File TAYLOR, GF 2/1 - Papers relating to SOE activities in India, China and South East Asia, Apr-Jun 1943

Papers relating to SOE activities in India, China and South East Asia, Apr-Jun 1943
Correspondence, notes and memoranda relating to SOE policy, organisation, protocols, equipment, stores, air and naval resources, and operations in India, China, and South East Asia, produced before and during a visit to India by Taylor (‘AD’). File includes: a memorandum from ‘SO’ (Roundell Cecil Palmer, third Earl of Selborne), Minister of Economic Warfare, requesting information on Operation Longshanks (an SOE operation to sabotage Axis shipping off Portuguese Goa); an organisational chart and list of code names for the SOE India Mission; routine administrative, travel and expenses documents for Taylor; a directive for Taylor's tour from ‘CD’ [Sir Charles Jocelyn Hambro], head of SOE, April 1943; correspondence and memoranda on Operation Mickleham (an SOE operation intended to smuggle rubber from enemy-occupied South East Asia); a report from ‘BB 134’ [Lt Lionel Ormandy Davis] to ‘BB 300’ [Walter Fletcher] on Davis' tour of southern China, covering Anglo-US co-operation in China and South East Asia, the financial situation in China, the availability of commodities in Japanese-occupied South East Asia, and SOE personnel and resources in China; letters from ‘AD 4’ [Col Bickham Aldred Cowan Sweet-Escott and ‘CD’ [Charles Hambro], London, on the re-organisation of senior SOE personnel, negotiations in London on co-operation with American clandestine organisations in China and India, and developments in South Africa; records of meetings held between Taylor and military and intelligence personnel in India on the status, organisation, future operations and resource requirements of the SOE India Mission; memoranda and correspondence on procedures for launching SOE operations in India by sea and air, current signals, material, stores, and personnel provision for the India Mission and anticipated requirements; a review of SOE activities and requirements in Malaya (Malaysia) and Burma (Myanmar); a memorandum on proposed SOE activities in the Karenni region of Burma and Operation Harlington (to parachute SOE personnel into Burma); correspondence and memoranda concerning co-operation with OSS (Office of Strategic Services, the US counterpart to SOE) in Asia, and the provision of para-naval and aircraft resources for SOE, SIS (Secret Intelligence Service) and MI9 (a British clandestine organisation assisting the escape of British prisoners of war) in India and South East Asia; a report on training for parachuting and field work at Chaklala, India (now Pakistan); a list of personnel in SOE India's Burma Section, their locations and signals equipment; an organisational chart of staff structure, SOE India.