We Were Not Shadows. Persia and Iraq Command, 1943-1945.

TEHRAN CONFERENCE - RYAN, E. P. J.

Published by [No place: c.1960]

Sole edition, untraced institutionally, of this impassioned insider's account of the security arrangements for the Big Three at the Tehran Conference. Its main goal is to counter charges, levelled by Walter H. Thompson, Churchill's bodyguard, that Paiforce's arrangements were inadequate. Colonel E. P. J. Ryan was a "tough Indian Army career soldier and intelligence officer, who had risen from the non-commissioned ranks of the Calcutta Light Horse" (O'Sullivan, p. 144). In 1943, he held the position of Deputy Director Military Intelligence, Paiforce, under Major-General Arthur Selby, and took charge of security arrangements for Churchill's visit to Tehran. Ryan describes the confidential preparations for the prime minister's arrival at length, but frequently returns to Thompson's pot-stirring. The latter's report, written during the conference, "read as though General Selby and his Staff were conspiring to the best of their ability to get Mr Churchill bumped off" (p. 63). In a sideswipe at Thompson's memoir, I Was Churchill's Shadow, Ryan is emphatic: "In those days we were all alert and vigorous and qualified to do our duty to the very utmost of our ability. We got no help and we managed without it. We were flesh and blood. We were not shadows" (p. 101). Two of the photographs picture Churchill and Stalin together, shaking hands and toasting before dinner. Ryan appears in two shots - amidst the mountain ranges of Persia and at the far left of an image showing "three mighty cheers for the Old Man [Churchill]". Another image shows the birthday presents given by Paiforce to Churchill, and the sixth captures Stalin walking with officials in the grounds of the Russian Embassy. Ryan returned to London in late 1943, where he was forced to defend Paiforce and Selby against Thompson's meddling, but returned to Iraq as commander of Combined Intelligence Centre. During the war, he was mentioned in dispatches, and he received both the OBE and the US Legion of Merit. Adrian O'Sullivan, The Baghdad Set: Iraq through the Eyes of British Intelligence, 1941-45, 2019. Quarto. With 6 mounted gelatin silver photographs (c.90 x 110 mm) after images from the collections at the Imperial War Museum, mimeographed captions. Original greyish card post-binder with wire stitching, front cover printed in black, 106 pages mimeographed typescript. Wrappers lightly rubbed and bumped, light foxing and toning internally: a very good copy. Seller Inventory # 148737

Bibliographic Details

Title: We Were Not Shadows. Persia and Iraq Command...
Publisher: [No place: c.1960]
Edition: 1st Edition