Collection PRENTICE & WICKSTEAD - PRENTICE, Maj Ronald R [1913-1980] and WICKSTEAD, Capt H Arthur 1913-1989

Key Information

Reference code

PRENTICE & WICKSTEAD

Title

PRENTICE, Maj Ronald R [1913-1980] and WICKSTEAD, Capt H Arthur 1913-1989

Date(s)

  • 1989-1991 (Creation)
  • 1942-1945 (Creation)

Level of description

Collection

Extent

5 boxes or 0.05 cubic metres

Scope and content

Prentice's manuscript diaries, mainly detailing his services at General Headquarters, Middle East Command, Cairo, Egypt, including mention of Long Range Desert Group operations in the Western Desert, 1942; manuscript diaries and notebooks kept by Prentice and Wickstead, mainly relating to SOE operations in West Macedonia, Greece, 1943-1944; reports, mainly compiled by Allied Military Mission personnel, detailing demolition, intelligence and reconnaissance missions in West Macedonia, combined missions with Ethnikos Laikos Apeleftherotikos Stratos (ELAS) 9 Div, liaison operations with Raiding Support Regiment and US Operational Group 7 personnel, sabotage targets, and administrative and operational procedures, 1943-1944; papers, in Greek, mainly relating to ELAS partisan activities in West Macedonia, including a copy of the 'National Bands Agreement', memoranda to Allied Military Mission regarding struggles with Ellinikos Dimokratikos Ethnikos Stratos (EDES) factions, political proclamations and ELAS propaganda; papers, in Greek, relating to Greek partisan forces not under the jurisdiction of the Allied Military Mission, including memoranda, propaganda and military orders from the Ellinikos Ethnikis Stratos (EES) and Kommounistiko Komma Elladas (KKE) and official Greek government notices, 1943- 1944; maps and photographs of Allied Military Mission areas of operation, 1943- 1944; correspondence between Allied Military Mission commanders and sub-area commanders, 1943-1944, including correspondence between Greek partisan commanders and Prentice, 1944; personal letters from Allied personnel to Prentice, 1946-1955; correspondence between Wickstead, Officer Commanding Signals, Area 1, and Allied personnel, 1944; papers relating to wireless/telegraphy signals, Allied Military Mission, 1943-1944; papers, relating mainly to the administration and supply of the Allied Military Mission; German papers, including German 1 Mountain Div operational orders, propaganda, personal letters from German soldiers to family members and German-language newspapers; Greek political papers, notably including propaganda newspapers and party leaflets, including letters to Maj Gen Arthur Wilmot Wadeson Holworthy, 1941-1946; Wickstead's post-war index of Allied Military Mission signals, [1989]; papers relating to post-war publications about SOE operations in Greece, including the working papers for Lt Col Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière Hammond's, The Allied Military Mission and the Resistance in West Macedonia (Institute for Balkan Studies, Thessaloniki, 1993); post-war Greek newspapers, leaflets and war memorial publications, 1945-[1991]. 3.3.4 Arrangement: Arranged in the following sections: diaries and notebooks of Maj Ronald R Prentice and Capt H Arthur Wickstead, 1942-1944; documents and papers relating to Allied Military Mission operations, West Macedonia, 1943-1944; papers relating to Greek partisan activities, 1943-1944; maps and photographs of Allied Military Mission areas of operations, 1943-1944; correspondence between Allied Military Mission commanders, 1943-1944 and former Greek partisans, 1946-1955; papers relating to wireless/telegraphy signals, Allied Military Mission, 1943-1944; papers relating to the administration, finances and logistics of the Allied Military Mission, 1943-1944; German papers, documents and newspapers during the occupation of Greece, 1943-1944; Greek political papers, documents and newspapers, 1941-1946; Wickstead's post-war partial index of signals, Allied Military Mission, West Macedonia, [1989]; papers relating to post-war publications about the resistance movement in West Macedonia, [1989-1991]; post- war Greek newspapers, leaflets and war memorial publications, 1945-[1991].

System of arrangement

Arranged in the following sections: diaries and notebooks of Maj Ronald R Prentice and Capt H Arthur Wickstead, 1942-1944; documents and papers relating to Allied Military Mission operations, West Macedonia, 1943-1944; papers relating to Greek partisan activities, 1943-1944; maps and photographs of Allied Military Mission areas of operations, 1943-1944; correspondence between Allied Military Mission commanders, 1943-1944 and former Greek partisans, 1946-1955; papers relating to wireless/telegraphy signals, Allied Military Mission, 1943-1944; papers relating to the administration, finances and logistics of the Allied Military Mission, 1943-1944; German papers, documents and newspapers during the occupation of Greece, 1943-1944; Greek political papers, documents and newspapers, 1941-1946; Wickstead's post-war partial index of signals, Allied Military Mission, West Macedonia, [1989]; papers relating to post-war publications about the resistance movement in West Macedonia, [1989-1991]; post- war Greek newspapers, leaflets and war memorial publications, 1945-[1991].

General Information

Name of creator

(1913-1980)

Biographical history

Ronald R Prentice, born [1913]; stationed at General Headquarters, Middle East Command, Cairo, Egypt, 1942; served in Special Operations Executive (SOE), Force 133, Greece, 1943-1944; served in Parachute Regt, [1946], died [1980].

Prentice and Wickstead were parachuted together into Mastroganni, Greece on 10 Aug 1943 as part of the Allied Military Mission, West Macedonia. There, they set up a base of operations at Pendalophos. Under the command of Lt Col Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière Hammond, Special Operations Executive (SOE) forces in the Balkans, or Force 133, they sabotaged German activities in Greece, often working alongside Greek partisan movements such as Ethnikos Laikos Apeleftherotikos Stratos (ELAS). Missions included actions against the retreating German Army, Operation NOAH'S ARK, Sep-Nov 1944.

Name of creator

(1913-1989)

Biographical history

H Arthur Wickstead, born in Birmingham, West Midlands, 1913; scholar of St John's College, Cambridge, where he graduated with a Double First in Classics; Henry Fellow, Yale University; School Master, Bedford School, Bedfordshire; served in Gloucestershire Regt, 1940-1943; Allied Control Commission, Palestine, 1946; government official in Cornwall and Shropshire, 1952-1974; died 1989.

Prentice and Wickstead were parachuted together into Mastroganni, Greece on 10 Aug 1943 as part of the Allied Military Mission, West Macedonia. There, they set up a base of operations at Pendalophos. Under the command of Lt Col Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière Hammond, Special Operations Executive (SOE) forces in the Balkans, or Force 133, they sabotaged German activities in Greece, often working alongside Greek partisan movements such as Ethnikos Laikos Apeleftherotikos Stratos (ELAS). Missions included actions against the retreating German Army, Operation NOAH'S ARK, Sep-Nov 1944.

Custodial history

The papers of Maj Ronald R Prentice and Capt H Arthur Wickstead were placed in the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives as a single collection in 1993 by Peter Wickstead, son of the late Capt Wickstead.

Conditions governing access

Open, subject to signature of Reader's undertaking form, and appropriate provision of two forms of identification, to include one photographic ID.

Conditions governing reproduction

Copies, subject to the condition of the original, may be supplied from open material for research purposes only.

Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the Trustees of the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, via the Archives.

Language of material

  • English
  • German
  • Greek

Script of material

Finding aids

This collection level description and detailed catalogue.

Related materials

The Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives holds several collections relating to SOE operations in the Balkans, most notably the papers of Lt Col Count J A Dobrski (Ref: GB99 KCLMA Dobrski); Capt Patrick Hutchinson Evans (Ref: GB99 KCLMA Evans); Brig Godfrey Pennington Hobbs; Brig Edmund Charles Wolf Myers; Maj Philip Frederick Nind (Ref: GB99 KCLMA Nind); Maj Ronald R Prentice and Capt H Arthur Wickstead; and, Col (Hon) Christopher Montague Woodhouse.

The National Archives, Kew, holds a substantial collection of material relating to SOE operations, most notably Political Warfare Executive correspondence (Ref: FO 898/25-28); papers relating to SOE activities, Middle East, Cairo, 1940-42 (Ref: FO 898/113-114); Quarterly Reports of Special Operations Executive, Oct 1943-Dec 1945 (Ref: PREM 3/408/1); Confidential Papers of Col William J Donovan, 1940-41 (Ref: PREM 4/25/5); and, Special Operations Executive: Balkan Files (Ref: HS 5).

Related descriptions

Publication note

The collection was consulted by Professor (late Lt Col) Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière Hammond for his publication, The Allied Military Mission and the Resistance in West Macedonia (Institute for Balkan Studies, Thessaloniki, 1993).

Note

Compiled Jun 1999

Alternative identifier(s)

Genre access points

Rules and/or conventions used

Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000.

Script(s)

Accession area