Colonel David Smiley passes away

TIRANA, Jan 12 – Colonel David Smiley, who died on January 9 at age 92, was one of the most celebrated cloak-and-dagger agents of the Second World War, serving behind enemy lines in Albania, Greece, Abyssinia and Japanese-controlled eastern Thailand.
After the war he organized secret operations against the Russians and their allies in Albania and Poland, among other places. Later, as Britain’s era of domination in the Arabian peninsula drew to a close, he commanded the Sultan of Oman’s armed forces in a highly successful counter-insurgency.
During the Second World War he was parachuted behind enemy lines four times. On one occasion he was obliged to escape from Albania in a row boat.
He also headed the British side of a secret Anglo-American venture to subvert the newly-installed Communist regime in Albania led by the ruthless Enver Hoxha. But Kim Philby, who was secretly working for the Russians, was the liaison between the British and Americans; almost all the 100 or so agents dropped by parachute or landed by boat were betrayed and nearly all were tortured and shot. This failure haunted Smiley for the rest of his life.
Smiley’s exploits led some to suggest that he was, along with several other candidates, a model for James Bond.
To Smiley’s delight, he was welcomed back to Albania in 1990 as the Communist regime, which had sentenced him to death in absentia, began to collapse. Smiley was awarded with the Order of Skanderbeg in Albania.
Born on April 11 1916, David de Crespigny Smiley was a noted jockey, balloonist, all-round sportsman and adventurer, also famed for his feats of derring-do.