In From the Cold Trivia Quiz

Answer: SOE

Reinhard Heydrich was Himmler's deputy. He was killed in Czechoslovakia in 1942 with a hand grenade by an SOE hit squad. The assassination led to reprisals against two villages near Prague. Five thousand men, women, and children were killed by the SS.

Answer: OSS

Colonel (later General) William J. Donovan was a highly-decorated hero of WWI. In July 1941, President Roosevelt appointed him to lead the newly created office, Coordinator of Information (COI). In June 1942, President Roosevelt created the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) to replace the short-lived COI, with Donovan still in charge.

The OSS mission was to collect and analyze strategic intelligence and to conduct clandestine operations that did not conflict with military operations. The problem of inter-agency rivalries, jealousy, and plain distrust made Donovan's job particularly onerous.

Answer: OSS

X-2 was the counterintelligence branch of the OSS. It was charged with rooting out double-agents and spreading dis-information, among other things. X-2 was restricted to operating only in the European Theater.

Answer: SOE

The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was formed in June 1940 after the fall of France. Its purpose, according to Prime Minister Churchill, was to support the French resistance. SOE headquarters were located in two flats at 64 Baker Street, London, hence the nickname. SOE was a completely volunteer organization. Members had no military status.

Answer: Abwehr

Herman W. Lang was a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Germany. He was employed by the Carl L. Norten Company as a draftsman during the 1930s. He also served as a Nazi stormtrooper in the 1920s. During a trip to Germany to visit family he was recruited by the Abwehr. In 1937, he copied the blueprints for the highly secret Norden Bombsight and smuggled them aboard an ocean liner.

The Germans were not very good spies. Lang was the exception. What the Germans were very good at was communications intelligence.

Answer: SIS (British)

"C" was the code-name of Sir Stewart Menzies, the head of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) and forerunner of MI6. Menzies had a dim view of the SOE, calling them "amatuer, dangerous, and bogus".

Answer: SOE

Vera Atkins became one of the top officers within the SOE. Atkins was sort of a guiding figure for the agents of the SOE. Many consider her to have been the inspiration for Ian Fleming's "Miss Moneypenny".

Answer: SOE

"Madeleine" was the code-name of Noor Inayat Khan. She was the first female radio operator to be sent from the SOE to occupied France to aid the French resistance. Her work as a secret agent was key in maintaining communications between London and the Paris resistance. Khan was captured and executed.

Answer: SOE

"Intrepid" was the code name of Sir William Stephenson, Britain's top intelligence officer in the U.S. Stephenson's many exploits made many consider him the inspiration for James Bond. He was instrumental in the formation of the COI/OSS.

Answer: SOE

Virginia Hall was an American living in France. In August 1941, she joined the SOE. After training in Britain, she became the first female SOE agent to reside in France, posing as a journalist. Hall was so successful that she attracted the attention of the French Vichy Police and the Gestapo. She was never caught, and she returned to London to work for the OSS.

Answer: SOE

SOE agent Nancy Grace was given the nickname the "white mouse" by the Germans because of her uncanny ability to avoid capture. The SOE deployed thirty-nine female agents to occupied France during WWII.

Answer: OSS

This dismissive nickname was given to the OSS because of its recruitment of Ivy League graduates and members of "high society." People such as film maker John Ford, Moe Berg, Boston Red Sox catcher, historian/writer Arthur Schlesinger, economist Walter Lord, and many others from academia.

Answer: Abwehr

The Duquesne Spy Ring was headed up by Frederick Jubert Duquesne. After an intensive FBI investigation, 33 German agents were rounded-up, tried and convicted in the biggest espionage case in U.S. history as of that time.

Answer: Abwehr

Operation "North Pole" was one of the more successful Abwehr intelligence operations. In 1942, the SOE was sending agents to occupied Netherlands. Several of these wireless operators were captured and force to send false coded messages to England. The captured agents purposely neglected to put a security code at the end of each message.

This omission should have alerted British officials that the agents had been compromised. In fact, this information was noted and passed to the upper levels at SOE.

However, due to the rivalries with the SIS, SOE chose not to disclose its faux pas. Fifty Dutch SOE agents were executed.

Answer: FBI

J. Edgar Hoover's jealousy of the OSS was so intense that he was able to cajole Roosevelt into allowing the FBI to set up a foreign intelligence service, the Special Intelligence Service (SIS). The American SIS however was only authorized to operate in South America. The British SIS stood for Secret Intelligence Service.