112
oriental languages at the London University School of Oriental and
African Studies (SOAS) before joining MI6, died suddenly on 23 April
- In fact, according to the Assyrian Levies website, ‘in 1942 he flew
to Kirkuk for dental treatment, then back to Mosul, where he was oper-
ated on for a jaw infection in a field hospital under canvas and died during
the operation.’ Assyrian RAF Levies, http://assyrianlevies.info/major-
hugh-mcnearnie.html. The same source maintains that McNearnie also
worked for Cornwallis as an APA. If so, he must have been extraordinarily
versatile, juggling multiple roles simultaneously under various kinds of
cover.
- In response to a direct Soviet request and because of his Russian fluency,
Virkow (of Russian parentage and a captain in the Royal Fusiliers) was
transferred to the Tabriz consulate on temporary secondment as wheat-
distribution liaison officer for Persian Azerbaijan with effect from 22
September 1942. Survey of Global Activities, War Diary 44, September–
December 1942, HS 7/267, TNA.
- Survey of Global Activities, War Diary 13, April 1942, HS 7/230,
TNA. The PLUM scheme, considered most important by SOE, was gener-
ally aimed at raising Kurdish guerrillas in Iraq and northern Persia in the
event of that area being invaded and occupied by the enemy. Note by Head
of SOE, 26 July 1943, WO 201/2714, TNA; History of SOE in the Arab
World, SOE History 53, HS 7/86, TNA.
- D.K. Fieldhouse, ed., Kurds, Arabs and Britons: The Memoir of Wallace
Lyon in Iraq, 1918–44 (London: I.B. Tauris, 2002), 222–3.
- History of SOE in the Arab World, September 1945, HS 7/86, TNA. For
details about Mitford and Force KALPAK, see Chap. 7 and ECOP, 44;
regarding the work of John Charles Ashley ‘Johnny’ Johnson, educated at
Westminster and Cranwell, see ECOP, 106. After the war, Johnson became
a diplomatic attaché and retired to New Zealand in 1954 with the rank of
air commodore.
- Cf. Kelly, ‘A Succession of Crises’, 135.
- Without doing irreparable damage, by late August 1941, Tenth Army
engineers had junked 45 of the 55 wells at the main Kirkuk field. In addi-
tion, nearly all the wells at Ain Zala, Qayara, and Naftkhana had been
rendered inoperable. The military engineers also removed large quantities
of drilling and other equipment that could have been used by the enemy.
Even more thorough well-junking operations were conducted in 1942.
Daniel Silverfarb, Britain’s Informal Empire in the Middle East: A Case
Study of Iraq, 1929–1941 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986), 25.
- Survey of Global Activities, War Diary 43, July–August 1942, HS 7/266,
TNA. This file is a primer on SOE postoccupational planning and oilfield
denial.
ADRIAN O’SULLIVAN
