 After the war broke out in 1939, Dodds-Parker left Sudan to join the Grenadier Guards, but was seconded to the Special Operations Executive when it was formed in July 1940.He served in the field as an officer in Gideon Force, under Orde Wingate, organising "ungentlemanly warfare" against Italy in Ethiopia and helping Emperor Haile Selassie to return to Addis Ababa in May 1941.As well as Wingate, he served with (Sir) Wilfred Thesiger and (Sir) Laurens van der Post.