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he had many Assyrian friends.^52 Nevertheless, though Iraq-based, Allen
was not deployed from Baghdad to northern Iraq as one might have
expected. Instead, Penrose sent him off in the direction of northern Persia
to monitor the Kurdish tribes in the Persian ranges of the Zagros
Mountains, with Dayton as his control in Baghdad. The problem with this
arrangement was that the entire area was under Soviet occupation and was
extremely difficult to infiltrate and communicate with. Additionally,
Allen’s cover as a Christian missionary was ‘thin’ and inappropriate: it
made him conspicuous, and it limited his social behaviour and potential
contacts. On the plus side, were he to succeed in penetrating Persian
Azerbaijan, Allen would be uniquely placed not just to monitor the Kurds
Fig. 10.1 OSS agents Tom Allen (far right) and Joe Upton (far left) at the
British Embassy in Tehran in late 1944 for the unveiling of a plaque commemorat-
ing the celebration of Churchill’s 69th birthday during the Tehran Conference a
year earlier (together with two unidentified men, possibly also OSS officers).
Source: Greg Aftandilian
OH SO SOCIAL