Richard Henry Stevens
Encyclopedia
Richard Henry Stevens was a major
in the British Army
and from 1939 Head of the Passport Control Office (PCO) of the British Secret Intelligence Service
in the Netherlands
. His name is closely associated with the Venlo Incident
in 1939.
In 1939 Stevens was transferred to Europe from India
where he was an Intelligence Officer. He spoke excellent German, French and Russian, Greek was his second language and he also mastered Arabic, Hindustani, and Malay, but he had no specific training or experience of intelligence gathering in Europe.
In November 1939 he was abducted to Germany in the Venlo Incident with Captain Sigismund Payne Best
and it has been suggested that he may then have revealed vital secrets about the Secret Intelligence Service under interrogation. Nazi propaganda portrayed Best and Stevens as the alleged masterminds of the Beer Hall attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler
by Georg Elser
. The two officers were then imprisoned for over 5 years in Sachsenhausen
and Dachau concentration camps before their release in April 1945. Stevens left the army as a lieutenant colonel
, having been promoted to that rank during his captivity. He then worked as a translator at NATO in Paris and London between 1951 and 1952. He died of cancer in 1967.
Major
Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
in the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
and from 1939 Head of the Passport Control Office (PCO) of the British Secret Intelligence Service
Secret Intelligence Service
The Secret Intelligence Service is responsible for supplying the British Government with foreign intelligence. Alongside the internal Security Service , the Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence Intelligence , it operates under the formal direction of the Joint Intelligence...
in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
. His name is closely associated with the Venlo Incident
Venlo Incident
The Venlo Incident was a covert German Sicherheitsdienst engineered capture of two British SIS agents on 9 November 1939....
in 1939.
In 1939 Stevens was transferred to Europe from India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
where he was an Intelligence Officer. He spoke excellent German, French and Russian, Greek was his second language and he also mastered Arabic, Hindustani, and Malay, but he had no specific training or experience of intelligence gathering in Europe.
In November 1939 he was abducted to Germany in the Venlo Incident with Captain Sigismund Payne Best
Sigismund Payne Best
Captain Sigismund Payne Best OBE was a British Secret Intelligence Service agent during World War I and World War II...
and it has been suggested that he may then have revealed vital secrets about the Secret Intelligence Service under interrogation. Nazi propaganda portrayed Best and Stevens as the alleged masterminds of the Beer Hall attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
by Georg Elser
Georg Elser
Johann Georg Elser was a German opponent of Nazism. He is most remembered for his unsuccessful attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler, but he also wanted to assassinate Hermann Göring and Joseph Goebbels in 1939....
. The two officers were then imprisoned for over 5 years in Sachsenhausen
Sachsenhausen concentration camp
Sachsenhausen or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used primarily for political prisoners from 1936 to the end of the Third Reich in May, 1945. After World War II, when Oranienburg was in the Soviet Occupation Zone, the structure was used as an NKVD...
and Dachau concentration camps before their release in April 1945. Stevens left the army as a lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
, having been promoted to that rank during his captivity. He then worked as a translator at NATO in Paris and London between 1951 and 1952. He died of cancer in 1967.