 veteran of the Irish Troubles. For the rest of the war SOE provided training, weapons and explosives to numerous resistance organisations across the continent.
To all intents and purposes, the British government engaged in what would later be called "state-sponsored terrorism" in order to disrupt the Nazi occupation by any available means. The methods used by SOE and the resistance were no more ethical than those of Collins and the IRA, consisting of assassinations, bombings in cafes and cinemas frequented by German soldiers, roadside ambushes, sabotage and destruction. These operations often drew savage reprisals from the German occupying forces, who regarded both the resistance and SOE as terrorists and "unlawful combatants" who were not subject to the rules of war.
The overall impact of the resistance on the war effort has remained a subject of historical debate. What is not in dispute is that the British government engaged in a form of warfare that it had previously regarded as savage, uncivilised and "terrorist".
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| Churchill told Dalton to ‘set Europe ablaze’. The result was the creation of the SOE |
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The military historian John Keegan later claimed that SOE "shamed Britain", but the methods used by SOE, like those of Collins and the IRA, were the product of military weakness. Had Germany won the war, SOE and its allies would have been consigned to the dustbin of history as terrorists and bandits. Instead the resistance was seen as an exemplary patriotic enterprise, which would be cited as a model by many terrorist organisations in the post-war era.
Few episodes have been more influential in inspiring and justifying terrorist violence than the wartime resistance in which Britain played such a vital role. But the British debt to the IRA has rarely, if ever, been acknowledged in the celebration of its wartime heroes who fought the secret war in Europe. And in view of the new legislation against glorifying terrorism, it is worth remembering once again that the distinction between hero and terrorist is often determined not so much by the methods used, but by who wins. 
FIRST POSTED AUGUST 23, 2006
Matthew Carr is the author of 'Unknown Soldiers', published tomorrow by Profile Books, £20
 Modern terrorism: the liquid bomb plot
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