Hugh Pollard (intelligence officer)

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

Biography

Pollard joined as a journalist on in Ireland, Mexico and Morocco. 1920, 1921, Pollard military advisor to the Black and Tans, paramilitaries of the Royal Irish Constabulary. 1936 learned Pollard Francisco Franco know when he brought the plane was flown with which Franco to Spanish Morocco. The transport of Franco was arranged and financed by Juan March by Juan Ignacio Luca de Tena, the owner of the right newspaper ABC (Spain). De Tena phoned Luis Bolín, the correspondent of the ABC in London and told him to to charter a plane. Bolín met with Douglas Francis Jerrold and Juan de la Cierva in Simpson's - in-the- beach. Jerrold told them a de Havilland DH89, aircraft charter company Olley Air Services in London Borough of Croydon. To disguise the purpose of the flight, suggested de Ciervo ago, they conceal as pleasure trip. Two blonde women should draw the attention of authorities in coming. Jerold mediated Pollard, including his daughter Diana and her friend Dorothy Watson. Pollard rented the plane. The de Havilland DH89 lifted on July 11 from 7:15 clock in Croydon and flew over Bordeaux, Lisbon to Casablanca where they landed on 15 July 1936. In Casablanca, the radio operator was left behind. In order to dispel the suspicion of the Spanish authorities, the machine still made ​​in Cape Juby and Ifni station before it landed on the Gran Canaria Airport. Nevertheless, the news of the flight had already arrived at the Interior Ministry, which ordered the aircraft in Gando hold. After arriving in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Pollard went with his daughter and Dorothy Watson to Santa Cruz de Tenerife to Franco, the slogan for the transfer: to bring " Galicia saluda a Franco ", which had written them Bolín in Casablanca. On July 18, 1936 Bebb Franco brought by plane from the airfield Gando to Tetuan, where they landed on July 19, 1936. Pollar was left with the two young women in Las Palmas. The governments of Britain and France took part in the non-intervention committee, denying the Spanish Republic 's support. 1940 Pollard was head of MI6 at the British Embassy in Madrid.

Publications

• Wildfowl & waders; nature and sport in the coastlands Country life, London, 1928
• History of Firearms, Lenox Hill, New York 320 pages, 1936