46 Facts About Noel Mason-MacFarlane

Frank Noel Mason was born on 23 October 1889, the son of a doctor.

Noel Mason-MacFarlane's father was convinced that war between Germany and Great Britain was inevitable and joined the Territorial Army to work as an army doctor.

Noel Mason-MacFarlane was educated at Rugby School and, after attending the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Royal Artillery in 1909.

Noel Mason-MacFarlane served in the First World War on the Western Front and in Mesopotamia.

Noel Mason-MacFarlane was awarded the Military Cross in 1916, a bar to the award in 1918 and a second Bar in the same year, awarded while he was attached to the Artillery Headquarters of the 41st Division, the most junior Kitchener's Army division.

Noel Mason-MacFarlane removed him to a place of safety and brought in a stretcher-bearer who was wounded by the same sniper.

Noel Mason-MacFarlane then completed his reconnaissance and returned with valuable and accurate information.

Noel Mason-MacFarlane was awarded the French Croix de guerre and mentioned in despatches during the First World War.

Between the wars, Noel Mason-MacFarlane attended the Staff College, Quetta from 1919 to 1920.

Noel Mason-MacFarlane has a keen sense of humour and is an excellent linguist.

Noel Mason-MacFarlane served as Britain's military attache to Berlin prior to the Second World War, under the ambassador Sir Nevile Henderson starting in January 1938.

On 27 July 1938, Noel Mason-MacFarlane reported to Henderson that the Wehrmacht was preparing for a war against Czechoslovakia, stating in a report that the German Army generals were "seeing to it that if the emergency arises their preparations shall not be found wanting".

Halifax wanted Noel Mason-MacFarlane to take back a personal message to Hitler, a course of action which he rejected as a "waste of time".

Noel Mason-MacFarlane recognised he was being used as a pawn in an internal German policy dispute, writing "any bungling of an attempt to interfere from without with Germany's domestic politics during Hitler's lifetime would most assuredly lead to exactly what we all wished to avoid".

Henderson believed that Hitler was bluffing, only seeking to pressure Czechoslovakia to change its policies towards the Sudeten Germans under the grounds the Germany was still not ready for the world war that was likely to result from an attack on Czechoslovakia while Noel Mason-MacFarlane believed that Hitler was serious about war with Czechoslovakia sometime in the near future.

On 21 August 1938, Noel Mason-MacFarlane met an agent of Colonel Hans Oster, the deputy chief of the Abwehr, who told him of Fall Grun, the plan to invade Czechoslovakia.

Noel Mason-MacFarlane was sent by Henderson and Wilson to deliver a message to text of Hitler's Bad Godesberg ultimatum to Prague but the German-Czechoslovak border was closed, forcing him to cross the frontier by a forest path.

Wilson saw Noel Mason-MacFarlane's report predicating that Czechoslovakia would last a few days against the Wehrmacht as a reason not to go to war with Germany and circulated it widely through the corridors of Whitehall.

Noel Mason-MacFarlane told the cabinet: "It would be very rash to base any policy on the assumption that the Czechs would fight like tigers".

On 2 January 1939, Ogilvie-Forbes very strongly endorsed a report from Noel Mason-MacFarlane stating that the German economy was being organised for "total war" and Hitler would almost certainly invade one of his neighbours in 1939.

Noel Mason-MacFarlane stated the German economy was on "full throttle" for war and Hitler would probably invade an Eastern European state in 1939, through he stated there was a strong possibility of Hitler attacking a Western European state.

Noel Mason-MacFarlane dismissed the possibility of an internal revolt toppling Hitler, saying that there were many brave Germans opposed to the Nazi dictatorship, but unfortunately the Nazi regime was an effective police state together with the loyalty of the majority of the Wehrmacht to Hitler meant that there was no hope of him being overthrown.

In protest, Noel Mason-MacFarlane wrote: "we remained in disagreement with his views on Hitler and on the course which Nazi Germany was likely to pursue".

On 3 March 1939, Noel Mason-MacFarlane first reported to London that he heard reports that the Wehrmacht had started stockpiling supplies in areas near the Polish border with the order that these be completed by 28 March.

Noel Mason-MacFarlane became an advocate of an "Eastern Front" policy, arguing that the Reich by seizing the heavily industrialised Czech lands had just gained a massive lead in the arms race and to allow Germany to seize more of Eastern Europe would make the German economy more or less "blockade-proof".

In particular, Noel Mason-MacFarlane argued that Britain needed alliances with Poland and Romania, stating both had excellent farmland that could feed Germany in the event of a British blockade while Romania was well endowed with oil.

Noel Mason-MacFarlane that wrote if Britain failed to secure the immediate assistance of Poland and Romania, then Germany would be fighting a "one-front war" with all the resources of the Protectorate of Bohemia-Moravia, Poland, and Romania to support the Wehrmacht.

Noel Mason-MacFarlane added greatly to Colvin's credibility when he endorsed his reports, saying Colvin was a reliable source of information about Germany.

Noel Mason-MacFarlane proposed the assassination of Adolf Hitler, an offer turned down by his superiors.

Hitler seems to have been referring to an incident just a few days before, where Noel Mason-MacFarlane had very loudly stated at a party in Berlin attended by members of the German elite that Britain was committed to fighting against Germany's Machtpolitik, and if Germany wanted war, she would get it.

In late May 1939, Noel Mason-MacFarlane was recalled from Berlin and promoted to the rank of Brigadier-General of Royal Artillery at Aldershot.

Noel Mason-MacFarlane was influential, as we have seen, in the British decision not to back Czechoslovakia at the height of the Munich Crisis.

Noel Mason-MacFarlane was equally influential in the British decision to support Poland and create an Eastern Front on her borders in March 1939.

Noel Mason-MacFarlane was the head of a joint group of British Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force personnel whose role it would be to support General Franco if Spain were to be invaded by Germany.

Noel Mason-MacFarlane briefly served as General Officer Commanding of the 44th Division, a Territorial Army formation, from April to June 1941, before being appointed Head of the British Military Mission in Moscow, shortly after the German invasion of the Soviet Union.

Unlike the other British generals who expected the Soviet Union to collapse in the summer or autumn of 1941, Noel Mason-MacFarlane had a higher opinion of the Red Army and consistently predicted that the Soviets would hold out.

Noel Mason-MacFarlane played a crucial role in negotiating the transfer of the so-called Anders' Army, made up of the surviving Polish POWs taken prisoner by the Red Army in 1939, who in March 1942 crossed over from the Soviet Union to Iran and from there travelled on to join the British 8th Army.

Advanced to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in August 1943, Noel Mason-MacFarlane was appointed a Commander of the Legion of Merit by the United States government the same month and made a Grand Cross of the Polish Order of Polonia Restituta in October.

Noel Mason-MacFarlane served as Chief Commissioner of the Allied Control Commission for Italy in 1944, effectively head of the interim post-war government.

From February 1944 onward, Noel Mason-MacFarlane increasingly aligned himself with the American viewpoint on Italy, writing in his reports to London that Italy desperately needed social reforms and that the old Italian ruling class was too morally compromised with Fascism to provide the necessary leadership, advice that did not sit well with Churchill.

Noel Mason-MacFarlane then went to the Quirinal Palace to persuade Umberto to sacrifice Badoglio for the sake of national unity, and to appoint Bonomi as his successor.

The only concessions Noel Mason-MacFarlane imposed on Umberto was that he vetoed the republican Count Carlo Sforza from joining the Bonomi cabinet as foreign minister and insisted that the service ministries be headed by service officers instead of civilians.

Cadogan wrote that Noel Mason-MacFarlane had failed grievously in his duties, writing that he should have "put the brake on hard" and told the CLN leaders that they had to accept Badoglio as prime minister.

Noel Mason-MacFarlane argued that the best hope of establishing a democracy in Italy was to appoint as prime minister someone like Bonomi who was not associated with the Fascist regime.

At the 1945 general election, Noel Mason-MacFarlane was elected as a Labour Member of Parliament for Paddington North, defeating Winston Churchill's close ally, Brendan Bracken.

Noel Mason-MacFarlane left Parliament due to ill-health on 22 October 1946.