Anyone doing research into SOE documents (HS Collection) at the National Archives in Kew will come across a pile of codenames and although one can usually make sense of it the job of keeping it straight can be maddening. This forum, it is hoped, we become a crowd-sourced Glossary / Directory of all things codename related for easy reference.
To get things started ....I suspect that this is far from gospel and I hope that there are folks out there who can improve upon it. I am also attaching a guide posted by Malcolm Atkin, author of 'Section D for Destruction' to his academia.edu profile. It's already avialable to the public so I don't think he would mind. That said, all credit goes to him. SOE Designations 12-land = Germany 19-land = Denmark 21-land = Finland 22-land = England 26-land = Norway 31-land = Latvia 35-land = Yugoslavia 36-land = Sweden 38-land = Serbia 43-land = Estonia 46-land = Lithuania 93-land = Scandinavia 95-land = Russia A of G-40,000 = Maj. Farish, OSS A/D – George Taylor - Chief of Staff to CD Frank Nelson AD/E = Director of SOE London Group/Head of SOE in NW Europe AD/F = [?] London Yugoslav Desk AD/H = Director of Mediterranean Operations AD/M = Musgrove AD/P = Air Commodore A.R. Boyle – Security Intelligence Liasion AD/3 = Glenconner AD/Z = Lt.Col. F.T. Davies – Army & R.E. Supplies Scientific Research W/T supplies A/H2 = Dr. Alfred Heinrich Hugo Julius Becker AH 31 = Mihailović AH 69 = Rapotec A/HA = Julian Amery AHG = Alexander ‘Sandy’ Richard Glen AL = Air Operations AL Air = Operations AMX = Massingham Mission AQ/F = FANY personnel AQ/H = HQ Admin AQ/O = Stationery AQ/S = Stores and Equipment B/B = Delhi Group C = Stewart Menzies Caesar = Julius Hanau CD = Director of SOE; but also refers to SOE's board of Directors. [Nelson, (Feb 42) Hambro] CD = Executive Director of SOE CEO = Chief Executive Officer [Gladwyn Jebb] D = Head of Section D (one of SOE’s forerunners) D/A = Administration D/AF = Offices, furniture and telephones D/AG = Air Raid Precautions D/AT = Transport D/CA = Arms D/CAM.F = Special Supplies D/CE = Security D/D = Devices D/E = Wireless D/FIN = Director of Finance [Group Capt. J.F. Venner] D/H = Balkans and Middle East (Cairo Group) D/H – George Taylor D/H 2 = Bailey D/H 3 = Leslie Charles D’Oyly Harmar D/H 4 = NERO, Trevor James Glanville D/H 21 = A.H. Rogers D/H 21 = P. Walkden D/H 18 = Basil Davidson D/H 19 = Robert George Head D/H 20 = John Still Bennett D/H 24 = Frederick Lawrence D/H 36 = Geoffrey Hugh Swinburne Frodsham D/H 70 = Boughey D/H 72 = H. Seton-Watson D/H 94 = Capt. K.J. Elliott D/H 134 = Deakin D/H 178 = Maclean (also Z) D/H 245 = Atherton D/H 286 = Robertson D/H 363 = Lofte D/H 366 = Kebel D/HS = Bickham Sweet-Escott D/HSS – Stephan H. Clissold D/HV = Lt-Col. Pearson [SOE] Head of the Balkan and Middle East Desk D/HY = Tom S. Masterson [Head of the SOE Belgrade Office then @ Cairo Balkan political subversion][ii] D/HZ = Duane Tyrell ‘Bill’ Hudson D/N = Persian staff D/O = may be the Minister of State ME D/P = Russia D/PLANS = Future Planning D/PROPS = Land and Buildings D/Q = Press Propaganda D/R = French, Dutch and Belgian Sections D/S = Scandinavia D/SD = War Establishments D/T = Security D/YC = Codes, Cyphers and Telegrams D/Z = Shipping DM = looks like C-in-C ME / Wilson DSP = Special Propaganda Directorate, Middle East DSO = Directors of Special Operations DSO(B) = Directors of Special Operations (Balkans) DSR = Director of Scientific Research DSS = Security Special Section DT = Liaison with SIS E = Director of Services E = Equipment & Supplies/Director of Services E/C = Codes EU/P = Poles abroad, Minorities F = France Felix = Vladimir Feller G-60,000 = President Roosevelt G-50,000 = Donovan OSS G-50,100 = Sherwood G-40,000 = OSS G-710 = British JSM? H = Spain and Portugal (Iberia) J = Italy, Malta and Switzerland K = Special Liaison and Far East L = Planning and Intelligence M = (Operations) Directorate See Bickham Sweet-Escott M = Gubbins [?] MG = General Staff (London Group) MP = Poland MS = Communications MT = Training MTH = Hungary MY = Czechoslovakia N = Netherlands O = Far East OSA = Official Secrets Act PTC = ‘Put through the cards’, Used in SOE personal files indicating when the subject was negatively vetted, i.e. when a check was carried out of the MI5 card index to see if anything was recorded against the person. Q = North Africa ResMin Med – Macmillan RF = Allied French S = Scandinavia SO = Minister of Economic Warfare (Ministerial head of SOE) Dalton, Selborne STS = Special Training School T = Belgium U = USA and South America UKCC = United Kingdom Commercial Corporation V/CD = Brig. Stawell W = East and West Africa Wix = Brig. Armstrong (BLO to Mihalovic) X = Germany and Austria YM = Military Attaché YP = Embassy / Ambassador Z[?] = seems to refer to outside ministries ZA – The RCAF / Air ministry / COAS Sinclair ZC = UKCC Headquarters ZE = Ministry of Economic Warfare (MEW) Headquarters ZM = War Office ZN = [?] Navy ; One of them has to the Navy ZP = Foreign Office ZNO = Zone non-occupée (Vichy France) ZO = Zone occupée (Occupied France) SOE Individuals CD is the Director of SOE; but also refers to SOE's board of Directors. [I have letters from Selborne – (including one to CD ?possibly) that seem to suggest I am not necessarily correct here] DM – looks like C-in-C ME / Wilson D/O may be the Minister of State ME When someone from SOE says “Dear Top” it’s Selborne they are writing to Massingham – SOE Station Algiers (est. Late 42) forward stations in Brindisi and Naples DADDY – Mihailović commander, Split area ME – Middle East? FO files list Prince Paul as “F” FO Files: Moley = O. Sargent Pimlott, Diary of Hugh Dalton, 243, 253 [ii] Pimlott, Diary of Hugh Dalton, 236
A brief SOE symbol list from my website, although I think you've already covered most of them here already: SOE Section Symbols and Code Numbers An important note about SOE symbols is that they denote a position (and sections) in SOE and are not always unique to a single person. As an example the symbol 'X' firstly represents the SOE German and Austrian section but is also used to denote the head of the section. A couple of individuals were head of the section and were referred to as 'X' while in that role. Therefore any SOE symbol may refer to different individuals at different times and conversely an SOE staff member was likely allocated more than one symbol throughout their service. Saying that more specific agent symbols usually just referred to a specific individual. Another possible source of confusion is the career summary page in an SOE personal file. For example these pages usually note when a staff member was 'Put through the cards', and contain bullet points on their SOE career. Along the top of the page is a list of symbols the person was assigned - however, the very first one listed is the department symbol they were first recruited into. E.g "X X.1 J.123" shows that the individual was first recruited into the SOE X section and assigned symbol X.1, later being assigned J.123 - perhaps when deployed into the field. Lee
Excellent addition! Indeed, you're right it's very tricky. Many folks have more than one designation which, as you point out often deals with a position. In this case I have tried to represent both. With some of them like CD and SO I have tried to note the position as well as the individuals who held it with dates. The hope is to build from this to make a more comprehensive guide. I just realized that CEO = Chief Executive Officer [Gladwyn Jebb] fails to note his replacement by Colonel Harry Sporborg My post should definitely be treated as a very rough starting point only. My hope is with the help of others to grow this into something more comprehensive and representative of these changes. I am approaching this purely form the perspective of a researcher who is digging through HS looking for files dealing with the subject of a particular country (Yugoslavia in my case). I notice many files where it's just 'A' to 'B" and I wanted to help future researchers who end up in my boat so they might avoid some of the struggles I have had to contend with. If we are able to help even a little I would call it a win. Perhaps one day it will lead to the publishing of an SOE directory. Thanks so much for your contribution, a most welcome and helpful clarification.