SOE and Repatriation

Abstract

This article uses the recently released files of the Russian (D/P) Section of the Special Operations Executive to examine the tension between repatriation and subversion in the second world war. When information reached the D/P Section that Russian POWs were fighting for the Germans in France, plans were formulated to attempt to turn them against the Germans. Interrogations of a number of these Russian POWs, taken prisoner by the Allies, revealed that some kind of guarantee of immunity from repatriation would be necessary in order to gain their support. As such, D/P's plan collided with the views of the British government on repatriation. The article continues to examine the correspondence which took place on the issue between Selborne and Eden, and argues that the existing context in which this discussion is placed needs to be revised in the light of Selborne's knowledge of D/P's plans in his capacity of Minister of Economic Warfare.