Hugh Bertie Campbell Pollard

Hugh Bertie Campbell Pollard ( 1888 - 1966 ) was head of Military Intelligence, section 6 in the British Embassy in Madrid in 1940 .

biography

Pollard has appeared as a journalist in Ireland, Mexico and Morocco. From 1920 to 1921 he was a military advisor to the Black and Tans , paramilitaries of the Royal Irish Constabulary .

Pollard met Francisco Franco in 1936 when he was bringing the plane that took Franco to Spanish Morocco . Franco's transportation was arranged by Juan Ignacio Luca de Tena , owner of the right-wing newspaper ABC , and financed by Juan March . De Tena called Luis Bolín , the ABC correspondent in London, and instructed him to charter a plane. Bolín met Douglas Francis Jerrold and Juan de la Cierva at Simpson's-in-the-Strand . Jerrold recommended a De Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide from the aircraft charter company Olley Air Services in the London Borough of Croydon . To disguise the purpose of the flight, de Ciervo suggested disguising it as a pleasure trip. Two blonde women are said to attract the authorities' attention. Jerold referred Pollard, including his daughter Diana and her friend Dorothy Watson. Pollard rented the plane.

The De Havilland DH.89 took off on July 11 at 7.15 a.m. from Croydon and flew via Bordeaux , Lisbon to Casablanca , where it landed on July 15, 1936. The radio operator was left behind in Casablanca. To allay the suspicions of the Spanish authorities, the plane stopped in Cape Juby and Ifni before landing at Gran Canaria Airport . Nevertheless, the news of the flight had already reached the Ministry of the Interior, which ordered the aircraft to be detained in Gando. Arrived in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria , Pollard went to Santa Cruz de Tenerife with his daughter and Dorothy Watson to bring Franco the slogan for the transfer: "Galicia saluda a Franco", which Bolín had written down for them in Casablanca. On July 18, 1936, Bebb took Franco by plane from Gando Airfield to Tetuán , where they landed on July 19, 1936. Pollard stayed behind with the two young women in Las Palmas. The governments of Great Britain and France took part in the Non-Interference Committee and refused to support the Spanish Republic.

In 1940 Pollard became head of MI6 at the British Embassy in Madrid.

Publications

• Wildfowl & waders; nature & sport in the coastlands. Country life, London 1928.
• History of Firearms. Lenox Hill, New York 1936.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Hugh BC Pollard: A busy time in Mexico an unconventional record of mexican incident. Duffield & Co. 1913.
2. ↑ Graham Greene Douglas Francis Jerrold National Portrait Gallery  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ^ Cambridge Journals Major Hugh Pollard, MI6, and the spanish civil war