This photograph belonged to a now deceased relative who said he was attached from the Royal Berkshire Regiment to SOE due to his French language ability serving as a weapons/explosives instructor with the Free French in Algeria and the Maquis in Corsica and southern France. We have no date or location for this photograph and would be interested if anyone can identify where, when or any of the people in it. Many thanks for your assistance. Michael
Michael, Hi and welcome to the forum. What a great and possibly rare photo. 'Jedburgh' is the forum's SOE expert and I am sure he will be along soon to help you out with this. My guess (from uniforms) is that it is a UK training base. Jed might even be able to id it for you from the building, and possibly some faces. Best of luck. Mike
Hi Michael it looks like a group staff photo at one of the STS in UK will look to see if I can ID and of the front row personnel later. Steven
Michael, Hello and welcome to the forum. A super first post and I hope that Steven can ID more for you. Regards Tom
Another group photograph from what looks to be the same location. Does anyone recognise any of these people? Michael
Great photo Michael. Will try and enlarge to print so I can see the faces better - might find my cousin in there somewhere. WG
Jed Did I ever tackle you about Derek Merton ? http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/barracks/22606-can-anyone-trace-un-sung-heros-awards.html On a separate note, although it is a delight to see these old snaps I am surprised that they were allowed to be taken, for fairly obvious reasons, unless. of course, it was Post-War. Ron
Hi. I also have this SOE group photograph. My father is standing to the left near the window. I dont know when or where it was taken. His service records say that he was in the army from October 1939 to January 1946, so it must have been taken in one of those years. Mary.
Hi - welcome to the forum, the likliehood is that it is either one of the STS in UK - ME65 the Jedburgh Training School would be a candidate or pne pf the buildings in Algiers used by SOE's MASSINGHAM HQ preparing for operations into Corsica and Southern France. Will fo a little more unvestigating Mary do your father's records indicate and ME postings in 43/44? Steven
Having looked at the image closely I think it is ME65, Milton Hall near Peterborough used by SOE for training the Jedburgh Teams in 1944
Looked at the same photgraph of Milton Hall yesterday but could not find the same backdrop as the given photgraph.Its a pity that there arn't more shots of the place as this seems to be the only photograph available to view.
I am thoroughly enjoying this thread. High hopes! This got me Google Image Searching for "WW2 Milton Hall" adding various war years. The image results were absolutely fascinating. Thanks for that!
Just found a photograph taken at Milton Hall of Major Colin M Ogden-Smith R A which shows the backdrop of a stone wall.The stone looks similar to the Milton Hall stonework as far as I can see from the Hall photograph posted. Major Ogden-Smith an ex TR soldier was an instructor at Milton Hall,he had quite a experienced background in special forces operations.As an instructor,when it was apparent that there was a shortfall in suitable trained officers to lead Jedburgh units,he volunteered.His photograph,prior to departing for France shows him holding a placard indicating "1" .....said to be related to him being a team leader of a Jedburgh team. He may be on the front row of the posted photograph as an instructor. Major Ogden- Smith has been discussed before in this linked thread as below. http://ww2talk.com/forums/topic/53512-st-marcel-70th-anniversary-morbihan-france/?hl=%2Bmajor+%2Bogden+%2Bsmith#entry630503 Peter Jacobs recently published the wartime exploits of Major Colin Ogden-Smith...Commando and SOE under the title of "Codenamed Dorset". William Craven of the Milton Hall Estates Office was of great help in Jacobs' research of Milton Hall and Jacobs was allowed to visit the Hall and parts of the estate where the Jedburgh school was formed in early 1944.I would think that William Craven would be able to confirm Milton Hall as the location of the photograph.
Hi. Thank you for your answers. The picture of Milton Hall is very good and it looks like the photograh was taken there. Mary.
Milton Hall ......apparently the Jedburgh school was located in the Old Stable Block with the firing range within the walled kitchen garden. Mary I think you will enjoy reading Codenamed Dorset a good insight to special forces operations and the account of certainJedburgh teams in Brittany and the tragic death of Colin Ogden-Smith
Hi again. I have now reed the chapter about the Jedburghs and Milton hall in the book Codenamed Dorset. I am suprised that the photo was taken there, a good find by looking at the buildings. I have looked at my fathers service records and I also see that he was a short time at STS 40? Anyone know where that would be? Mary.
It looks as if No 40 STS was at Howbury Hall,Bedfordshire. The course there dealt with Eureka and Rebecca (electronic site locating apparatus for use between aircraft and DZ./Reception Committees and suchlike} The S Phone,an air to ground,ground to air field telephone apparatus was also instructed here Also there was instruction on Reception Committees which dovetails into the use of the above.
Harry Ree. Thank you for the information about STS 40, I am learning a lot about my fathers service records in just a few days. Jedburgh 22. It was a good idea to look at the buildings to see where the photo was taken, I would never have found that out by myself. Mary.