Now It Can Be Told | WW2 Special Operations docu-drama

This is a documentary-drama account of Britain's Special Operations Executive (SOE) Command assisting resistance forces in occupied France during World War II. What started out as almost random acts of sabotage against Nazi occupation forces and the Gestapo quickly developed into a coordinated campaign in preparation for Allied landings at Normandy and Provence in 1944. By this time, thousands of resistance fighters had been prepared to rise up against occupation forces and assist US, British, Canadian and Allied troops to drive the Nazi's out. This is not a movie in the general sense. Instead, it relies on veterans operating in concert with the film director to provide realistic accounts of their wartime experiences. Agents Captain Harry Rée , Croix De Guerre (Felix), and Jacqueline Nearne (Cat), recreate some of their tense operations behind enemy lines. Flying Officer H. Ibott, Sergeant L. Reeve, Captain M. Rousseau, Major E. Sherran, Squadron Leader G.A. Turner, Sergeant G. Turney-Smith, Major A. Webb and Squadron Officer Jean Woolaston also appear as themselves. Most "British" SOE agents were not British. Instead, they were refugees or stranded nationals recruited to return to their home countries to take the fight to the Nazis. They spoke the language. They knew the customs. They had intimate local knowledge. All would be invaluable for planning surprise attacks, and escaping retribution. Here survivors detail how they were selected, trained and deployed to cause as much havoc and chaos through simple, but extremely effective, forms of sabotage. The film (which had the alternate title "School for Danger) was produced in 1946 by the RAF Film Production Unit and was paid for by the Central Office of Information.