In 1944, as it got towards D-Day, I engaged in casual conversation with soldiers and airmen to find out if they would talk about the build up and give any information away about what they thought was going on. I also had to find out if there was any dissent amongst the troops. That sort of thing. By this method, we could gauge the possible security risks and isolate individuals who may cause problems or breach security. I am pleased to say that we never had any reported security problems. In between this work I was occasionally involved in debriefings of returning airmen and also, because I could speak Italian, I spent some time as a ‘make believe’ Italian POW at one of the POW camps in the Forest. This was interesting, but quite challenging although I was able to pass on some useful information to my bosses. I was also involved in the arrest of a person who was some time later charged with a serious offence. After D-Day I returned to a desk job in London and only went to the Forest a couple of times between then and the end of the war. I am afraid I am not able to tell you what I was doing then or many of the other things our department was responsible for. Thomas Knapp (not the interviewees real name) Photo C and A Images
Posted on: Thu, 06 Mar 2014 06:20:26 +0000
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