revealing the secrets of one of
the most remarkable organisations

in British history.

This is an extraordinary project
about extraordinary times,

extraordinary training
and extraordinary people.

Ladies, gents, if you can, please,
let's get ourselves off the bus.

Having made it through a
rigorous selection process...

GUNSHOTS Get down!

..and been trained in
guerrilla warfare...



Lots of aggression.

..survival skills...

This is the biggest
challenge for me.

..and spy craft...

Just one slip of the tongue
and your cover's blown.

..now the six remaining
students face their final test.

Your mission begins now.

So the clock is ticking.

EXPLOSION

And they'll find out more
about the real agents...

Bonjour. Alastair.

..who waged a secret war.

How are you, Rob? Hello, Fred.

To be able to meet a
real SOE is awesome

and I don't use that
word very often.

As the students enjoy one
last breakfast in uniform,

the instructors are preparing to
put them through the final stage

of their training.

By early 1944, the war was
well into its fourth year.

Millions had already lost their
lives in what would become

the deadliest conflict
in human history.

But the tide had turned
against the Nazi empire.

They'd suffered heavy
losses in the east

and the Allies were making
plans to break back into Europe.

By now, SOE had trained
thousands of agents,

many of whom were
attacking the enemy regime

in over 20 countries.

With D-Day on the horizon,

SOE was preparing to support the
invasion in any way they could.

Of the 14 civilians who
started selection and training,

three men and three women
have stayed the course.

Well, good morning.

The six of you have now successfully
completed the core SOE syllabus,

but your training
is not over yet.

At this stage, SOE agents would have
been tested on all of the training

that they'd received in
one comprehensive package.

They called it the final scheme.

For many students, SOE's final
scheme was the last big test

they faced before being
deployed on real missions.

Sent undercover into towns,

they were given a dummy mission,

such as stealing
plans from a factory

or planting fake explosives
at busy railway junctions,

all in a bid to see if they
could put what they'd learned

in training into practice.

The situation,

the Allied invasion of France,
D-Day, is rapidly approaching.

For their final scheme,

the grounds of the finishing school
will double as occupied France.

And I wish you the best of luck.

They'll be using the French
identities given to them

during training and, just
like their 1940s counterparts,

they'll be expected to maintain
their cover at all times.

I imagine the final scheme is going
to be a really difficult mission.

We're going to have
to think tactically

and on our feet
and very quickly.

So the only way that
we're going to succeed

is if we are all completely
and utterly focused

right from the start.

They'll be split
into two groups.

Both have different objectives

but will rely on each
other to succeed.

Will Beresford Davies, Lizzie
Jeffreys and Magda Thomas

will make up the Sabotage Team.

Their primary objective is to
blow up a telephone exchange,

testing their intelligence gathering
skills and explosives knowledge.

I'm not sure what to expect,
because we've learned so much,

so probably we'll have to use
all the skills we... we acquired.

I'm not sure if there
will be weapons.

We just have to...

..rely on what you've learned
but also rely on our intuition.

The rest - Debbey Clitheroe,
Rob Copsey and Alastair Stanley

form the Wireless Team.

They have to communicate with
HQ to arrange the explosives

for the telephone
exchange attack,

testing their skills in
Morse code and fieldcraft.

They'll use any remaining
explosives to blow up a tree

that will block a key road.

Overall, the mission will test
the coordination, sabotage

and communication skills
required of agents on the ground.

There's a lot of scope
for things to go wrong,

and this final stage seems like
it's all or nothing, really.

Agents arriving in France
would often be dropped

in the middle of nowhere

and expected to find their
way to a prearranged location.

To mirror these conditions,

the teams are being dropped deep
in the grounds of the school

to test their navigation skills.

They'll be observed throughout
by instructors Nicky Moffat

and Mike Rennie.

Thank you.

Your mission begins now.

You've done this in training
and you can do this now here

on the final scheme. Good luck.
Thank you, ma'am. Thank you, ma'am.

OK, right, so, first thing,
figure out where we are. Yeah.

Rob Copsey will lead
the Wireless Team.

There's a crossroads here
in the grounds of the house.

It would be unusual for someone to be
looking at a map to see where they're at.

Their first objective is to navigate
to a safe house two miles away

to stash their radio equipment.

You're going to go on ahead,
signals as we discussed,

and Magda and I will form
a sort of group behind.

We're going to look like civilians
rather than people creeping about.

All right? Everyone OK? Let's do
this. Let's crack on. After you.

Will Beresford Davies has been
made leader of the Sabotage Team.

They need to find their
way back to the main house

and find plans of the telephone
exchange they're targeting.

But before they can begin,
the priority for both groups

is to establish their location
and agree a cover story...

Hiding in plain sight, remember?

..which could be tested at any time
by instructors posing as the enemy.

The fact that they've decided to
stroll as if civilians down a track

is maybe a good idea.

The garb they're in, trying to hide
in the woods and through fields

and things might have actually
been a bit more conspicuous.

To move around the
French countryside

without arousing suspicion,

SOE agent Pearl Witherington claimed
to be a travelling cosmetics rep.

Agent Brian Stonehouse
used his peacetime career

as a professional artist as
his own cover story in France.

He hid his wireless set
inside a box of paints.

Rob Copsey has opted for the
cover of amateur naturalist...

..although they've yet to move
away from their drop point.

Do you think we're possibly on this
bridle path? We passed the timber yard.

I thought they were a little bit
slow initially, discussing issues,

standing very much in plain
sight in the middle of a road.

We came this way and
we went this way.

I think we know from
the river where we are.

They've got a good cover story,
which is that they're bird-watchers.

Alphonse, can you
hear the birds?

It's useful to have
something like that,

but I think they look
a bit odd, frankly.

Let's get the compass out.

Can I use this?

Not very conspicuous.
We need to hurry up.

Maybe I should step out and you
maybe having just a little...

..relieving yourself.

Both teams have a button compass
and a silk map of the grounds.

We go down here and we're
going to come over a stream...

SOE agents used these because
they could be easily hidden

in the lining of their clothes.

We need to get to that safe
house as quickly as we can.

I might follow on a
little behind you guys.

They've got the choice of
moving down the roads and tracks

or moving slightly more covertly,
away from the roads and tracks.

What they've chosen to do is to
move in a slightly furtive way,

in plain sight...

..down a road.

If they're going to
walk down this track,

they might as well walk down, the
three of them together, chatting,

looking around along the way

and actually move a lot
quicker than they're doing now.

They look suspicious.

On the other side of the estate,

Will's team are already back
in view of the main house.

Now they need to
get past the guards.

Someone there?
Someone in uniform.

The nature of SOE's missions meant
that agents couldn't always avoid

contact with the enemy.

Do you see anyone moving
or not? Where that car is.

Often, they had to work
right under the Nazis' noses.

Agent Michael Trotobas
was tasked with sabotaging

a locomotive works
in northern France.

By impersonating
a Gestapo officer,

he convinced the guards that
he needed to search the area

and secretly planted explosives,

causing significant damage.

Leaving Magda to keep watch, Will
and Lizzie make their approach.

Their instructions are
to sneak into an office

and steal plans that detail
the location of their target -

a telephone exchange.

But there's an unexpected hitch.

The office is occupied.

This team was told that there'd
be nobody in the office.

This is a typical SOE tactic.

Just to keep them on their toes.

Will's team face a choice...

..neutralise the clerk and
risk raising the alarm...

..or wait it out.

Rob's Wireless Team are finally
approaching the safe house.

It's clear. Let's go.

A signal such as an upturned
plant pot would be used

to let agents know if a
property was safe to enter.

Safe houses could be any unused
building, but flats, farms

and even doctors'
surgeries were offered up

by brave and willing locals...

..where stranded Allied
airmen, Resistance fighters

and secret agents were
afforded sanctuary and help.

Those who sheltered people did
so at enormous personal risk.

If discovered, properties
could be destroyed

and those involved
arrested or executed.

Rob's Wireless Team now have to
focus on their next objective...

It's twenty to five.

Right, we've got to crack on because
you've got to send your message at seven.

..sending a coded message
to HQ at 1900 hours

requesting
explosives, but first,

they need confirmation that the
other team are ready to proceed.

We need to get to the
stables now, don't we? We do.

To get the drop point.

A message confirming that
Will's team have the plans

to the telephone exchange is due to
be left in a prearranged location,

known as a dead drop. I thought
we were going to set up the radio.

I think you guys can do that. I
can go and do that. An encryption.

Yeah. Just going to...

The plan is for me to
leave the safe house.

So I'm now going to be at risk.

I'm looking for a message
from the other team,

and hopefully that will
confirm that they are ready.

1900 we need to send the message,
so you've got to be back.

As well as being a
highly trained athlete,

maths graduate Alastair was the
standout student in Morse training.

He's already preparing the message
they expect to send at 1900 hours.

Message begins. "Both
teams in position,

"request explosives drop for
both missions." Message ends.

We're a bit time constrained
to send the message.

Yeah. Got about two hours. Yeah.

You need to come back as
fast as possible. Yeah.

See you soon, Marianne.
Bonjour. Alphonse. Stay safe.

They've lost some time, but
for Will's Sabotage Team,

patience has paid off.

The office is now unoccupied
and they can try to steal

the plans to the
telephone exchange.

But they need to work fast,

securing the plans and getting
their message to the others

in time for the
1900 transmission.

During training, Lizzie has
excelled in almost every discipline,

including lock picking.

Be aware of your time.

She spent an inordinate amount of
time trying to get the lock picked,

and when things aren't going
the way that you expect them to,

you need to step
back and re-plan

and come up with an
alternative course of action.

Which one are you doing?

After almost half an
hour, Will takes over.

Very nice.

Whilst Rob makes his
way to the dead drop...

I think we have to go in
those woods there. Yeah.

..Debbey and Alastair are
looking for a safe place

to transmit their message from.

The enemy could trace
wireless broadcasts,

so they've opted for
the nearby countryside

rather than compromise
the safe house.

This area looks very good. I can barely see through
the trees that way, so it's very unlikely...

SOE networks relied heavily
on their wireless operators.

As D-Day approached, they
would provide a crucial link,

enabling coordinated action.

What's the risk inherent
in what you're doing now?

Getting caught... Yeah.
..with the equipment.

Sending the message without
being spotted is crucial.

If we're spotted, they'll take
the antenna and the equipment

and that's it, mission's failed.

5:30pm.

Former paratrooper Rob has reached
the location where the message

from the Sabotage
Team should be hidden.

I'm looking for something that's different.
A log, hopefully, with a message within it.

A dead drop was a prearranged
place to leave a message,

made more covert by SOE's ingenious
gadgets, like modified corks,

fake keys and hollow logs.

But these were more
than just spy toys.

Dead drops kept SOE operatives
apart, which kept them safe.

By limiting
face-to-face meetings,

SOE agents were less likely
to compromise each other

if captured and tortured.

Nothing inside it.

So, I'm going to have to wait.

Without confirmation from the
others, there's little Rob can do.

This is the thing, this is the thing
the agents would be up against -

their own mind.

Their own mind, because they're
going to be thinking, time,

the message has got
to be sent at 1900.

I don't have a watch now.
I had to leave it with them

because they need to
know when to send it.

So I had two hours, if that,
to get down here, find it,

understand the
message and get back.

So the clock is ticking.

Back at the safe house,
concerns are growing.

Any sign from Joseph?
No sign from Joseph yet.

Erm...

Debbey and Alastair have found a
safe location to broadcast from.

And 17 groups of five.

And have their
message ready to send.

The question is,
second-in-command...

How do we leave it? Do we wait
for him, because I was hoping,

40 minutes is about the
right amount of time

to get out there and get set up.
Ideally, we want to leave about now.

All too aware that the other
team are waiting for them...

..Will Beresford Davies
has resorted to Plan B.

OK, a bit of urgency, Miss Jeffreys,
come on. You haven't got time.

It's a gamble, but
having abandoned stealth,

they quickly find the
telephone exchange plans.

Now they need to let Rob's team
know they have their target.

But time is running out.

I think we have to assume that
something's gone wrong. OK.

He's either gone down hiding
or he's been captured.

What if he's not back by 1900 hours?
If he's not back by 1900 hours,

we're going to have to send the message
and get the drop zone for the explosives.

What message are
you going to send?

The same message or shall
I quickly write one?

I'm just trying to think.

Plans going awry on a final scheme
provided instructors with useful

insight into how students might
react to problems in the field.

Will, Lizzie and Magda finally
arrive at the dead drop.

SHORT WHISTLE

To avoid compromising the other
team, Rob stays out of sight.

Rob has the message
confirming that the other team

have the plans but, still over
a mile away, he has to hope

that Debbey and Alastair
have decided to press ahead.

They're now the only ones who
can keep the mission alive.

So, do you want to set up the
radio and I'll get the aerial?

Yeah, definitely.

Tune the frequency.
5.2 to 5.9.5.3 to 5.5.

OK. OK, let's have a listen.

A month ago, Alastair
didn't know any Morse.

Yeah, perfect. Yeah?
Right, OK. Sending.

Now, the whole scheme will fail if
he can't send the message accurately

and on time.

BEEPING

At HQ, Lieutenant Colonel Weale
is waiting for the message.

Last letter.

Transmission complete. OK.

Thank you.

Well, the message we
got was, message begins.

"Only team J in position. Request
explosives drop for both missions."

Message ends.

A few wrong letters there.

We've got a V for a U,

we've had to move things around a
little bit to make it make sense,

but, nevertheless,
it's all there.

Quick, quick, quick!

They've sent their message
and are now expecting a reply

at the scheduled time of 1930.

Ten past. 1910.

Incoming wireless transmissions
couldn't be traced by the enemy

so they return to the relative
security of the safe house.

Please let him be there,
please let him be there.

Start setting up.
I'll have a look.

Nothing? No.

Gutted.

Really gutted. I was expecting
him to be sat there going...

You're taking over? Yeah,
I'm taking over now.

He could have been taken.

We've just got to forget
about him, just for now.

We've got to get on with this.

Would it be better if I stood
on the box and held it higher?

Surrounded by buildings,

they need to get the aerial
up high for it to work.

OK, transmission received.

Erm, yeah, didn't get all of it.

They have the time that the
explosives will be dropped

but only half the coordinates.

70, four, five...

Location...

This could have been location.

As darkness falls,

Will's team need to find somewhere
to shelter for the night.

You all right? Yes, cosy.

That's one word for it!

The mission hasn't exactly
gone to plan so far.

We got stuck with an unpickable lock
and I just... I kicked the door in.

Not a very subtle SOE tactic!

I think we need to be
a lot more careful.

That was... that was not great.

Not being able to pick the lock is a failure
on my part, which I'm kicking myself about,

because my one job was to
pick the lock and I couldn't.

So I'm definitely getting a sense
of how hard these missions really

must have been for
the SOE agents.

Oh, my God.

Get in here. How are you? What
happened? Oh, my God, what happened?

I've been waiting for ages. Did you
get the message? I got the message.

We got the message back,
about the parachute drop site.

Yeah. 45 east, but latitude
was unintelligible.

70 lies here. Yeah. 45 in.

It could really be anywhere in a
corridor along here, couldn't it?

In reality.

Let's hope we get lucky.

Awesome.

The final scheme
gave students a taste

of what it was like to
operate in the field...

..away from the support
of a training school.

Can I just bite it? Yeah, just, like,
bite it like a sandwich, why not?

Are you a vegetarian?
I'm a vegan.

I decided when I started this
that I wouldn't be fussy,

I wouldn't stick to my vegan diet
because you couldn't in wartime.

This is not meat. It's not meat?

No, I don't believe that any part of
this ever walked around and mooed.

This is the food they would
eat and they would often

probably be not in such a
comfortable position as we are,

because we have a
lot of blankets.

Magda Thomas had relatives
in the Polish Resistance.

Probably they would just have
their coats to cover themselves.

It must have been tough.

It's probably not an unrealistic
situation an SOE agent

would have been in, where they
were right next to the enemy

and, at any moment, you know
that the enemy could find you.

And no-one's coming to help you.

You haven't got your
buddies to look out for you.

An impressive kind of
courage to do that.

Tomorrow, they'll be expected to put
all of their training into practice,

executing their most
complex mission to date.

It's 6:30am.

Explosives were often
parachuted in to agents,

so Rob's team set off
to find their drop zone.

But with only half the coordinates,
it's a wide search area.

Will's team also depend
on their success.

They need some of the explosives

in order to take out
the telephone exchange.

Because we've got no breakfast
this morning. You sure?

Let's go. Watch out for the...

AEROPLANE FLIES OVERHEAD

They're going to drop it,
they're going to drop it.

Keep an eye out. Can we see?

Rob's team are
searching the grounds,

but even with the right coordinates,
the accuracy of a supply drop

was never guaranteed and containers
frequently went off course.

If the plane comes around,
we're coming into the area now.

In Poland alone,

around a third of all
material parachuted in

failed to reach the Resistance.

As the anticipated Allied
invasion drew nearer,

SOE stepped up its efforts
to supply and coordinate

Resistance activities.

You know what, I
think we see it.

Let's be quick.

Before and after D-Day,

they dropped arms and
explosives into France

on an unprecedented scale.

In total, around 10,000
tonnes of supplies

were dropped into France by SOE.

OK, OK, explosives.

We need to go, we need to go.

SOE protocol was to bury
or conceal the parachute

and move away from the drop
zone as quickly as possible.

Before meeting up with
Will's Sabotage Team

in order to give
them explosives,

Debbey turns to
their next objective.

I'm looking for a tree

that we can blow up.

Using trees to block roads
was a popular SOE tactic,

intended to harass
and delay the enemy.

For the students,

it will be the greatest test of
their sabotage skills to date.

It's got to be around quite a
tight bend, so they can't see it.

One downed tree might lead
to a few minutes' frustration

for a German tank division.

Dozens every mile could
mean major delays.

It's a dead tree, so it would
look natural that it's fallen,

because it's died, but the
height of it is my worry.

It's so tall, it's going
to land in those trees

and we may not be able to get it
all the way down to the ground.

It's not easy to blow up a tree.

The plan for D-Day was
that SOE and the Resistance

would create obstructions
like this on a massive scale.

SOE HQ in London knew which German
divisions were likely to be called

as reinforcements when the
Allies reached Normandy.

Holding them back was key
to establishing a foothold

in northern France,

from which the fight to
reclaim Europe could begin.

We are two civilians having
a walk in the country,

so let's just act normal,
OK? OK. Let's go for it.

Do you want to lead the way?

Having found the explosives, Rob
and Alastair must leave a message

at the dead drop to arrange a
rendezvous with the other team.

Let's see if we can find that
pheasant, Alphonse, shall we?

They're really fighting
the clock now. It's 9:20.

They need to get these demolitions
in place really quickly

and they haven't even got to the
dead drop yet to inform team two.

Where are you, pheasant?

I think the issue with Copsey
is he's talking too much.

He's gone that way.

He keeps talking
about his cover story.

Actually, he only needs to deploy his
cover story when he's met someone.

They could be moving with a
much greater sense of purpose.

Right, guys, you're wasting
too much time now on movement.

You need to get there quickly.

Team two are likely to be
sitting around waiting for you.

They can do nothing...
Under the jacket.

..until you connect with them and
they connect with their explosives.

Waiting for news at the dead
drop are Will's Sabotage Team.

"Got goods. Meet at safe house."

At the moment we don't
have a safe house,

so I don't know where that is.

It says T? T1, yeah.

T1. Or TY? It's TY.

TY...? Timber yard.

It's got to be timber
yard. Timber yard.

That's the only TY on the map,
isn't it? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Well, we better get moving,
because we're running out of time.

Will, Lizzie and Magda are on
their way to the rendezvous

to collect their explosives.

But during the final scheme,

instructors were keen to remind
students of the importance

of a solid cover story.

Stop there.

I'm a French policeman.

Papers.

What's your name? Elodie Julien.

Date of birth? 22nd
of November, 1918.

Where were you
born? Chateauroux.

Your name? Jacqueline Armand.
Where were you born? In Rotterdam.

And your name? Stephan Doux.

Where are you going to?

Erm... we're actually...

Well, I've lost my dog.

You've lost your dog? Yes,
I'm visiting my uncle here.

So this gentleman kindly...

..agreed to help me.
Where have you come from?

I've come from Orleans. I was on
holiday from my course in Paris,

my law course, and...

Where are you staying in Orleans?
At the hotel by the gare.

OK.

What's in your bag?

My hat.

So, where are you
heading to now? Erm...

We thought we'd head round towards...
I think there's a large house there,

there's a chance the dog
might have gone there. OK.

Right.

Generally speaking, they were OK.
They remembered their cover stories.

We did well there. We
just need to keep calm.

Jeffreys, she's a
little taciturn,

and that's the kind of thing that
causes suspicion amongst security

officials, if they stop somebody
and they don't seem to want to talk.

But we know that's
Jeffreys' character.

I think we keep searching for the
dog until we're certain he's gone

and, hopefully, in the course
of that, we'll find the others.

Thomas was pretty good. She managed to convey a
certain amount of emotion about losing her dog.

Coco! Coco!

There was a little bit
of backstory there.

She looked convincing,
she sounded about right,

so I was happy with that.

Beresford Davies
spoke reasonably well.

Do you have family
in the Resistance?

When we were giving that
cover story to the policeman,

I had... I think my
great-grandfather,

he had to try and switch suitcases
because he was carrying two of them

on a train and one was full of
guns and the other one wasn't.

Will's great-grandfather
operated near St-Etienne,

tracking German troop movements
and plotting ambushes.

I do have a greater understanding, just because
of all the tiny details he'd have to remember -

those things that
would give you away.

By the spring of 1944,

the Allies were
growing in confidence

and the German army
was on the back foot.

Everyone in France
knew D-Day was coming.

The question was - when?

Agents in the field
had to hold their nerve

and wait for word from Britain.

They, alongside thousands
of Resistance fighters,

were poised for action.

Will's team finally make
it to the safe house.

One, two, three, four, five, six. Bickford
fuse, just to get it done quickly. Yeah.

Make sure I've
got matches on me.

OK.

Oh, Stephan. Welcome.

Coco. HE WHISTLES

Bonjour, Stephan.

Jacqueline.

The teams need to
divide the explosives.

They have just two hours left
to complete their mission.

OK, let me tell you what
we've got at the moment.

We've prepped, we've
prepped, we've got...

This is all the
cortex at the moment.

Half must blow up the
telephone exchange,

the rest will fell a
tree to block a key road.

We've got one large
charge ready for you

and there's still another
stick ready to go.

But working with
explosives is so dangerous

that the ones the students
will handle are dummy charges.

So now we listen for the
proceed signal. Proceed signal.

Before they can carry
out their orders,

they need to listen to the
radio for a hidden signal,

known as an action message.

We don't want to miss this.

What's the message
you're waiting for?

"Les poireaux sont
longs et frises." Hm?

The leeks are long and curly.

Radio Londres was a BBC
French-language service

broadcast to occupied
Europe during the war.

SOE's first wireless operator
in France, Georges Begue,

had the idea of using it
to send coded messages

to agents on the ground.

The station identified
itself using a short excerpt

from Beethoven's 5th,

the first four notes of which were
Morse for the letter V for victory.

Ici Londres.

La mouche bourdonne
et fait la navette.

Le disons deux fois.

Les poireaux sont
longs et frises.

That's it. That's it.

On the night of 5th
June, hours before D-Day,

Radio Londres broadcast more
than 100 unique action messages

to waiting SOE networks.

This would be the zenith
of SOE's work in France.

The organisation had
started from scratch in 1940

in a makeshift office.

Now, four years later,
all across France,

networks were poised
for unified action.

Rob's team's orders are typical of
those issued to agents at the time:

"Use explosives to bring down
a tree and block a key road."

This is really nerve-racking.

Extremely nerve-racking.

This is the most important
part of the mission now.

Debbey is a drama teacher
with no military training,

but throughout the process
she's defied expectations

and performed well.

I'm feeling how the SOE
agents must have felt.

How scary... Every tree branch
that clicks, you're like...

You are on your own

and you realised how
lonely and important it was

for you to be able to do all
the skills we've learned.

It's... Everything's
coming together.

Yeah, start chopping. There's
a groove here. Yeah, yeah.

We need to be quick.

While Rob's team prep the tree,

the others take on
their main objective -

destroying the
telephone exchange.

Right, let's be really careful.

Stay in cover. When you're
not moving, stay low.

But first they
need to make a plan

and decide what to
do about the guard.

There's a sentry.

Can we get past to that next
building without him seeing us?

Yeah.

We know the position of one sentry
but we haven't seen past him.

Go round the back?

It's one thing to read about
attacks and so on that they did,

and hiding out, but you don't really understand
it until you actually go and have a go.

You need to get
really low here, OK?

Then you realise that they
would have been stressed out

and tired and hungry,

but you can feel that you've got
the weight of a gun in your pocket.

You know you're going to have to also start
potentially blowing up and killing people.

Lizzie, I want you to run at him

when he's facing the
other way and stopped.

You're going to run at him,
try and take him out quietly.

If he turns round even a little bit and it looks like
he's going to see us, you shoot him straight away.

And, Lizzie, you get the
hell out of the way. Yeah.

Safety tab off? Safety tab
off. Give it a smack. Let's go.

It's taken Rob's team eight
minutes to rig the tree.

For safety, experts replace the
dummy explosives with live charges.

On the 6th of June 1944,

the Allied invasion of
France finally began.

It was the largest amphibious
assault in military history.

Around 7,000 ships, supported
by over 11,000 aircraft,

landed over 150,000 British,
American and Canadian troops

along a 50-mile
stretch of coast.

This signalled the start of
intensive and coordinated sabotage

by SOE on a grand scale.

While Lizzie makes
her approach...

EXPLOSION

..Rob's team's blast
blocks the road.

Well done. Come on.

With Lizzie having successfully
snuck up on the guard...

..they complete their mission.

And make their escape.

Let's go.

In the days after D-Day,

SOE led disruption of German
reinforcements by attacking roads,

railways and
communication lines.

On the night of D-Day,

the French Resistance
carried out 950 disruptions

to the railway alone.

Travelling north by road was
equally arduous for the Germans,

as Resistance fighters carried
out coordinated ambushes

on their convoys.

The 2nd SS Panzer Division,
based in Toulouse,

should have reached
Normandy in three days.

Instead, it took 16.

One estimate is that a total
of eight German divisions

were kept from ever reaching the
Allied invasion fronts after D-Day.

Well done. Well done. Well
done, guys. Well done.

Training is over.

That was a really
great experience.

It's a relief to finish.

Well, we think we've finished.

Mission accomplished. Yes, sir!

In we go. Thank you, sir.

The purpose of this project really
was to resurrect the SOE syllabus,

but I think the last few weeks will
have changed all of these students

quite considerably,
particularly Jeffreys,

who was almost mouse-like
when she arrived.

What has changed above all is
probably my self-confidence.

Apparently, there was something in
me that would have been passable

for the SOE training,

and given how astonishing
the SOE agents were,

if I have even the
slightest bit of me

is similar to what they
were like, then yeah, OK,

maybe I can do something.

When they walked in on day one,

I think that many people,
and perhaps us included,

would not have
thought at that point

that they were going to
be likely SOE agents.

People that have seen it
through to the end here

are those who've got real
strength of character.

It's going to be
really sad going home.

I don't feel like I'm
the same person any more.

On paper, I am the most
unlikely candidate.

I'm a grandmother.

I think there's lots of women
out there that have gone through

so much in their lives and,
like me, probably would never,

ever imagine that they could
do something like this,

and they probably can.

We've had our training.
Are we 100% prepared?

No, we make mistakes, as they
did then, and they were just...

..not polished diamonds, they were
just rough diamonds, as you say.

After completing this training, I
don't feel prepared to be SOE agent,

but I think I could be.

They were just people
who learned some skills

and wanted to do something
for their country,

for their countries, for Europe.

What this process
reaffirms for me,

inside every single individual

is probably more than
they ever imagined...

..and that through
training and guidance,

seemingly ordinary people
can do extraordinary things.

To try and replicate what Resistance
fighters like my ancestors

might have been going through,
it makes the words on the pages

of the history book...
it brings them alive.

It's a very special kind of
bravery to stand completely alone.

Magda's great-aunt worked
for the Polish Resistance

until her arrest in May 1941.

The day of her execution, she
wrote a letter to her family.

"My beloved parents and
siblings, my hour has come.

"Today, on the 3rd of May 1943,

"I have to part with the world.

"I ask you all just one thing.

"Be now as strong as I am.

"It will bring me relief.

"Thank you for everything
you did for me.

"Do not be sad, but pray for
me and I will go away calmly.

"Forgive me if I was
a cause of concerns,

"God will repay you for that.

"When I will stand in front of
him, I will pray for you as well.

"Live happily, Irena Piwarska."

So, I'm really
proud of my auntie.

That she had such dignity.

Because, you know,
we women are strong

and we can go
through many things.

Congratulations on reaching
the end of your final scheme

and, indeed, of the
training course as a whole.

Well done, you've all passed.

It's worth remembering that
SOE candidates at this stage

still had a choice as to whether
they went into the field or not.

They were all volunteers and
they could withdraw at any time,

so they did have a choice,

and I wonder how many of you think
you would have chosen to go on.

What we've seen in all
of you is the spark

that you probably would have
succeeded, so very well done.

Congratulations. Congratulations.
Very, very impressive performance.

Thank you. Well done.

By the end of the war,
SOE had recruited,

trained and equipped
over 9,000 agents.

We've managed it, we've made it,
we've got to the finish line,

but for the agents training,
that was the beginning

of what could be months and years of
never being able to relax, really,

and always having
one eye behind you.

When I go home, I'm going to
spend pretty much every day

thinking about this place.

But I know that I've had the honour
of experiencing the SOE training

and I'm fortunate that
I'm going home afterwards.

Within a year of the war
ending, SOE was wound down,

its surviving agents bound
by the Official Secrets Act

not to divulge their
wartime activities.

On their return, some went
back to ordinary life.

Others found they could not.

Virginia Hall, employed
by SOE in France,

went on to work for
the fledgling CIA.

Colin Gubbins, at one
time the head of SOE

and the person behind
its training programme,

went on to run a
carpet manufacturer.

Odette Sansom survived
interrogation and imprisonment

before returning to her
life as a housewife.

More than 70 years on
from the end of the war,

just a handful of
agents are still alive.

Having completed their training
and returned to their normal lives,

a few of the students are
getting the chance to meet some.

To be able to meet a real
SOE is going to be awesome

and I don't use that
word very often.

Hi, Rob, come in. Hello, Fred.

Amazing to meet you.
Yeah, come in. Thank you.

92-year-old Fred Bailey signed
up to the Royal Armoured Corps.

In 1943, he saw a notice inviting
volunteers for special duties.

Well, of course, the
training was 24/7.

I mean, you could...

..be raked out in the middle of
the night to go on an exercise.

Yeah.

Or, erm...

..a mock interrogation.

You were never free of the training.
There was always something going on.

After months of training,

he was parachuted into
France after D-Day

as part of a three-man unit
known as a Jedburgh team -

uniformed agents sent in to
assist the French Resistance.

They were supposed to
drop us at 800 feet

and they wouldn't
come down that low.

They dropped us at
1,800 feet. Oh, right.

Which seemed to take
forever to come down. Yes.

And, of course, you're at risk
the whole time you're coming down.

But anyway, I eventually
landed in a disused brick yard.

I just sort of got
the parachute off

and just tucking my Colt .45 out

and I could see somebody
looming up in the darkness.

I didn't know who he was,

but anyway, turned
out to be a Frenchman.

I offered a handshake but
he insisted on kissing me.

Right.

Having landed in
the South of France,

one of Fred's jobs was to
hamper German troop movements.

We were in an old bus full
of explosives and weapons

and we came round a corner

and there was a German tank
in the middle of the road.

He was obviously lost.

A young maquisard
jumped on the tank

and pushed a grenade
through the driver's visor.

The lieutenant had a map in the
sleeve of his jacket... Oh, OK.

..which disclosed
the route of retreat,

and so I was able to arrange
an air strike on this road

and, yeah, we did
a lot of damage.

Will and Alastair have come to
Paris to meet Marcel Jaurant-Singer.

Bonjour, Marcel. Bonjour.

Alastair. How are you?
Very good, thank you.

At the age of 22, Marcel
crossed the Pyrenees

before travelling to Scotland
to be trained by SOE.

He then returned to France,

going on to lead a
300-strong Resistance group.

Did you feel as though
the training was enough,

that you were ready when
you arrived in France?

I was transformed.

I was much stronger as I
came back than when I left.

I used my training, certainly.

No question. It was necessary.

And what sort of work
did your group do?

I was for a time
active as a saboteur.

There was in the train station

a train of high explosives.

Bombed the train.

Everything exploded

and the explosion
was so terrible,

we saw wheels of the train

500 metres on the other
side of the Somme.

Unlike Fred and Marcel,

many hundreds of agents
did not survive the war.

Debbey Clitheroe is following
in the footsteps of Vera Atkins.

As F Section's
intelligence officer,

Atkins had seen many agents off
on their missions at the airfield

and after the war was
determined to discover the fate

of those who hadn't
returned from France.

In 1946,

Vera Atkins' quest
led her inevitably

to Nazi concentration camps.

No-one knows exactly how many
SOE agents died in these places.

What is certain is that
hundreds died on operations

or were killed in captivity.

The findings of Atkins'
search were often horrific,

but the fate of four
women in particular,

Sonia Olschanezky, Vera Leigh,

Andree Borrel and
Diana Rowden stood out.

Atkins' mission led her to
Natzweiler-Struthof in France.

A fraction of the size of
camps like Auschwitz or Dachau,

Natzweiler-Struthof was hidden
in the Vosges Mountains,

built on the site
of a ski resort.

There were 17 barracks.

Wow, 17.

For 3,000 men.

But at the end of the war,
in '44, there were 6,000.

Wow.

It was the camp where
all the deportees

from the category
"Nacht und Nebel" -

Night and Fog - had to be sent.

Specifically designed to deal
with political prisoners,

Resistance fighters
and SOE agents,

people imprisoned by
the Night and Fog Decree

were identified by an NN
marked on their clothing.

This category was
created by the Nazis

in December 1941

in order to kill
Resistance fighters

in the occupied countries,

but they had to
die without traces.

Nobody are to know
what happened to them,

and they couldn't become
heroes for the population.

From the witness accounts,

Vera Atkins pieced together
the women's final hours.

After arriving at Natzweiler,
they were kept in jail cells...

..before the camp's doctor
injected the women with poison.

Their bodies were then
placed in the crematorium

and reduced to ash.

Obviously, a lot of
people died here,

but the four female SOE agents

that they tried so
hard to just disappear,

those names will
come home with me.

They'll not disappear.

Vera Leigh, Sonia Olschanezky...

..Diana Rowden
and Andree Borrel.

Though its impact is
not easy to quantify,

it has been said that
SOE's contribution

shortened the war against
Germany by as much as six months.

During the darkness
of Nazi occupation,

SOE's agents brought hope
and inspired resistance

until liberation was
finally achieved.

To be able to speak with you
and actually hear from you

what it was like, thank you
for telling us those things.

I am very old.

I said I have the chance

to live longer than most people,

so I have the duty to help make
known what my friends have done.