Historical Dictionary of British Intelligence

DAVIDSON, BASIL• 135

job. When one met him alone, he was very witty and an excellent

raconteur. In company he sat like a clam.’’

In May 1942 Darling moved toGibraltar, which had become the

focus of the escape lines. As a civilian assistant to the governor, he

supervised the reception and interrogation of thousands of Allied

personnel and arranged for their transport, either by ship or by air,

back to England. Among those who were welcomed to the Rock were

CaptainAirey Neave, previously of Colditz Castle, and Erich Ver-

mehren, theAbwehrdefector recruited byNicholas Elliottin Istan-

bul. Darling remained at Gibraltar until April 1944, when he was

ordered back to London.

Late in the summer of 1944 Darling moved to Paris to supervise

the winding-up of P.15’s networks, and later headed the awards office

established to arrange for the organization’s membership to receive

the appropriate recognition and thanks.

After the war Darling retained his connections with SIS and in Oc-

tober 1946 undertook a five-year assignment to Sa ̃o Paulo, Brazil,

under consular cover. He was also in demand as a Portuguese inter-

preter, often receiving commissions to translate technical documents

and contracts for the international diamond trade. Never having mar-

ried, he died alone in London in reduced circumstances in December

1977.

Donald Darling’s autobiography,Secret Sunday, published in

1975, was among the first of the wartime memoirs of former SIS of-

ficers, in which he discreetly drew a veil over the identity of ‘‘4Z,’’

his first SIS contact, for whom he had worked intermittently in

France and Spain before the war. However, he divulged the identity

of Rudiger von Etzdorf, a German diplomat whodefectedto the Brit-

ish and subsequently became known as ‘‘Mr. Ellerman.’’ A second

book,Sunday at Large, was published in 1977, covering his activities

asMI9’s representative in Gibraltar in more detail.

DAVIDSON, BASIL.In March 1938 Basil Davidson was a witness to
the Anschluss in Austria, and a year later he was in Paris reporting
for theEconomist.He was convinced war was inevitable but was re-
cruited intoSection Dbefore he could join the army. He had traveled
across much of Europe as a journalist and knew the Balkans, which
apparently qualified him for an invitation to lunch at Simpson’s in
the Strand with ‘‘a super-spy.’’