208 HIS MAJESTY’S OPPONENT
Saxon world. These diplomats shielded the Indians, many of whom
had left- leaning po lit i cal beliefs, from what might have been rougher
encounters with the Nazi party hierarchy. Werth believed that without
Trott and his devoted team of workers at the Foreign Office, Bose
would “probably not have remained in Berlin.” From the spring of 1941
onward, they met often with Bose. They “felt the strength of his will
power, the honesty of his intentions and the inexorability of his per-
sonal dedication to India’s cause.”^15
In June 1941, long after Bose had safely reached Europe, the Special
Operations Executive (SOE) in Istanbul sought con fir ma tion of the
continuing validity of the March order from London to assassinate
him. In late May, Delhi had informed London that they had thought
Bose “would be used for Radio Propaganda from Russia, Italy or Ger-
many, but nothing of the sort has eventuated.” They believed, therefore,
that Bose might still be in Afghanistan, and wondered “whether de-
mand should be presented to Afghan Government to deal with him
under rules of practice.”^16 It was on June 13 that SOE in Istanbul in-
quired whether the assassination order was still in effect. Sir Frank
Nelson, the chief of SOE, was reported to be “in a minority of one at
that morning’s meeting in insisting that it should be referred to the
Foreign Office. He said he was sure the Secretary of State for India
[L. S. Amery], who was also interested in this question, would not
take kindly to Sir Hughe Knatchbull- Hugessen [the British ambassa-
dor to Turkey] objecting to Bose being liquidated on Turkish terri-
t o r y.”^17 Recon fir ma tion of the assassination decision having been ob-
tained, London cabled SOE in Istanbul telling their operative Gardyne
de Chastelain that “the Foreign Office agreed to the liquidation of
Chandra Bose being carried out on Turkish territory,” but that Gardyne
de Chastelain should tell no one about this.^18
By now, Bose was well beyond the reach of his potential assassins.
Following his return from Rome and Vienna in July 1941, Subhas lived
with Emilie in a mansion at Sophienstrasse 7 in the Charlottenburg
neighborhood of Berlin. The house had been previously occupied by
the American military attaché. Here, amid the tumult of war, Bose
spent a period of home life that his hectic po lit i cal career in India had
denied him. Yet the trappings of sta tus accorded to him, such as the