Description
Object description
British NCO served as wireless operator with Force 133, Special Operations Executive in Greece, 1943-1944; served with Force 136, Special Operations Executive in Thailand, 1945
Content description
REEL 1 Aspects of enlistment and training with Special Operations Executive in GB, Palestine and Egypt, 1943: background to joining Special Operations Executive, 7/1943; pattern of training in GB and Palestine; briefing on marked personal codes in event of capture held in Cairo, Egypt; Special Operations Executive gadgets; physical training at STS 102, Mount Carmel, Haifa, Palestine; opinion of adequacies of training for wireless operators; personnel he trained with; leaflet drop over Athens, Greece; abortive attempt to drop into Pindus Mountains in Greece. Recollections of operations as wireless operator with Force 133, Special Operations Executive in Greece, 1943-1944: parachute drop into Greece, 10/1943; reception by guerrillas; reaction to first use of M Wireless Set to transmit to Cairo, Egypt; problem of feeding Italian prisoners of war; character of guerrilla leader; avoiding German encirclement.
REEL 2 Continues: lack of food; travelling with Captain Nikki and his guerrilla group; incident of being spotted by German reconnaissance aircraft; reception for Captain Nikki in village; impressions of Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS)'s Aris Veloukhiotis; meeting with British Military Mission to Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS); food shortages; British air supply drops to National Republican Greek League (EDES) at expense of Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS); story illustrating guerrilla violence towards villagers; British personnel being taken prisoner by Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS) as reprisal for air supply drops to National Republican Greek League (EDES); hostility of Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS) guerrillas; disabling of wireless set prior to its confiscation; release of British personnel by guerrillas.
REEL 3 Continues: reception in village; Royal Navy surgeon acting as doctor to guerrillas; move to Special Operations Executive Headquarters; avoiding Germans; character of trek through snow and sheltering in peasant hut; British personnel in Kallithea; Soviets who had joined guerrillas; plan to sail to Italy in cacique Conjugal II; fate of craft; leader of small guerrilla group; love letter from Greek woman Effie.
REEL 4 Continues: encounter with Effie; blowing of bridge near Lidoriki; accidental air strike on guerrillas; discovery of Ford Model T car; expedition to attack sun bathing Germans at Karouta; escape to hills; German reprisals against Lidoriki; his conversations with captured Germans; Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS) allegation of being supplied with useless bullets; contracting malaria; sight of crash of Handley Page Halifax; his conflict with American officer; tragic news received by Special Operations Executive man in letter.
REEL 5 Continues: German withdrawal from Greece under fire; question of identity of Captain Nikki; degree of Greek resistance to Germans; opinion of British refusal to drop arms to Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS); story of execution of Italian informer by Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS); his physical condition at end of service in Greece. Recollections of operations as wireless operator with Force 136, Special Operations Executive in Thailand, 1945: background to transfer to Force 136; last minute arrangement for him to parachute into Thailand; parachuting into Thailand; contact with Thai guerrillas; trek through jungle; leech problem.
REEL 6 Continues: journey to Nong Khai; establishing base at governor's house and close encounter with Japanese troops; creating wireless link to Calcutta, India; spying on Japanese troop movements; electricity supply arrangements; personal nickname; character of Thai guerrillas; nature of guerrilla training; hearing news of dropping of atomic bombs on Japan, 8/1945; contact with Japanese garrisons; release of Allied prisoners of war, French and Belgian internees.
REEL 7 Continues: presence of American Office of Strategic Services group in area; shooting of Frenchman by Vietnamese guerrillas; incident of having hand grenade thrown at jeep during rescue mission to aid French officers; hostility of Kuomintang Chinese towards westerners; attempt to save Frenchmen from execution by Chinese; Lord Louis Mountbatten's intervention; incident of being bitten by snake; American Office of Strategic Services opposition to French operations against Vietnamese; work on Japanese war crime investigations in Thailand; period spent in Thailand; appreciation of Sabretache and Baron St Oswald.