Classical Spies: American Archaeologists with the OSS in World War II Greece

9. “Oriental Endurance” and the “Somber World of Snafu”

nine  “Oriental Endurance” and the “Somber World of Snafu” on thanksgiving day, november 25, 1943, Caskey and Young abandoned Izmir and headed south for a tête-à-tête with Daniel. In Washington, representatives of forty-four countries sketched out a blueprint for economic assistance to war-devastated European nations through the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA). Meanwhile, in the shadow of the pyramids, Roosevelt and Churchill feasted on turkeys at the Mena House and plotted their strategy for dealing with Stalin, whose armies had trounced the Germans in Russia and were pushing them back across Eastern Europe. To accommodate their victorious ally, they moved the conversation to Tehran where, from November 28 to December 1, they nailed down plans for the invasion of Normandy. With respect to Greece, the Allies committed only to keeping “the Balkan pot boiling.”1 Roosevelt did not mind if Wilson’s commandos kept German forces pinned down in the Aegean and distracted Hitler from concentrating fully on the defense of Italy and the Eastern Front, but he would sanction no invasion or much ‹ghting in Greece, where civil war raged in the mountains.2 To quiet the factions ravaging the countryside, Churchill advised the Greek king to appoint a regent and agree to remain abroad until after a plebiscite, but the king refused. When pushed by MacVeagh to meet with George II and try to persuade the king to agree to a plebiscite, FDR maintained that “the best way to handle Yugoslavia and Greece would be to build walls round them and let those inside ‹ght it out, and report 163 when all was over who was top dog.”3 Roosevelt, who had tired of Churchill’s machinations in Tehran, instead foiled what he saw as Churchill’s colonialist pretensions, reversed the policy of his own diplomats , and paternalistically advised the king to resist the British and stand his ground.4 From Turkey’s Mediterranean port of Adalia (Antalya), Young and Caskey passed huddled boatloads of British, the last stragglers from Wilson ’s task force, as they crossed over to Karavostasi. In Nicosia, Young discussed turf wars with the British, MacFarland, and OSS branches: Special Operations, Maritime, Personnel and Services. Finally, the archaeologists charted the future. Among their priorities were establishing communications with their missions, opening a gateway or bridgehead to mainland Greece via the island of Evvia, and an understanding with the EAM/ELAS guerrillas, and accommodating Maritime within their caique service.5 To do so, they had to rethink the whole operation.After touring Daniel’s bases, they decided to consolidate everything at Karavostasi, where they could hire Greek crews and stockpile supplies with the help of the Cyprus Mines Corporation . The CMC had given them two rent-free buildings within sight of the harbor to use for supplies and “cold storage.” It was only one hour from Nicosia, and so Daniel could drive over at night and load and unload agents unobserved.6 Since Dow wanted to be home for Christmas, Chris Petrow would take charge of Alexandria. In an attempt to streamline operations, Caskey agreed to launch future missions from “Boston.” After a few halcyon days, they departed, but it was not smooth sailing. Caskey’s caique exploded as it left Kyrenia. Caskey brushed off the incident, hopping a British caique to Mersin, where he ran into Gerald Calvert, an old friend and nephew of the ‹rst excavator of Troy, who got him a berth on the Ankara train. Rattled at the close call, Daniel had the captain arrested, believing the sabotage was related to mounting tension between the Greek Cypriots and the British concerning the postwar status of the island.7 Meanwhile, Young returned to Cairo only to ‹nd that the Emniyet had frozen transportation.8 Fortunately, in southern Italy and the Adriatic, the Allies were making important military gains. General Wilson relocated to Algiers and succeeded Eisenhower as supreme Allied commander of the Mediterranean theater, and, by extension, all OSS operations. As the pendulum swung to the west, the former head of Area A took charge of the OSS beachhead at Bari that focused on Yugoslavia, Albania, and “the Adriatic world.” Turner 164 • classical spies McBaine headed SI, Jack Taylor Operations, while Hollywood star Sterling Hayden, “John Hamilton,” ferried agents across the Adriatic.9 Oliver followed them to Bari and set up a satellite base to handle northwestern Greece.10 It, too, was rising...