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Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, King's College London

WOODHOUSE, Col Hon Christopher Montague, 5th Baron Terrington (1917-2001)


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 0099 KCLMA Woodhouse

Held at: Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, King's College London

Title: WOODHOUSE, Col Hon Christopher Montague, 5th Baron Terrington (1917-2001)

Date(s): 1942-2001

Level of description: Collection (fonds)

Extent: 22 boxes or 0.22 cubic metres

Name of creator(s): Woodhouse | Christopher Montague | 1917-2001 | 5th Baron Terrington | Colonel

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

Born 1917; educated at Winchester and New College, Oxford; Gray's Inn, 1939; enlisted in the Royal Artillery, 1939; served in World War Two, 1939-1945; commissioned, 1940; service with the British Mission, Athens, Greece, 1940-1941; served with the Special Operations Executive (SOE), Greece, 1941-1945; service on clandestine mission in German occupied Crete, 1941-1942; Maj [1942]; Second in Command to Col Edmund Charles Wolf Myers, Head of British Military Mission to Greek guerrillas in German occupied Greece, 1942-1943; participated in operation to demolish the Gorgopotamos viaduct, Greece, Nov 1942; awarded DSO, 1943; Col [1943]; commanded British (later Allied) Military Mission to Greek guerrillas in German occupied Greece, 1943-1945; awarded OBE, 1944; served as Second Secretary, HM Embassy, Athens, Greece, 1945; Secretary General, Allied Mission for Observing Greek Elections (AMFOGE), 1946; worked in industry, 1946-1948; Master of Arts, Oxford, 1947; Assistant Secretary, Nuffield Foundation, 1948-1950; Fellow of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, 1950; served in HM Embassy, Teheran, Iran, 1951-1952; Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, 1951; Foreign Office, 1952; Director General, Royal Institute of International Affairs, and Director of Studies, 1955-1959; Visiting Fellow, Nuffield College, Oxford, 1956; Conservative MP for Oxford, 1959-1966 and 1970-1974; Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Aviation, 1961-1962; Joint Under Secretary of State, Home Office, 1962-1964; Director, Education and Training, Confederation of British Industry, 1966-1970; President, Classical Association, 1968; Chairman, Council, Royal Society of Literature, 1977-1986; Visiting Professor of Modern Greek History, King's College London, 1978; Special Member, Academy of Athens, 1980; succeeded brother, 4th Baron Terrington, 1998. His last years were spent completing the translation into English of Panagiōtēs Kanellopoulos's History of the European Spirit; died 2001.

Publications: A translation of Pope's Sappho to Phaon (Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1938); Apple of discord. A survey of recent Greek politics in their international setting (Hutchinson, London, 1948); One omen (Hutchinson, London, 1950); Dostoievsky (Arthur Barker, London, 1951); The Greek War of Independence: its historical setting (Hutchinson, London, 1952); translation of The buried people: a study of the Etruscan world by Sibylle von Cles-Reden (Rupert Hart-Davis, London, 1955); translation of The last sortie: the story of the Cauldron by Herbert Zand (Rupert Hart-Davis, London, 1955); translation of Child of the revolution by Wolfgang Leonhard (Collins, London, 1957); Britain and the Middle East (Librairie Minard, Paris, France, 1959); British Foreign Policy since the Second World War (Hutchinson, London, 1961); Rhodes, with John Gilbert Lockhart (Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1963); The new concert of nations (Bodley Head, London, 1964); The Battle of Navarino (Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1965); A short history of Greece from early times to 1964, with Walter Abel Heurtley, Henry Clifford Darby, and Charles William Crawley (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1965); El Neuvo concierto de las naciones (Mexico, 1965); Post war Britain (Bodley Head, London, 1966); The story of modern Greece (Faber and Faber, London, 1968); The Philhellenes (Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1969); The modern environment of classical studies: presidential address delivered to the Classical Association at Royal Holloway College, 9 April 1969 (Murray, London, 1969); Capodistria: the founder of Greek independence (Oxford University Press, London, 1973); The struggle for Greece, 1941-1949 (Hart-Davis, MacGibbon, London, 1976); Modern Greece, a short history (Faber, London, 1977); Something ventured (Granada, London, 1982); Karamanlis: the restorer of Greek democracy (Clarendon, Oxford, 1982); British reports on Greece, 1943-1944, with Col Sir John Melior Stevens and David John Wallace, edited by Lars Baerentzen (Museum Tusculanum, Copenhagen, Denmark, 1982); The rise and fall of the Greek Colonels (Granada, London, 1985); George Gemistos Plethon: the last of the Hellenes (Clarendon, Oxford, 1986); Rhigas Velestinlis [1995].

Descriptions of Greek resistance groups (Greek: αντάρτες, andartes) related to this collection:

ΕΑΜ: The National Liberation Front (Greek: Εθνικό Απελευθερωτικό Μέτωπο, Ethniko Apeleftherōtiko Metōpo) led by Geōrgēs Siados (Greek: Γιώργης Σιάντος) was a Communist group affiliated with the KKE - the Communist Party of Greece (Greek: Κομμουνιστικό Κόμμα Ελλάδας, Kommounistikó Kómma Elládas).
The military arm of EAM was ELAS, The National People's Liberation Army, (Greek: Εθνικός Λαϊκός Απελευθερωτικός Στρατός (ΕΛΑΣ), Ethnikos Laikos Apeleftherōtikos Stratos), led by Arēs Velouchiōtis (Greek: Άρης Βελουχιώτης) (real name Athanasios (Thanasis) Klaras).

EDES: The National Republican Greek League (Greek: Εθνικός Δημοκρατικός Ελληνικός Σύνδεσμος, (ΕΔΕΣ), Ethnikos Dēmokratikos Ellēnikos Syndesmos), was an anti-Communist, Republican group, led by political leader Nikolaos Plastēras (Greek: Νικόλαος Πλαστήρας), and military leader Gen Napoleōn Zervas (Greek: Ναπολέων Ζέρβας).

EKKA: National and Social Liberation (Greek: Εθνική και Κοινωνική Απελευθέρωσις, Ethnikē kai Koinonikē Apeleftherōsis), led by Dēmētrios Psarros (Greek: Δημήτριος Ψαρρός) was a liberal, anti-Communist, Republican group.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers, 1942-1945, 1953 relating to Woodhouse's service with the Special Operations Executive (SOE), as Second in Command, and later Commander, of the British (later Allied) Military Mission to the Greek guerrillas in German occupied Greece(BMM/AMM) and the Iranian military coup, 1953. Includes correspondence between BMM and Middle East Command in Cairo comprising telegrams, operation orders, notes, minutes, reports and memoranda, Sep 1942-Jan 1945; other papers relating to BMM/AMM including Woodhouse's diaries with typescript transcript; nominal roll of Force 133 personnel, Aug 1944, articles and reports; papers on New Zealanders in BMM/AMM; maps; post-war papers on Greece including BBC Monitoring Service records, 1948-1952; publications, lectures, articles and broadcasts on Greece and the BMM/AMM by Woodhouse and others including Andreas Tzimas, EAM Central Committee member during Greek occupation and US Maj Gerald (Jerry) K Wines, Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and correspondence related to research on BMM/AMM; papers concerning funerals, memorials and decorations relating to the BMM/AMM; artefacts from the BMM/AMM. Papers on the SIS/CIA plot to overthrow Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mussadeq (Operations BOOT and AJAX), 1953. Draft translation of Panagiōtēs Kanellopoulos's History of the European Spirit from Greek to English and volumes of History of the European Spirit in the original Greek.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English and some Greek

System of arrangement:

The papers are arranged in the following sections: communication between British (later Allied) Military Mission to Greece and Middle East Command in Cairo, arranged chronologically in sections by month; papers relating to the British (later Allied) Military Mission to Greece; papers relating to post war Greece; maps; publications, lectures and broadcasts on Greece and the British (later Allied) Military Mission to Greece and related correspondence; papers of funerals, memorials, tributes and decorations; artefacts; papers relating to Iranian military coup and papers relating to Panagiōtēs Kanellopoulos's History of the European Spirit.

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 provided for research use only. Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the Trustees of the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, attention of the Director of Archive Services.

Physical characteristics:

Finding aids:

A detailed catalogue is available on-line at http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/info/index.shtml, and in hard copy in the Centre's reading room.

Detailed catalogue

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:

Accruals:

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Placed in the Centre by Woodhouse in 1976, 1981, 1989 and 1995, and by the family 2001.

ALLIED MATERIALS

Existence and location of originals:

Existence and location of copies:

Related material:

The papers of Capt Sir Basil Henry Liddell Hart include two articles by Woodhouse, 'Prolegomena to a study of resistance' from The Nineteenth Century and After, Nov 1948 (Ref: LH 15/5/145), and 'How vital was Churchill?' from The National and English Review, Mar 1957 (Ref: LH 15/4/491). The papers of AVM Stewart William Blacker Menaul include correspondence with Woodhouse, 1978 (Ref: Menaul 11/255/1). Papers relating to Special Operations Executive (SOE) operations in Greece and the Balkans, 1942-1945, and to Woodhouse's service with the Allied Military Mission to the Greek guerrillas in German occupied Greece, 1942-1945, can be found in the papers of Brig Edmund Charles Wolf Myers (Ref: Myers); Brig Godfrey Pennington Hobbs (Ref: Hobbs); Lt Col Count Julian A Dobrski (Ref: Dobrski); Maj Ronald R Prentice and Capt H Arthur Wickstead (Ref: Prentice/Wickstead); Maj Philip Frederick Nind (Ref: Nind); Capt Patrick Hutchinson Evans (Ref: Evans); Sir Derek Sherborne Lindsell Dodson (Ref: Dodson) and Capt Albert Henry Lingen. Woodhouse's letters to the Manchester Guardian, 1948-1949, are held by John Rylands Library, Manchester University (Ref: Guardian archives). Woodhouse's correspondence with William Clark, 1949-1956, is at the Department of Western Manuscripts, Bodleian Library, Oxford University (Ref: MSS William Clark). The family retain an album of photographs relating to the Allied Military Mission to Greece, 1942-1945. Requests for access should be directed via the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives.

Publication note:

Publications: Greek entanglement by Brig Edmund Charles Wolf Myers (Rupert Hart-Davis, London, 1955); Guerrilla and counterguerrilla warfare in Greece, 1941-1945 by Hugh H Gardner (Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army, Washington DC, USA, 1962); British policy towards wartime resistance in Yugoslavia and Greece, edited by Phyllis Auty and Richard Ralph Mowbray Clogg (Macmillan, in association with the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University of London, London, 1975); SOE: an outline history of the Special Operations Executive, 1940-1946 by Michael Richard Daniell Foot (BBC, London, 1984); A Greek experience by Nigel Clive (Michael Russell, Salisbury, Wiltshire, 1985); Guerrilla warfare and espionage in Greece, 1940-1944 by André Gerolymatos (Pella, New York, USA, 1992); The Allied Military Mission and the resistance in West Macedonia by Professor Lt Col Nicholas Geoffrey Lempričre Hammond (Institute for Balkan Studies, Thessaloniki, Greece, 1993).

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Note:

Decorations: DSO, OBE

Archivist's note: Entry revised by Sarah Drewery.

Rules or conventions: Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions: Aug 1999, Jan 2008


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Guerilla activities | Political movements
Maps | Visual materials
Memoirs | Documents | Information sources
Military history | History
Military intelligence | Warfare | Military engineering
Military missions | Diplomacy | Foreign relations | International relations
Occupied territories | Humanitarian law
Special forces | Armed forces | State security
Military personnel x Armed forces
Broadcasting industry
Military organizations
Military science
Primary documents

Personal names
Churchill | Sir | Winston Leonard Spencer | 1874-1965 | Knight | statesman
Clogg | Richard Ralph Mowbray | fl 1972-1988 | author and historian
Eden | Robert Anthony | 1897-1977 | 1st Earl of Avon | statesman x Eden | Anthony x Avon | 1st Earl
Escott | Bickham Aldred Cowan | Sweet- | b 1907 | Major x Sweet-Escott | Bickham Aldred Cowan
George II | 1890-1947 | King of Greece
Kanellopoulos | Panagiōtēs | 1902-1986 | Greek politician and Prime Minister
Keble | Cleveland Mervyn | fl 1973 | Brigadier
Klaras | Thanassis | 1905-1945 | alias Aris Velouchiotis | Greek leader of ELAS
Macmillan | Maurice Harold Macmillan | 1894-1986 | 1st Earl of Stockton | statesman
Mosaddeq | Mohammad | 1882-1967 | Prime Minister of Iran
Myers | Edmund Charles Wolf | b 1906 | Brigadier
Playfair | Ian Stanley Ord | 1894-1972 | Major General
Reinhardt | G F | fl 1944
Wines | Gerald K | fl 1948 | US Major
Woodhouse | Christopher Montague | 1917-2001 | 5th Baron Terrington | Colonel
Zervas | Napoleon | 1891-1957 | Greek general and resistance leader of EDES

Corporate names
BBC | British Broadcasting Corporation x British Broadcasting Corporation
EAM-ELAS | Ethnikon Apeleftherotikon Metopon-Ethnikos Laikos Apeleftherotikos Stratos | Greek resistance movement x Ethnikon Apeleftherotikon Metopon-Ethnikos Laikos Apeleftherotikos Stratos x The National Liberation Front x The National People's Liberation Army
EDES | Ethnikos Dēmokratikos Ellēnikos Syndesmos | Greek resistance movement x Ethnikos Dēmokratikos Ellēnikos Syndesmos
EKKA | Ethnikē kai Koinonikē Apeleftherōsis | Greek resistance movement x Ethnikē kai Koinonikē Apeleftherōsis
SOE | Special Operations Executive x Special Operations Executive

Places
Aegean Sea | Mediterranean Sea | Seas
Greece | Western Europe | Europe
Iran, Islamic Republic | Middle East