Colonel Charles Telfer Howie

Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Telfer Howie

Colonel Charles Howie
South African Colonel in the British Army who was captured, and escaped to Hungary in 1943, where he made contact with the anti-Nazi underground. Howie was close to Polish aristocrats, in particular Countess Tarnopolska. He was the highest ranking British officer in Hungary until his departure in autumn 1944, following attempted negotiations with Regent Horthy. Howie also made contact with the British A-Force and the Special Operations Executive. U.K. documents reveal that as
he was not a trained agent, the British Intelligence had security concerns and therefore his involvement was
kept minimal.
Howie's funds were understandably low during his stay
in Hungary. He was in hiding in Budapest.
As per his personnel file, once he arrived, Howie asked an aristocrat to introduce him to Gerrit Van der Waals, who in turn introduced him to Lolle Smit, the Director
of Philips radio in the Balkans, so that Howie could report his situation to Ankara.
Howie was known to Gabor Haraszty (SIS code name ALBERT, the head agent of British intelligence in
World War II Budapest). Howie told Haraszty he had a direct line of communication with Winston Churchill, as
C did not wish to use the MI6 line (though this has
never been verified). Haraszty later expressed that
he had had security concerns about Howie, due to his
tendency to call attention to himself.
Howie also came into contact with Reginald Barratt,
and had brief communication with Reuven Dafni.
Years later, Joel Brand's testimony at the Eichmann
trial included a shocking demand the colonel was said
to have made ...

Sources:

The London-Budapest Game (2007)

Swedish Gold (2011)

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