Friday, January 22, 2016

Special Operations Executive (SOE) and pigeons, 1941-44





Pigeon in Rome by D. Truong



(c) Crown copyright images reproduced by courtesy of The National Archives, London, UK
HS8/854 #12, #13, #34, #35, #36, #51, #52
WO208/3556 #09

The first 2 documents from 1941 discuss how to provide pigeons for the Country Sections of SOE.  The third and fourth documents from 1944 pertain to the M.I.5 plan to use falcons to intercept German pigeons and how that might interfere with SOE's pigeons.  The last document from 1943 rejects the idea of changing the delivery system for pigeons used by Operation Columba because it might undermine security. A discussion of Colonel Vernon's pigeons and the security of his service is in the last 3 documents.




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