Arthur Terence Atherton (3 August 1902 – 15 July 1942): " Terence Atherton (1902-1942), publicist, major in the British Army; head of the military intelligence mission..." was a British journalist, War correspondent and a newspaper proprietor of various English language publications in Belgrade between 1931 and 1941. He was also a British Special Operations Executive intelligence officer for Section D and an espionage agent, both in pre-war Belgrade and during World War II in Yugoslavia.: "....Major Terence Atherton, who before the war had been a newspaperman in Belgrade and was a member of SOE." The former journalist led a Commando Mission behind enemy lines during World War II and died in mysterious circumstances.
Early life He was the son of Douglas Harold Atherton (1861-1924) and Letitia Elizabeth Haigh (1861-1933). His parents married in Lindley, North Yorkshire on 24 November 1887. He was born in Wavertree, Liverpool, and had 3 elder siblings. His paternal ancestors were gentlemen farmers and his maternal grandfather was a solicitor.
Career From 1919, Atherton was employed by the Bank of Liverpool and Martins as a bank clerk. He enlisted within the Royal Air Force on 27 November 1925. He joined the service as an aircraftman second class (AC2), and would have performed air mechanical duties. He left the service after less than 280 days.
Atherton went on to become a leading British journalist in Belgrade, Kingdom of Yugoslavia where he remained for a number of years. It is a mystery how within 5 years he became a foreign correspondent in a European capital city. It is possible that Atherton was residing in Yugoslavia prior to 1930.: "... Terence Atherton, the London Daily Mail correspondent." He was the Belgrade correspondent for The Daily Mail and the Daily Dispatch for ten years. He traveled extensively throughout Yugoslavia and Bulgaria, and was fluent in Serbo-Croatian.: "Major Terence Atherton*, who was for ten years a journalist in Belgrade, was the chief editor of the South Slav Herald. He married a girl of Muslim heritage in Sarajevo. With him was a radio operator, an Irishman, and a lieutenant of the Yugoslav ..." He was also the chief editor and founder of the South Slav Herald in Belgrade in 1931, and owner and publisher of the Balkan Herald founded in 1934. His assistant editor was Alexander Simić-Stevens who had also been the Belgrade Correspondent for the Evening Standard and The Star.
Atherton was an intelligence agent for Section D of the British Special Operations Executive in pre-war Belgrade. His cover was a journalist and newspaperman. His assistant editor was also a member of SOE. Atherton married a Yugoslavian National from Sarajevo, Bosnia, of Muslim faith.
By 1934, his articles on a Yugoslavian perspective were being published around the world. He reported on Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark’s engagement to Prince George, Duke of Kent and their gift from Alexander I of Yugoslavia, just one month before the King of Yugoslavia was assassinated in Marseille whilst on a state visit to France.
Atherton, whilst correspondent for the Daily Mail and editor of the Balkan Herald was based at Dobrašina 12, Belgrade, and would write to editors of London papers with anecdotes of life in the Balkan city. On 25 November 1935, Atherton reported to the Editor of The Times of London of the donation of animals from Tierpark Hagenbeck to Prince Paul of Yugoslavia. Whereas the Mayor of Belgrade, Vlada Ilić appealed to the United Kingdom for gifts of specimens, preferably in pairs, for a much anticipated Belgrade Zoo. These stories and many others by Atherton are both intriguing and insightful reports during the inter-war period. Atherton’s journalistic approach to another editor, under the banner of either "Points from Letters" or "Letters to Editor" became more frequent leading up to the German invasion with titles like "Wolves of the Balkans" on 3 March 1937, and therefore each of these letters may contain a hidden message. Alexander Simić-Stevens, who Atherton tutored returned to London and subsequently joined SOE.
The following year, the German annexation of Austria gave Yugoslavia a common border with Nazi Germany. Atherton continued in Yugoslavia after the country declared itself neutral at the outbreak of the World War II, writing about a dangerous level of plentiful food in the Balkan countries during December 1939, in comparison to that in Nazi Germany.
During March 1940, Atherton returned to writing about royalty. His articles were published around the world. He reported on a wedding talking place in Belgrade between Prince Nicholas Wladimirovitch Orloff, (who divorced Princess Nadejda Petrovna of Russia the previous week), and an American actress, successful only in Germany, Mary R. Shuck went by the stage name of Marina Marshall. The Russian noble had been close to Nazi-Germany, and only left Berlin because of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. When he eventually emigrated to the United States he was suspected by U.S. agencies as being Lord Haw-Haw, as he was responsible for broadcasting Nazi Propaganda in English over the airwaves before the war. The article refers to the nobleman's admiration of George Bernard Shaw, who at the time admired Mussolini and Stalin. Atherton's article is likely to contain a coded message.
Atherton went to Greece to cover how the Metaxas Regime were combating the Italian incursions from Albania during November 1940 in what became known as the Greco-Italian War. Atherton remained just three days at the front before returning to Bitola, previously known as Monastir.
Atherton was in-country when the Yugoslav prince regent yielded to pressure from Germany and declared the Yugoslav accession to the Tripartite Pact on 25 March 1941. However a pro-British coup d'état deposed the regent and declared Peter II of Yugoslavia as the new king, two days later. This event was encouraged by SOE, however the level of Atherton's involvement is unknown, since he effectively lead a double life.
The SOE office in Belgrade that Atherton was attached to, had gone to significant lengths to support the opposition to the Dragiša Cvetković government, which antagonised and undermined the hard-won balance in Yugoslav politics that Cvetković's short lived government represented. SOE Belgrade was entangled with pro-Serb policies and interests, and disregarded, or underestimated warnings from SOE Zagreb and British diplomats in that city, who may have been able to provide a clearer analysis of the challenges of a politically complex country, at the time dealing with diverse ethnicities, religious sensitivities and shifting politic allegiances. However rivalries and confusion and lack of continued interest by the British Foreign Office in this region of Europe did little to help matters of diplomacy in Atherton's adoptive home. The level of Atherton's role and involvement with SOE HQ in Belgrade is unknown; however given that he was allegedly married to a Bosnian Muslim, proves that he was less "Belgrade centric", and therefore may have not been so favourable to Serb desire for supremacy over the Croats, Slovenes and Muslims under his watch.
The German bombing of Belgrade, which commenced during the early hours of 6 April 1941, and lasted three days, killing 17,000 people, was known as Operation Punishment. Atherton was forced to leave his adoptive city on the second day, his home for over 10 years, with retreating Yugoslav forces, as Axis forces had entered the country and closing in on the capital. His mission was to remain close to Yugoslav leaders until the armistice, evade capture by Axis-forces, and exit the country by any means and reach British troops in Greece.
Axis invasion and escape from the Kingdom of Yugoslavia Atherton successfully escaped from Yugoslavia after the invasion by Axis forces in April 1941, teaming up with 3 American foreign correspondents; Robert St. John (1902-2003) from Chicago, a writer for the Associated Press; Leigh White (1914-1968) from Vermont, a writer for the New York Post and the Columbia Broadcasting System; and Russell Hill of The New York Herald Tribune, on a 700-mile journey to Greece using multiple means of transport. He and 2 of his companions, St. John and Hill, arrived in Alexandria, a month later, with White remaining in hospital in Greece.
In order to evacuate from Belgrade, Atherton acquired a car (a small blue Opel coach) and drove first to Banja Koviljača and then onto Užice and to Zvornik following the retreating Yugoslav government. Atherton would later write that he was in the presence of the new Prime Minister, General Dušan Simović,Germany and the 2nd World War Volume III: The Mediterranean, south-east Europe, and north Africa, 1939-1941, Gerhard Schreiber, Bernd Stegemann, Detlef Vogel, 1995, p. 484 as he witnessed "first hand", the collapse of the government of national unity, from a small town in Bosnia, within less than 10 days. Atherton later revealed in his articles as a war correspondent, that from the moment the Yugoslav government offices in Belgrade were destroyed in air raids, the only means of communication for Simovic with the Royal Yugoslav Army and other forces, was by using a small British radio.
SOE's priority was to assist in ensuring Peter II of Yugoslavia escaped on a plane to Greece before the unconditional surrender. Atherton, realizing the severity of his own situation, and of his American companions, continued overland onto Cetinje, and then onto the coastal port of Budva in Montenegro as an Italian occupation force began entering the ancient walled town.
The invasion of Yugoslavia ended when an armistice was signed on 17 April 1941, which came into effect at noon on 18 April. Shortly prior to this date, in Budva, Atherton seized a small sardine boat, in exchange of his Opel car, and remained hidden in the port until it was safe to leave. With no charts or a compass; only 12 gallons of fuel, some road maps, and a gunny sack of bread, Atherton set off with his 3 companions on a dangerous voyage through Albanian coastal waters, a region subject to invasion and now in control of the Italian forces, in an attempt to safely reach the Greek island of Corfu.
His traveling companion, St John was the only experienced sailor, who later recounted the tale of treacherous weather conditions and the groups imminent danger when an Italian Navy vessel accompanying troop movement ships spotted their small open boat, and subsequently trained their guns on them in proximity to Durrës. St. John and the others placed a bloodstained American flag so that it was visible; and after several tense minutes, they were eventually waved on. This quick thinking by one of the Americans may have saved Atherton from being detained by the Italian Navy, since as a Briton, he was considered to be an enemy national.
The voyage south coincided with the German invasion of Greece. Having reached Corfu, the Greek naval authorities were initially dubious such a trip was even possible, given the recent weather conditions. The authorities had more pressing matters than 4 journalists in a sardine boat. Eventually the local authorities permitted them to sail south, where they were subsequently machine gunned by Italian fighter planes, and their vessel quickly sank. Atherton and his companions were rescued by a small Greek fishing trawler, which also fell victim to an air attack; this time by 5 Stukageschwader Stuka dive bombers, and suffered fatalities. During this incident Atherton was wounded in a knee and White's femur was shattered.