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Special Operations Executive (SOE) appreciations of the situation in Greece and the Balkans (mainly drafts, source or author not usually given), comprising political, military and political overviews, SOE contacts made, and recommendation of future operations to be undertaken by Force 133 (SOE Cairo, Egypt), including 'Appreciation of possible SOE operations in Hungary', 4 Dec 1943; 'Appreciation of possible SOE operations in Bulgaria', 4 Dec 1943; 'Appreciations and possibilities of SOE work in the Balkans', 14 Dec 1943; 'Appreciation of SOE work in Roumania', by Maj E C Masterson, 16 Dec 1943. 1 file

Typescript report by an unnamed friend [Dobrski?] of René Pleven, newly appointed French Minister of Defence, to be used to brief FM Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, prior to his meeting Pleven, and containing details of Pleven's views on the French political situation, policy towards French Indo-China, and the High Command of the French Army, including Gen Georges Revers, Général d'armée; Gen Pierre Gaston Billotte, Head of the French Military Delegation to the UN; Gen Antoine Marie Émile Béthouart, French High Commissioner in Austria; Gen Marie Pierre Koenig, Inspector of North African Forces. 10pp

General correspondence of Dobrski with relatives and friends, mainly comprising correspondence with Col Bickham Sweet-Escott, on mutual business in London, and including correspondence with Madame Anne René Pleven, on mutual news, Maj Gen Sir Colin McVean Gubbins, on Gubbins' forthcoming marriage, and Lt Col Tom J Dunbabin on proposals for the erection of a memorial at Arkadi, Crete, to British and Greek personnel of the Special Operations Executive (SOE), killed during World War Two. 1 file

File entitled 'Personal and confidential G/662C – Personal file of Lt Col Dolbey', mainly comprising correspondence relating to Dobrski's business affairs. 1 file

File entitled 'Confidential letters about personnel - B6/662 (part 1)', of Lt Col Vincent Alexander Prideaux Budge, General Staff Officer 1 of B6 (Greek) Section and later, Eastern Mediterranean Group, Force 133 (Special Operations Executive, Cairo, Egypt), mainly comprising correspondence in regard to leave, promotion, transfers, new postings, and personal welfare matters of staff of the Group, confidential reports on officers, applications for Middle East Staff College, and correspondence with Col the Hon Christopher Montague Woodhouse, commanding Allied Military Mission in Greece, regarding transfers of SOE personnel from Greece. 1 file CLOSED

File entitled 'Confidential letters, personnel officer only - G/662 (part 4)', of, Dobrski as General Staff Officer 1 of Force 133 (Special Operations Executive, Cairo, Egypt), mainly comprising correspondence in regard to the winding up of the SOE organisation in Greece, promotion, transfers, new postings, personal welfare matters of Force 133 personnel and confidential reports on officers due to leave Force 133. 1 file CLOSED

File entitled 'Confidential letters, officer only - GCA/662 (part 2)', of Lt Col D A Affleck Graves, General Staff Officer 1 of Eastern Mediterranean Group, Force 133 (Special Operations Executive, Cairo, Egypt), mainly comprising correspondence in regard to requests for leave, promotion, transfers, new postings, personal welfare matters of staff of the Group, applications for training courses, confidential reports on officers and including list and details of SOE personnel evacuated from the Peloponnese, 27 Jun 1944; details of War Establishment of Headquarters Force 133, Jul 1944. 1 file CLOSED

File entitled 'Confidential letters, personnel officer only - GCA/662 (part 3)', of, Dobrski as General Staff Officer 1 of Eastern Mediterranean Group, Force 133 (Special Operations Executive, Cairo, Egypt), mainly comprising correspondence in regard to requests for leave, promotion, transfers, new postings, personal welfare matters of staff of the Group, recommendations for awards, confidential reports on officers, and correspondence between Dobrski and Lt Col D A Affleck Graves and later Maj John E Street, commanding SF Unit (Force 133 staff in Athens, Greece), relating to the winding up of the SF Unit and SOE activities in Greece. 1 file CLOSED

File entitled 'Personal and confidential G/662C – Personal file of Lt Col Dolbey', mainly comprising correspondence relating to the post war winding up of Force 133 in Athen, Greece, and Cairo, Egypt, and post war reorganization of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) and Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), including letter, 28 Oct 1943, inviting Dobrski to command operations of the Inter Services Liaison Department in Italy; memorandum, 23 Mar 1944, from G (SO) [Dobrski], Force 133 to Brig Karl Vere Barker-Benfield, Commanding Officer Force 133, entitled 'Post war SOE organisations', on possibilities for subversive operations in Palestine against Arab or Jewish activities threatening British interests; resumé, [Mar 1944] of Dobrski's activities and duties, Sep 1939-Feb 1944; letter, 4 Oct 1945, from Maj Gen Colin McVean Gubbins on his forthcoming retirement; letter, 20 Oct 1945, from 'RWR', SOE, London, on efforts to publicise wartime operations of SOE to counteract publicity operations of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). 1 file

Typescript letter [from Dobrski] to 'Hi-Hou' [Anne René Pleven?], on life in London during the 'blitz' or German bombing, 28 Oct 1940; two letters from Anne René Pleven to Dobrski, 12 and 17 Jan 1941, on the German occupation of France, her desire to contribute to the liberation of France, and her life in New York. With two British propaganda leaflets for use in France, 'La vérité sur Dakar' on the failure of the Anglo-Free French assault on Dakar, Senegal, Sep 1940, and 'M Churchill parle aux Francais', text of radio broadcast by Rt Hon Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill MP, Prime Minister, assuring the French of the defeat of Germany, Oct 1940; typescript copy of 'Dans les camps de prisonniers in Allemagne - un aumonier rapatrié de l'Oflag V A nous fait le rècit de la vie dans ce camp', article in Le Figaro, 19 Dec 1940. 1 file

Correspondence, 1945, between Dobrski, as General Staff Officer 1 of Eastern Mediterranean Group, Force 133 (Special Operations Executive, Cairo, Egypt), and Lt Col John Mulgan, Advance Force 133 (Liquidation) in Greece, regarding the winding up of the SOE organisation in Greece and related activities (assessment of pensions for relatives of Greek SOE personnel and settlement of other compensation claims, awards of service certificates and decorations for Greek SOE personnel and future employment of British SOE staff in Greece). With correspondence, 1964-1967, between Dobrski and Paul Woodford Day, relating to Mulgan's personality and activities in Greece during World War Two, for Day's biography John Mulgan (Twayne, New York, 1968). 1 file, 34 letters

Typescript Special Operations Executive (SOE) memorandum entitled 'Appreciation of situation in Sicily as in Nov 1942 with a view to subversive operations in that country' (source, section or author not given), containing recommendations for deployment of subversive operatives in Apr 1943 prior to an Allied military invasion of Sicily, including sections on historical, social and political complexion of Sicily; possible role of the Mafia; sources for recruitment of Sicilian SOE agents; organisation and objectives of agents and SOE cells; maps of Sicily indicating likely rail, road, industrial and communications targets for SOE. 30pp. With another copy, slight variations, updated to end of Dec 1942; list of leading members of the Mafia in Sicily, Rome, Turin and Tunisia, 6 Aug 1942. 1 file

Manuscript diary of Capt R Guy Turrall, Special Operations Executive (SOE) Field Operative, during an unsuccessful mission to sabotage enemy shipping in harbours on Crete, including his sailing from Alexandria, Egypt, in HM Trident class Submarine TORBAY; landing with Capt Alexander W 'Xan' Fielding on south coast of central Crete; liaison with Capt the Hon Christopher Montague Woodhouse, commanding SOE on Crete, and Greek Col Papadakis; travelling through central Crete to meet Cretan Communist leader General Mandakas; the abandoning of Turrall's mission and his travels with guerrilla leader Georgis Petrakageorgis in the Idhi Oros mountain range to evade German forces; his return to the south coast of Crete for embarkation to Alexandria. 77pp

Papers principally relating to operations of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) in Italy, Greece, the Aegean and the Balkans, 1941-1945, including: SOE training manuals, and various SOE memoranda relating to the 'Rhine mine', poisons, inland waterways, and the 'New Zionists', 1941-1944; memoranda and directives on SOE infiltration of Italy and the recruitment of Italian agents, the production of propaganda for use in Italy, transcripts of subversive propaganda broadcasts to the Italian people via Radio Jerusalem, letters from Stefano Terra, regarding the activities of the anti-fascist group Giustizia e Libertà, 1940-1943; diary of Capt R Guy Turrall during his SOE sabotage mission to Crete, 1941-1942; papers concerning SOE Operations BASILIC and ERRATIC (infiltration of Scarpanto and Rhodes), 1943; papers concerning propaganda operations in conjunction with the Political Warfare Executive, particularly Operations KREIPE and KRIMSCHILD, May 1944, to demoralize German troops on Crete; reports, 1943-1945, relating to SOE activities on Crete, including reports on the kidnapping by SOE of German Maj Gen Heinrich Kreipe; appreciations of SOE activities in Greece, Hungary, Bulgaria, Rumania, 1943; correspondence of Headquarters Force 133 (SOE Cairo, Egypt) in regard to promotion, welfare, training, transfers and postings of personnel, including confidential reports on individual staff, 1944-1945; diary of Maj John Mulgan, British Liaison Officer in Greece, 1944; correspondence relating to the winding up of SOE organisation in Greece, 1944-1945; various other papers, comprising correspondence with Anne René Pleven, 1939-1941, on the German bombing of London and the reaction of the French people to German occupation and the Vichy government; report on René Pleven, French Minister of Defence, concerning Pleven's attitude to the French political situation, policy towards Indo-China and the French High Command, 1949; papers relating to the reorganisation of Lyons Silks Ltd, French Silhouettes and Arnold Securities, 1949-1950; newspaper article on German penetration of the SOE network in the Netherlands, 1942-1944, dated 1953.

Translations of Allied propaganda broadcasts to Hungarian citizens (source or author not given) on the strength of British air raids on Bremen, Germany; reverses suffered by German forces on the Russian Front; economic hardships in Hungary caused by World War Two. 1 file, 4 items

Part of report (pp 24-31 only), Jan 1944, by Dobrski on his mission with Maj George Patrick John Rushworth Jellicoe, 2nd Earl Jellicoe, to Rhodes, 9-12 Sep 1943, to contact Italian Admiral Campione, Governor of Rhodes, and secure the support of the Italian garrison against German forces. With copy of citation for the award of the Military Cross to Dobrski for services rendered during the mission to Rhodes. 1 file, 2 items

Memoranda and directives relating to activities of Special Operations Executive (SOE) in Italy, comprising guidelines for subverting Italian citizens by infiltrating agents to Italy from Switzerland, 24 Aug 1940; 'Hints for RAF personnel landing in Italy', recommending methods of escape from Italy overland, by sea and by air, undated; memorandum from (George) Hugh (Nicholas) Seton-Watson, General Headquarters, Middle East (Special Forces), on necessity of gathering information from other British Government departments on potential Italian anti-fascists, both in Italy and elsewhere, for subversive purposes, 17 Feb 1942; memorandum from Seton-Watson, deprecating lack of information on Italy found by other departments, 13 Mar 1942; instructions entitled 'PALLINODE' (author, section and recipient not given) for SOE wireless operator to liaise with Italian resistance groups in Trieste and Venice, 6 Feb 1943; draft instructions (author, section and recipient not given) to SOE officer to work under AD 3 (Christopher Grey Tennant, 2nd Baron Glenconner) at Cairo, Egypt, recruiting SOE agents to infiltrate Italy, provide intelligence on Italy and establish lines of communication and propaganda into Italy, undated; memoranda from 'D/H 113' to 'J', regarding progress of recruitment of Italian POWs as SOE agents and difficulties with General Headquarters, Middle East, over the same, 1 Apr and 17 May 1943. 1 file

Special Operations Executive (SOE) papers on the production of anti-fascist propaganda for Italy, comprising guidelines on themes and content, and examples of leaflets, chain letters and radio broadcasts to Italian civilians and troops. With 'Guide for interviewing persons coming from Italy', instructions for the obtaining of information on Italian morale and Italian attitudes to the outcome of the war, to Germans, to Italian and British propaganda and to economic conditions in Italy. 1 file

Ministry of Economic Warfare booklet entitled 'Notes for interrogation officers', listing questions to be asked of enemy POWs in regard to supplies and consumption of weaponry, liquid and solid fuels, foodstuffs and clothing; integrity of shipping and inland transport systems; effects of aerial bomardment; special questions for Italian and Luftwaffe POWs, and German troops with experience of the Russian Front. 25pp

Letters to Dobrski from Stefano Terra, Italian anti-fascist author and member of the Italian anti-fascist group Guistizia e Libertà, relating to the activities of Guistizia e Libertà, and particularly its role in the establishment and output of Radio Matteotti, an anti-fascist station broadcasting from Cairo, Egypt, aimed at Italian troops, and the relations between Radio Matteotti and the Political Warfare Executive. With weekly bulletin, number 1, 4 Apr 1943, of Guistizia e Libertà. 1 file, 6 letters