Date of birth:

September 13th, 1910 (London, Great Britain)

Date of death:

July 8th, 1997 (Levant/West Sussex, Great Britain)

Service number:

222649

Nationality:

British

Owen Reed began his working life in the theatre, having a strong family background in the theatre. He then moved into radio production.
During the Second World War Reed served in the Royal Tank Regiment in the United Kingdom and Egypt. He then joined SIS and was dropped behind the enemy lines in Yugoslavia (and in September 1944 in Slovenia) as an intelligence officer to provide help for Tito. This was highly secret work, and his wife did not know where he was or what he was doing. All she knew was the arrival of a regular payment for "potatoes". Once Reed struggled to make his way by night with a heavy load of explosives to blow up a bridge over the Danube. When he finally got there he found that the RAF had done the job already, the previous day.
Reed eventually became the head of the Allied military mission to Tito's Croatian headquarters. After the Germans withdrew from Yugoslavia in the spring of 1945 he went with the partisans by motorbike to Zagreb, where he became the British Military Attache and combined diplomatic work with humanitarian aid. When he returned to Britain he was debriefed by, among others, Kim Philby, the double agent.
Much of his war time experiences were written down in 'Our Man In Yugoslavia', by Sebastian Ritchie.
Ater te war he returned to his pr-war activities and became a tv producer for the BBC mainly in children's programs. In 1964 he became Head of Staff Training for the BBC.

Promotions:
March 19, 1930: Pilot Officer (probation)
September 29, 1931: relinquishes his commission on account of ill-health

January 3, 1942: 2nd Lieutenant
? Lieutenant
? Captain
January 1944: Major

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Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Rank:

Lieutenant (temporary Captain) (local Major)

Unit:

British Mission at Partisan H.Q. Croatia, Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI), Imperial General Staff, War Office, British Government

Awarded on:

December 21st, 1944

Recommenation:
"For parachuting into Yugoslavia on 12th October, 1943, and acting since then as head of the British Mission at Partisan H.Q., Croatia. During almost the entire period Reed has been alone at his post, and has been entirely responsible for British relations with this important H.Q. in connection with supply of stores, provision of Intelligence and evacuation of escaped British P.O.W. He has shown outstanding devotion to duty, working under extremely difficult conditions, and has established excellent relations with the Partisan Command in this area. In November he was able to evacuate 80 escaped British P.O.W. under Major Gibson R.T.R., by sea from Senj to Bari in a Partisan ship, and since then a considerable number of British and American P.O.W. have passed through Reed's territory and reached safety owing to his timely assistance. Major Gibbon and all other officers who have come into contact with Reed cannot speak too highly of his work. From our point of view, Intelligence produced by his station has been first class and has received very good comments from London, Cairo and Algiers."

Above information is to be treated as top secret and should not be divulged to any unauthorized personnel or published in any form.

Originally recommended for a DSO but upgraded to an OBE.

• - The London Gazette Issue 33593 published on the 1 April 1930
  - The London Gazette Issue 33774 published on the 24 November 1931
  - Second Supplement to The London Gazette Issue 35433 published on the 23 January 1942
  - Second Supplement to The London Gazette Issue 36850 published on the 19 December 1944
  - Copy of the original recommendation - STIWOT archive
  - The Independent
  -Balkananalysis.com
  -BBC - People's War