Special Operations Executive

I have found two references about the SOE Operation 'Brandon'

One says it was an 8 man team dropped into Tunisia in March '43 to cut a railway line.

A US site says it was the first time the OSS combined with SOE and describe a bigger and longer operation.

Captain John Nevile Wake Gwynne's NA file says he was in Tunisia in June 1943 in Brandon Section and then later in the month joined the SOE in Greece and remained there until January 1944


Can anyone give me an accurate account of these operations and tell me what part Captain John Nevile Wake Gwynne played in them?

Many thanks

 

Bala, can't say I know anything about this particular operation but there several files in the SOE archives about it.

These are the references (the last file is an SOE history about the Brandon mission, so might be the best starting point):

HS 3/51, Sea transport operations: BRANDON 1942-1943
HS 3/61, Support of military and naval operations: GYMNAST, TORCH, LONMAY, BRANDON and CROMER 1941-1944
HS 3/62, Support of military and naval operations: GYMNAST, TORCH, LONMAY and BRANDON; reports 1942-1943
HS 3/63, Support of military and naval operations: GYMNAST, TORCH, LONMAY and BRANDON; planning and development 1942
HS 7/67, BRANDON west African mission 1944-1945

Lee

 

LONMAY was later renamed BANDON

Steven

 

It is, however, slightly different for SOE personal files.

These can be opened to the public for free providing proof of death can be submitted to the National Archives, e.g. death certificate, obituary, death mentioned in a suitable publication
Lee

Would this be enough for them to release the P/F of the gentleman in question?

CHARLES BIRCH (From Daily Echo)

Charlie trained with my father in 1943 and they were both sent to Brindisi as parachute instructors in 1944. As Charlie took part in Operation Scullion, I hope there might be a bit more information in his P/F (My Dad's was only 2 pages and a copy of the O.S.A. )

 

I have made an FOI request using the above info will let you know how it goes.


Steven

 

Sorry to barge in, and not sure if I am in the right place

My father, Nicholas de Groot van Embden was recruited in the Netherlands and was with the SOE untill 1943. I unfortunately know very little about his work there and would like to find out more and know if a file on him can be found anywhere.

Can anyone help?
Many thanks

 

Hi, I can find no surviving file for him personally, however he may be mentioned in other files and personnel lists


Steven

 

Hi Steven

Thank you very much, any idea how I can find out whether not he would have been mentioned in other files. I think his code name was Nick Key ( not sure about the spelling.

 

Hi no problem I will check them in the next few days

Steven

 

Hi steven

I am looking forwarsd to hearing from you at your convenience

Many thanks
Floris

 

In my quest to find out more about my father's time with the SOE, could anyone point me in the right direction? where and how can i get access to and view soe file?

Many thanks
Floris

 

Hi Floris please send me a PM with your email address and I will respond with Dutch file details.

Perhaps the best book to look at is Dij Springgen bei Maanlight available in Dutch

 

Sorry to barge in, and not sure if I am in the right place

My father, Nicholas de Groot van Embden was recruited in the Netherlands and was with the SOE untill 1943. I unfortunately know very little about his work there and would like to find out more and know if a file on him can be found anywhere.

Can anyone help?
Many thanks

Are you sure he was actually sent on a mission? I have never heard of him.

Regards from Holland,

JJHH

 

Hi,

I just came across this thread. I've been trying to glean some information about my father who passed away in 1972. He did not tell me much about his activities during the war, but my family indicated that he participated in intelligence activities.

What has spurred my interest is several items my mother passed on to me recently. In particular, she provided me with a certificate of discharge from No. 1 Special Force, a certificate of partisanship, and a wrist id bracelet that has an alias.

His name has come up in two books on the SOE, albeit very briefly. He is listed as Sergeant Leo Donati alias Carlo Denario and Leo Denaro. The wrist identification bracelet that was given to me has the name Leo Denaro on it. I also recall stumbling across an army pay book as a child and remember that the name on the book was not exactly the same as my fathers - perhaps it was Leo Denaro. Unfortunately my mother no longer has this. Before his death, he told me that he was a POW and was recruited by the British in Africa. I believe he was a W/T operator by trade.

After the war, my father was employed by the Allied Military Government Police Force in Trieste as a Chief Inspector. Subsequently, he was relocated to Canada.

Where would I start to determine if there is a PF on him or if there are any other records I might be able to request?

 

There is alas no surviving P/F for him, however there are likely to be his mission reports and possibly his interrogation reports on his missions. There may also be something in the Italian SOE Liquidation files.

Please PM me and I'll see what can be done to get you copies of these files.

Steven

 

Just spotted this thread.
My Father was SOE in Greece during the war. He doesn't talk about it much, the stories he does tell are amazing as are the few photos he has - one of which includes an early shot of a guy who would later be a high ranking KGB officer having lunch.

Dave

.....and I've just noticed he's listed in the NA records, but they're shut until 2031.....I'll be dead by then!

 

Hi Borderman - if you father is still alive he can have a copy of his file - if he has passed away send me the date /place of death and I'll make sure the file is opened


Steven

 

He's still very much alive! And he'd consider it utter nonsense to look at his own file!

So, I'm going to have to wait until I inherit!!

Thanks though, I'll keep that possibility open.

Dave

 

Sorry for deletion, just realised the post was in the wrong place

 

Just a thought.....I suppose the file will have very little information about the operations he carried out in occupied Greece?

I was just thinking about the stories he told me...

Buying sugar, with sovereigns, from the German Quartermaster to make a cake for a downed PRU spit pilot.
Raiding airfields and the occasion an attached OSS officer sat on his .45 and shot himself in the @rse and thus earned a Purple Heart.
The mountains of counterfeit Pound notes they captured (and how to spend them in Cairo in style)
The trial and execution of a Carabinieri officer would murdered their runner.
Building an airfield for supplies.
Being chased through the mountains by the Germans - with no help coming from the Greeks.
A cavalry charge by an OSS officer on captured Italian horses.
What to do when a SS Trooper walks into your mountain hut while your enjoying your dinner.
Met a chap from a publishing House in the club once who wanted him to write a book for them but they also published Farrans works so obviously he would have nothing to do with them.

Sad, all that history will be lost.