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The Secret Hunters

By Anthony Kemp, Prince Yurka Galitzine

History of the Royal Air Force Servicing Commandos

By J.P. Kellett & J. Davies

Message: <blockquote data-quote="John Robertson" data-source="post: 38514" data-attributes="member: 1"> <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">SURNAME</li> </ul> Reid <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">FORENAME</li> </ul> Miles Belfrage <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">UNIT</li> </ul> H Squadron GHQ Liaison Regiment (Phantom) <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">RANK</li> </ul> Captain + Major <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">NUMBER</li> </ul> 119433 <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">AWARD</li> </ul> Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE),Military Cross <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">PLACE</li> </ul> dates and unit ? <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">ADDITIONAL INFORMATION</li> </ul> parent unit General List born 5.5.1896 served WW1 H Squadron GHQLR (Phantom) 8.2.1941 POW 31.5.1941 Greece author "Last on the List" (1974) died 6.10.1984 awarded M.B.E. 29.11.45 (repatriated POW) (Captain,GHQLR) notes from Stephen Reid (grandson) Lt Col Miles Belfrage  Reid MBE MC Miles Reid was born in 1896, the youngest child of Russell  Belfrage Reid (who made his fortune tea planting in Ceylon) and Margaret Laura  Willett (daughter of Henry Willet who presented the Willett  Collection of Popular Pottery to the Brighton Museum in 1903). The Reid  family are Scottish in origin and many of their ancestors are buried in  Milnathort churchyard in what was Kinross (now Tayside). As a youngster, Miles was sent to the Royal Naval College at  Dartmouth. In addition to winning the King’s Medal in 1912, he also won the  Chief Cadet Captains Award (a very handsome naval dirk) in 1913. Whilst at  Dartmouth he was made mentor to the younger and very shy Prince Albert (later  George VI) and thus began a friendship that lasted until the King’s death. He  left the Navy as he suffered from sea sickness. He joined the Royal Engineers at  the outbreak of WWI, was wounded at Gallipoli and invalided home. He  subsequently took part in the battles of Loos, the Somme, Ypres and Paschendale.  He won an MC on the Somme for his actions on 9[SUP]th[/SUP] September 1916 where  he laid telephone cables under heavy shellfire. He was also mentioned in  despatches by Field Marshall Haig on 7[SUP]th[/SUP] April 1918 “for gallant and  distinguished service in the field”. When he was promoted to Acting Lt Colonel  he was reputedly the youngest Lt Col in the British Army. In between the wars he worked in industry and particularly in  Germany but when WWII broke out, although he was over age, Miles pulled strings  and was made part of “Phantom” a group of multilingual officers who acted as  liaison between generals of the French and British armies – he was given the  rank of Captain, later Major. Miles was a go-between between Lord Gort and the  First French Army. He escaped at Dunkirk and was then sent to Greece to do a  similar liaison job.  He and his men were  captured by German paratroops after running out of ammunition while attempting  to defend the bridge over the Corinth Canal. He   spent time in various POW camps including Tittmoning and Warburg. He  escaped with a colleague (Michael Smiley) from Warburg by hiding in bundles of  laundry but they were both recaptured the same day. On recapture it worryingly  became apparent that the Nazis had decided that all his work in Germany in the  ‘30s was part of a spying mission on behalf of MI5. However he was eventually  sent to Spanenberg and after that to Colditz on the grounds that he was  “Deutschfeindlich”. He was the oldest British prisoner in Colditz. He faked  heart disease in Colditz by smoking heavily and drinking neat black coffee and  was eventually repatriated on health grounds, finally arriving back in England  early in 1945. He was appointed MBE (Military) in 1949 for his service in Greece  and in 1956 he was appointed Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Sussex. He was also a JP.  He died on 6th of October 1984. He wrote three books. Age Cannot Wither  (Hutchinson, undated but 1944 or '45) was a novel written whilst a POW in  Spanenberg. Last on the List (  Leo Cooper, 1974) deals with his part in Phantom from early days in France up to  his capture in Greece. It was also largely written whilst he was a  prisoner. Into Colditz  (Michael Russell, 1983) Follows the story on from his capture in Greece to his  return home from Colditz. It has an excellent introduction by Paddy Leigh Fermor  whom Miles knew from his days in Greece. <a href="http://www.specialforcesroh.com/index.php?media/m-reid.15807/"><img src="http://www.specialforcesroh.com/data/xfmg/thumbnail/15/15807-5deac351917298e0b10a61da7ef1fb5b.jpg?1591399526" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a> <a href="http://www.specialforcesroh.com/index.php?media/m-reid.15808/"><img src="http://www.specialforcesroh.com/data/xfmg/thumbnail/15/15808-a29163ad40153990d9e69aced8fec27a.jpg?1591399526" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a></blockquote>

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