Description
Object description
British officer served with Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) in GB, France, Belgium and Holland, 1914-1918 and in Holland, 1939; captured by the Germans following the Venlo Incident, 9/Nov/1939, and POW in Sachsenhausen and Dachau camps, Germany, 1939-1945
Content description
REEL 1:Aspects of operations as intelligence officer with Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) in GB, France, Belgium and Holland, 1916-1918: problem of working as intelligence officer in GB; opinion of Major Ernest Wallinger; description of duties in intelligence gathering ; meeting agents; memories of Ivan Kirkpatrick; memory of Belgian agent 'Monsieur Emil'; deception plans; posted to Holland, 1917; intelligence gathering and monitoring German troop movements on border; amusing story of farmer's wife and hen; description of intelligence activities prior to German attack on Verdun,2/1916; story of meeting Marshal Petain; awarded Legion d'Honneur and Croix de Guerre; memory of French agent Mariot.
REEL 2 Continues: memory of agent Marc Doutreligne; story of officer killed by shell splinter; memories of Armistice Day celebrations in Antwerp and Brussels, 11/1918; story of punishment of German officer for attacking civilian and effect on German officers' morale; description of work with charity organisation in GB, 1914; social life and recreational activities; memories of outbreak of war, 8/1914; attempts to enlist and problem with eyesight; skill with languages; story of being recruited by War Office for intelligence work and commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant; interview and tests including riding motorcycle; bought uniforms and equipment; description of voyage from Southampton to St Nazaire, France and on motorcycle to Paris; billets.
REEL 3 Continues: Aspects of operations as intelligence officer in France and Belgium, 1914-1915: friendship with naval intelligence officer Blackburn; mess arrangements; role in organising transport and use of French civilian labour to dig trenches; attached to 43rd Fortress Coy Royal Engineers in Ypres sector, Belgium; opinion of CO Colonel Kelsall; use of civilian labour digging trenches on Menin Road; billets; method of requisitioning men and supplies; wages for labourers; maintenance work on trenches and roads; story of Captain Gough; provision of food supplies; memory of naval gun; story of getting lift with General Allenby, 9/1914; opinion of GHQ staff and age; use of nicknames; question of secrecy about name and rank.
REEL 4 Continues: Further recollections of operations as intelligence officer in GB, France, Belgium and Holland, 1914-1918: social life and description of musical activities in London; travel to Europe; organisation of intelligence networks in Holland and Belgium; story of being torpedoed and rescue; returned to London; issued with passport; reaction to news of Russian Revolution, 1917; sailed in convoy from Harwich to Rotterdam; billets in hotel; daily life and duties in Rotterdam; co-operation with naval intelligence; security; story of meeting with military attache in Hague; question of German invasion of Holland and monitoring German troop movements on border.
REEL 5 Continues: [Very poor audibility]
REEL 6 Continues: story of requisitioning wheat and making bread; description of terrain around Mount Kemel; billets in hospice; story of officer wounded in chest; description of intelligence gathering methods including use of pigeons; dropping of agents by parachute; memories of intelligence officer Ivan Kirkpatrick; question of compensation for decommissioned intelligence agents at end of war; reason for leaving intelligence service; story of sick leave in South of France; demobilisation; inter-war service with Secret Service; memories of 'C'; story of car accident involving Mansfield Cummings and death of son; question of rivalry between intelligence services.
REEL 7 Continues: Repetition of earlier material about operations during First World War [poor audibility]
REEL 8 Continues: Repetition of earlier material about operations during First World War. [poor audibility]
REEL 9 Continues: Aspects of operations as intelligence officer with Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), 1939-1945: story of being captured after Venlo Incident and period as POW in Sachsenhausen and Dachau camps, Germany; relations with guards; chain of command in intelligence service; further memories of 'C'; attitude to patriotism. Various aspects of civilian life and family background in GB.
REEL 10 Continues: Various aspects of civilian life and family background in GB