​​The SOE was established during the Second World War. Two common names it was referred to as were, ‘Churchills Secret Army’ and ‘Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’. The SOE department was compromised of around 13,000 personnel of which over 3,000 were females. 

​ The role of SOE was to carry out acts of espionage, irregular warfare, sabotage, or special reconnaissance operations. All those ‘agents’ who would be used were put through a rigorous training program, carried out mainly in Scotland and at the SOE Finishing School at Beaulieu, Hampshire. They would then be deployed into enemy held territory, the majority parachuted in or landed using Lysander aircraft. 

​ The memorial commemorates the 91 male and 13 female agents who lost their lives whilst deployed on SOE operations. 

​ Violette Szabo is one of the most famous of the female agents, she has featured in films and documentaries in subsequent years. Szabo became one of the SOE’s most daring agents. She attended the SOE Finishing School in Beaulieu, Hampshire. Her first mission in occupied France took place in April 1944, where she worked to rebuild a resistance network that had been compromised. Returning to England successfully, she volunteered for a second mission in June 1944, following the D-Day landings.   

​​During her second mission, Szabo’s team was ambushed by German forces near Limoges. After a fierce gunfight, she was captured and interrogated by the Gestapo. Despite brutal treatment, she refused to disclose information about her comrades or her mission. Szabo was eventually deported to Ravensbrück concentration camp in Germany, where she endured forced labour and inhumane conditions. On 5 February 1945, she was executed at the camp, just a few months before the end of the war.   

​​  ​​Violette Szabo was posthumously awarded the George Cross, one of Britain’s highest civilian honours for heroism, as well as the Croix de Guerre by France. She is remembered with honour on the Commonwealth War Grave Commission Brookwood 1939-1945 Memorial, Surrey. Her name is one of 3,327 that are recorded and have no known grave.