ISSN 2514-0361

INTEL RPS LIGENCE CO Newsletter of the Friends of the Intelligence Corps Museum www.intelligencemuseum.org HMRC Charity Reg. No.XT32851 No.23, Summer 2019

WWII SECRET LISTENER JOINS FICM By Richard Harper

his year we have the very great privilege of welcoming TEric Mark as a member of FICM. He has a unique connection to the Intelligence Corps in that he saw service in WWII as a Secret Listener. Eric was born in 1922 in Magdeburg, Germany, of Jewish parentage. With the onset of the 1930s, his parents recognised the threat posed by Nazism and sent Eric to England in 1935. He was 12 years old. He never saw his parents again. They were sent to the gas chambers, as were the rest of his family, although he managed to get his younger brother to England shortly An original cartoon by Fenwick, before war broke out. from the Tatler, 1950s, captioned: With the outbreak of war, Eric was ‘I’m afraid the Intelligence Corps interned on the Isle of Wight as were Eric presented with his FICM joining-up will get us in the end, Cyril’. many of German origin, according papers by Richard Harper on Corps Day. Published on the announcement of the to Churchill’s exhortation in 1940 Photo: CY to ‘Collar the Lot’. He decided to cadre of regular officers for the Corps. volunteer for the , and in Acc. No. 2257, Corps Archive. Ed. common with all foreign-national volunteers, was posted to the Pioneer Corps. From there he transferred to the Intelligence Corps on 8th July 1944. He was put to work as a Secret Listener, bugging the conversations of captured German generals at in . At the end of the war, as an NCO, he was posted to the Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Centre at Bad Nenndorf where they were listening in to captured German civilian internees What’s inside? of importance, scientists and Nazi war criminals. Eric is now the last surviving Secret Listener of WWII. RAF and SOE...... 2 Wentworth Woodhouse...... 2 In civilian life he first had a career with Shell and when Britain joined the Common Market in Protecting Charles II...... 3 1973, Eric was offered a post in Brussels in the Transport Directorate. He and his wife Miriam Looking for a chair ...... 3 now live in Belgium. n With thanks to Mrs Miriam Mark and Dr Helen Fry Fighting Hero No. 4...... 4 D-Day 75...... 5 Digital doings...... 5 What military leader said this? New trustees...... 6 Back to school...... 6 ‘Nothing helps a fighting force more than correct FICM GOES DIGITAL information. Moreover, it should be in perfect order, ‘Soldiers Bathing’...... 7 Trustee matters...... 8 and done well by capable personnel.’ See page 5 for Ben Hodges’ Alan Edwards Award...... 8 Answer on p.7 report on Twitter and Facebook Editorial...... 8

DISTRIBUTION GUIDANCE While this newsletter does not include classified information, it is intended for the personal use of FICM members, their families and close friends only. Your co-operation in observing this guidance is much appreciated. BOOK REVIEW by Peter Jefferies Runways to Freedom: The Special Duties Squadrons of RAF Tempsford by Robert Body, 2017 he activities of the Special Operations during operations and their resting places, where At the end Executive (SOE) and Secret Intelligence known. It makes for sobering reading. of the book there is a short Service (SIS) in World War II have been Intelligence support for the squadrons’ efforts was T assessment on the effectiveness of SD covered by many publications. To support these vested in the intelligence cell at Tempsford. Like most flights but this is mainly confined to personal wide-ranging operations, two Special Duties RAF intelligence cells, and I speak from personal accolades. squadrons were formed and based at RAF experience, it was mainly a receiver of processed Tempsford in Bedfordshire operating throughout intelligence for dissemination to the aircrews rather Is this a book for general reading? The short answer Europe and the Balkans. The book draws on than a producer of intelligence. However, they is no. But to a student of SOE and SIS operations in three main sources: documents in The National produced some intelligence in the form of post- World War II, it provides a detailed and valuable insight Archive, Form 540 Operational mission reports and debriefs that would mainly be into the RAF’s support to those operations and helps Record Books (ORB) for the two squadrons, RAF used for squadron operations with some, after suitable to build up the complete picture of those operations bowdlerisation, being fed into the wider intelligence for which the RAF put in much effort but received Tempsford, personal memories and anecdotes. community. Air photography supplied by the Central relatively little in return. A full picture is provided The latter add a human dimension to what could Interpretation Unit/Allied Central Interpretation Unit when read in conjunction with the official history, The otherwise have been a somewhat dry official was used as a crew aid to identify landing and pick up RAF and the SOE: Special Duty Operations in Europe history. sites. Any intelligence received from the field by mail During World War II, 2016. n The need for Special Duties units was identified in packages would be forwarded directly to the relevant 1940 and a Flight (419) was under Fighter Command, authorities without passing through the station later resubordinated to Bomber Command. It mainly intelligence cell. operated during the ‘Moon Period’ one week either side of the full moon. Special Duties operations suffered from the RAF’s inter-war doctrine that saw DO YOU HAVE MEMORIES specialist roles as being a ‘bolt-on goody’ that could be carried out by line fighter or bomber squadrons. OF WENTWORTH WOODHOUSE? Consequently they were open to being misemployed, especially in the time outside the Moon Period. It soon became apparent that Special Duties squadrons needed to be experts in both aeronautical and other unique skills pertinent to the efficient delivery of Special Duties operations. By mid-1941, the two Wentworth Woodhouse squadrons (138 and 161), using an eclectic mix of aircraft, were directly controlled by the and he Intelligence Corps Depot was located at house. based at RAF Tempsford which brought them closer to Wentworth Woodhouse, near Rotherham The depot HQ QM’s store and part of No 2 (Training) London and their primary customers. They had two from November 1943 to August 1946; the main roles: the insertion and extraction of agents and T Company, MT section, cookhouse and NAAFI were officers mess, unit cinema and ATS quarters were urgent mail by either landing in enemy territory or located in the stables: HQ company, the remainder parachute; and the delivery of arms and other supplies in the house, the main parts of the Depot were of 2 Company and No 3 (Holding) Company were to the many European resistance groups. located in the stables, outhouses and a Nissen located in the Nissen huts. hut camp near the village entrance. Wentworth The stables have a fountain in its centre which came The book comprehensively covers the conduct of Woodhouse is two 18th-century houses joined Special Duties operations, with the first part devoted into its own when rehearsals for the 1946 victory back to back, just like a very large semi-detached, to operating procedures and execution of operations, parade were held, the fountain being a substitute including the layout and identification of drop zones but it’s actually one house! for . The riding school was used as the and landing strips. Arms deliveries used air-droppable Incorporated in the middle of the house is what NAAFI and cookhouse. containers, an example of which can be found in the remains of a house created c.1630 for Sir Thomas We, the Archive and Research team, are seeking help museum, and packages, standing offshore and orbiting Wentworth, later created Earl of Strafford and with collecting any memories, anecdotes, ephemera to conduct detailed radio conversations with agents. executed on Tower Hill in 1641. or historic items which relate to the Intelligence As their area of operations contracted following D-Day, Corps’ time at Wentworth Woodhouse. They may be priority stores delivery, such as taking air photographs The two houses cannot be seen at the same time as they face east and west. The west front of 1725 is your memories or those of your family – they are all from the UK to the 21st Army Group Photographic important to us, however large or small! Interpretation Unit in the field, and liaison flights Baroque, whilst the east front of 1730 is Palladian. became part of their operations. The house with its frontage of 615 feet is the second If you are happy to share your knowledge largest front of any house in Europe, second only of this important event of our history, The second part analyses squadron activities year- to the Catherine Palace at Tsarskoye Selo, Pushkin please contact us either by email: by-year from 1942 until 1945. Each chapter contains outside St Petersburg. [email protected] detailed records of individual operations with details or by post: of personnel and aircraft and a narrative. One such Built on a scale to mirror the house, the stable record is about the first failed attempt to destroy the block built by John Carr around 1768 was reputedly Wentworth Woodhouse, Wentworth, Norsk Hydro in October 1942, an operation that built from the winnings of the 2nd Marquess of Rotherham S62 7TQ Rockingham’s stallion, Whistlejacket. Originally was not repeated until the following year. Each year Thanks, David Allott housing 84 horses, during the 1920s and 1930s it cost chapter concludes with a roll of honour of those lost House Guide and Archivist n more to run and maintain the stable block than the

2 BOOK REVIEW by Nick van der Bijl IN SEARCH Rebellion in the Reign of Charles II OF A CHAIRMAN By Ian Cooling, by Julian Whitehead Deputy Chair Pen and Sword History, 2017 of Museum Trustees fter King Charles I was executed in 1649 t was a sad moment when David Burrill by republicans led by Oliver Cromwell, announced that he would have to stand down Ahis son Charles was proclaimed Charles II as our chairman of museum trustees, for by the Parliament of Scotland. Two years later, I medical reasons. David was central to the vision Cromwell declared England and Scotland to be for a second museum and it was his leadership one Commonwealth. Exiled to Europe, Charles and drive that had taken us to our present stage of gained sufficient support to raise an army but developing that vision. was defeated in 1651 at Worcester. Famously, he As deputy chairman, the task of finding our new chair evaded capture by hiding in an oak tree in the fell to me. I use the word ‘chair’ advisedly, not because parish of Boscobel in Shropshire. Charles spent I was seeking a furniture-maker but because the search the next nine years in exile trying to raise an army. would be gender-blind. The first step was to create a job description and from that derive a specification of the person. I did so by drawing directly on David, Julian Into the vacuum left by the death of Cromwell in craftiness, he developed a military internal security Barnard and René Dee, who have been most closely 1658, anarchy developed largely between Royalists apparatus that provided a platform for the defence involved with what will be the prime task of the new and Presbyterians and also between Protestants of England as a nation against internal and external chair – the Milton Bryan project. and Catholics. When Charles was restored to threats to the Crown. While Williamson inevitably During the tenure of the next chair, the museum will the throne two years later, he promised leniency became the subject of several allegations, to see a huge transformation. It will shift from a single and tolerance, but cultural clashes between some extent, he carried on the developments of site with three employees and up to 10 volunteers with the Puritanism of the Commonwealth and the English intelligence systems from the Cecils of a turnover of around £40,000–£50,000 to a two-site momentum of the emerging Restoration was Queen Elizabeth 1. When the Catholic James II enterprise employing up to 100 paid and voluntary marked by social change as Protestant conformists succeeded his Protestant brother Charles II and staff, with a turnover in the hundreds of thousands. This competed with Nonconformists. Four legal was faced by two invasions, one in Scotland and transformation will, in itself, be a multi-million-pound statutes assembled into the Clarendon Code the other in the West Country, it was thanks to the project. It was clearly fundamental that the new chair had tried and tested skills, knowledge and experience (1661-1665) re-established the supremacy of standing army and national intelligence structure of operating at this level. the Anglican Church and developed by Charles that religious persecution soon saw their defeats. However, Where to start? It quickly became clear that the answer was ‘Everywhere possible!’ There was simply no way returned. As dissenters went James overreacted to the of knowing where our new chair was, waiting for the underground, the internal threats by increasing the call. I started close to home with the Friends and the security apparatus of the size of the army and placing Intelligence Corps Association, then the museum and country was challenged. Catholics into positions of archive (M&A) sector, asking such as the Imperial War The most famous incident power. Within four years, Museum, Trent Park Museum, and the was the 1678 Popish Plot in he was forced to flee when Bedford M&A Hub. Finally, I spread the widest net of all which Titus Oates, who had the powerful intelligence by advertising on LinkedIn. been an Anglican and a Jesuit apparatus established by This produced a haul of seven candidates, all worthy priest, alleged a Catholic his brother undermined his arrivals at the start line. In the meantime, a tri-service plot to assassinate the king. aspirations. selection panel of museum trustees was appointed, Although Charles did not chaired by Deputy Colonel Commandant Nick Fox. The Col (retd) Whitehead writes believe the allegation, he seven candidates were whittled down to three, one of in a readily readable style was persuaded that an whom subsequently withdrew. and without the terminology investigation was essential The two remaining candidates were interviewed and that sometimes blights and this resulted in the the panel unanimously voted for Alistair Sommerlad to similar books. The book is executions of twenty-two be our chairman. Their recommendation was then put a must for those involved in n alleged plotters. to trustees who equally unanimously voted to accept. and interested in our internal security, if only to The author of Rebellion in the Reign of Charles gain further understanding of how England and II is Col (retd) Julian Whitehead, formerly of the then Great Britain created an effective internal Intelligence Corps and now Security Adviser to security and counter-intelligence system that Historic Royal Palaces. He is extremely well placed defended its home and overseas commitment. to tell the complex story of how virtually throughout Especially interesting is the annex describing the the reign of Charles, Sir Joseph Williamson, development of cryptography, which came to the government lead and the Secretary of State prominence during the reign of King Charles II. n defended the throne by undermining internal and Alistair took over from external subversion and conspiracy using counter- David Burrill at the trustee intelligence techniques to neutralise espionage meeting on 12 July propaganda and misinformation. Deploying loyal agents, turning arrested agents, exploiting

3 FIGHTING HEROES OF THE INTELLIGENCE CORPS NO. 5 The Intriguing Tale of Capt George Marie Goldsmith, The Caucasus, 1918 By Harry Fecitt

The Caucasus in 1918

t the end of 1917, Imperial Russia and the Allies’ Eastern Front collapsed. In March 1918 the new Bolshevik ARussian government signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with the Central Powers and hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers refused orders and went home. This left a power vacuum in the Caucasus that Germany and Turkey moved to fill, whilst competing Russian White (Royalist) and Red (Bolshevik) Armies struggled for political control of the area. Britain had an interest in the situation as it wished to deny oil from Baku in Azerbaijan and gun-cotton from the Caspian area, to the Central Powers. The Germans prepared to move troops into Georgia; Britain countered by sending a small military mission record of the War Office approving this award or gazetting it. As Georgia was declaring to Tiflis, the capital, tasked with keeping the Caucasian nations independent and independence and befriending Germany, the British Mission moved northwards to responsive to British requirements. Vladikavkaz in Ossettia, which was in Bolshevik hands. A captain in the Intelligence Corps, George Goldsmith was sent from London to assist Fighting between White and Red Russians erupted in Vladikavkaz and on 15 August the Tiflis Mission and he later wrote a substantial report that is the basis of this article. 1918 Col Pike was shot and killed. Whilst on a visit to US legation premises to check on the security there, he and Capt Gracey were arrested by Bolshevik troops. The colonel Moving to the Caucasus was killed by a ‘stray shot’ whilst in Bolshevik custody; Capt Gracey was released. Meanwhile the White Cossacks had withdrawn from Vladikavkaz (the Reds had sent local Ingush tribesmen to raid the Cossack villages) and the Bolsheviks firmly held the George was tasked by the director of military intelligence to organise Kurdish and town. George took over as Head of the Mission which was officially titled the Caucasus Armenian Forces to raid and destroy Turkish lines of communication between Military Agency. Diarbekr in Turkey and Mosul. He was given six incendiary bombs to take with him. George intrigued with the Ingush to prevent food from being moved south to feed the George reached Baghdad on 14 January 1918 where he met Maj Gen L.C. Dunsterville German troops moving into Georgia, but the Bolsheviks were getting fed up with the who was also tasked with taking a special forces group named Dunsterforce to Tiflis Caucasus Military Agency and its activities and on 6 October 1918 Red riflemen and to train, arm and pay local soldiers. Dunsterville put George under his command and an armoured car opened fire on the Agency building. George and the members of the gave him three Ford cars and drivers, plus Gnr G.E. Price of the Machine Gun Corps Mission present were arrested and tried on counter-revolutionary charges and moved (Cavalry) to assist him. George’s immediate task was to make a route reconnaissance to Moscow, where they arrived on 20 January 1919, all in a debilitated condition. through Persia to the Black Sea and send the details back to Dunsterforce as best he Through Red Cross channels they were sent to England in May as part of an exchange could. that saw 40,000 Russian soldiers repatriated from France to their homeland. In the event, George never saw Dunsterville again as Dunsterforce got stuck in snow- covered Persian passes, and its mission changed – it was destined to fight in Persia and at Baku instead of operating from Tiflis. George got his small convoy, now only two Recognition of Acts of Gallantry cars, through northern Persia to Enzeli on the Black Sea where he bribed his way onto a boat to Baku. There he negotiated with Bolshevik and local Azerbaijani authorities George Frederick Handel Gracey became a Companion of the to obtain rail transport for the vehicles and his party to travel to Tiflis where he arrived Distinguished Service Order; Ptes G.E. Price and J. Douglas in late February, reporting to the Head of the British Mission Col G.D. Pike MC, 9th (George’s driver) received Distinguished Conduct Medals; Gurkha Rifles. but George Marie Goldsmith did not receive anything. Why? Is a dark Intelligence Corps secret still concealed Events in the Caucasus somewhere in the wild Ossettian hills? n Sources: National Archives references: WO95-4960, Pike was not overjoyed to hear of Dunsterville’s impending arrival, stating that it was WO154-328 and CAB45-105. not necessary, and he placed George under his own command. George was ordered More information on Dunsterforce: to support the White Russians holding Erzerum and he operated there with Gnr Price, http://www.kaiserscross.com/304501/643143 Intelligence Capt G.F.H. Gracey (Special List) and five others. The incendiary bombs were used to ignite three Russian stores containing 20,000 rubber tyres before Erzerum fell to the Turks on 12 March. According to George, the White Russian FIGHTING HERO NO. 4 garrison artillery officers commanding Erzerum did not want to fight. The Turks Please go to the website to read and other Turcic people in the region then slaughtered over 1,000,000 Armenians in Harry Fecitt’s Fighting Hero No.4 revenge for Armenia supporting the Allies. The sabotage party returned to Tiflis where White Russian awards were made; George George Lowther Steer received the Order of St. Anne with Sword, 2nd Class of the Neck, although there is no

4 D-DAY 75 by Lester Hillman

he Corps won a generous allocation of places for the 5 June Opening march-past T2019 D-Day 75th anniversary commemorations at Southsea Common, Portsmouth. Seven former serving members were fortunate enough to attend: Catherine Simcox, Colin Wright, Doug Latham, Ross Thompson, Paul Smith, Richard White and Lester Hillman. Serving members in uniform were also present, three from 7 Military Intelligence Battalion along with other Corps representation. With a large public area adjacent and TV relay, there were several thousand gathered on Southsea Common to see the 90-minute performance. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II was joined by fourteen other heads of state with another 150 dignitaries in the Royal Box. in 1994 had paid tribute to them. Also featured There were five hours of live TV broadcast from the were the D-Day 50th anniversary commemorations Portsmouth commemorations with contributions from in Portsmouth and Southampton attended by the veterans and world leaders, music and drama. The Corps Colonel-in-Chief. The Portsmouth report French president read a letter by French Resistance was by Martin Dutton, possibly the first officer member Henri Fertet, just 16 years old and written from the Corps to have set foot in France. ‘D-Day shortly before his execution. An aircraft fly-past with weather’ had offered drama in 1994, just as it had the Red Arrows and a warship cruise were deftly fifty years earlier. Fine weather prevailed in 2019 orchestrated. Lester Hillman found himself with West but performances from ‘Pressure’, with David Haig Midlands D-Day veteran Arthur Jones who next day was playing meteorologist James Stagg, evoked the pictured with the Duchess of Cornwall following the tension of June 1944. cathedral service at Bayeux. Within the two-day National Commemoration event more than 250 travelled over Hugh Skillen, a veteran of D-Day commemorations to Normandy aboard the Royal British Legion’s MV in 1984, described how at Southampton in 1994 Boudicca, and veterans participated in parachute drops. First Aid and Nursing Yeomanry, SOE Y Service roles had been showcased. Days later he personally and deftly ensured creditable Corps Archive and wider Intelligence roles featured around a moving tribute given by representation in Normandy. He modestly A number of publications accompanied the events and President Emmanuel Macron concluded ‘we waved the Corps flag to some these are now with the archive. The with effect’. At the 75th the hope is the same. n BAe Systems published ‘D-Day as it happened…’ In the Operation Neptune situation reports ‘Glimmer’, ‘Taxable’ and ‘Bigdrum’, deception operations along the coastline were referenced. Sir John Masterman, FICM’s Digital Revolution Chairman of the Twenty (XX Double-Cross) Committee By Ben Hodges played a prominent role in choreographing Operation Fortitude with agent Garbo focused on Pas de Calais am pleased to announce that FICM has truly hit the digital age with the launch of our Twitter and deceptions. His medals were recently acquired for the Facebook pages. This is all part of our strategy to increase our reach, appeal to a younger demographic MIM in July 2106 (see Sub Rosa No. 15, Winter 2016). Iand, hopefully, increase our membership numbers. Following the formal commemoration His Royal Over time we plan to use these media, together with the revamped website, to keep members informed about Highness the Prince of Wales met veterans; elsewhere the goings on within the Military Intelligence Museum and the wider Intelligence Corps through sharing and large numbers of mainly young non-commissioned US retweeting their social media activity. n personnel made the most of a chance to meet President So why not give us a Follow on Twitter @FICMuseum or a Like on Facebook www.facebook. Donald Trump and First Lady Melania. com/FriendsOfTheIntelligenceCorpsMuseum/ How has the Corps previously It is early days and any suggestions for content or ideas as to which other Twitter accounts supported commemorations? we should be following would be gratefully received at [email protected] The Corps Roll of Honour page-turning ceremony in St James Garlickhythe City of London took place on Sunday, 2 June 2019, just before the D-Day commemorations. Names from seventy-five years ago were a reminder of Like what you are reading? a Corps presence worldwide. For 6 June 1944 – WO Become a Friend and receive 2 Jack Hainsworth, Italy, 7 June 1944; Maj Stephen P. Martin-Leake, Albania; 6 June 1944 in Burma, Volunteer SUB ROSA three times a year! H. Arbreu, East African Intelligence Corps. The service in St James Garlickhythe was the 25th anniversary of the Go to www.intelligencemuseum.org 1994 Mull of Kintyre helicopter crash. The five names in the Roll were remembered. The Rose and The Laurel for an online application form

5 THE MUSEUM GOES BACK TO SCHOOL by Assistant Curator Harriet Huggins

n June 2019, staff and volunteers from the museum went into a local school to hold workshops with the children. The reason was that we Ihave a long expanse of empty wall in the museum (in the corridor near to the Medmenham rooms) and we wanted to explore the possibility of the children becoming involved in an art project for the space. Last December, Campton Lower School came to the museum twice in one day, Year 3 in the morning and Year 4 in the afternoon. It was a very busy day!

The visit was arranged through someone who lives and works onsite, and whose child goes to the school. We discussed the art project with the teachers who all agreed it would be a great idea. After much planning, our education volunteer, Will, and I delivered two workshops to the swastikas, they were thankfully all for the Year 4 class at Campton Lower School, focusing on propaganda and right reasons! We had posters focused on recruitment during the Second World War. The children had already saving food waste and metals, as well as studied the war and had some well-known propaganda posters displayed posters warning against ‘loose lips’ and around the classroom. some wanting to kill Nazis. Our first session with them was to look at posters trying to recruit and persuade people, what they were good at and what was not so good. The children were really clever and had remembered our names from their Twenty-seven pieces of finished Second visit in December, something we weren’t able to do for the 27 of them! World War-style recruitment posters are now on display in the In this session we also asked them to start planning their posters to be museum down the corridor, or the ‘Long Gallery’, for visitors. displayed in the museum ready for Corps Day in July. A lot of detail and These will be on display until the end of August, then they will care went into most of these posters, although some had to be warned be returned to the children. that any posters not up to scratch would not be allowed on my wall! We had a wonderful time working with the children at the Will and I returned a week later to finish off the rest of the posters; school, so well-behaved and happy to see us. We would love to we discussed what we had learnt in the previous workshop and then work with them again. n set them off to complete their artwork. The children produced some amazing pieces, and although there was a disproportionate number of Photos: CY

THREE NEW FICM TRUSTEES Ben Hodges Helen Fry Richard Harper

Ben works in the City of Dr Helen Fry is a historian with The Intelligence Corps London, but prior to that he a passion for the Intelligence Museum first came to my worked as a Metropolitan Corps history, having written notice when seeking voluntary police officer and Nato over 20 books focusing on work following retirement. intelligence officer; he also intelligence and POWs in My working life was spent in spent 13 years in the Reserves World War II. Her books the sales of capital equipment in both the Intelligence Corps include The Walls have Ears: employed in the field of and RAF Intelligence Branch. During that time, he saw The Greatest Intelligence Operation of WWII, which industrial food manufacture. I travelled widely, initially operational service in the former Yugoslavia and Iraq. had Intelligence Corps personnel at the heart of its in Europe, where I was able to use my French and He first visited the museum as an Intelligence Corps wartime operations; The London Cage: The Secret German language capabilities. recruit, but more recently became involved with the History of Britain’s WWII Interrogation Centre, run by As a volunteer at the museum I worked in the Corps museum again through the Secret Soldiers project. Col Alexander Scotland (another Int Corps man), and Archive for around five years. It was a most rewarding This spurred a deeper interest in Intelligence Corps Spymaster: The Secret Life of Kendrick – the biography experience. My regular visits had to cease following a history and resulted in him becoming a museum of MI6 and Int Corps Col Thomas Kendrick. Helen has house move. Becoming a trustee has allowed me to volunteer and assisting in the archive. appeared frequently on TV and in documentaries. She continue my connection with the museum, the people is deputy chair and a trustee of the Trent Park Museum As well as working full-time, Ben is undertaking a and its work. n Trust which is establishing a new national museum at PhD at the University of Northampton where he is Trent Park, . n investigating the intelligence function of the British Army between 1923 and 1940. n

6 POEM Soldiers Bathing

The sea at evening moves across the sand. They were Italians who knew war’s sorrows and disgrace Under a reddening sky I watch the freedom of a band And showed the thing suspended, stripped: a theme Of soldiers who belong to me. Stripped bare Born out of the experience of war’s horrible extreme For bathing in the sea, they shout and run in the warm air; Beneath a sky where even the air flows Their flesh worn by the trade of war, revives With lacrimae Christi. For that rage, that bitterness, those blows. And my mind towards the meaning of it strives. That hatred of the slain, what could they be But indirectly, or directly a commentary All’s pathos now. The body that was gross, On the Crucifixion? And the picture burns Rank, ravenous, disgusting in the act of repose, With indignation and pity and despair by turns, All fever, filth and sweat, its bestial strength Because it is the obverse of the scene And bestial decay, by pain and labour grows at length Where Christ hangs murdered, stripped, upon the Cross, I mean, Fragile and luminous. ‘Poor bare forked animal,’ That is the explanation of its rage. Conscious of his desires and needs and flesh that rise and fall, Stands in the soft air, tasting after toil And we too have our bitterness and pity that engage The sweetness of his nakedness: letting the sea-waves coil Blood, spirit, in this war. But night begins, Their frothy tongues about his feet, forgets Night of the mind: who nowadays is conscious of our sins? His hatred of the war, its terrible pressure that begets Though every human deed concerns our blood, A machinery of death and slavery, And even we must know, what nobody has understood, Each being a slave and making slaves of others: finds that he That some great love is over all we do, Remembers his old freedom in a game And that is what has driven us to this fury, for so few Mocking himself, and comically mimics fear and shame. Can suffer all the terror of that love: The terror of that love has set us spinning in this groove He plays with death and animality; Greased with our blood. And reading in the shadows of his pallid flesh, I see The idea of Michelangelo’s cartoon These dry themselves and dress, Of soldiers bathing, breaking off before they were half done Combing their hair, forget the fear and shame of nakedness At some sortie of the enemy, an episode Because to love is frightening we prefer Of the Pisan wars with Florence. I remember how he showed The freedom of our crimes. Yet, as I drink the dusky air Their muscular limbs that clamber from the water, I feel a strange delight that fills me full, And heads that turn across the shoulder, eager for the slaughter, Strange gratitude, as if evil itself were beautiful, Forgetful of their bodies that are bare, And kiss the wound in thought, while in the west And jot to buckle on and use the weapons lying there. I watch a streak of red that might have issued from Christ’s breast.

–And I think too of the theme another found F.T. Prince, 1943 When, shadowing men’s bodies on a sinister red ground, More Poems from the Forces, Routledge, London, 1943 Another Florentine, Pollaiuolo, Painted a naked battle: warriors, straddled, hacked the foe, Dug their bare toes into the ground and slew The brother-naked man who lay between their feet and drew His lips from his teeth in a grimace.

Capt Frank Prince (1912-2003) served in the Intelligence Corps from 1940 to 1946, Bletchley Park From front page: and MEF in WWII. His obituary is in The Rose and The Laurel Vol. 15, WHO SAID THIS? No. 4, 2003. You can watch him reading this poem Amswer: in 1993 on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iz6ig6zeHhQ Guerrilla Leader Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara,1963.

7 NOTICES AND NOTES FOR MEMBERS

EDITORIAL Trustee Matters • Richard Harper becomes a trustee and membership secretary The Second, Coming • Ben Hodges becomes trustee responsible for social media At the last meeting of the museum trustees, your editor heard the outgoing Chair David Burrill (also a Friend) speak unambiguously of a ‘second museum’. It is clear • Helen Fry becomes a trustee that the existing museum will remain co-located with the Corps at Chicksands, with • Trustees will meet next on 23 October at Chicksands the intention of establishing a second museum at Milton Bryan. The project for the second museum is being led by Julian Barnard, FICM’s patron, and René Dee, a SEPTEMBER EVENT former FICM trustee, their focus on fundraising and planning permission from Central We are sorry that this year there will be no FICM late-summer Bedfordshire Council. For the Friends, David’s comments are a timely reassurance on event at Chicksands. We shall discuss our whole social event the preservation of the curated history of the Intelligence Corps being easily accessible to serving personnel. The trustees have had many challenges in pursuing the museum programme for 2020 at the next trustee meeting. Members’ initiative, not least in last year’s dealings with the National Lottery Heritage Fund. At ideas are very welcome. their next meeting, FICM trustees will themselves need to consider how best they can lend support to new Chair Alistair Sommerlad and the Milton Bryan initiative, in keeping with their principles of support for Corps heritage. We’ll keep you informed. THE ALAN EDWARDS Friends Online In other pages in this issue, you can read of the marvellously enhanced online presence AWARD of the Friends, voted for by trustees as a whole and made real through the efforts of new trustee Ben Hodges. It has to be said that we are unsure how many of our Sponsored by the Friends of the Intelligence Corps membership demographic will rush to Twitter and Facebook. Many people in general Museum, the Alan Edwards Award is an annual award of claim that online is where the future of news is, but Sub Rosa will continue to bring £100, an inscribed memento, and a year’s membership of you, in print, what that medium is best at: well-developed writing in a format that you the Friends. The award recognises a serving individual or can touch rather than tick. We expect that each format will rub along well enough with group who have undertaken a project which fosters a better each other and heartily encourage you to enjoy both. n understanding of the diverse history of the Corps. It should be in a format that can be captured and displayed in the LONDON LUNCH WITH LECTURE 2019 museum or accessed from the Intelligence Corps Archive. Possible Forms By Dr Helen Fry • An extended piece of researched writing in support of he Friends had its spring lunch on academic study 24 April, for the first time at the • A physical display piece e.g., statue or model with TVictory Services Club in London. associated description The quality of the food was really • Graphical representation e.g., battle or map with excellent, not to mention the choice of associated description wine. With extra capacity as our guests • Memorial item e.g., painting or display commemorating increase each year, it looks like the a person or event. Friends have found a new venue for expanding membership! • An audiovisual medium. • A work of art. The guest speaker was Chris Donnelly – a founder of the Institute for No entries were received for the award this year. Statecraft – an expert in statecraft and intelligence. He outlined, with a good old-fashioned flip chart and pen, a number of puzzling diagrams to The award was set up in 2016 show the change in our world today. It was astonishing that perhaps none funded by a donation of £5,000 of us had realised the extent of the hidden dangers to Western society from Mrs Liz Edwards today. He held the room in total silence (a rare occurrence for FCIM!). The Western world faces dangers which threaten to destroy democracy – the difference from the past: this is no longer a ‘hot’ war, or ‘cold’ war, but a war that Western citizens do not even realising is happening. It still looks More on Russia – Plus ça change… like the West is living in peacetime. The analysis by Chris, that the West is under threat from numerous angles and hostile countries in a new ‘war’, A fabled exchange between Prime Minister John Major which is not necessarily a ‘hot’ war, could render ordinary citizens blind and President Boris Yeltsin, mid-1990s to the real dangers that threaten the world. Today’s war, he argued, has JM: Boris, in a word, how is the Russian economy? gone almost unnoticed but is no less dangerous. The threats are multiple, often simultaneously from different directions, unpredictable and ever BY: Good. more sophisticated. The enemy is no longer necessarily confined to easily identifiable borders of a country. The challenges facing our military JM: And in more than one word? strategists and intelligence services are immense. BY: Not good. Chris’s lecture was thought-provoking and a real privilege for members and guests to benefit from his knowledge and critical insights. n

Sub Rosa is the newsletter of the Friends of the Intelligence Corps Museum charitable trust, Bldg 200, Chicksands, Bedfordshire, SG17 5PR. HMRC charity registration number XT32851 Produced and printed by Leemoll Ltd., Barton Mill Lane, Faldo Road, Barton-le-Clay, Bedfordshire MK45 4RF