Thursday, 26 November 2015

Official Secrets Act : Court Martial Charges Against Evan Lord Tredegar : A Statement


CHARGES AGAINST EVAN, VISCOUNT TREDEGAR
OFFENCES AGAINST THE OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT
STATEMENT  BY  CAPTAIN ( TEMPORARY MAJOR )
VISCOUNT TREDEGAR  (  Army Number 414702 )



The book Aspects of Evan : With a transcript of Evan's Court Martial

Evan, Lord Tredegar was the subject of a military Court Martial at Chelsea Barracks on 19 April, 1943. In the weeks before he made a signed statement about the three charges against him. A transcript of this statement is set out below.

This article is in response to the fraudulent history about Evan Morgan's service in the Second World War shamelessly outlined by Wales on Line




Captain ( temporary Major ) Viscount Tredegar

OFFENCES AGAINST THE OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT
STATEMENT  BY  CAPTAIN ( TEMPORARY MAJOR )
VISCOUNT TREDEGAR  (  Army Number 414702 )


[ Evan was in the Royal Corps of Signals attached holding Battalion, Scots Guards. He also held the post of Honorary Colonel in  the Monmouthshire Regiment ]


From National Archives WO 71/ 1078


I wish to make the following voluntary statement. I have been warned that anything I may say may be used in evidence.

Signature of the Colonel and Evan Morgan (Tredegar




Evan in Venice with the pidegons


STATEMENT BY VISCOUNT TREDEGAR

I am the Officer Commanding  Special Section (Carrier Pigeon) Service and I work at Wing House, Piccadilly, London  W.1.

I assumed these duties during the first week of November 1942.

I wish to apologise to the Director of Signals for what appears to be a gross breach of trust.

With regard to the demonstration of the use of the [ pigeon ] container and the parachute I did not consider this to be secret as it has received wide publicity in the press. Lt Colonel Cullinan [ Evan’s immediate superior]  has frequently brought army officers into my room and ordered me to carry out this demonstration in their presence.

I told the Girl Guide leaders  [ named Nora McIntyre and Helen Margaret Isherwood  ] on 15 March 1943 that the green message containers were used in connection in the pigeons bringing back information from occupied territory. I had no reason to think that this information was secret.

I have in my office a map showing England and part of the continent. This map has a number of coloured pins affixed to it. Those in England indicate the pigeon lofts in this country and those on the continent were affixed by a Dutchman a Mr Ray who had recently escaped Holland.

He placed the pins in Holland where he knew there were allied sympathisers who would be prepared to revolt against the enemy in the event of an allied landing.

I did point out to the Girl Guide leaders a point North West of the ZUIDER ZEE.  I remember telling them that at the point which I indicated on the map there had been an important enemy radio-location station, information as to which had been brought back by a pigeon and that as a result within a very short time the RAF laid it flat. This information was given to me by Colonel Cullinan, who also told me that he had been congratulated by superior authority, which information I also passed on to the guide leaders. I further told them that pigeons were being dropped by parachute in Holland.

I did take from my filing cabinet an envelope which contained a copy of instructions and questionnaire addressed to the finder of the pigeon these instructions and questionnaire are in French and Dutch and I understand that they are obsolete. Major Pearson has frequently shown these documents to visitors at the office. In the envelope in question some small pieces of paper are pinned to the questionnaire. The envelope was not marked secret. There is an envelope in my safe containing secret papers which I have not shown to anyone. 

The safe is on top of the filing cabinet and to a casual observer it might appear that I had taken a document from the safe whereas I had in fact taken it from the filing cabinet which I actually did on this occasion. I may have put the envelope back in the safe instead of the filing cabinet.

I did disclose to Subaltern  Harvey the significance of the yellow pins on the map which I considered I was entitled to do as she was working in the room with me.

On 15 March 1943 Major Cassidy  [ of the Royal Army Medical Corps ] brought in to my office photographic enlargements of two slides given to him previously by Subaltern  Mackenzie. These enlargements represented a currency note and …..at the moment. I don’t  know where Subaltern Mackenzie got the slides. These enlargements were shown to the Girl Guide leaders. Major Cassidy said that the process of micro-photography being used in the pigeon service was under consideration by the authorities.

I have known Mr Hartman for many years. He is engaged in welfare work amongst soldiers from the Channel Islands. He came to see me at the suggestion of another branch of the War Office to discuss the possibility of obtaining information from the Channel Islands  concerning the families of the soldiers in whom Mr Hartman was interested. I may have been the first to mention the use of pigeons but I think the purpose of Mr Hartman’s visit to me was to discuss the use of pigeons to ….information from the Channel Islands  because he knew that I was in charge of pigeons. I referred him to Captain Kleyn [ an Officer in the Intelligence Corps]  with whom he discussed the matter.

I did tell the Girl Guide leaders on 15 March 1943 that it was possible to drop pigeons at a specified place where the intelligence service knew that there was a person who would send back a message.

On Sunday 21 March 1943  Colonel Cullinan told me I had been reported by Subaltern Stanley Mackenzie in respect of the incidents of 15 March 1943. He suggested that I should have an operation that I had been contemplating for some time and that I should resign my appointment as Officer in Charge  Special Section, and that after the operation I should make a full apology to the Director of Signals for my indiscretion. Colonel Cullinan told me not to report the matter to higher authority and that he did not intend to do so himself. The matter has remained in that state up to the present time.

Signed ‘Tredegar’

Taken down by me and witnessed
G. Walton Major
Security Officer
London District


EXTRACTED  FROM NATIONAL ARCHIVES  FILE
WO 71/1078
This  item has been posted in response to the repeated lies by the history fraudsters led by Wales on Line  who say that Evan  Morgan  got off the charges raised for breaches against the Army Act and the Official Secrets Act.  The history fraudsters say MI5 intervened and Evan was released without charge.


MI5 did NOT intervene to save Evan’s skin, Evan was tried and found guilty on two of the three charges against him tried by Court Martial on 19 April 1943. He was  severely reprimanded. Evan later resigned his commission in the Army. This was announced in the London Gazette on 13 August 1943.




The Verdict of the Court Martial

Evan was found guilty on two of the three counts

HE  WAS  SEVERELY REPRIMANDED



      ANY QUESTIONS PLEASE CONTACT THE AUTHOR        WILLIAM CROSS  BY E-MAIL

williecross@virginmedia.com