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Briggens: SOE’s Forgery and Polish Agent Training Station
This is the true story of an S.O.E. country house at war and the lives of the people associated with it. Initially, Briggens was established to train Poland’s elite fighting force, the equivalent of our S.A.S., they had escaped from Poland and made it to Britain. Here they were taught to command men, to parachute, to fight hand to hand and to carry out acts of sabotage.
In complete contrast there was a mainly British contingent specially chosen for amazing printing skills to deceive the enemy by producing a multitude of counterfeit documents and miniature and microphotography techniques. Central to both groups were the girls of F.A.N.Y., who provided the cooking, laundry, transport and counselling. There are moving human stories of bravery, courage, skill, tragedy and humour. For the resident staff at the mansion it was a relatively safe posting, hard work but coupled with a degree of leisure time to enjoy sports, the local pubs and dances.
By contrast the Polish military trained extremely hard and when qualified as first-class agents awaited their turn to be dropped back into Nazi occupied Poland in civilian clothing with a fake identity and forged papers. They faced extreme danger; hazardous weather conditions, a 5 to 6 hour flight over enemy held territory, a parachute drop in the dark, and location of their reception committee on the ground, before actually leading, organising and supporting the resistance guerilla battle against a vicious and brutal enemy.
S.O.E., and the British High Command found it difficult, at times impossible, to satisfy the constant Polish demands for aircraft and supplies of arms and food for the resistance in Poland.
The story expands with the growth of both the forgery and training departments. The latter group overflows to other country houses at Audley End, Chicheley Hall and various Holding Stations, even as far as setting up a supply base in Italy. It concludes with the tragedy of the Warsaw Uprising and Poland’s ultimate loss of freedom and self-determination.
In complete contrast there was a mainly British contingent specially chosen for amazing printing skills to deceive the enemy by producing a multitude of counterfeit documents and miniature and microphotography techniques. Central to both groups were the girls of F.A.N.Y., who provided the cooking, laundry, transport and counselling. There are moving human stories of bravery, courage, skill, tragedy and humour. For the resident staff at the mansion it was a relatively safe posting, hard work but coupled with a degree of leisure time to enjoy sports, the local pubs and dances.
By contrast the Polish military trained extremely hard and when qualified as first-class agents awaited their turn to be dropped back into Nazi occupied Poland in civilian clothing with a fake identity and forged papers. They faced extreme danger; hazardous weather conditions, a 5 to 6 hour flight over enemy held territory, a parachute drop in the dark, and location of their reception committee on the ground, before actually leading, organising and supporting the resistance guerilla battle against a vicious and brutal enemy.
S.O.E., and the British High Command found it difficult, at times impossible, to satisfy the constant Polish demands for aircraft and supplies of arms and food for the resistance in Poland.
The story expands with the growth of both the forgery and training departments. The latter group overflows to other country houses at Audley End, Chicheley Hall and various Holding Stations, even as far as setting up a supply base in Italy. It concludes with the tragedy of the Warsaw Uprising and Poland’s ultimate loss of freedom and self-determination.
205 pages, Unknown Binding
Published December 1, 2017
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