Kim Philby - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In July 1939, Philby returned to the Times office in London. The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, with its secret protocol that the Wehrmacht and the Red Army would divide Poland, shocked Philby. He often asked, "Why was this necessary?" When Britain declared war on Germany in September 1939, contact with his Soviet controllers was lost and Philby failed to attend meetings. During the Phoney War from September 1939 until the Dunkirk evacuation, Philby worked as the Times correspondent with the British Expeditionary Force headquarters.[8] After being evacuated from Boulogne on 21 May, he returned to France in mid-June (now representing the Daily Telegraph in addition to The Times). He briefly reported from Cherbourg and Brest, sailing for Plymouth less than twenty-four hours before the French surrender.[14]
Hester Marsden-Smedley, a correspondent with the Daily Express who shared the train ride from Plymouth to London, then introduced him to Marjorie Maxse, who offered him a role in the War Office. On his first meeting in her office, Philby was surprised to see his old friend from Cambridge, Guy Burgess, who was already working there. His time there, however, was short-lived; the under-funded section was absorbed by the new Special Operations Executive (SOE) in July 1940. Burgess was fired for "irreverence",[15] and Philby was appointed as an instructor in the art of clandestine propaganda at the SOE's training establishment in Beaulieu, Hampshire.[16]
Saturday, November 16, 2013
Kim Philby - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
