Special Operations Executive Operational Stores Handbook: English Language Version

Under its nondescript  plain cardboard covers, the WWII-era Special Operations Executive Operational Stores Handbook contained sabotage, explosives and weapons instructions as well as a vocabulary of standard SOE operational stores, complete with illustrations of the various devices and their use.

The handbook was divided into seven different, colour-coded sections, each in a different language -

• English,
• French,
• Dutch,
• Norwegian,
• Danish,
• Polish, and
• German.

It is the English section and accompanying illustrations reproduced here. 

The instructions were simple and to the point and in SOE’s style, were suited for use by untrained or barely trained guerrillas, but were also a valuable refresher for more experienced personnel. 

The vocabulary of stores found in the “contents” section of the handbook provided standard equipment item numbers and designations, as well as the designation of the standardised stores cell the items would be found in within the main stores containers. This information greatly simplified the process of requesting stores from London to be parachuted into occupied territory. 

Very hard to find, this is, as far as is known, the first time this enigmatic little handbook has been printed as a paperback since the end of the Second World War.

The pamphlets in this series are:

• The Art of Guerilla Warfare
• The Partisan Leader's Handbook
• How to use High Explosives
• Special Operations Executive Operational Stores Handbook