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The secret Scottish Highland training camps used to prepare British spies for life behind World War Two enemy lines

30 April 2018

The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a World War Two organisation whose purpose was to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance behind enemy lines.

SOE trainees had to face some of the harshest conditions on the planet — so they prepared by made use of the of the Scottish Highlands’ rugged terrain.

The ability to train SOE operatives to work in such a snowy landscape proved vital in the mission to suppress the Nazis’ development of atomic weapons in the mountains of Norway.

大象传媒 Two’s Secret Agent Selection: WW2 visited the Scottish training camps and set modern-day trainees the same gruelling tasks that taught commando skills to those who once infiltrated Nazi-occupied Europe.

The ladder climb

Ex-paratrooper, Rob Copsey takes on one of the most daunting challenges of SOE training.

According to the programme, SOE requisitioned around 30 properties with locations secluded enough to hide top secret activities.

The out-of-reach locations were also useful for operatives who were found to be unsuitable. A Highland lodge known as ‘the cooler’ was used to until their mission-sensitive knowledge had lapsed.

The terrain surrounding one of the SOE training camps at Achnacarry Castle has since been used for .

, giving visitors an idea of the SOE training methods undertaken in the region.