498 • SLOCOMBE, GEORGE
nique involving two English-speakingcounterintelligenceofficers
in theNKVDwho called at his home and pretended to be SIS officers
wanting to work out the details of his defection. Skripkin incrimi-
nated himself sufficiently to be arrested and executed, leaving the
suspicion that word of Skripkin’s offer must have leaked in London.
In 1963, when challenged with having betrayed Skripkin,Kim
Philbydenied he had done so, leaving the issue unresolved.SLOCOMBE, GEORGE.Having joined theDaily Heraldas a re-
porter at age 18 in 1912, George Slocombe served in the Army Air
Corps during World War I and in 1919 was appointed theDaily Her-
ald’s chief foreign correspondent, a post he kept until 1931. While in
Paris he headed theFederated Press of Americabureau. In 1950
Slocombe was interviewed byMI5’sMax Knight, to whom he gave
a detailed account of the Soviet espionage network run by hisDaily
Heraldcolleague,William Ewer.
SLOCUM, FRANK.Born in September 1897, Frank Slocum gradua-
ted from Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, and served in
World War I in the Royal Navy’s Grand Fleet and afterward was on a
destroyer in the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf. In 1937 Slocum
joined theSecret Intelligence Service(SIS) from the Royal Navy’s
Tactical School and was appointed one of the Chief’s two assistant
chief staff officers. In 1940 he created a cover Naval Intelligence
branch, designated NID(C) and based on the Helford estuary, with a
forward base in the Scilly Isles, to run agents across to France. His
private navy ran in competition toSpecial Operations Executive’s
organization, led byGerald Holdsworth, and there was considerable
friction. He was also responsible for supervising the link toNorway
known as theShetland Bus. In 1954 Slocum was appointed SIS’s
head of station in Oslo. He retired in 1956 and died in May 1982.
SMILEY, DAVID.In 1940 David Smiley, then a young Household
Cavalry officer with three years’ experience after Sandhurst and
posted with his regiment to Palestine, volunteered for the Somaliland
Camel Corps. When he arrived in Egypt, he persuaded General Sir
Archie Wavell, who was a family friend, to help him transfer to No.
52 Middle East Commando, a unit operating behind the Italian lines