Historical Dictionary of British Intelligence

MAGAN, WILLIAM• 321

matter, do those of his immediate subordinates, Major J. A. S. Hamil-

ton or Captain K. M. D. Mills. When Gallegos wrote his wartime

memoirs,From Capri into Oblivion, he diplomatically omitted any

reference to his work in Gibraltar. However, Kemp has given ac-

counts ofrelatorinNo Colours or CrestandThe Thorns of Mem-

ory, although he too is discreet in naming other members of the

section.

Kemp was sent to Gibraltar on HMSFidelitywith the intention of

linking up with local anti-Nazi partisans in Extremadura, butSir

Sam Hoare‘‘categorically refused to allow SOE to take any mea-

sures in Spain to prepare for our operations.’’ Clearly very little re-

search had gone intorelator’s planning. Any anti-Nazis in the area

assigned to Kemp and Butler were likely to have been republicans—

and Kemp had fought in the Spanish Civil War for nearly three years

on the nationalist side. Kemp recalls:

It was difficult for us to feel great enthusiasm for such a vague and ill-

planned scheme, or to take much interest in its preparation. The method

by which it was proposed that we should reach our areas had the one merit

of simplicity: as soon as the German invasion began, each party would

climb into its lorry—already loaded with arms, explosives and wireless—

and drive by the shortest route to its destination; how many of us would

get there, or even succeed in crossing the International Zone to La Linea,

was anybody’s guess.

relatorwas eventually disbanded in August 1941, following the

German invasion of the Soviet Union, when SOE recognized that

there was no further need formad dog. However, another group was

assembled in time fortorch, the invasion of North Africa, the fol-

lowing year.

MAGAN, WILLIAM.No history of the postwar Security Service
would be complete without a reference to Brigadier William M. T.
Magan, one of the most remarkable intelligence officers of his gener-
ation. Known to colleagues as Bill, he was born and brought up in
Eire in an old Anglo-Irish family and became a master of foxhounds.
He was a brilliant linguist and in later years was fluent in several dia-
lects spoken in the Middle East. Commissioned from Sandhurst in
1928, he joined the Indian Cavalry and had many adventures in Per-
sia and the Northwest Frontier both before and during the war. In