Was just reading the WP article on the Special Operations Executive, or “Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare”, appears to have had looser entry requirements than the British military generally. As well as conducting ops throughout most of occupied (and neutral) Europe, they gave financial and operational support to resistance movements in Asia and Abyssinia.

No doubt you’ve heard of The White Mouse (Nancy Wake) who operated under the SOE. Another operator was Pippa Latour, a French national who joined in order to avenge her family. She was small enough to pose as a young teenager and gain intel from German soldiers. She was awarded the MBE, Legion d’Honneur etc Astoundingly, “She did not discuss her wartime activities with her family until her children discovered them by reading about them on the Internet in 2000.” She lives in NZ now.

Some excerpts:

—-
Exiled or escaped members of the armed forces of some occupied countries were obvious sources of agents. This was particularly true of Norway and the Netherlands. In other cases (such as Frenchmen owing loyalty to Charles de Gaulle and especially the Poles), the agents’ first loyalty was to their leaders or governments in exile, and they treated SOE only as a means to an end. This could occasionally lead to mistrust and strained relations in Britain.

The organisation was prepared to ignore almost any contemporary social convention in its fight against the Axis. It employed known homosexuals, people with criminal records (some of whom taught skills such as picking locks) or bad conduct records in the armed forces, Communists and anti-British nationalists. Some of these might have been considered a security risk, but no known case exists of an SOE agent wholeheartedly going over to the enemy. The case of Henri Déricourt is an example in which the conduct of agents was questionable, but it was impossible to establish whether they were acting under secret orders from SOE or MI6.

SOE was also far ahead of contemporary attitudes in its use of women in armed combat. Although women were first considered only as couriers in the field or as wireless operators or administrative staff in Britain, those sent into the field were trained to use weapons and in unarmed combat. Most were commissioned into either the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY) or the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force. Women often assumed leadership roles in the field. Pearl Witherington became the organiser (leader) of a highly successful resistance network in France. Early in the war, American Virginia Hall functioned as the unofficial nerve center of several SOE networks in Vichy France. Many women agents such as Odette Hallowes or Violette Szabo were decorated for bravery, posthumously in Szabo’s case. Of SOE’s 41 (or 39 in some estimates) female agents serving in Section F (France) sixteen did not survive with twelve killed or executed in Nazi concentration camps.

—-
In late 1944, as it became clear that the war would soon be over, Lord Selborne advocated keeping SOE or a similar body in being, and that it would report to the Ministry of Defence. Anthony Eden, the Foreign Secretary, insisted that his ministry, already responsible for the SIS, should control SOE or its successors. The Joint Intelligence Committee, which had a broad co-ordinating role over Britain’s intelligence services and operations, took the view that SOE was a more effective organisation than the SIS but that it was unwise to split the responsibility for espionage and more direct action between separate ministries, or to perform special operations outside the ultimate control of the Chiefs of Staff. The debate continued for several months until on 22 May 1945, Selborne wrote:

In view of the Russian menace, the situation in Italy, Central Europe and the Balkans and the smouldering volcanoes in the Middle East, I think it would be madness to allow SOE to be stifled at this juncture. In handing it over to the Foreign Office, I cannot help feeling that to ask Sir Orme Sergent to supervise SOE is like inviting an abbess to supervise a brothel! But SOE is no base instrument, it is a highly specialized weapon which will be required by HMG whenever we are threatened and whenever it is necessary to contact the common people of foreign lands.

Churchill took no immediate decision, and after he lost the general election on 5 July 1945, the matter was dealt with by the Labour Prime Minister, Clement Attlee. Selborne told Attlee that SOE still possessed a worldwide network of clandestine radio networks and sympathisers. Attlee replied that he had no wish to own a British Comintern, and closed Selborne’s network down at 48 hours’ notice.

SOE was dissolved officially on 15 January 1946. Some of its senior staff moved easily into financial services in the City of London, although some of them had not lost their undercover mentality and did little for the City’s name. Most of SOE’s other personnel reverted to their peacetime occupations or regular service in the armed forces, but 280 of them were taken into the “Special Operations Branch” of MI6. Some of these had served as agents in the field, but MI6 was most interested in SOE’s training and research staff. Sir Stewart Menzies, the head of MI6 (who was generally known simply as “C”) soon decided that a separate Special Operations branch was unsound, and merged it into the general body of MI6

—-

Before i go:

The actor Christopher Lee was part of that outfit in WW2.

A film director told him to imagine what noise a man made when stabbed.

Lee said he didn’t have to imagine, he knew.

dv said:

Was just reading the WP article on the Special Operations Executive, or “Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare”, appears to have had looser entry requirements than the British military generally. As well as conducting ops throughout most of occupied (and neutral) Europe, they gave financial and operational support to resistance movements in Asia and Abyssinia.

No doubt you’ve heard of The White Mouse (Nancy Wake) who operated under the SOE. Another operator was Pippa Latour, a French national who joined in order to avenge her family. She was small enough to pose as a young teenager and gain intel from German soldiers. She was awarded the MBE, Legion d’Honneur etc Astoundingly, “She did not discuss her wartime activities with her family until her children discovered them by reading about them on the Internet in 2000.” She lives in NZ now.

Some excerpts:

—-
Exiled or escaped members of the armed forces of some occupied countries were obvious sources of agents. This was particularly true of Norway and the Netherlands. In other cases (such as Frenchmen owing loyalty to Charles de Gaulle and especially the Poles), the agents’ first loyalty was to their leaders or governments in exile, and they treated SOE only as a means to an end. This could occasionally lead to mistrust and strained relations in Britain.

The organisation was prepared to ignore almost any contemporary social convention in its fight against the Axis. It employed known homosexuals, people with criminal records (some of whom taught skills such as picking locks) or bad conduct records in the armed forces, Communists and anti-British nationalists. Some of these might have been considered a security risk, but no known case exists of an SOE agent wholeheartedly going over to the enemy. The case of Henri Déricourt is an example in which the conduct of agents was questionable, but it was impossible to establish whether they were acting under secret orders from SOE or MI6.

SOE was also far ahead of contemporary attitudes in its use of women in armed combat. Although women were first considered only as couriers in the field or as wireless operators or administrative staff in Britain, those sent into the field were trained to use weapons and in unarmed combat. Most were commissioned into either the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY) or the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force. Women often assumed leadership roles in the field. Pearl Witherington became the organiser (leader) of a highly successful resistance network in France. Early in the war, American Virginia Hall functioned as the unofficial nerve center of several SOE networks in Vichy France. Many women agents such as Odette Hallowes or Violette Szabo were decorated for bravery, posthumously in Szabo’s case. Of SOE’s 41 (or 39 in some estimates) female agents serving in Section F (France) sixteen did not survive with twelve killed or executed in Nazi concentration camps.

—-
In late 1944, as it became clear that the war would soon be over, Lord Selborne advocated keeping SOE or a similar body in being, and that it would report to the Ministry of Defence. Anthony Eden, the Foreign Secretary, insisted that his ministry, already responsible for the SIS, should control SOE or its successors. The Joint Intelligence Committee, which had a broad co-ordinating role over Britain’s intelligence services and operations, took the view that SOE was a more effective organisation than the SIS but that it was unwise to split the responsibility for espionage and more direct action between separate ministries, or to perform special operations outside the ultimate control of the Chiefs of Staff. The debate continued for several months until on 22 May 1945, Selborne wrote:

In view of the Russian menace, the situation in Italy, Central Europe and the Balkans and the smouldering volcanoes in the Middle East, I think it would be madness to allow SOE to be stifled at this juncture. In handing it over to the Foreign Office, I cannot help feeling that to ask Sir Orme Sergent to supervise SOE is like inviting an abbess to supervise a brothel! But SOE is no base instrument, it is a highly specialized weapon which will be required by HMG whenever we are threatened and whenever it is necessary to contact the common people of foreign lands.

Churchill took no immediate decision, and after he lost the general election on 5 July 1945, the matter was dealt with by the Labour Prime Minister, Clement Attlee. Selborne told Attlee that SOE still possessed a worldwide network of clandestine radio networks and sympathisers. Attlee replied that he had no wish to own a British Comintern, and closed Selborne’s network down at 48 hours’ notice.

SOE was dissolved officially on 15 January 1946. Some of its senior staff moved easily into financial services in the City of London, although some of them had not lost their undercover mentality and did little for the City’s name. Most of SOE’s other personnel reverted to their peacetime occupations or regular service in the armed forces, but 280 of them were taken into the “Special Operations Branch” of MI6. Some of these had served as agents in the field, but MI6 was most interested in SOE’s training and research staff. Sir Stewart Menzies, the head of MI6 (who was generally known simply as “C”) soon decided that a separate Special Operations branch was unsound, and merged it into the general body of MI6

—-

I can lend you a couple of books on this if you would like DV.

One of their late operations was Operation Periwig, which has a nice twist (in bold).

—-
Operation Periwig was a secret service operation planned and carried out by the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) from November 1944 onwards during the Second World War. The aim was to indoctrinate the Nazi regime by feigning resistance movements within the German territory.

At the beginning of the war, the British secret service authorities were aware that it was practically impossible to establish a real resistance movement in Germany. Due to the almost insurmountable surveillance by the German security organs, it was considered hopeless to attempt creating such a complex structure, especially since all British agents deployed in Germany were exposed and arrested right at the beginning of the war.

In cooperation with the Political Warfare Executive (PWE) and the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), a plan was therefore developed to invent a suitable resistance movement. This measure was intended to involve the German security organs in practically useless activities in order to track down the alleged resistance fighters. The intention was to create confusion and tie up important resources. It was also hoped – after something had possibly been leaked among the German population about such resistance movements – that one or the other courageous German would actually support these activities.

In November 1944 the planning group of Operation Periwig worked out a total of eight different scenarios for a hypothetical resistance movement. For this purpose, groups of people within the Wehrmacht, the party and police, the Roman Catholic Church, industrialists, industrial and mining workers, foreign workers, separatists and members of the Reichsbahn were considered as possible resistance fighters.

As an example, the Wehrmacht resistance movement was to be assigned its headquarters in Berlin. Gdansk, Dresden, Hamburg, Nuremberg and other important cities in Germany were invented as further locations for resistance cells. All cells were to be connected with each other through regular Wehrmacht- as well as personal contact. The office of the Wehrmacht resistance movement in London, which was under British control, would be in constant contact with the headquarters in Berlin. Two selected German prisoners of war would be able to carry out activities in Germany between the individual cells and communicate with Britain in a variety of ways. In addition, numerous other persons employed as agents would be able to maintain regular contact with London. Correspondingly, for all other hypothetical resistance movements, similar procedures were worked out as would have been expected from actually existing resistance groups.

In order to draw attention to the alleged resistance movement in Germany, suitable deceptive measures were devised. For example, containers with weapons, ammunition, propaganda material, food and the like were to be dropped by airplane over imaginary supply points of the ostensible resistance movement.

When the plan to carry out the operation took on a more concrete form in January 1945, objections were raised above all by the SIS, which feared that its own plans to indoctrinate the enemy could be thwarted by Periwig. An alleged support of hypothetical resistance cells could endanger actually existing anti-Nazi groups in Germany. However, when the concerns of the SIS were dispelled in mid-February 1945, Operation Periwig was able to start, which began with manipulated radio messages to Germany. From 21 February 1945, the first containers with supplies and forged information material for the alleged resistance cells were dropped by plane. However, these operations were suspended again from mid-March 1945, as the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) feared that the Gestapo could misuse such drops of weapons or material near POW camps to commit the murder of Allied prisoners.

Finally, in early to mid-April 1945, a number of trustworthy German prisoners of war were dropped as alleged agents over German territory. There they were to perform various conspiratorial activities for the claimed resistance cells. The prisoners of war were not aware that these cells did not exist in reality.
—-

Bogsnorkler said:

I can lend you a couple of books on this if you would like DV.

That would be most kind. Perhaps next I see you at a pud.

Interesting note on Operation Foxley, to assassinate Hitler.
—-
The proposals for the operation was submitted in November 1944 but was never authorised because of a division within the British government as to whether the removal of Hitler from the command of the Third Reich was a sound course to follow to expedite its military defeat. He was by then considered by the British to be such a poor strategist that it was thought possible that candidates who would be in line to succeed him might present more of a challenge to the Allied war effort. Thornley also argued that Germany was almost defeated, and if Hitler was assassinated, he would become a martyr figure to some Germans and possibly give rise to a myth that Germany might have been victorious if he had not been killed by underhand means, leading to the threat of more wars with Germany in the future. As the Allied war aims had become not merely the military defeat the Third Reich but to destroy the National Socialist political ideology in Central Europe in general, this rendered the proposed operation potentially undesirable. The debate in the British government divided opinion and so the operation was not authorised.

dv said:

Bogsnorkler said:

I can lend you a couple of books on this if you would like DV.

That would be most kind. Perhaps next I see you at a pud.

No worries. Be next month i think

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Between_Silk_and_Cyanide (good read)

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1435868.SOE (dry)

Another SOE operator was Montague Woodhouse, 5th Baron Terrington, who later became Conservative MP for Oxford in the 1960s and 1970s. He was valuable to operations in Greece because he fluent in the language.

On the downside, Woodhouse was involved in the MI6/CIA operation to bring down the democratically elected government of Iran led by the secular moderniser Mohammad Mosaddegh. His government’s decision to nationalise the oil industry had cut into the profits of APOC (now known as BP), so the western powers

Engulfed in a variety of problems following World War II, Britain was unable to resolve the issue single-handedly and looked towards the United States to settle the matter. Initially, the USA had opposed British policies. After mediation had failed several times to bring about a settlement, American Secretary of State Dean Acheson concluded that the British were “destructive, and determined on a rule-or-ruin policy in Iran.”

The American position shifted in late 1952 when Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected U.S. President. In November and December, British intelligence officials suggested to American intelligence that the prime minister should be ousted. British prime minister Winston Churchill suggested to the incoming Eisenhower administration that Mossadegh, despite his open disgust with socialism, was, or would become, dependent on the pro-Soviet Tudeh Party, resulting in Iran “increasingly turning towards communism” and towards the Soviet sphere at a time of high Cold War fears. After the Eisenhower administration had entered office in early 1953, the United States and the United Kingdom agreed to work together toward Mosaddegh’s removal and began to publicly denounce Mosaddegh’s policies for Iran as harmful to the country.

In March 1953, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles directed the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which was headed by his younger brother Allen Dulles, to draft plans to overthrow Mossadegh. On 4 April 1953, Allen Dulles approved $1 million to be used “in any way that would bring about the fall of Mosaddegh”. Soon the CIA’s Tehran station started to launch a propaganda campaign against Mossadegh. Finally, according to The New York Times, in early June, American and British intelligence officials met again, this time in Beirut, and put the finishing touches on the strategy. Soon afterward, according to his later published accounts, the chief of the CIA’s Near East and Africa division, Kermit Roosevelt, Jr. the grandson of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, arrived in Tehran to direct it. In 2000, The New York Times made partial publication of a leaked CIA document titled Clandestine Service History – Overthrow of Premier Mosaddegh of Iran – November 1952 – August 1953.

The plot, known as Operation Ajax, centered on convincing Iran’s monarch to issue a decree to dismiss Mosaddegh from office, as he had attempted some months earlier. But the Shah was terrified to attempt such a dangerously unpopular and risky move against Mosaddegh. It would take much persuasion and many U.S. funded meetings, which included bribing his sister Ashraf with a mink coat and money, to successfully change his mind.

Mosaddegh became aware of the plots against him and grew increasingly wary of conspirators acting within his government. According to Dr. Donald N. Wilber, who was involved in the plot to remove Mossadegh from power, in early August, Iranian CIA operatives pretending to be socialists and nationalists threatened Muslim leaders with “savage punishment if they opposed Mossadegh,” thereby giving the impression that Mossadegh was cracking down on dissent earlier than planned, and stirring anti-Mossadegh sentiments within the religious community. A referendum to dissolve parliament and give the prime minister power to make law was submitted to voters, and it passed with 99 percent approval, 2,043,300 votes to 1300 votes against. According to Mark J. Gasiorowski, “There were separate polling stations for yes and no votes, producing sharp criticism of Mosaddeq” and that the “controversial referendum…gave the CIA’s precoup propaganda campaign to show up Mosaddeq as an anti-democratic dictator an easy target”. On or around 16 August, Parliament was suspended indefinitely, and Mosaddeq’s emergency powers were extended.

Declassified documents released by the CIA in 2017 revealed that–after the Shah had fled to Italy–CIA headquarters believed the coup to have failed. They sent a cable calling off operations to Roosevelt on August 18, 1953, but Roosevelt ignored it.

Robin Zaehner had developed contacts in Iran and when the British were expelled, Woodhouse took his contacts to the CIA station chief. Thus a conspiracy to overthrow Mossadegh was staged in a joint mission between the CIA and MI6. The CIA named the operation Operation TPAjax, erroneously referred to as Operation Ajax, TP standing for the Soviet-backed communist Tudeh Party of Iran. British activities were codenamed Operation Boot.

Woodhouse proposed Operation Boot to the Eisenhower administration. It would use “disenchanted” Iranian elements of the army, the clergy and the political parties to oust Mossadegh. Together with the CIA he instigated and orchestrated the “bazaaris” of Tehran to demonstrate against Mossadegh, demonstrations which led to the deaths of hundreds or possibly thousands of Iranian people. Woodhouse, through the Shah’s sister, encouraged the ruler not to abandon the throne.

In August 1953, the Shah finally agreed to Mossadegh’s overthrow, after Roosevelt said that the United States would proceed with or without him, and formally dismissed the prime minister in a written decree, an act that had been made part of the constitution during the Constitution Assembly of 1949, convened under martial law, at which time the power of the monarchy was increased in various ways by the Shah himself.

As soon as the coup succeeded, many of Mosaddegh’s former associates and supporters were tried, imprisoned, and tortured. Some were sentenced to death and executed. The minister of foreign affairs and the closest associate of Mosaddegh, Hossein Fatemi, was executed by order of the Shah’s military court. The order was carried out by firing squad on 10 November 1954.

The secret U.S. overthrow of Mosaddegh served as a rallying point in anti-US protests during the 1979 Iranian Revolution, and to this day he is one of the most popular figures in Iranian history.

So yeah that was a brilliant idea.

dv said:

Another SOE operator was Montague Woodhouse, 5th Baron Terrington, who later became Conservative MP for Oxford in the 1960s and 1970s. He was valuable to operations in Greece because he fluent in the language.

On the downside, Woodhouse was involved in the MI6/CIA operation to bring down the democratically elected government of Iran led by the secular moderniser Mohammad Mosaddegh. His government’s decision to nationalise the oil industry had cut into the profits of APOC (now known as BP), so the western powers

Engulfed in a variety of problems following World War II, Britain was unable to resolve the issue single-handedly and looked towards the United States to settle the matter. Initially, the USA had opposed British policies. After mediation had failed several times to bring about a settlement, American Secretary of State Dean Acheson concluded that the British were “destructive, and determined on a rule-or-ruin policy in Iran.”

The American position shifted in late 1952 when Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected U.S. President. In November and December, British intelligence officials suggested to American intelligence that the prime minister should be ousted. British prime minister Winston Churchill suggested to the incoming Eisenhower administration that Mossadegh, despite his open disgust with socialism, was, or would become, dependent on the pro-Soviet Tudeh Party, resulting in Iran “increasingly turning towards communism” and towards the Soviet sphere at a time of high Cold War fears. After the Eisenhower administration had entered office in early 1953, the United States and the United Kingdom agreed to work together toward Mosaddegh’s removal and began to publicly denounce Mosaddegh’s policies for Iran as harmful to the country.

In March 1953, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles directed the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which was headed by his younger brother Allen Dulles, to draft plans to overthrow Mossadegh. On 4 April 1953, Allen Dulles approved $1 million to be used “in any way that would bring about the fall of Mosaddegh”. Soon the CIA’s Tehran station started to launch a propaganda campaign against Mossadegh. Finally, according to The New York Times, in early June, American and British intelligence officials met again, this time in Beirut, and put the finishing touches on the strategy. Soon afterward, according to his later published accounts, the chief of the CIA’s Near East and Africa division, Kermit Roosevelt, Jr. the grandson of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, arrived in Tehran to direct it. In 2000, The New York Times made partial publication of a leaked CIA document titled Clandestine Service History – Overthrow of Premier Mosaddegh of Iran – November 1952 – August 1953.

The plot, known as Operation Ajax, centered on convincing Iran’s monarch to issue a decree to dismiss Mosaddegh from office, as he had attempted some months earlier. But the Shah was terrified to attempt such a dangerously unpopular and risky move against Mosaddegh. It would take much persuasion and many U.S. funded meetings, which included bribing his sister Ashraf with a mink coat and money, to successfully change his mind.

Mosaddegh became aware of the plots against him and grew increasingly wary of conspirators acting within his government. According to Dr. Donald N. Wilber, who was involved in the plot to remove Mossadegh from power, in early August, Iranian CIA operatives pretending to be socialists and nationalists threatened Muslim leaders with “savage punishment if they opposed Mossadegh,” thereby giving the impression that Mossadegh was cracking down on dissent earlier than planned, and stirring anti-Mossadegh sentiments within the religious community. A referendum to dissolve parliament and give the prime minister power to make law was submitted to voters, and it passed with 99 percent approval, 2,043,300 votes to 1300 votes against. According to Mark J. Gasiorowski, “There were separate polling stations for yes and no votes, producing sharp criticism of Mosaddeq” and that the “controversial referendum…gave the CIA’s precoup propaganda campaign to show up Mosaddeq as an anti-democratic dictator an easy target”. On or around 16 August, Parliament was suspended indefinitely, and Mosaddeq’s emergency powers were extended.

Declassified documents released by the CIA in 2017 revealed that–after the Shah had fled to Italy–CIA headquarters believed the coup to have failed. They sent a cable calling off operations to Roosevelt on August 18, 1953, but Roosevelt ignored it.

Robin Zaehner had developed contacts in Iran and when the British were expelled, Woodhouse took his contacts to the CIA station chief. Thus a conspiracy to overthrow Mossadegh was staged in a joint mission between the CIA and MI6. The CIA named the operation Operation TPAjax, erroneously referred to as Operation Ajax, TP standing for the Soviet-backed communist Tudeh Party of Iran. British activities were codenamed Operation Boot.

Woodhouse proposed Operation Boot to the Eisenhower administration. It would use “disenchanted” Iranian elements of the army, the clergy and the political parties to oust Mossadegh. Together with the CIA he instigated and orchestrated the “bazaaris” of Tehran to demonstrate against Mossadegh, demonstrations which led to the deaths of hundreds or possibly thousands of Iranian people. Woodhouse, through the Shah’s sister, encouraged the ruler not to abandon the throne.

In August 1953, the Shah finally agreed to Mossadegh’s overthrow, after Roosevelt said that the United States would proceed with or without him, and formally dismissed the prime minister in a written decree, an act that had been made part of the constitution during the Constitution Assembly of 1949, convened under martial law, at which time the power of the monarchy was increased in various ways by the Shah himself.

As soon as the coup succeeded, many of Mosaddegh’s former associates and supporters were tried, imprisoned, and tortured. Some were sentenced to death and executed. The minister of foreign affairs and the closest associate of Mosaddegh, Hossein Fatemi, was executed by order of the Shah’s military court. The order was carried out by firing squad on 10 November 1954.

The secret U.S. overthrow of Mosaddegh served as a rallying point in anti-US protests during the 1979 Iranian Revolution, and to this day he is one of the most popular figures in Iranian history.

So yeah that was a brilliant idea.

You can’t trust these Arab chaps, they were alright when they were living in tents and wandering around their God forsaking desert eating palm trees and worrying goats and the like but as soon as they got money they became untrustworthy, ungratefull buggers. The chaps in the City were not happy so something had to be done.
Firing squad was too good for most of the blighters.

Lord_Lucan said:

dv said:

Another SOE operator was Montague Woodhouse, 5th Baron Terrington, who later became Conservative MP for Oxford in the 1960s and 1970s. He was valuable to operations in Greece because he fluent in the language.

On the downside, Woodhouse was involved in the MI6/CIA operation to bring down the democratically elected government of Iran led by the secular moderniser Mohammad Mosaddegh. His government’s decision to nationalise the oil industry had cut into the profits of APOC (now known as BP), so the western powers

Engulfed in a variety of problems following World War II, Britain was unable to resolve the issue single-handedly and looked towards the United States to settle the matter. Initially, the USA had opposed British policies. After mediation had failed several times to bring about a settlement, American Secretary of State Dean Acheson concluded that the British were “destructive, and determined on a rule-or-ruin policy in Iran.”

The American position shifted in late 1952 when Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected U.S. President. In November and December, British intelligence officials suggested to American intelligence that the prime minister should be ousted. British prime minister Winston Churchill suggested to the incoming Eisenhower administration that Mossadegh, despite his open disgust with socialism, was, or would become, dependent on the pro-Soviet Tudeh Party, resulting in Iran “increasingly turning towards communism” and towards the Soviet sphere at a time of high Cold War fears. After the Eisenhower administration had entered office in early 1953, the United States and the United Kingdom agreed to work together toward Mosaddegh’s removal and began to publicly denounce Mosaddegh’s policies for Iran as harmful to the country.

In March 1953, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles directed the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which was headed by his younger brother Allen Dulles, to draft plans to overthrow Mossadegh. On 4 April 1953, Allen Dulles approved $1 million to be used “in any way that would bring about the fall of Mosaddegh”. Soon the CIA’s Tehran station started to launch a propaganda campaign against Mossadegh. Finally, according to The New York Times, in early June, American and British intelligence officials met again, this time in Beirut, and put the finishing touches on the strategy. Soon afterward, according to his later published accounts, the chief of the CIA’s Near East and Africa division, Kermit Roosevelt, Jr. the grandson of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, arrived in Tehran to direct it. In 2000, The New York Times made partial publication of a leaked CIA document titled Clandestine Service History – Overthrow of Premier Mosaddegh of Iran – November 1952 – August 1953.

The plot, known as Operation Ajax, centered on convincing Iran’s monarch to issue a decree to dismiss Mosaddegh from office, as he had attempted some months earlier. But the Shah was terrified to attempt such a dangerously unpopular and risky move against Mosaddegh. It would take much persuasion and many U.S. funded meetings, which included bribing his sister Ashraf with a mink coat and money, to successfully change his mind.

Mosaddegh became aware of the plots against him and grew increasingly wary of conspirators acting within his government. According to Dr. Donald N. Wilber, who was involved in the plot to remove Mossadegh from power, in early August, Iranian CIA operatives pretending to be socialists and nationalists threatened Muslim leaders with “savage punishment if they opposed Mossadegh,” thereby giving the impression that Mossadegh was cracking down on dissent earlier than planned, and stirring anti-Mossadegh sentiments within the religious community. A referendum to dissolve parliament and give the prime minister power to make law was submitted to voters, and it passed with 99 percent approval, 2,043,300 votes to 1300 votes against. According to Mark J. Gasiorowski, “There were separate polling stations for yes and no votes, producing sharp criticism of Mosaddeq” and that the “controversial referendum…gave the CIA’s precoup propaganda campaign to show up Mosaddeq as an anti-democratic dictator an easy target”. On or around 16 August, Parliament was suspended indefinitely, and Mosaddeq’s emergency powers were extended.

Declassified documents released by the CIA in 2017 revealed that–after the Shah had fled to Italy–CIA headquarters believed the coup to have failed. They sent a cable calling off operations to Roosevelt on August 18, 1953, but Roosevelt ignored it.

Robin Zaehner had developed contacts in Iran and when the British were expelled, Woodhouse took his contacts to the CIA station chief. Thus a conspiracy to overthrow Mossadegh was staged in a joint mission between the CIA and MI6. The CIA named the operation Operation TPAjax, erroneously referred to as Operation Ajax, TP standing for the Soviet-backed communist Tudeh Party of Iran. British activities were codenamed Operation Boot.

Woodhouse proposed Operation Boot to the Eisenhower administration. It would use “disenchanted” Iranian elements of the army, the clergy and the political parties to oust Mossadegh. Together with the CIA he instigated and orchestrated the “bazaaris” of Tehran to demonstrate against Mossadegh, demonstrations which led to the deaths of hundreds or possibly thousands of Iranian people. Woodhouse, through the Shah’s sister, encouraged the ruler not to abandon the throne.

In August 1953, the Shah finally agreed to Mossadegh’s overthrow, after Roosevelt said that the United States would proceed with or without him, and formally dismissed the prime minister in a written decree, an act that had been made part of the constitution during the Constitution Assembly of 1949, convened under martial law, at which time the power of the monarchy was increased in various ways by the Shah himself.

As soon as the coup succeeded, many of Mosaddegh’s former associates and supporters were tried, imprisoned, and tortured. Some were sentenced to death and executed. The minister of foreign affairs and the closest associate of Mosaddegh, Hossein Fatemi, was executed by order of the Shah’s military court. The order was carried out by firing squad on 10 November 1954.

The secret U.S. overthrow of Mosaddegh served as a rallying point in anti-US protests during the 1979 Iranian Revolution, and to this day he is one of the most popular figures in Iranian history.

So yeah that was a brilliant idea.

You can’t trust these Arab chaps, they were alright when they were living in tents and wandering around their God forsaking desert eating palm trees and worrying goats and the like but as soon as they got money they became untrustworthy, ungratefull buggers. The chaps in the City were not happy so something had to be done.
Firing squad was too good for most of the blighters.

The Iranians aren’t Arabs…

captain_spalding said:

Before i go:

The actor Christopher Lee was part of that outfit in WW2.

A film director told him to imagine what noise a man made when stabbed.

Lee said he didn’t have to imagine, he knew.

Christopher Lee has been debunked on that score.

wookiemeister said:

captain_spalding said:

Before i go:

The actor Christopher Lee was part of that outfit in WW2.

A film director told him to imagine what noise a man made when stabbed.

Lee said he didn’t have to imagine, he knew.

Christopher Lee has been debunked on that score.

Ref

dv said:

wookiemeister said:

captain_spalding said:

Before i go:

The actor Christopher Lee was part of that outfit in WW2.

A film director told him to imagine what noise a man made when stabbed.

Lee said he didn’t have to imagine, he knew.

Christopher Lee has been debunked on that score.

Ref

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/11742636/Sir-Christopher-Lees-SAS-war-record-was-hammed-up-historian-claims.html

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3165860/How-film-legend-Christopher-Lee-heroic-war-record-claimed-SAS-veteran-Nazi-hunter-stories-don-t-add-up.html

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/who-dares-lies#:~:text=Christopher%20Lee%20never%20exactly%20lied,It’s%20a%20surprisingly%20common%20story&text=Sir%20Christopher%20Lee%2C%20who%20died,how%20to%20play%20a%20part.

people who have been trained to kill will in my experience show you or give tips on how to kill physically acting them out. martial artists / similar will do like wise.

wookiemeister said:

people who have been trained to kill will in my experience show you or give tips on how to kill physically acting them out. martial artists / similar will do like wise.

which is where i would have been suspicious about lee / anyone claiming knowledge / experience of such things

wookiemeister said:

dv said:

wookiemeister said:

Christopher Lee has been debunked on that score.

Ref

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/11742636/Sir-Christopher-Lees-SAS-war-record-was-hammed-up-historian-claims.html

Se non e vero, e molto ben trovato

wookiemeister said:

people who have been trained to kill will in my experience show you or give tips on how to kill physically acting them out. martial artists / similar will do like wise.

People of that kind, in MY experience, don’t admit to knowing anything of the sort until you know each other quite well, and they think that you might be trusted with that kind of information/perhaps need to know it.

captain_spalding said:

wookiemeister said:

people who have been trained to kill will in my experience show you or give tips on how to kill physically acting them out. martial artists / similar will do like wise.

People of that kind, in MY experience, don’t admit to knowing anything of the sort until you know each other quite well, and they think that you might be trusted with that kind of information/perhaps need to know it.

they do, they do , yes once you know them

wookiemeister said:

captain_spalding said:

wookiemeister said:

people who have been trained to kill will in my experience show you or give tips on how to kill physically acting them out. martial artists / similar will do like wise.

People of that kind, in MY experience, don’t admit to knowing anything of the sort until you know each other quite well, and they think that you might be trusted with that kind of information/perhaps need to know it.

they do, they do , yes once you know them

So i understand.

Never got to know anyone of that type that well.

captain_spalding said:

wookiemeister said:

captain_spalding said:

People of that kind, in MY experience, don’t admit to knowing anything of the sort until you know each other quite well, and they think that you might be trusted with that kind of information/perhaps need to know it.

they do, they do , yes once you know them

So i understand.

Never got to know anyone of that type that well.

i’ve bumped into them but no one serious

i let them do the talking

captain_spalding said:

wookiemeister said:

people who have been trained to kill will in my experience show you or give tips on how to kill physically acting them out. martial artists / similar will do like wise.

People of that kind, in MY experience, don’t admit to knowing anything of the sort until you know each other quite well, and they think that you might be trusted with that kind of information/perhaps need to know it.

As mentioned above, Pippa Latour didn’t even tell her family about her SOE service until they read about it online.

wookiemeister said:

i let them do the talking

I learned to not ask questions in the first place.

wookiemeister said:

dv said:

wookiemeister said:

Christopher Lee has been debunked on that score.

Ref

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/11742636/Sir-Christopher-Lees-SAS-war-record-was-hammed-up-historian-claims.html

Per the article

In his lifetime, Sir Christopher made scant reference to his time in service in World War Two, despite being asked frequently.

In a 2011 interview with the Telegraph, he said only, “I was attached to the SAS from time to time but we are forbidden – former, present or future – to discuss specific operations. Let’s just say I was in Special Forces and leave it at that. People can read in to that what they like. “

Mortimer: “He was attached to the SAS and SOE as an RAF liaison officer at various times between 1943 and 1945, but he did not serve in them and never, as one paper stated, moved behind enemy lines, destroying Luftwaffe aircraft and fields”.

Mortimer, who has written books about the SAS and SBS in the Second World War, said Sir Christopher’s service remained a “fine one”, with the late actor providing a “valuable link” between the RAF and Special Forces during the war.

Lee’s military decorations were auctioned after his death.