The OB visit to the Military Intelligence Museum at Chicksands in June was a fascinating insight into the secret world of the Intelligence Corps and the wider military intelligence activity including the SOE during WW2 – well worth the visit!
The guides at the Museum talked us through their collection of military photographic interpretation and imagery analysis and we all had the chance to look through the lenses to see how the photographs that had been taken by brave pilots flying over both enemy positions and factories, could be read and understood. We learnt that it was in WW1 that we first saw the extensive use of aerial reconnaissance in support of military operations.
We heard about the bravery of the agents in WW2 who were sent into enemy territories, behind the lines, to gain intelligence and work with the local Resistance fighters with the full knowledge of what would befall them if they fell into enemy hands. There were examples of all the equipment they took with them and the tricks and tools of the trade they used to stay hidden – and alive.
We also learnt of up-to-date intelligence capabilities and the different ways of gaining knowledge, whether it is from intercepting signals, reconnaissance, surveillance, or by deception and misinformation.
Old Bedfordians had many links with the SOE during WW2 and in 1940 Sir Frank Nelson (1893-1897) was appointed as its first chief by order of the War Office.
David Maitland Makgill Crighton (1925-33) had worked in Albania for 12 months as a freelance journalist before he was recruited by Special Operations Executive (SOE) in January 1941. It was planned to send him to Albania but he was lost aboard the SS Jonathan Holt on the way. (Also on board the SS Jonathan Holt was OB Charles O H Tripp (32-34) who was a civilian passenger on his way to Douala in the Cameroons)
Captain Frederic ‘Fritz’ Peters VC (1900-01) was an expert in sinking ships and submarines and was chosen to be an Instruction Leader at the SIS special sabotage school north of London.
Captain Harold ‘Mike’ Andrews (1911-14) worked for the SIS for many years specialising in aerial reconnaissance and photography. He was sent to Portugal as an Air Attache and helped with the repatriation of downed airmen escaping across the Pyrenees.
Charles Bovill (1918-25) was a radio expert and during WW2 worked for the SOE and invented the S-Phone.
