The true story behind ‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’

Guy Ritchie’s The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare may be a comedy that delves into the sillier side of a secretive World War II organization known as the Special Operations Executive (SOE), but the film’s real-life inspiration had very serious aims.

What was the SOE, and why do its deeds still resound today? Here’s more about the real “ministry of ungentlemanly warfare,” how it spawned James Bond and other spy movies—and helped the Allies win World War II.

The real Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare

The Special Operations Executive was born out of the desperation of the early days of World War II. By 1940, Germany had taken over most of Europe, and the British anticipated the need for undercover sabotage and guerrilla warfare throughout Europe.

That year, British prime minister Winston Churchill prompted the creation of an organization out of the foreign office that would do just that, famously telling its agents to “set Europe ablaze.”

(The inside story of how three unlikely allies won World War II)

The Special Operations Executive, as it was called, was sprawling and so secret that even Britain’s allies—European governments in exile in London—had no idea it existed.

The Special Operations Executive’s overarching goal was sabotage and propaganda operations against Axis powers. But it is perhaps best known for its attempt to create and enable secret armies of local resistance groups in occupied countries.

They were assisted by trained agents—some British, some refugees from Europe—who parachuted into Europe. They established contacts within resistance groups and provided them with weapons, money, and manpower.

(My night with the guerrilla balloonists of South Korea)

About 13,000 SOE agents led initiatives such as establishing radio communications between occupied countries and the Allies, destroying arms factories, and helping the Allies plan for the invasion of Normandy in 1944.

It also prepared a coup in Yugoslavia, intercepted weapons shipments, stole ships, and performed many other feats of top-secret bravery.

(Inside the daring mission that thwarted a Nazi atomic bomb)

What made the officers so ‘ungentlemanly’?

The work was extremely dangerous: SOE wireless officers, for example, had a life expectancy of six weeks after parachuting into Europe, and 44 percent of its female officers were captured in France. Agents faced potential torture, execution, or incarceration in a concentration camp, and life in the field could be risky and lonely.

To help its officers, the organization developed special weapons and equipment, like sneakers designed to leave false footprints, radios that looked like suitcases, guns with silencers, firearms that could be hidden in a sleeve, and a variety of innovative explosives. The SOE also provided operators with false papers, new identities, and other support.

(Which animal is a better spy—a pigeon or a cat? We actually know the answer.)

Eventually, the top-secret group earned the nickname the “ministry of ungentlemanly warfare,” a term coined by Churchill. The nickname referred to its “irregular” conduct as a black-ops organization—one that relied on secrecy, cunning, and even killing in its attempt to dislodge Hitler’s hold on Europe.

The SOE’s tactics weren’t always deadly. Agents also did things like sprinkling itching powder into German uniforms. They attempted to confuse and demoralize their enemies, slow down arms production, and encourage resistance workers.

Their tactics—and their license to kill if necessary—were so “irregular” and complex that they inspired Ian Fleming, himself a naval intelligence officer who liaised with the SOE, to write the James Bond series.

(Who was Hedy Lamarr? The Hollywood star who helped invent Wi-Fi)

What was Operation Postmaster?

Operation Postmaster was one particularly well-known mission that forms the focus of Ritchie’s film. When Italian and German merchants were invited to a party in the port city of Santa Isabel on the Spanish island of Fernando Po in 1942, they never suspected an elaborate ruse.

But as they clinked glasses, a small group of top-secret British spies, known as the Small Scale Raiding Force, was preparing to steal their ships—suspected of running arms for the Axis powers during World War II.

The brash mission was a success, but it sparked an international incident. However, it also proved the power of the Special Operations Executive.

(World War II treasure hunters love this rugged Greek island)

Special Operations Executive controversies

The agency wasn’t infallible. In the Netherlands, for example, it was infiltrated by Nazi spies. Despite attempts to warn the SOE, officials ignored the evidence until it was too late, sending 53 agents straight into German custody and losing about $2 million in the process, a fiasco known as one of the greatest blunders of the war.

Their efforts often pitted Great Britain against its allies—and even British leaders against one another. After Operation Postmaster, for example, neutral Spain was furious that the British had stolen merchants’ ships from its territory, and the incident caused uproar among British military and political leaders who had not been informed about the mission.

(The incredible details Masters of the Air gets right about WWII.)

The SOE’s efforts also often backfired. For example, in 1942, Czech resistance workers trained by SOE operatives managed to assassinate Reinhard Heydrich, one of the most powerful members of the Nazi Party and an architect of the “Final Solution” in progress across German-controlled territories.

The assassination was a triumph but resulted in brutal reprisals by the Nazis. Seeking revenge, they executed hundreds of people and razed the Czech town of Lidice. They named one of their most notorious annihilation programs, responsible for the deaths of 1.7 million Jews, in Heydrich’s honor.

(What lies beneath Hitler’s war lair?)

Special Operations Executive legacy

But the SOE’s secrecy ultimately meant that its brave officers were under-recognized after it disbanded in 1946, and many of its successes and failures were unknown to the public until decades later.

The covert organization’s records were only declassified beginning in the 1990s, and many of its agents, especially women, were never publicly recognized for their work.

(These daredevil women pilots helped beat Hitler in WWII)

The SOE may have failed in its goal of instigating a mass uprising against Hitler and the Nazis across Europe. But its secretive activities undoubtedly contributed to the Allied victory during World War II—a victory that eventually did restore Europe to freedom.

Today, the real “ministry of ungentlemanly warfare” is credited with sparking modern black ops and largely succeeding despite its “irregular” tactics.