Fitzroy Maclean

Product Information

Describing his time with Tito and the Yugoslav Partisan movement, Maclean once said, “To some people, my life might seem one long adventure holiday, blowing up forts in the desert, clandestinely parachuting into guerrilla wars, penetrating forbidden cities deep behind closed frontiers.” He later went on to pen two autobiographies about Tito in which his admiration for Yugoslavia’s war-time leader and later President is abundantly evident, as was his admiration for the people of Yugoslavia and Croatians in particular. In North Africa in 1942, he distinguished himself in the early actions of the newly formed Special Air Service (SAS), where, with Ralph A. Bagnold, he developed ways of driving vehicles over the Libyan sand "seas". Maclean was a brilliant practitioner in the T. E. Lawrence brand of fighting, and he reported directly to Winston Churchill in Cairo. A letter of introduction from David Stirling said of him at the end of this period: "He has done well on our raids. Don't be taken in by his rather pompous manner or his slow way of speaking - he is OK." [6] Persia and Iraq [ edit ] He bought Duart Castle in September 1911 and restored it. On his 100th birthday he planted a rowan tree in the castle grounds to ward off evil spirits. He lived to be 101 years old. On his death on 22 November 1936 his title went to his grandson, Sir Charles Hector Fitzroy Maclean, 11th Baronet, who became the 27th Clan Chief. [11] [12] Veteran of WWII. In 1941, he chose to enlist as a private in the Cameron Highlanders, but was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant the same year. He was one of the earliest members of the elite SAS. By the end of the war, had risen to the rank of Brigadier. Maclean wrote several books, including Eastern Approaches, in which he recounted three extraordinary series of adventures: traveling, often incognito, in Soviet Central Asia; fighting in the Western Desert Campaign (1941-1943), where he specialized in commando raids (with the Special Air Service Regiment) behind enemy lines; and living rough with Josip Broz Tito and his Yugoslav Partisans. It has been widely speculated that Ian Fleming used Maclean as one of his inspirations for James Bond.

Some of the characters close to Tito whom Maclean met in his first months in Bosnia were Vlatko Velebit, an urbane young man about town, who later went with Maclean to Allied HQ as a liaison officer; Father Vlado ( Vlada Zečević), a Serbian Orthodox priest, "raconteur and trencherman"; Arso Jovanović, the Chief of Staff; Edo Kardelj, the Marxist theoretician who ended up vice-premier; Aleksandar Ranković, a professional revolutionary and Party organiser; Milovan Đilas (Dzilas), who became vice-president; Moša Pijade, one of the highest-ranking Jews; and a young woman named Olga whose father Momčilo Ninčić had been a minister in the Royalist government and who spoke English like a debutante. Maclean was considered to be one of the inspirations for James Bond, [1] and this book contains many of the elements: remote travel, the sybaritic delights of diplomatic life, violence and adventure. The American edition was titled Escape To Adventure, and was published a year later. All place names in this article use the spelling in the book.

Latest

Officers and soldiers under Maclean's command included Peter Moore of the Royal Engineers; Mike Parker, Deputy Assistant Quartermaster general; Gordon Alston; John Henniker-Major, a career diplomat; Donald Knight, and Robin Whetherly. Following Maclean’s death, his son Charles bequeathed a series of private papers and correspondence between his father, President Tito, and other global dignitaries, to the University of Virginia. Among the more interesting and curious artifacts within the files are letters dating from the 1990’s war to Lord David Owen and academic Stevan Dedijer about the Korčula Emergency Appeal, a relief effort for a hospital on the island which was organized by Maclean and his wife Veronica.

Our MacPhunn’s Bar & Bistro offers a fantastic locally sourced seasonal menu with dishes such as Hand Dived Loch Fyne Scallops and local estate venison. Relax in the bar with a dram by the fire after dinner or take a walk down to the shore to watch the sun slip over the horizon. Sir Fitzroy and his men spirited the general away past unsuspecting Persian troops and a British plane eventually flew him to what was then Palestine. He was Grand President of the Clan Gillean Association, honorary president of the Mull and Iona Association, vice-president and formerly president of the Highland Society of London. He was appointed a deputy lieutenant for Argyllshire in 1932. [3] Heraldry [ edit ] Coat of arms of Sir Fitzroy Maclean, 10th Baronet By the end of the year, the war had developed in such a way that the new SAS detachment would not be needed in Persia. General Wilson was being transferred to Middle East Command, and Maclean extracted a promise that the newly trained troops would go with him, as their style of commando raids were ideal for southern and eastern Europe. Frustrated by the abandoning of plans for an assault on Crete, Maclean went to see Reginald Leeper, "an old friend from Foreign Office days, and now His Majesty's Ambassador to the Greek Government then in exile in Cairo". Leeper put in a word for him, and very soon Maclean was told to go to London to get his instructions directly from the prime minister. Churchill told him to parachute into Jugoslavia (now spelled Yugoslavia) as head of a military mission accredited to Josip Broz Tito (a shadowy figure at that point) or whoever was in charge of the Partisans, the Communist-led resistance movement. Mihajlovic's royalist Cetniks (now spelled Chetniks), which the Allies had been supporting, did not appear to be fighting the Germans very hard, and indeed were said to be collaborating with the enemy. Maclean famously paraphrased Churchill: "My task was simply to help find out who was killing the most Germans and suggest means by which we could help them to kill more." The prime minister saw Maclean as "a daring Ambassador-leader to these hardy and hunted guerillas".

Dates

In retirement Maclean wrote extensively. His wide range of subjects included: Scottish history, biographies (including Tito and Burgess), a Russian trilogy and assorted works of fiction. He also contributed to other books, for example writing the foreword to a 1984 biography of Joseph Wolff, the so-called "Eccentric Missionary" in whose footsteps he had travelled to Bukhara almost half a century before. [21] His biography of Tito reveals the admiration he held for the Yugoslav leader and the Yugoslav Communist-led anti-fascist struggle. He developed a great affection for Yugoslavia and its people and was later given permission to buy a house on the Dalmatian island of Korčula, Croatia. [10] Maclean may have been one of the models for Ian Fleming's character James Bond. [30] Styles and honours [ edit ]

Mi smo dobijali, kako je izgledalo, malo ili ništa zauzvrat za oružje što smo bacali četnicima, koje su količinski do sada mnogo više dobili od nas no partizani. U stvari, do sada su ga koristili protiv partizana, koji su se borili protiv Nemaca, i oni su smetali, a nikako doprinosili ratnim naporima. Prema tome, bilo bi logično, iz čisto vojnih razloga, da prestanemo da snabdevamo četnike i da sve raspoloživo oružje i svu opremu šaljemo partizanima. [8] O Čerčilu [ uredi | uredi kod ] Created a baronet in 1957, Maclean branched out in other directions. He ran his own hotel, "The Creggans", on the shore of Loch Fyne. He became a respected associate producer, writer and presenter of television travel documentaries, specialising in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. Above all, he was a tireless traveller. He travelled light, with a kitbag containing a Russian novel and an ancient classical author, both in the original. At an age when most people have given up on linguistic ambitions, Maclean continued to hone his knowledge of French, Italian, German, Russian, Serbo- Croat, Latin and Greek. After a few days in snow-covered Bosanski Petrovac, the Mission, together with the Partisan HQ, moved onto Drvar, a small town farther away from German garrisons. The Mission occupied an adapted house in town, while Tito's HQ opted for a nearby cave. From there, they were able to coordinate the assistance to Partisans in other parts of Yugoslavia. One of the key tasks was to interrupt Trieste-Ljubljana railway, crucial for the supply of the German forces in Italy, and a vital link between the Eastern and Western fronts. The air-drop of the explosives was arranged, and Peter Moore was sent to Slovenia to blow up the Stampetta Bridge, key viaduct on the line. The operation, code-named 'Bearskin', was a great success, as the bridge was severely damaged and remained so for some time. The co-operation between Moore and the local Partisan troops had proven to be very effective. [51]In his talk entitled ‘Escape to Adventure’, which was hosted by RSGS in the Usher Hall, Edinburgh in 1951, Maclean admitted that he always derived considerable pleasure from finding himself where he was not supposed to be. From his hair-raising explorations in the Soviet Union, and from his service with the SAS, he had learned an important lesson:“If you showed a sufficiently blatant disregard for the laws of probability, and if, when you were where you had no business to be, you behaved as if you belonged there, there was practically nothing you could not get away with.” When, a couple of minutes later, General Zahidi, a dapper figure in highly polished boots, entered the room, he found himself looking down the barrel of my Colt automatic. Without further ado, I invited the general to put his hands up and informed him that I had instructions to arrest him and that, if he made any noise or attempt at resistance, he would be shot." Lehmann-haupt, Christopher (14 February 1983). "BOOKS OF THE TIMES". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved 3 September 2016. If a provision of these terms and conditions is determined by any court or other competent authority to be unlawful and/or unenforceable, the other provisions will continue in effect.