Description
Object description
Word-processed account entitled 'Six Lost Years: My Unheroic War, 1940 - 1946' (9pp, written August 1998), giving brief details of leaving Germany in 1938 after his father, an ex-pat working in Germany, realised war was coming, being called up as a Gunner to 39th Signal Training Regiment, Royal Artillery (May 1940), based at Scarborough, details of aspects of training, moving to Nostell Priory, Yorkshire, acting as a Motor Training Instructor in motorcycles, being a Despatch Rider in Sheffield, attending an OCTU but being returned to unit, his bi-lingual German getting him posted to the Intelligence Corps in Winchester, training for a Field Security Unit (84th Field Security Section), an interview leading to his joining the Special Operations Executive (SOE), a rough history of SOE, his job as Field Security Personnel, his promotion to Sergeant, based at St Michael House, Baker Street, his duties keeping an eye on SOE recruits training to be agents, learning the same skills as he joined their training, being detached and posted as Security Sergeant to the Small Scale Raiding Force, Blandford, Dorset (Spring 1942), taking part in raids on the French coast, returning to Winchester to nanny agents, his knowledge of German getting him put up for a Commission (late 1943), having to gain it through a REME OCTU as SOE did not have one (February 1944), getting married, almost being sent to Italy by mistake, taking over the Hertford security area of SOE as a Lieutenant and Field Security Officer (84th FSS), details of SOE units in his area, transfer as 'X3' to the German ('X') Section of SOE (Summer 1944), brief details of the duties of X Section, including counterfeiting, propaganda, and other attempts to deceive and disrupt the Germans, his belief that they had little impact compared with other sections, helping to found the Special Forces Club after the war, and his bitterness at the perceived disbandment and destruction of SOE by MI6 after the war. Together with: a ts obituary by Fred Judge, a researcher at the Military Intelligence Museum (2pp, March 2015); photocopies of six photographs of Spencer, 1943 – 1945 and 2005; a photocopy of two pages of a ms letter (n.d., but just post-war), written on German SD 'Schnellbrief' headed paper, from a former colleague congratulating him on his new job and the birth of his child, and catching up with friends; and photocopies of his Release Certificate (1946), War Department Driving Permit (February 1944), Special Forces Club membership card, and a letter from Major General Sir Colin Gubbins regarding post-war references (1p, April 1947).
Content description
Word-processed account entitled 'Six Lost Years: My Unheroic War, 1940 - 1946' (9pp, written August 1998), giving brief details of leaving Germany in 1938 after his father, an ex-pat working in Germany, realised war was coming, being called up as a Gunner to 39th Signal Training Regiment, Royal Artillery (May 1940), based at Scarborough, details of aspects of training, moving to Nostell Priory, Yorkshire, acting as a Motor Training Instructor in motorcycles, being a Despatch Rider in Sheffield, attending an OCTU but being returned to unit, his bi-lingual German getting him posted to the Intelligence Corps in Winchester, training for a Field Security Unit (84th Field Security Section), an interview leading to his joining the Special Operations Executive (SOE), a rough history of SOE, his job as Field Security Personnel, his promotion to Sergeant, based at St Michael House, Baker Street, his duties keeping an eye on SOE recruits training to be agents, learning the same skills as he joined their training, being detached and posted as Security Sergeant to the Small Scale Raiding Force, Blandford, Dorset (Spring 1942), taking part in raids on the French coast, returning to Winchester to nanny agents, his knowledge of German getting him put up for a Commission (late 1943), having to gain it through a REME OCTU as SOE did not have one (February 1944), getting married, almost being sent to Italy by mistake, taking over the Hertford security area of SOE as a Lieutenant and Field Security Officer (84th FSS), details of SOE units in his area, transfer as 'X3' to the German ('X') Section of SOE (Summer 1944), brief details of the duties of X Section, including counterfeiting, propaganda, and other attempts to deceive and disrupt the Germans, his belief that they had little impact compared with other sections, helping to found the Special Forces Club after the war, and his bitterness at the perceived disbandment and destruction of SOE by MI6 after the war. Together with: a ts obituary by Fred Judge, a researcher at the Military Intelligence Museum (2pp, March 2015); photocopies of six photographs of Spencer, 1943 – 1945 and 2005; a photocopy of two pages of a ms letter (n.d., but just post-war), written on German SD 'Schnellbrief' headed paper, from a former colleague congratulating him on his new job and the birth of his child, and catching up with friends; and photocopies of his Release Certificate (1946), War Department Driving Permit (February 1944), Special Forces Club membership card, and a letter from Major General Sir Colin Gubbins regarding post-war references (1p, April 1947).
History note
Cataloguer SJO