Otherwise known as Die schwarze Front (The Black Front). For all their
leftist, pro-Bolshevik ideology, the Strasserists were nevertheless no less
racist or antisemitic than their rightist pro-Hitler adversaries.
Dayton to Penrose and Crawford, 2 February 1944, Record Group 226,
Entry 215, Box 7, NARA. About Le Mang’s original arrest and subse-
quent internment, see Ib Monthly Summary: August 1941, CICI Iraq, 1
September 1941, AIR 29/2510, TNA.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Security Intelligence Summary No. 60, Defence Security Office, CICI
Iraq, 22 January 1944, AIR 29/2512, TNA; Security Intelligence
Summary No. 61, Defence Security Office, CICI Iraq, 11 February 1944,
AIR 29/2512, TNA. For operational details, see Chap. 6.
Security Intelligence Summary No. 62, Defence Security Office, CICI
Iraq, 29 February 1944, AIR 29/2512, TNA; Security Intelligence
Summary No. 63, Defence Security Office, CICI Iraq, 1 March–1 June
1944, AIR 29/2512, TNA.
Crawford to Penrose, 22 June 1944, Record Group 226, Entry 215, Box
3, NARA.
Crawford to Loud, 30 September 1943, Record Group 226, Entry 215,
Box 3, NARA. Dayton’s contact was the shadowy figure Stewart
F. Newcombe, former associate of T.E. Lawrence, who frequently repre-
sented British interests as an adviser and negotiator in the Middle East.
Crawford to Loud, 21 November 1943, Record Group 226, Entry 215,
Box 3, NARA. By this time, Dayton had had so much trouble with com-
munications routed conventionally via diplomatic channels that he resolved
to send all his reports direct to OSS Cairo by cable instead. History of the
Near East Section, OSS Cairo from 15 May 1943 to 15 September 1944,
Record Group 226, Entry 210, Box 261, NARA.
Leary to Loud, 21 December 1943, Record Group 226, Entry 215, Box
3, NARA. Lewis Leary became Archie Crawford’s assistant in Cairo in
January 1944.
Secret project description, Document No. 32714, Near East Section SI,
No. 22, Iraq Tribal, 24 December 1942, Record Group 226, NARA.
When Penrose decided in September 1943 to expose Dayton and Hoff to
CICI, he was pleasantly surprised by Wood’s positive response to the rev-
elation, and Penrose was confident that there would be no more problems
with British security. Preliminary report of trip of S.B.L. Penrose Jr., Aug-
Sep 1943, 21 September 1943, Record Group 226, Entry 215, Box 3,
NARA.
For no apparent reason, State Department officials did their utmost to
derail this arrangement, arousing the normally placid Penrose’s anger. See
