Description
Object description
British officer served with Special Operations Executive in Palestine and Greece, 6/1940-5/1941; served as instructor with STS 102, Special Operations Executive, Mount Carmel, Haifa, Palestine, 1941-1942; served on Special Operation Executive Mission to Greece, 2/1943-5/1944; commanded Allied Military Mission to Greece, 6/1944-8/1944; officer served with British Military Government in Hanover, Germany, 1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in GB, 1907-1940: family; education; research work in Greece whilst student at University of Cambridge. Aspects of period as officer with Military Operations 1 (Special Projects) in GB, Greece and Egypt, 1940: joining organisation, 5/1940; sabotage training; abortive attempt to enter Albania through Greece, 6/1940; attachment to 1st Bn Welch Regt in Egypt. Recollections of period as officer with Special Operations Executive in Palestine, 1940: invite from Arnold Lawrence to secretly train Haganah; opinion of trainees; attitude of Zionists towards British; Haganah's sabotage of SS Patria at Haifa, 25/11/1940. Recollections of operations as officer with Special Operations Executive in Greece and Crete, 2/1941-5/1941: training recruits; contrast between Greek and Jewish trainees; leaving clandestine wireless sets behind; move to Crete, 4/1941; volunteering for duties aboard anti-aircraft launch commanded by Mike Cumberlege during German invasion of Crete, 5/1941. Aspects of period as instructor with STS 102, Mount Carmel, Haifa, Palestine, 1941-1942: running agents into French Syria, 1941; decision to stop training Haganah, summer 1942; relations with Haganah personnel, Recollections of operations as officer with Special Operations Executive in Greece, 2/1943-5/1944: parachute drop into Greece, 2/1943.
REEL 2 Continues: resistance organisation in Thessalia region; decision to support Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS); plan to make Germans believe British would land at Salonika rather than on Sicily, Italy; air supply drop of gold sovereigns to aid Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS); German reprisals against Greek villages; German attacks on Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS), 7/1944; attempt to co-ordinate operations between Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS) and other Greek Resistance organisations, summer 1943; nature of first phase of Greek Civil War, 1943-1944; attempts to end first phase of Greek Civil War; relations with Headquarters, Special Operations Executive in Cairo, Egypt; attitude towards work of Brigadier Edmund Myers and Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher Woodhouse. Recollections of period as officer commanding Allied Military Mission to Greece in Greece, 6/1944-8/1944: his policy towards Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS); clash with Colonel Karl Barker-Benfield over new policy to support Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS); meeting with Major-General Ronald Scobie after leaving Greece, 9/1944; relations of Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS) and National Republican Greek League (EDES) with local population.
REEL 3 Continues: memories of leader of National Republican Greek League (EDES), General Napoleon Zervas; change in British policy towards National Republican Greek League (EDES); memories of Greek Resistance leader Aris Velouhiotis; role of Americans in Greece during 1944; his role as commander in Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS) controlled areas, 1/1944; Communist support for Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS); liberation of Polish forced labourers; awareness of German deportation of Jewish civilians from Salonika; question of presence of women in Greek Resistance; Soviet support for Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS); attitude of Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS) towards British; proposal by Headquarters, Special Operations Executive in Cairo to evacuate British Military Mission; German attack on village in Mount Olympus area. Aspects of operations as officer with Special Operations Executive in Greece, 2/1943-5/1944: description of blowing bridge at Litochoro during Operation Animals, 20/6/1943; abortive plan to destroy bridge over River Haliacmon.
REEL 4 Continues: Greek attitude towards invasion of Sicily, Italy as opposed to Salonika, 7/1943; treatment of surrendered Italians of General Adolfo Infante's 24th Infantry Div 'Pinerolo' by Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS); shortage of food during 1943-1944. Aspects of period as officer commanding Allied Military Mission to Greece in Greece, 6/1944-8/1944: character of Operation Noah's Ark to attack withdrawing German forces, 1944; further details of clash with Colonel Karl Barker-Benfield over new policy to support Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS); meeting with Major-General Ronald Scobie after leaving Greece, 9/1944; redeployment of Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS) forces in Macedonia, 10/1944; relations between War Office and Foreign Office; arrival of Allied forces to support Operation Noah's Ark; question of belief at Headquarters, Special Operations Executive in Cairo, Egypt that he had been too long in the field; opinion of Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS) and National Republican Greek League (EDES); destruction of villages in Macedonia by Germans, 1943-1944; financial aid to villages.
REEL 5 Continues: Special Operations Executive casualties; state of health and living conditions; treatment to be expected if captured by Germans; attempts to get media coverage for operations in Greece. Aspects of period as officer with Special Operations Executive in London, GB, 1944-1945: attitude towards service with Special Operations Executive in Greece; comparison between Greek Civil War, 1946-1949 and conflict in Kosovo, 1999; attitude towards bombing of Kosovo and Republic of Serbia, 1999; reunion with wife on return to London; meeting daughter for first time. Aspects of period as officer with British Military Government in Hanover, Germany, 1945: description of role; attitude of Germans to British Military Government; attending meeting held by Kurt Schumacher, leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany.
REEL 6 Continues: devastation in Hanover; reconstruction programme; return to civilian life. Story of post-war return to Greece and meeting with wartime acquaintances.