136 • DAVIES, TROTSKY
Davidson joined Section D in December 1939 and was sent by
train to Budapest to open a news agency as cover for more nefarious
activities, the preparation of a resistance network. Unfortunately,
events overtook Section D and in early April 1941 German troops
entered Hungary, forcing Davidson to close down his operations and
flee to Belgrade. There he was documented as a press attache ́on the
British diplomatic staff and evacuated to Rome in the company of
several other Section D veterans. Upon his return to London, via Gi-
braltar, Davidson was absorbed intoSpecial Operations Executive
and then dispatched to Istanbul for staff duties with theYugoslav
Section.
After the war Davidson returned to journalism, working succes-
sively as Paris correspondent of theTimes,Daily Herald,New States-
man, andDaily Mirror. He then took to academic work in Ghana and
wrote a series of books about African history and culture. He also
wrote two accounts of his wartime experiences,Partisan Storyand
Special Operations Europe, and made a few ventures into fiction,
principally withGolden Horn, a curious Cold War tale set in Istanbul
with British and American agents attempting to infiltrate Bulgaria.
Davidson has been active in the antiapartheid movement and cur-
rently lives in North Wootton, Somerset, whence he continues to con-
tribute articles to periodicals.DAVIES, TROTSKY.Brigadier ‘‘Trotsky’’ Davies was the most senior
Special Operations Executive(SOE) officer to be captured in the
Balkans, although his knowledge of SOE’s operations was very lim-
ited. A regular officer, he had been mystified by his selection for
clandestine work, and until he arrived inCairo, he had believed he
was destined forYugoslavia. In comparison to the three other briga-
diers leading British military missions in the region, Myers (in
Greece) and Maclean and Armstrong (in Yugoslavia), Davies was a
novice. Nor did he inspire confidence among his subordinates. When
he dropped intoAlbania, where ammunition and all the basic neces-
sities of life such as food were at a premium, he arrived complete
with all the bureaucratic paraphernalia needed to run a regular battal-
ion, including a clerk equipped with a typewriter. Nor were his diplo-
matic skills all they might have been. Two veterans of his command,
David SmileyandPeter Kemprecall an awkward discussion led by