The Secret History of MI6 - Keith Jeffery [334]
insertion of SIS teams following the liberation of countries by Soviet forces proved to be extremely problematic. As early as the spring of 1944 Harold Gibson had secured Menzies’s cautious approval to take soundings in Turkey, ‘with a view to obtaining our representation in all Russian occupied Balkan territories’. Gibson then prepared a paper for Likhterov, the Soviet military attaché, suggesting that SIS could ‘offer certain facilities and contacts’ in areas occupied or likely to be occupied by the Soviets, which could be ‘exploited to mutual advantage’. Although Likhterov had been encouraging (if non-committal), in August London directed that liaison with the Soviets would be handled by Barclay in Moscow. In the meantime Gibson continued planning for SIS representation in Romania and Bulgaria. On 23 August the twenty-two-year-old King Michael of Romania, who had seized power from Marshal Ion Antonescu, surrendered to the Soviets and the following day declared war on Germany, thus committing his army against the Axis forces still in the country. The following day Gibson sent the first of several increasingly pressing requests to London for permission to proceed to Romania. ‘In my opinion,’ he wrote, ‘it is important to stake our claim quickly and no time should be lost in moving forward as soon as possible.’ From Naples, Cuthbert Bowlby urged that a party be sent at once. On 27 August Gibson asserted that the Soviets were ‘badly in need’ of operational intelligence from Romania, which his contacts could help supply. This ‘should surely help justify’ his presence or that of another SIS officer. But London was discouraging. The following day Menzies signalled that the Foreign Office had promised not to despatch personnel into the zone of Soviet military operations without Moscow’s explicit agreement and Gibson was instructed to stay put. There was better news about Bulgaria, which announced its withdrawal from the war on 26 August 1944. Two days later Menzies announced that the Foreign Office had lifted its objection to the despatch of an SIS party and instructed Gibson to make preparations, but not to take action just yet.
In London, meanwhile, the Foreign Secretary, Anthony Eden, approved a proposal that SIS should be allowed to operate in all liberated territories, but with ‘one stipulation’, that ‘no party should be sent into Roumania in advance of the official mission’ in order ‘to avoid possible complications with the Russians’.11 Gibson continued to lament the ‘loss of a great opportunity’, especially since the Americans in the shape of OSS were planning to send in a party. He was further exercised by the hold-up in permission to enter Bulgaria. ‘Regarded from this end,’ he signalled in September, ‘the delay in moving S.I.S. parties into the Balkans has been catastrophic,’ and the Service had ‘lost a unique opportunity of getting there first . . . and being on the spot to pick up and direct important contacts’. SIS had instead ‘been forestalled by our go-ahead American colleagues who could act unrestrictedly and were not afraid to do so. Result is they have strong and energetic teams in Bulgaria and Roumania already functioning to good purpose.’ Menzies would not budge about Romania, though he was prepared to let Gibson go to Bulgaria. In the case of the former, while he appreciated Gibson’s ‘disappointment’, the Foreign Office line was clear, and he ‘must abide by the higher policy laid down’. As to the latter, the wisdom of London’s caution was soon demonstrated. In mid-September Gibson and a small SIS staff moved to Sofia by road from Istanbul. But on 25 September they (and the OSS mission in Bulgaria) were peremptorily expelled by the Soviet authorities.
Echoing Gibson’s feelings, Cuthbert Bowlby wrote a ‘slightly despondent’ letter to Menzies regretting the British failure to exploit the situation in Bulgaria and Romania. SIS, he said, had ‘naturally come in for a good deal of criticism’, which he had staved off by citing the Foreign Office ban. Nevertheless, surprise had been expressed that a secret organisation