Description
Object description
British civilian conscientious objector in GB, 1939-1940; private served with Royal Army Medical Corps in GB, 1940-1941; officer served with Intelligence Corps in GB, 1942; served with Headquarters Troop, No 10 (Inter-Allied) Commando in GB, 1942-1943; served with Headquarters Troop, No 30 (Commando) Assault Unit in Italy and Corsica, France, 9/1943-7/1944; served with Hungarian Section, Special Operations Executive in Hungary, 9/1944; prisoner of war in Hungary, 9/1944-12/1944; served with Special Operations Executive Military Mission in Budapest, Hungary, 1945; served with ME 42 Counter-Intelligence Liaison Mission, Special Operations Executive and Control Commission Germany in Germany, 1945-1946
Content description
REEL 1 Background in GB, 1918-1939: family; education; source of anti-war feelings, 1939; political outlook, 1939. Aspects of period as private with Royal Army Medical Corps in GB, 1940-1941: outcome of conscientious objector tribunal; realisation of nature of non-combatant status; obtaining commission, 1941. Aspects of period as officer with Intelligence Corps in GB, 1942: recruitment to Intelligence Corps; his preference for 1A side of intelligence work; reasons for interest in Russian language; work interrogating German prisoners of war in London Cage Interrogation Centre.
REEL 2 Continues: security lecture given to 61st Infantry Div in Northern Ireland, 1942. Aspects of period as intelligence officer with Headquarters Troop, No 10 (Inter-Allied) Commando in GB, 1942-1943: recruitment to commandos by Peter Murphy; structure of commando; character of No 3 (X) Troop; role training No 3 (X) Troop in intelligence matters; extent to which commando went on raids; Captain Bryan Hilton-Jones' training tactics; relations between officers and other ranks; reasons for volunteering for parachute course. Aspects of operations as officer with Headquarters Troop, No 30 (Commando) Assault Unit in Italy and Corsica, 1943-1944: role and composition of unit; joining unit at Salerno, Italy, 9/1943; period awaiting orders on Ischia Island, Italy.
REEL 3 Continues: work with Lieutenant-Colonel Andrew Croft supporting agents at Bastia, Corsica; hospitality received from Italian forces on Corsica; post-war renewal of contacts on Corsica; reasons for volunteering for Special Operations Executive. Aspects of operations as officer with Hungarian Section, Special Operations Executive in Hungary, 9/1944: abortive operation to secure change in allegiance of Hungarians; how Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Howie went into Hungary despite security risk, 7/1944; compromise of Operation Deerhurst and capture of Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Howie; nature of Operation Windproof in Slovakia and it's outcome; participation in Operation Dibber, 9/1944.
REEL 4 Continues: parachute drop into Pécs area, Hungary, 13/9/1944; his surrender and reasons for doing so. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Hungary, 9/1944-12/1944: tactics employed on capture; tactics employed by his wireless operator Lieutenant Joe Gelleny alias Joe Gordon on capture; his torture during interrogation; use of cover story that he was on a military mission to support Hungarian Partisans; removal from Pécs to Budapest for further interrogation; his period in German custody in Pest District Prison, Budapest, autumn 1944; German attempt to persuade him to work against Special Operations Executive.
REEL 5 Continues: return to Hungarian custody; panic amongst captors after Arrow Cross coup; arrangement for his transfer to Zugliget Internment Camp; plans for escape from Zugliget Internment Camp; escape from camp and refuge in house of black marketer in Budapest; subsequent refuge in villa outside Budapest; attempt to make friends with Soviet Army personnel who arrived at villa; how Hungarian count's daughter was treated by Soviets; how he was handed over to British Military Mission, 1/1944; question of security of Special Operations records, 1993; question of errors about him that have appeared in print. Recollections of period as officer with Special Operations Executive Military Mission in Budapest, Hungary, 1945: joining military mission, 6/1945.
REEL 6 Continues: nature of SOELIQ Mission to liquidate Special Operations Executive operations in Hungary; mission to Prague to re-establish British diplomatic mission in Czechoslovakia prior to posting to Hungary. Recollections of period as officer with ME 42 Counter-Intelligence Liaison Mission, Special Operations Executive and Control Commission for Germany in Germany, 1945-1946: posting to and role of mission; plethora of cover names used by Special Operations Executive; incorporation of mission into in Control Commission Germany (CCG); cover names for mission in Düsseldorf; degree of co-operation received from Germans; breakdown of non-fraternisation order.
REEL 7 Continues: status of Peter Murphy; his reaction to end of Special Operations Executive operations after end of war in view of impending Cold War; transfer to Berlin, 1945-1946 then to Bad Salzuflen, 1946; taking Foreign Office entry examinations, 1946; attachment to No 1 Planning and Evaluation Unit of Foreign Office; how his parents were kept informed about his situation, 1944-1945; his future wife's arrival in Germany, 1946; relations with Berlin couple. Recollections of operations as officer with Hungarian Section, Special Operations Executive in Hungary, 9/1944: reasons for giving further information on events.
REEL 8 Continues: abandonment of Special Operations Executive's Operation Sandy on German occupation of Hungary, 19/3/1944; abortive Operation Dinder; sending of Lieutenant Gustav Bodo into Hungary via Yugoslavia to contract Hungarian Partisans, 6/1944; reasons for Special Operations Executive interest in Pécs area; personnel involved in Operation Dibbler; details of Operation Deerhurst in which Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Howie participated; his move to Yugoslavia in preparation for Operation Dibbler, 6/8/1944; background to volunteering for Operation Dibbler; personnel and plan for Operation Dibbler; question of whether Lieutenant Gustav Bodo was under German control.
REEL 9 Continues: first abortive attempt to carry out Operation Dibbler, 13/9/1944; Operation Dibbler, 16/9/1944-18/9/1944. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Hungary, 9/1944-12/1945: capture of Operation Dibbler team; subsequent interrogation of team; effects of Admiral Miklos Horthy's speech, 15/10/1944; reaction of Hungarian captors to Arrow Cross coup in Hungary, 16/10/1944; transfer to Zugliget Internment Camp, 8/11/1944; Germans trace his presence to Zugliget Internment Camp, 13/11/1944; plans for escape from Zugliget Internment Camp; further German interrogations, 14/11/1944; his kidnapping by Germans, 16/11/1944; return to Zugliget Prison, 7/12/1944.
REEL 10 Continues: Lieutenant Mike Turk alias Mike Thomas' escape from hospital in Budapest; escape from Zugliget Internment Camp, 12/1/1944; taking refuge with civilians in Budapest; forging of personal documents using name Janos Winkler; liberation by Soviet Army, 26/12/1944; how Soviets kept him in chicken pen, 27/12/1944; arrival at Soviet Army divisional headquarters; rehousing by Soviets in requisitioned Hungarian house; interrogation by Soviets about situation in Budapest; move to Romania, 1/1945; arrival in Bucharest, Romania, 11/1/1945.
REEL 11 Continues: signals plan for Operation Dibbler known as 'Glassblower'; research work of Claerwen Howie on activities of her father-in-law Charles Howie in Hungarian Section of Special Operations Executive.