sometimes backfire,' said Heffer) but on the far deadlier grounds of 'temperamental unsuitability for SOE-type work.'
Thanks to Heffer, it was a suspended sentence. He'd persuaded Ozanne that a stay of execution would give him and Dansey time to seek for a suitable replacement; Heffer had even suggested that the shock might produce a marked improvement in me. 'Start looking today!' Ozanne had instructed. The reprieve was subject to one condition. If I showed my coding report to anyone, I was to be dismissed forthwith.
On the issue of WOKs Ozanne remained inflexible. They would leave when I did.
I suggested whoever succeeded me should come from Bletchley and have the experience which I knew I lacked.
They glanced at each other. Then Heffer announced that he had something to say to me on behalf of them all: 'Now and again you've shown a certain promise. But your greatest failing amongst a host of others is that you are not—and are now most unlikely ever to become'—I expected him to say 'adult'—'SOE-minded.'
I knew that I had just heard the most important phrase anyone had ever spoken to me—with the possible exception of 'help yourself.' I also knew that for the rest of my SOE life, however short, I would go in search of 'SOE-mindedness'. It was the vitamin deficiency I didn't know I lacked.
Eagerly, gratefully, I asked what it meant. Each waited for the other to define it.
'It's a state of disgrace which you must discover for yourself.' Heffer.
'If he's here long enough.' Dansey.
'Which I doubt.' Owen.
I realized that it meant something different to each of them, a sign of its reality. I asked whom they considered to be 'SOE-minded', present company excepted, of course.
Each waited for the other to commit himself. Nobody would. I suggested some candidates.
'Hambro?'
'If he can forget he's a gentleman.' Heffer.
'Gubbins?'
'If he can forget he's a soldier.' Dansey.
'Tommy?'
'If he can forget the Free French.' Owen.
'Colonel Ozanne?'
'I prefer to forget him altogether.' Heffer.
He then rose by inches from his chair. 'It wasn't very SOE-minded of you to leave that word on the blackboard.' he said. He waited for my mouth to reach half-mast. 'Before you took for granted Ozanne wouldn't know what it meant you should have found out where he played golf on Sundays.'
He told me the name of the club—and all was clear. I'd walked the course with Father and knew that the eighteenth hole was circumcision.
'Heff… you mean he went to the trouble of anagramming it out?'
'No,' he said, 'but I did.'
He enjoyed his exit lines almost as much as he did his exits.
'SM' ('SOE-mindedness', not sado-masochism, though they might be synonymous) was a cruel dish to set before a starving man. It might explain why SOE was sending missions to Mihailovič and Tito in Yugoslavia when the two leaders were virtually at civil war, why we were backing Communists and anti-Communists in Greece, why there was so little co-operation between the rival French sections that their agents had shot each other up in the dark after mistaking each other for Germans, and why the Dutch weren't concerned about incorrect security checks. It might even explain what a man like Ozanne was doing in SOE.
I wondered how to apply 'SM' to the Signals Gauleiter, and decided to make a start by taking his orders literally. Since Ozanne insisted (that agents should have poem-codes, I would give them poem-codes—not one but dozens! Clusters of poems printed on soluble paper could be issued to each agent. They would be instructed by London to, switch from one poem to another at the first sign of their traffic becoming overloaded. Nor must they attempt to memorize the poems. They must be destroyed as soon as they were finished with. I checked with the stationery department that the printing was within their competence and they foresaw no problems. I would make a start with Grouse. The principle could then be applied to other agents and since it
Thanks to Heffer, it was a suspended sentence. He'd persuaded Ozanne that a stay of execution would give him and Dansey time to seek for a suitable replacement; Heffer had even suggested that the shock might produce a marked improvement in me. 'Start looking today!' Ozanne had instructed. The reprieve was subject to one condition. If I showed my coding report to anyone, I was to be dismissed forthwith.
On the issue of WOKs Ozanne remained inflexible. They would leave when I did.
I suggested whoever succeeded me should come from Bletchley and have the experience which I knew I lacked.
They glanced at each other. Then Heffer announced that he had something to say to me on behalf of them all: 'Now and again you've shown a certain promise. But your greatest failing amongst a host of others is that you are not—and are now most unlikely ever to become'—I expected him to say 'adult'—'SOE-minded.'
I knew that I had just heard the most important phrase anyone had ever spoken to me—with the possible exception of 'help yourself.' I also knew that for the rest of my SOE life, however short, I would go in search of 'SOE-mindedness'. It was the vitamin deficiency I didn't know I lacked.
Eagerly, gratefully, I asked what it meant. Each waited for the other to define it.
'It's a state of disgrace which you must discover for yourself.' Heffer.
'If he's here long enough.' Dansey.
'Which I doubt.' Owen.
I realized that it meant something different to each of them, a sign of its reality. I asked whom they considered to be 'SOE-minded', present company excepted, of course.
Each waited for the other to commit himself. Nobody would. I suggested some candidates.
'Hambro?'
'If he can forget he's a gentleman.' Heffer.
'Gubbins?'
'If he can forget he's a soldier.' Dansey.
'Tommy?'
'If he can forget the Free French.' Owen.
'Colonel Ozanne?'
'I prefer to forget him altogether.' Heffer.
He then rose by inches from his chair. 'It wasn't very SOE-minded of you to leave that word on the blackboard.' he said. He waited for my mouth to reach half-mast. 'Before you took for granted Ozanne wouldn't know what it meant you should have found out where he played golf on Sundays.'
He told me the name of the club—and all was clear. I'd walked the course with Father and knew that the eighteenth hole was circumcision.
'Heff… you mean he went to the trouble of anagramming it out?'
'No,' he said, 'but I did.'
He enjoyed his exit lines almost as much as he did his exits.
'SM' ('SOE-mindedness', not sado-masochism, though they might be synonymous) was a cruel dish to set before a starving man. It might explain why SOE was sending missions to Mihailovič and Tito in Yugoslavia when the two leaders were virtually at civil war, why we were backing Communists and anti-Communists in Greece, why there was so little co-operation between the rival French sections that their agents had shot each other up in the dark after mistaking each other for Germans, and why the Dutch weren't concerned about incorrect security checks. It might even explain what a man like Ozanne was doing in SOE.
I wondered how to apply 'SM' to the Signals Gauleiter, and decided to make a start by taking his orders literally. Since Ozanne insisted (that agents should have poem-codes, I would give them poem-codes—not one but dozens! Clusters of poems printed on soluble paper could be issued to each agent. They would be instructed by London to, switch from one poem to another at the first sign of their traffic becoming overloaded. Nor must they attempt to memorize the poems. They must be destroyed as soon as they were finished with. I checked with the stationery department that the printing was within their competence and they foresaw no problems. I would make a start with Grouse. The principle could then be applied to other agents and since it
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